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.
I type these words from my favorite leather chair in my favorite mystery cigar store. For the “Mystery Photo” in the Mar/Apr ’09 issue of Script Mag, I snapped a pic of this very chair with a piece of paper (handwritten by me) that says, “MM SITS HERE.” Hehehe… All the boys are here, too. … Read more
The Elements of Suspense also talked about editing in order to maximize tension, that when emotions are high, Hitchcock resorted to tight shots and close-ups, but when the tension is over, he’ll fall back on medium shots. This is common. And editing is just as important when you write your script. Consider the way Tarantino … Read more
What is melodrama and how do we avoid it? I’ve noticed that people have differing interpretations of melodrama, ranging from “sad movie” to “soap operas” to “anything that’s on Lifetime” or, as one guy told me, “it’s anything written by Anton Chekhov.” Indeed, variations abound in its definition: “A genre with an opposition between good and … Read more
“If, in the first chapter, you say there is a gun hanging on the wall, you should make quite sure that it is going to be used further on in the story.” – Anton Chekhov Okay, first, let’s talk about AUDIENCE KNOWLEDGE. There is available online a nice, albeit elemental, thesis on the Elements of … Read more
… & The Sliding Scale of Plausibility. Okay, a question for all the scribes: Must a thriller be totally plausible in order to be entertaining? Many film critics and TS reviewers behave like merciless logicians by pointing out each and every plot hole and logic flaw and thereby rejecting entire stories because of said plot holes … Read more