Story. Screenplay. Sale.
Story & Structure :: The Five W’s :: Conflict: The Foundation of Storytelling :: Oz The Great And Powerful: Script to Screen :: Toughest Scene I wrote: Beasts of the Southern Wild :: The Toughest Scene I Wrote: Roman Coppola :: 10 Screenwriting Lessons You Can Learn From Ghostbusters :: Screenplay Review: Southbound :: Tales … Read more
Off-beat comedy writing genius Steven Kaplan discusses the idiosyncracies of comedy writing, including the idea of a flawed non-hero undergoing a Hero’s Journey. Are drama and comedy distinct genres? Is comedy, as Robert McKee dismissively stated, the schtick that gets in the way of the drama? Or is it a unique perspective that makes human … Read more
Killing Them Softly: How A Screenwriter Murdered His Own Protagonist Character Analysis by Jamie Wynen Andrew Dominik’s (The Assassination of Jesse James, Chopper) latest film is an adaptation of the novel 1973 crime novel Cogan’s Trade, starring Brad Pitt as the excitingly dangerous Jackie Cogan, Animal Kingdom veteran Ben Mendelsohn, and the implausibly named Scoot McNairy. … Read more
Take a fallen action movie star, plant him in a foreign language arthouse movie and tell his story. You might end up with indigestible pretention… or gold. by Karel Segers Jean-Claude Van Damme plays himself, a dead end, down-and-out Hollywood star who returns to retire in his home country. But when he wants to withdraw … Read more
I only know a handful of movies with anything near the emotional power of this movie moment. Only this one didn’t premiere in cinemas. It happened on TV, on the evening of May 24, 2009. [UPDATE: Here’s a great interview with Bryan Cranston about this scene.] by Karel Segers Spoiler warning for season 2! I’m … Read more