Rod Serling wrote more than half of all the scripts for the original “Twilight Zone” show that aired from 1959-1964. While Hollywood has made numerous reboots of “The Twilight Zone,” most of those reboots have failed to capture the imagination of the public like the original series. The reason for this is simple: Rod Serling. […]
Watch “Wish” and you’ll see the first level of storytelling that focuses solely on a hero trying to achieve a goal. While this is necessary in every story, “Wish” stops right there. That makes “Wish” a superficial story that’s mildly entertaining but completely forgettable. The first level of every story is nothing more than an […]
People don’t want stories to entertain them but to take them on an emotional roller coaster. That means your story must constantly evoke specific types of emotions at every moment. Think of a typical horror movie. The opening typically shows something horrifying. Then the middle shows the helpless victims heading towards their doom. Then the […]
One huge mistake many writers make is to make up their story as they write their screenplay. This can be like trying to learn to fly while dogfighting against enemy pilots in a life or death battle. It won’t end well. If you try to make up your story as you write your screenplay, your […]
The first scene is crucial because it serves several purposes: Watch any horror movie and the first scene always hints at something ominous. In the first scene of “Get Out,” a black man wanders through a neighborhood when a strange car follows him. Right away we know “Get Out” isn’t going to be a comedy […]
Far too many people write boring scenes. Typically, such scenes exist solely to give information to the audience. A far better solution is to always make sure a scene surprises us. If a scene lacks a surprise, it will feel boring. We expect something to happen and it does happen. Surprise somehow changes the hero’s […]
Too many writers start writing a story and then get stuck. Even if they know where how the story ends, they don’t have enough material to flesh out a full-length screenplay. The answer lies in creating a haunted past for your hero. The real purpose of every story is for a hero to resolve a […]
This is the way most writers create a story. They start with an idea and start writing. This inevitably leads to a dead end that they don’t know how to get out of. So they keep adding to the story, creating an even more complicated mess. Here’s the better way to create a story that […]