Story. Screenplay. Sale.
Craig Wright is another one of those insufferable creative polymaths, having written the screenplay for Hollywood’s latest gamble on the nostalgia dollar, Mr Peabody & Sherman – which has so far surprised everybody by performing quite well. He’s earned his chops over the last decade by writing, producing and directing on a number of successful … Read more
Here’s a little-known secret about stories: they’re about what your characters do. Okay, so maybe it’s not so little known. I mean, duh, right? Your character does something and then he does something else—and, presto, you have a plot! And yet writers often end up spending a huge chunk of time describing what their characters … Read more
Cinephilia and Beyond published a brilliant piece on David Mamet, where he rails against exposition. The article opens with James Foley’s director’s commentary on Glengarry Glen Ross, and it includes the full screenplay. I remember interviewing Foley at the time of the film’s first release. It struck me how Mamet was very much the elephant in the room … Read more
Story & Structure :: Great Scene: “Apocalypse Now” :: “The Good Wife” Creators On Adult Storytelling :: Russell T. Davies on Writing Action :: Great Character: Donnie Azoff (“The Wolf of Wall Street”) Script Perfection :: Ira Glass on the Creative Process :: Brooklyn Weaver on Building a Brand & Discovering New Voices :: Shut … Read more
Over half a century on, Psycho is still a tremendous inspiration to low budget filmmakers, as Hitchcock shot the film on a shoestring budget of under a million dollars. Because many “B” movies did well commercially at the time, Hitchcock wanted to see if he could turn a solid, inexpensive film into a success. Keeping … Read more