The Incident versus The Call

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On the one hand there are the followers of Syd Field who speak of ‘Inciting Incident’.  Then there are the believers in mythology who speak the language of Joseph Campbell and prefer ‘The Call to Adventure’. To make matters worse, others speak of ‘Opportunity’ or ‘Disturbance’, Catalyst etc. Chances are this post is not going to … Read more

The Reverse Arc

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I saw Barefoot in the Park the other night. It was okay. But something interesting happened in the Third Act that might be worth sharing. We reach the point of the story where the characters have fully arc’d. Jane Fonda had felt that Robert Redford was “a stuffed shirt” who never allows himself to get drunk … Read more

Best o/t Web 14 Feb 10

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:: Happy Valentine! Mernit and the Revenge of the Romantic
:: Download the Moonstruck script at MyPDFscripts.com
:: The Dorothy Effect: travelling to another world.
:: It’s now Denis Lehane, Screenwriter.
:: Bill Martell’s stalker story. Or isn’t it? Part 1.
:: Low budget writing is not always the answer.
:: A 3-act short story in only 52 secs.
:: Psycho’s problem with the censors.
:: Interview with Ben Ripley, writer of Source Code.
:: Emily Blake on character introductions.
:: Chris Nolan’s 3rd Batman movie confirmed.
:: Terminator Rebooted and Recycled.
:: Ratatouille, Star Wars and the need for Perspective
:: Alex Epstein: Conveniences vs. Conventions.
:: Science Fiction writers get better with age.
:: Just too many great scripts to list this week at MyPDFscripts.com
:: Alexandra Sokoloff reminds us: What is High Concept?
:: John August’s 10 hints for Index Cards.

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Translating Visions

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At one time or another, all of us, have been told by those wiser that we should “write visually” as screenwriters. It’s good advice and frankly no self-respecting screenwriter should ever stop thinking visually. But, what exactly does it mean? I have seen some inexperienced screenwriters take this instruction to heart and after reviewing some … Read more

Understanding Screenwriting

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“Understanding Screenwriting: Learning from Good, Not-Quite-So-Good, and Bad Screenplays” by Tom Stempel. Continuum New York, N.Y. 2008. 230pp. ISBN-13: 978-0-8264-2939-1 Amazon Price: US $17.05 ABOUT THE AUTHOR Tom Stempel has been teaching screenwriting at Los Angeles City College since 1972. He is a film historian and a writer, with four other books to his credit. … Read more