Story. Screenplay. Sale.
The craft of telling a story starts with structure skills.
Some claim the 70’s was the best decade for film. I agree. The decade of Jaws and Star Wars was also that of Chinatown, One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest and Alien. It was the time of the smart thrillers: political, conspiracy, spy thrillers. A director who mastered all three, was Alan J. Pakula. He … Read more
How to create a great character. The holy grail for the beginning screenwriter. Yet, when you listen to the gurus, it sounds so simple. Once you have a few scripts under your belt, you will realise how difficult it can be. Great characters are essential to an engaging sellable story. This is true for the movies, and even more for TV. Now, the … Read more
The Wire has a Hero’s Journey, in case you missed it. It is also the one TV show I keep going back to. The HBO production first aired in June 2002, and since then, the show won a large following of people who – like me – call it the best show on TV, ever. The original … Read more
After Touch Of Evil‘s European premiere at the World Expo ’58, Les Cahiers du Cinema labeled Orson Welles’ film noir an ‘instant classic’. For years, it has been my favourite piece of pure cinema. [box size=”large” style=”rounded”]We’re going to spoil a thing or two. Like the ending. My appreciation for Touch Of Evil has certainly nothing to … Read more
Initially, Better Call Saul was going to be a comedy spin-off for Breaking Bad fans. Then, creators Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould claimed they were going to do something entirely different and new. Breaking genre. After only the first episode, it transpired that Gilligan & Gould came up with something that is tonally very close to Breaking Bad. … Read more