Genre Essentials: Vote for your Drama titles!
It’s time to round out our Genre Essentials series. For those who need a reminder, it all started here:
I have gotten to know a lot of screenwriters through the years including many of those who have broken into the business recently. In talking with or interviewing them, there is one thing I find they have in common: They know their stuff, particularly about the genre in which they write.
This is important: When you are writing an original screenplay within a specific genre, you really should know the heart, soul and guts of that genre. This will inform every step of your creative and writing process: concept, character development, brainstorming, plotting, tone, style, atmosphere, voice, pace, and so on. There are certain attributes common to certain genres, and you need to know as much about them as possible, if you want to follow, reverse or break those conventions.
Obviously you can’t read and watch everything, but isn’t there a way to cover the essentials?
Which led me to a new GITS series: Genre Essentials.
Take the eight most common genres: Action, Comedy, Drama, Family, Fantasy, Horror, Science Fiction, Thriller.
Combine with five content areas: Movies, Scripts, Books [Fiction], Books [Non-Fiction], Resource.
Use the suggestions of the GITS community to generate a list of essential study for each genre.
I ran this series for 2 months, week by week, and you generated some incredible titles and resources.
Now let’s finalize those lists.
Today: Drama
VOTING: 10 Must-See Drama Movies
VOTING: 10 Must-Read Drama Scripts
VOTING: 10 MUST-Read Fiction Books for Drama Writers
Drama: Must-Read [Non-Fiction] Books
Each day this week, I will invite you to vote in different genres. Based on that, we will end up with a set of essential resources you need to cover per each of these eight genres.
So please take the time to make your voice heard.
Tomorrow: Family.
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