The Screenwriter’s First Pay Check

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You sweated and slogged for months to perfect the script. You’ve fought and bled another few months pitching everywhere in LA. At last, a producer has recognised your talent. She agrees to buy it. Hooray! You’ve made your first sale! Congratulations! It’s time to ditch the day job back in Australia, Delhi or Estonia, right? … Read more

Writing Drama (7)

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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. Conflict versus spectacle Most works of drama, particularly in cinema, seek to blend conflict and … Read more

Video: Don Roos

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When Don Roos says – almost as a throwaway – “For me, all those characters are me“, I thought he mentioned something that writers are not often reminded of. He goes on to say: “There’s a lot of very specific people inside.” I like his perspective.

The picture quality is not particularly good – not in the day of HD and 3D – but there are a few gems in this piece of video.

Enjoy!

Thank you to Louise Tan.

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Structure: Toy Story 1

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In his book Screenwriting: The Sequence Approach, Paul Gulino offers an excellent analysis of Toy Story 1, based upon the tools of anticipation.  The breakdown below follows this almost religiously, except only for some minor details. Apart from the division in 3 acts and 8 sequences, later I will also indicate how some story points … Read more