January, 2022 - The 15 Minute Movie Method

Unify Your Story: Narrow Your Hero’s Struggles to a Single Dilemma

January 30, 2022

The surest sign of a poorly written screenplay is when there are too many stories. Pick a mediocre movie like “The Eternals” and you have...

How the Hero’s Haunted Past Can Keep a Story Emotionally Engaging

January 26, 2022

Watch a mediocre movie like “The Eternals” or “The 355” and you’ll see lots of action. However, all the explosions, car crashes, and gunfire in...

Study Bad Movies to See What Not to Do

January 22, 2022

When you watch a great movie, it can inspire you, but can also intimidate you. After all, how can you write something even half as...

A Big Concept Needs an Emotional Foundation So We Care

January 18, 2022

Watch any bad movie and you’ll almost always find that it had an intriguing idea. “The Layover,” which has a rare 0% rating on Rotten...

Establish a Relationship and Make Us Care

January 14, 2022

Here’s a common mistake novice screenwriters make all the time. They describe a scene where someone gets killed right away. This technique was actually used...

State the Main Problem Right From the Start

January 10, 2022

Every story is about solving a single problem. That main problem must be clear and unsolved until the very end. If this main problem isn’t...

Create and Maintain a Consistent Audience Experience in Every Scene

January 6, 2022

One way to look at a story is to imagine it as a video game. In a video game, the challenges get progressively tougher, but...

Grab Audiences at the Start of Every Scene with a Question

January 2, 2022

Almost everyone can come up with a great idea for a screenplay. The hard part is turning that great idea into a collection of great...

The 15 Minute Movie Method

January 2022