Story. Screenplay. Sale.
A powerful tool in creating distinctive characters is their language, using accent, dialogue and even foreign language. In the real world, everyone speaks in a way that is slightly different from everyone else. In sociolinguistics, this is called an idiolect. (from Greek idiōma ‘private property, peculiar phraseology’, and idios ‘own, private’) A few years ago I … Read more
In addition to working with writers, producers and agencies everywhere, I teach screenwriting courses at film schools in Australia, Europe and online. The school gigs largely consist of lecturing about screenwriting theory, and consulting on the students’ screenplays. I love teaching, I adore my students, and I’m fortunate enough to see some good results, as … Read more
So we’ve started a YouTube channel! Steven Miao created the opening video sting and Mukul Kandara helped with setting it all up. Thanks, guys! The channel had been in the making for a long time, but I just have been too busy with clients, teaching and workshopping awesome projects. What I was planning on doing … Read more
There’s no greater insecurity than the doubts that keep you from selling your creative work. Is it good? Is it great? Or is it useless? Should I show it to anyone? To whom? Is it ready to sell? I have found that as someone’s experience grows, often so does their insecurity about the state of their scripts. Many newbies are overeager to … Read more
Silence. Professionalism. Action… (Part 5) So here I am about to approach three years in L.A. (June 10 to be exact) and I feel the need to share my journey once again despite completely falling off the radar for well over a year with this confronting piece of my Hollywood sojourn. As I look back, … Read more