Story. Screenplay. Sale.
I found myself in an interesting situation last month when independent producer, let’s call him “Michael,” reached out to me. He was ready to pounce on a project with money supposedly in hand and needed to mobilize quickly. His eagerness was overwhelming as he bulldozed through small talk and gave me a heavy-handed breakdown of … Read more
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. Too many obstacles (1) A perfectly legitimate wish to confront a protagonist with a series … Read more
With thanks to Louise Lee Mei.
Recently a thought occurred to me. Two of the short films I produced each have the exact same story problem. I will explain it to you, so you have no excuse whatsoever to make this same mistake. Aerosol (2005) is the story of a factory worker who has to deal with an ant that is … Read more
How should a writer handle a story in which the protagonist is a serial killer? It’s an interesting dilemma, isn’t it? Because every book tells you that your protagonist should be “empathetic” and/or “sympathetic,” right? The audience has to “connect” with him/her on some level, “feel” for the character, and hopefully “root” for that person … Read more