Story. Screenplay. Sale.
Outside of the system, there is very little room for any writing career in China. But in the US or even the less Bible thumping worlds of Europe, the big bucks go to the conformists, the purveyors of nothing in-particular, while the more nuanced, the critical, the original or just plain eccentric, rarely find finance. … Read more
If you have tried financing a genre film or get development funding for your script in Australia over the past ten years, chances are at some point you were rejected by the gatekeepers on the basis of plausibility. Some people simply don’t understand how film works. If anyone did understand how film works, it was … Read more
In my Hero’s Journey classes I explain how in great movies, any form of movement is full of meaning. Too many writers don’t understand how to handle movement. And really, if you don’t write movement, you’re not writing a movie. by Karel Segers A chase is never just a chase. Have you noticed that the … Read more
Arm each character with a secret to keep and a lie to tell – secrets and lies that have value and possibility for damage – and then throw events at the characters that force the secrets and lies out into the open… At the heart of all great screen drama are Big Secrets and Bold … Read more
A properly structured screenplay must have three acts… Or four? I have said before that the model you use to improve your screenwriting is your own choice. At the end of the day it is all academic. Whatever works for you. The Dept Revisited – A rerun of the best of the Story Dept. A … Read more