How do TV writers write? They ‘break’ the story first. Entertainment Weekly has a sponsored piece of content called “A Day in the Life of a TV Executive Producer and Writer,” featuring Sarah Watson who works on the NBC TV series “Parenthood”. You can read it here. What I’d like to zero in on is this: Notice all those
Movie Trailer: “Effie Gray” Written by Emma Thompson A look at the mysterious relationship between Victorian art critic John Ruskin and his teenage bride Effie Gray. IMDB Release Date: November 2014 (USA)
Great Scene: “Almost Famous” October is Great Scene month at Go Into The Story whereby we put a spotlight on notable movie scenes, then analyze and discuss them. Their structure, themes, character dynamics. Why do they work? What are their narrative elements that elevate them to greatness? Let’s face it: In a fundamental
Great Character: Lorraine Warren (“The Conjuring”) The Great Character theme for the month: Supernatural. Today: Lorraine Warren from The Conjuring, written by Chad Hayes and Carey Hayes. Before Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Harold Ramis and Ernie Hudson addressed paranormal activity within the “reel world” of Ghostbusters, the ghostbusters in the real world were husband and wife
Daily Dialogue — October 31, 2014 “My name is John Nash. I’m being held against my will. Someone contact the Department of Defense.” — A Beautiful Mind (2001), screenplay by Akiva Goldsman, book by Sylvia Nasar The Daily Dialogue theme for the week: Madness. Trivia: While this film is inspired by the life of John Nash,
Story Concepts That Sell The foundation of any movie is the screenplay. The foundation of any screenplay is the concept. Therefore it stands to reason which story concept you develop and write as a spec script is a critical choice. And that is precisely why I created the upcoming webinar Story Concepts That Sell:
Reader Question: What to do if I’m good with plot, but weak with characters? Question via Twitter from @MahinWriter: My issue: I can outline plot, but my character arcs feel weak. Got a blog post for that!? It’s an important question and I appreciate you asking it, Michael, because with all the emphasis on screenplay structure in the online screenwriting universe — and by
Video: George Lucas on Star Wars and “psychological motifs in mythology” In a recent appearance with Charlie Rose, George Lucas got his theology on when talking about Star Wars. Check it out: Transcript: When I was trying to pitch Star Wars, I had an idea about psychological motifs that are in mythology. The great thing about mythology is it’s an
Movie Trailer: “Focus” Written by Glenn Ficarra, John Requa A veteran grifter takes a young, attractive woman under his wing, but things get complicated when they become romantically involved. IMDB Release Date: 27 February 2015 (USA)
Great Scene: “Local Hero” October is Great Scene month at Go Into The Story whereby we put a spotlight on notable movie scenes, then analyze and discuss them. Their structure, themes, character dynamics. Why do they work? What are their narrative elements that elevate them to greatness? Let’s face it: In a fundamental
Daily Dialogue — October 30, 2014 “LOOK UPON ME! I’LL SHOW YOU THE LIFE OF THE MIND!” — Barton Fink (1991), written by Joel Coen, Ethan Coen The Daily Dialogue theme for the week: Madness. Trivia: Written by Joel Coen and Ethan Coen after a trip to see Baby Boom (1987) while suffering writer’s block
Scene-By-Scene Script Breakdown Challenge The GITS community never ceases to amaze me. On October 16th, I put out this challenge: Here’s what I’m thinking: We have 4 weeks in November. What if we choose one script per week from here, the free and legal screenplays we host on the site. I’m
Spec Script Sale: “Midnight” Radar Pictures acquires horror thriller spec script “Midnight” written by Travis Baker and Richard Tanne. From Deadline: The horror-thriller described as “I Know What You Did Last Summer meets Prisoners” centers on a small-town mayor’s daughter who goes missing and the detectives, family and friends who discover
Video: Jill Soloway Keynote Address | 2014 Film Independent Forum Screenwriter-director Jill Soloway delivers the Filmmaker Keynote Address at the 2014 Filmmaker Forum. Via Indiewire.
Movie Trailer: “Avengers: Age of Ultron” Written by Joss Whedon, comic book by Stan Lee & Jack Kirby When Tony Stark tries to jumpstart a dormant peacekeeping program, things go awry and it is up to The Avengers to stop the villainous Ultron from enacting his terrible plans. IMDB Release Date: 1 May 2015 (USA)
Great Scene: “The Matrix” “You take the blue pill, the story ends… you take the red pill, you stay in Wonderland.” One way to up your screenwriting chops is to study great scenes. Analyze their structure, themes, character dynamics. Why do they work? What are their narrative elements that elevate them to greatness? Let’
Script To Screen: “Boogie Nights” A key scene from the 1997 movie Boogie Nights, written by Paul Thomas Anderson. IMDB plot summary: The story of a young man’s adventures in the Californian pornography industry of the late 1970s and early 1980s. INT. RAHAD JACKSON’S HOUSE — NIGHT — THAT MOMENT A really big fat black
Daily Dialogue — October 29, 2014 “But, man, you’re never gonna get any truth from us. We’ll tell you anything you want to hear. We lie like hell. We’ll tell you that, uh, Kojak always gets the killer, and that nobody ever gets cancer at Archie Bunker’s house, and no matter how
“Character drives TV” A guest post from screenwriter Tom Benedek (Cocoon), co-founder of Screenwriting Master Class: “Character drives plot.” We say it over and over again in every film script workshop we do. Same goes in TV writing, naturally. Plot, story are crucial in television, too. But it is all about that
“It is by going down into the abyss that we recover the treasures of life” The wisdom of Joseph Campbell pertains not only to our own life-journey, but to that of the Protagonists we write in our stories. Here is an example: From a psychological, even spiritual standpoint, each of us has work to do, a never-ending interplay between the exploration of our
Dumb Little Writing Tricks That Work: “Don’t Finish That Scene!” Let’s say you’re in the middle of writing a script — and it’s a slog. You’re finding it really tough to drag your ass onto the chair and start writing the next scene. Well, let’s roll back the clock. What if yesterday, you hadn’t finished
Movie Trailer: “The Water Diviner” Screenplay by Andrew Anastasios, Andrew Knight An Australian man travels to Turkey after the Battle of Gallipoli to try and locate his three missing sons. IMDB Release Date: 26 December 2014 (Australia)
Great Scene: “Metropolitan” October is Great Scene month at Go Into The Story whereby we put a spotlight on notable movie scenes, then analyze and discuss them. Their structure, themes, character dynamics. Why do they work? What are their narrative elements that elevate them to greatness? Let’s face it: In a fundamental
Screenwriting 101: Mickey Fisher “I used to never outline in a real way, it was mostly just brainstorming and bullet pointing ideas for scenes and figuring out what the characters wanted until I had enough of a foothold to really sit down and write. I typically wouldn’t start until I knew at least
Daily Dialogue — October 28, 2014 Mal: [Sitting on the ledge, to Cobb] I’m asking you to take a leap of faith. Cobb: No I can’t. You know I can’t do that. Take a second, think about our children. Think about James. Think about Phillipa now. Mal: If I go without you they’
