Activate your Dialogue
Give your characters something to do. Always. Long dialogue without action essentially means you are filming talking heads, which is profoundly anti-cinematic. It’s a simple rule but still too many newbies ignore it. It’s called MOVIES, remember? This is a really easy check. Flick through your script, checking for pages with only dialogue. See that continuous … Read more
Mystery Man on Melodrama
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
Best o/t Web 16 May
:: Robin Hood: Robbing From the Poor
:: John August about Theme.
:: Where do you find good ideas?
:: Can a writer have more than one agent?
:: Short(film)Cut to Hollywood Success
:: Facebook: Reality vs. the Movie
:: Gladiator screenplay at mypdfscripts.com
:: When Backstory is Too Much Information
:: Legendary Screenwriters (by the other Craig Mazin)
:: Great scifi fiction novel on its way to the big screen
:: Roger Ebert hates 3D too (as does Alex Epstein)
:: About nitpicking. This is not about your screenplay. Yet it is.
:: Movies shouldn’t be like books. And vice versa.
:: Who are you writing for? Or… Who are you kidding?
:: Inception + Toy Story 3 = Scary Genius
Query massage!
Yesterday was about HOW TO. Today: How NOT TO. What follows might make you feel (a lot) better about your own query letters. If, however, either letter looks like yours, better start looking at the more positive aspects of your day job. The title “Query massage!” was taken from the original email’s subject. I doubt … Read more