Month: July 2010

My Writing Journey

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The Story Department is a platform for sharing screenwriting insights and writing tips but we also regularly publish stories of writers at the beginning of their journey. Today’s story is that of Nigel Graves, a client who became a friend. I love movies. I always have. Funny that I couldn’t figure out why I was having … Read more

Writing Drama (9)

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Yves Lavandier’s book Writing Drama currently rates as the absolute favorite of our book reviewer Jack Brislee. To give you the opportunity to delve into Lavandier’s amazing knowledge and insight, we will be publishing a weekly excerpt from the book. The nature of the objective It is clear from this that an objective does not … Read more

Writing Ozu with Sake

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Thank you to FilmmakerIQ.com for this clip from the 1983 documentary
I Lived But … The Life and Works of Yasujiro Ozu. It features interviews with Ozu’s cast and crew, plus excerpts from newsreels, home movies, and clips from two dozen of his films.

Ozu’s cameraman Yuharu Atsuta shot the film, and his long-time production company Shochiku produced it. This short clip (2:30mins) is about the remarkable – and potentially inspiring – writing process of Yasujiro Ozu and co-writer Kôgo Noda.

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In Late, Out Early

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When Goldman wrote “get in late and leave early”, he was not talking about how you watch a bad movie. He meant screenwriters should keep scenes to what is essential to the story. No arrivals and departures, no meet & greet or chit-chat. This is one of the fundamental rules in writing a scene, one … Read more

Sex in Screenwriting (2)

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George Bernard Shaw once wrote “A pornographic novelist is one who exploits the sexual instinct as a prostitute does. A legitimate sex novel elucidates it or brings out its poetry, tragedy, or comedy.” Exactly! And how do you do that? Through characters. When I read a sex scene in a script, I’m not usually moved … Read more