workshop

The Story Revolution

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Nafa – Choctops Meeting: 18/2/08 (Report by John Haly, Thank you to Tony Chu) Karel -a Belgian producer and script consultant – founded OZZYWOOD Films and The Story Department (which is a unique Australian blog and online resource for screen story theory). Karel headed production and programming at London’s Digital Broadcasting Company and was a … Read more

First, Break All the Rules

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When I asked this student which one thing she remembered above anything else, she replied: “That you can break the rules, and get away with it.” She was not my student. In itself there’s nothing wrong with trying, but it saddens me that Heath Ledger’s last Australian film, Candy, was an example of a film … Read more

The Secret

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While you were out celebrating New Year’s Eve, I was watching David Cronenberg’s eXistenZ on DVD. Not that I’m such a pathetic hermit; it was just my wife’s fun idea of closing the Old Year. She admitted afterwards she might have been wrong. Missing the Sydney Fireworks and all that. Meanwhile, the Story Dept. has … Read more

The Three-Act Character

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In her PLOT CONSTRUCTION WORKSHOP, Linda Aronson discusses THE INSIDER as an example of a flawed script. The film not only put Russell Crowe on the celeb map with a Best Actor Nomination, it was also nominated for another six awards including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay. That’s a pretty good result … Read more

Writing in Sin

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After seeing CANDY tonight, I’m baffled that so-called established filmmakers can get it so wrong. And let me tell you, it is not THAT hard. First: a three ‘part’ structure is not a three ‘act’ structure. And a movie lacking drama will fail. Guaranteed. My fifteen students of Saturday’s workshop could have told you CANDY … Read more