Story. Screenplay. Sale.
Until Mystery Man disappeared in 2010, he was a regular contributor to The Story Department. His very last public article was published here and it is still ranking as the most popular post on the site.
Yes, Robert McKee is a god. His work is full of power and majesty and inspiration. I love him for his contribution to the great discussion on the craft of storytelling. However, McKee is a flawed greek god who has his problems. He was wrong about Characters Arcs. Plus, he made all the newbie screenwriters … Read more
The photo is from Ran. Isn’t that a fabulous image? Of all the directors in the history of cinema, I’d rank Akira Kurosawa somewhere at the top of my list. One could argue persuasively that no filmmaker has created more masterpieces than Kurosawa. Patrick Garson wrote, “Analysing any film by Akira Kurosawa is a joy. … Read more
So let’s talk about writing the shots. I once had a brief conversation about this topic in e-mail with Jennifer van Sijll, a screenwriting professor, consultant, former professional reader for Universal, and author of Cinematic Storytelling. (what preceded) She wrote, “I think a writer should avoid anything that takes readers out of the read. As soon as … Read more
Okay, let’s just clear the air of so much bad thinking about action lines. I don’t know how or why this happened, but a lot of newbies seem to think that a scene is comprised of two or three things only. . 1) a Master Scene Heading (such as INT. MYSTERY MAN’S KITCHEN – NIGHT) … Read more
What kind of photos does one use for an article about Secondary Headings? How about some imaginative (photoshop’d) locations thanks to Worth1000? Because if locations like these were in your scripts, you’ll probably need to use some Secondary Headings to get around. I’ve said so many different things about Secondary Headings in so many different … Read more