Why Creative Careers Fail [And Why You Will Succeed]

There are just as many ways to break into the creative industries, as there are people working in it. Similarly, there are as many reasons for failure as there are failed creative careers. I’m going to cover a few that I have seen, (or even experienced myself). A Creative Career Is (Not) A Job A creative career … Read more

Screenwriting Basics [Story’s Holy Trinity]

screenwriting basics

Many teachers and writers have tried to capture the screenwriting basics. Unhappy with most of them, I boiled them down to a simplicity I have not seen anywhere else. This is mostly analytical. So there’s no guarantee that you will deliver a successful story. Then again, no system does. No matter what the teachers promise you. What this approach to … Read more

[Video]: The Ken Burns Effect

‘All story is manipulation. ‘ What gives a great story the power to move us? Acclaimed documentary filmmaker Ken Burns (Vietnam, Jack Johnson, The Roosevelts: An Intimate History) provides some key insights into how the skilful use of emotionally charged storytelling can bring alive historic events at 24 frames per second. If you liked this, … Read more

[Video]: Creativity and Copying

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Have you ever noticed how films concerned with similar themes will be written and produced almost simultaneously (Antz and A Bug’s Life, Interstellar and Gravity, Hitchcock and The Girl)? Ideas do not occur in a vaccuum – instead, they spring from the zeitgeist of the moment, the shared consciousness of society and culture. Everything Is … Read more

What You Can Learn From The Avatar Screenplay

In the Avatar screenplay, like in every screenplay, a moment occurs when the main character moves from Act One into Act Two. ‘Moves’, because in successful films, this is the point where we travel from A to B. In screenwriting jargon, we call this the First Threshold. Sometimes, it happens in the blink of an eye, … Read more