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Respecting The Antagonist: Part 2
In Respecting The Antagonist: Part 1, I covered the basics of the Antagonist and his function in a screenplay -- as discussed in Bill Boyle's speech at the Alameda Writer's Group over the weekend. In Part 2 today, I'll be paraphrasing the parts of his speech that...
Respecting The Antagonist: Part 1
Today I went to the Alameda's Writer's Group's monthly open meeting in Los Angeles, where I took in a great speech that Bill Boyle was giving called: "Respecting The Antagonist." In this first half of a two-part article, I thought I'd summarize and paraphrase some of...
Show, Don’t Tell
There's an old adage in screenwriting -- show, don't tell. If there's a key character trait, event, or setting that the audience needs to know about, provide that information visually. Why? Humans are visual -- we learn things more quickly and readily by seeing....
Agents, Personal Managers, Lawyers
Today's article comes courtesy of Michele Wallerstein -- a highly respected screenplay, novel and career consultant. Her specialty is helping writers get their work into shape so it is marketable for the Hollywood community and/or publishing world. I first heard...
The Grouse Grind of Your Script
In Vancouver, British Columbia, the Grouse Grind is a trail that has become infamous among local hikers. Actually it's not so much a trail as it is a seemingly neverending staircase forged by evil forest gnomes. Hiking it for the first time can be a truly soul...
The Creative Screenwriting Cyberspace Open – Part 1
Wading in to Competition A few weeks back, I entered the annual Cyberspace Open screenwriting tournament put on by the people that produce the wonderful Creative Screenwriting magazine and hold the Screenwriting Expo in Los Angeles. For the first round, the rules of...
Get off the island
Writing is a very solitary craft. Even if you have a writing partner, most of your time will still be spent isolated on an island of your thoughts, staring at a computer screen, tapping at your keyboard, away from people and distractions. That's all well and good, but...
Internet Movie Firearms Database
Have you ever watched a movie and thought, "Wow, I wish there were some way I could find out what kind of gun that is"? Come on... be honest. No, me either. But for those who have, there's the Internet Movie Firearms Database. The cool kids call it the IMFDB. I typed...
Do you have an active protagonist?
One of the most common problems I encounter in scripts is the passive protagonist. If you're writing a mainstream Hollywood movie, you need to make sure your protagonist is active. What does it mean to have an "active" protagonist? Robert McKee writes, in his amazing...
Seven ways to ensure your scenes are lean and mean
Like exercising, screenwriting takes discipline. Before you sell your script, there's no one there to police your scenes but you. As such, one of the most common mistakes writers make is they allow their scenes to binge on the Vegas-sized buffets of their imagination....
Are you my density?
"I'm your density." - George McFly Are you still writing dense paragraphs of description in your script? You know what I mean. Those paragraphs that keep going and going like the Energizer Bunny. If so, it may be working against you. How long is too long? There's no...
Take action with your verbs
As brevity in screenwriting is so crucial, it's extremely important to pick verbs that do more than just describe the action. In the rush to get that first draft of our script finished, we often plug in action words that we use every day in conversation or that come...