Script Analysis: “12 Years a Slave” — Part 4: Themes Reading scripts. Absolutely critical to learn the craft of screenwriting. The focus of this weekly series is a deep structural and thematic analysis of each script we read. Our daily schedule: Monday: Scene-By-Scene Breakdown Tuesday: Plot Wednesday: Characters Thursday: Themes Friday: Dialogue Saturday: Takeaways Today: Themes. I have
Songwriters on Songwriting: Donovan “You love a song and you play it, and you love it and you keep playing it. Then absentmindedly you discover a new little note that you want to add to it. Or you have a line of your own that you try in the same tempo or in the
2016 Dialogue-Writing Challenge: Day 4 Last year at this time, we did a month-long Dialogue-Writing Challenge. It was a big success with dozens of writers participating. We all learned quite a bit about this important aspect of the craft plus we had some fun in the process. So I’ve decided to bring
Interview (Written): Joel Coen and Ethan Coen Variety sat down with the Coen brothers in advance of the release of their newest movie Hail Caesar! Do you let your actors improvise? Joel: They can improvise all they want, but we’re not going to necessarily shoot any of it. Sometimes the actors are more strict about what
Daily Dialogue — February 4, 2016 “He and my mom got divorced when I was five. She lives on a Havasu reservation in Arizona with her new husband and three replacement kids. Oh, and she inexplicably mails me a cactus every Valentine’s Day. And I’m like, ‘Thanks a heap, Coyote Ugly. This cactus-gram
Explore Your Characters Through Dramatic Contrast A guest post from Tom Benedek, screenwriter (Cocoon) and co-founder of Screenwriting Master Class: In screenwriting and TV writing, conflict is always being brought up as an essential. It helps to look at scenes and ask where and what the conflict in the scene might be. A teacher I
Script Analysis: “12 Years a Slave” — Part 3: Characters Reading scripts. Absolutely critical to learn the craft of screenwriting. The focus of this weekly series is a deep structural and thematic analysis of each script we read. Our daily schedule: Monday: Scene-By-Scene Breakdown Tuesday: Plot Wednesday: Characters Thursday: Themes Friday: Dialogue Saturday: Takeaways Today: Characters. Characters are
Songwriters on Songwriting: Joan Baez “If you want to love your music, and not feel that you have to sell your ass down the river to get something going, you’re probably going to want to keep your day job.” I wrote my first song when I was 14 years old. Over the years, I’
2016 Dialogue-Writing Challenge: Day 3 Last year at this time, we did a month-long Dialogue-Writing Challenge. It was a big success with dozens of writers participating. We all learned quite a bit about this important aspect of the craft plus we had some fun in the process. So I’ve decided to bring
Interview (Audio): Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski An excellent Vulture podcast with Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski, creators and writers of the FX mini-series “The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story,” discussing this, their first foray into television. For background on how the 10 hour mini-series came into existence, go here. The FX
Daily Dialogue — February 3, 2016 JACK: Abandon ship. Into the longboat. GIBBS: Jack! The Pearl! JACK: She’s only a ship, mate. ELIZABETH: He’s right, we have to head for land. PINTEL: It’s a lot of open water. RAGETTI: That’s a lot of water. WILL: We have to try. We can get
Script Analysis: “12 Years a Slave” — Part 2: Plot Reading scripts. Absolutely critical to learn the craft of screenwriting. The focus of this weekly series is a deep structural and thematic analysis of each script we read. Our daily schedule: Monday: Scene-By-Scene Breakdown Tuesday: Plot Wednesday: Characters Thursday: Themes Friday: Dialogue Saturday: Takeaways Today: Plot. In every
Songwriters on Songwriting: Mose Allison “One of my formulas in life is ‘Ambivalence plus interdependence equals contrariety.’ All day long we’re being pulled in one way and pushed in another way. It’s all part of the interaction of opposing forces.” I wrote my first song when I was 14 years old. Over the
Dialogue-Writing Exercises [2016] Here are prompts for the 2nd annual GITS Dialogue-Writing Challenge. Use these to improve your dialogue writing chops. A monologue in which a character expresses regret for something in their past A scene built around the line “Give me the God damn key” A stoner conversation A young child
2016 Dialogue-Writing Challenge: Day 2 Last year at this time, we did a month-long Dialogue-Writing Challenge. It was a big success with dozens of writers participating. We all learned quite a bit about this important aspect of the craft plus we had some fun in the process. So I’ve decided to bring
Screenwriting 101: Rita Mae Brown “Character is destiny. The resolution of any plot must come from within the character. The redemption or destruction of any character is not the result of an external event, but the result of that character’s motivation. The inner life of people drives and manipulates their outer lives. We are
Daily Dialogue — February 2, 2016 EXT. TRUCK/CAB — (CAMP 7) EARLY HOURS The man gets down from the cab and walks a few feet in the dark and snow. He coughs a bit, takes a few breaths of air, and walks away from the truck, vanishing into the mist. EXT. CAMP/ROAD — (CAMP 7) — EARLY
Story Summaries: From Loglines to Beat Sheets From elevator pitches to development meetings to conference calls with talent, a screenwriter’s ability to share stories in a variety of narrative forms is both a valuable and necessary skillset. In the upcoming 1-week Screenwriting Master Class online course Story Summaries: From Loglines to Beat Sheets [February 8–
Script Analysis: “12 Years a Slave” — Part 1: Scene By Scene Breakdown Reading scripts. Absolutely critical to learn the craft of screenwriting. The focus of this weekly series is a deep structural and thematic analysis of each script we read. Our daily schedule: Monday: Scene-By-Scene Breakdown Tuesday: Plot Wednesday: Characters Thursday: Themes Friday: Dialogue Saturday: Takeaways Today: Scene-By-Scene
Songwriters on Songwriting: Brian Wilson “You write in two ways… One, you go where your heart tells you to go. And you also consider, ‘What is it that people like?’ Commerciality, they call it.” I wrote my first song when I was 14 years old. Over the years, I’ve composed hundreds of songs. It
2016 Dialogue-Writing Challenge: Day 1 Last year at this time, we did a month-long Dialogue-Writing Challenge. It was a big success with dozens of writers participating. We all learned quite a bit about this important aspect of the craft plus we had some fun in the process. So I’ve decided to bring
On Writing “Stories come from violence, they come from sex. They come from death. They come from the dark places that everyone has to go to, kind of wants to, or doesn’t, but needs to deal with. If you raise a kid to think everything is sunshine and flowers, they’re
Daily Dialogue — February 1, 2016 BOWMAN: Open the pod bay doors, please, Hal. Open the pod bay doors, please, Hal. Hello, Hal, do you read me? Hello, Hal, do you read me? Do you read me, Hal? Do you read me, Hal? Hello, Hal, do you read me? Hello, Hal, do you read me? Do
Re-Write-O-Rama: Day 31 Re-Write-O-Rama: Day 31. January 1: Type FADE IN / The Beginning. January 31: Type FADE OUT / The End. 31 days. 1 script. Movie script. TV script. Whatever. Goal: Rewrite an existing draft. I’m doing it with a Zero Draft I knocked out in November. You’re invited
Interview: Anthony Grieco (2015 Nicholl Winner) Anthony Grieco wrote the original screenplay “Best Sellers” which won the 2015 Nicholl Fellowship in screenwriting. Recently Anthony and I had an excellent hour long telephone conversation about his background and the craft. Here are links to the six installments of the entire interview: Part 1: “I wrote from an
