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Suite101: Writing for Stage/Screen Articles
Basic Screenwriting Formula and Format
Screenplays differ from other forms of writing because movies are a visual medium. Be sure to create great scenes, dialogs and characters that jump off the screen....
The Correct Format of a Screenplay
Getting the format of a screenplay right can be crucial; most producers will disregard a script that doesn't look professional....
The Basic Components of a Screenplay
Before leaping head first into writing a feature length screenplay, considering character, story and theme will help make the task easier....
The balance between dialogue and visual content varies depending on whether a drama is for theatre, for big screen or for small screen...
Loglines are essential for television and film scripts, but what are they, why are they so important and what is the best way to approach the writing of one?...
Screenplay Writing Tips for Beginners
Everyone wants to work in film, and writing a screenplay is a popular way to start. It's a competitive industry though - here are some things to consider....
johnaugust.com
How to logline a dual-plot story
If both plotlines are key to your story, you need to make that clear in the logline. Otherwise, you risk future readers feeling like you bait-and-switched them....
Free ebooks correlated with increased print-book sales
In books and in movies, increased sampling usually generates more sales than it costs....
I've picked my Director of Digital Things....
Adding up the publisher's expenses shows there is plenty of room for flexibility in pricing....
I've not written Alice in Wonderland three times. It's a recurring motif, dating back to 1995 and the very start of my career....
Can I base a character on a real asshole?
You're naturally going to be drawn towards real-life people who are fascinating. That's a good thing. Observe behavior. Figure out motivations and pathology. Then forget the real person....
Writing for Performance
TV writers talk: Bill Lyons & Gwyneth Hughes
"In this session, TV writers Bill Lyons (Emmerdale) and Gwyneth Hughes (Five Days) explain how their careers got started, how the relationship with commissioners and production companies works and reveal their tricks to creating characters audiences care about." (via Screen Yorkshire)...
WIF Foundation Film Finishing Fund
The Women In Film Foundation’s Film Finishing Fund (WIFF FFF) supports films by, for or about women by providing cash grants of up to $15,000 and in-kind services. The new grant cycle is currently open and WIFF FFF is accepting submissions. Filmmakers who are eligible can find more information through...
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via Robert Popper...
A Single ManTom Ford, co-writer/director interviewsInterviewColliderIndieWireFilmMaker*********************************************Astro BoyDavid Bowers, co-writer/director interviews:Japan Times ColliderSci-Fi Scanner*********************************************Battle for TerraAristomenis Tsirbas, co-writer/director interview:Terra TrailerMania*********************************************Percy Jackson and the Lightning ThiefCraig Titley, writer, interviews:Making OfLatino ReviewMr Media*********************************************PonyoHayao Miyazaki writer/director interviews:ColliderLA WeeklyCraveDaily TelegraphInterview with writer/director Hayao Miyazaki and director/producer John Lasseter*********************************************Valentine's DayKatherine Fugate, writer*********************************************The WolfmanAndrew Kevin Walker...
BlueCat create new Best UK Screenplay award
"On behalf of BlueCat Screenwriting’s goal to bring more exposure to UK screenwriters, I’m writing to cordially invite writers in your community to consider submitting a feature length screenplay to the 2010 BlueCat Screenplay Competition.This year, we have created two new awards for international screenwriters. The Cordelia Award...
The Artful Writer
And The New York Times Seems To Agree…
A few days after my blog on the ageism settlement, the New York Times has weighed in. …a deeper look at the settlement and its terms indicates that the defendants might not be giving up all that much, and that anyone who is expecting the floodgates to open with opportunities for...
There was once a time in America when great lawyers argued great cases in front of great judges. A number of those cases were about things far more important than contracts and regulations and petty crime. They were about the soul of our nation. Those cases literally changed our culture, our understanding...
Throwing Some Light on the Scriptshadow
First, I apologize for my absence. Work calls, and well…I hate to say it, but…I kind of got bored with blogging for a while there. It’s not that I didn’t have anything to say. I did. I just didn’t feel like talking much. God knows there are plenty of people out...
WGA Screenwriters: Take The Survey!
If you’re a WGAw screenwriter, you should have just received an email from the guild inviting you to take an online survey. While I can’t print the link (the survey is for Guild members only…each of you gets your own link…), I can strongly urge you to take the five...
After the jet ski and poisson cru madness (which never really ended, but who needs to hear about that anymore?), the adventures really began. First, I want to point out that while Couples Retreat obviously did very well at the box office, I think there’s a lot more cinematically to Bora...
Between work and baseball and something viral in my lungs that wasn’t swine-derived, it’s been a tough couple of weeks for blogging. I’ve got the final installment of the Tahiti trip stuff, plus my thoughts on the WGA election and the recent foreign levies settlement…all coming up. Stay tuned. Or not! That’s...
Living the Romantic Comedy
Now and then people ask me, "What is the biggest mistake writers make when they're writing a romantic comedy?" My answer is: They put too much emphasis on the obstacles—the things that keep their protagonists apart. Because actually what's more......
Early on in our relationship, Tater and I had one of those "Really?!" moments. I was pontificating to her about cinematic storytelling, talking about how character could be revealed without using a word of dialogue, and I said, "You know,......
It sure wasn't me. Did you? Nonetheless, here's the movie that somebody thought we wanted to see. And evidently they weren't wrong. By now you've probably heard about the obscene amount of money this weekend's romantic comedy has made (an......
I had a theory. Things tend to be cyclical in our culture of arts and entertainment, and having just seen the romantic comedy genre dominated for a decade by male point-of-view raunch-coms (the Apatow era, from 40 Year-Old Virgin to......
It's that time of the year again. Romantic comedy lovers, lovers comedic or serious -- all humans with beating hearts know that as soon as February rolls around, there's a major holiday to be reckoned with, one that's come to......
The way he chooses his language and his descriptive phrases is amazingly perceptive and helpful. And if you don't listen very carefully, you might miss it. Bob directs using active verbs. You can play an active verb. You can't play......
By Ken Levine
Because Hollywood takes itself waaaaaay too seriously.When winners use clichés like “journey” and “artist” they MEAN IT. When they call a director who helmed AMERICAN PIE 10 a “visionary” they really think he is.When Oscar attendees wear ribbons supporting the cause de jour they seriously believe they’re doing their...
Is Tiger Woods a sexoholic? Yes, dear.
We may have all been fooled by Tiger Woods' recent scandal but the writers of YES, DEAR weren't. This is from several years ago....
Dark Haired White Women of Westminster
From one of the funniest people I know, Merrill Markoe:...
Today’s Friday question is one I get frequently (usually from my agent). bevo asks:How come you left MASH?We had just completed the 7th season. From the time David Isaacs and I became head writers we pretty much wrote or re-wrote every script. We had a...
Get Mary Richards to break it up....
Mo'Nique Talks About Her Open Marriage, Hairy Legs
Some stray thoughts and possible amusements: Not what you want to hear: A police helicopter was sweeping my street last night and over a loudspeaker I heard: “Put down your weapon! Put down your weapon!” Note to neighbors: You might want to have your daughters...
Scriptwriting in the UK
As some of you will know, Julie Gray’s seminar, ‘Idea to the Page to the Screen’, will be in London on 6th and 7th March (like, this weekend!) and then in Oxford on 13th and 14th March. To reserve a space in the seminar, please go to Julie's website or...
Any form of distraction when you should be writing is usually classified as procrastination. Surfing the net, watching TV, blogging, tweeting, hell, even housework. You know the drill. Anything but writing. However, there's a form of procrastination that's not quite procrastination, yet it is. You're not writing, but you kind...
Here's the second comic strip from Sam's Grime City project (follow Jack Hersey on Twitter for even more):It's a big week for Sam. He's about to turn forty. His gawgeous wife, Sally Arthur, is nominated for a BAFTA for producing animated short Mother of Many but she won't be at...
My regular co-writer Sam Morrison is a busy beaver, as ever, currently weaving his magic on a new project called Grime City P.D. It's the colourful successor to Sam's Rocket Science, a black and white spoof of 1950s noir and B movies (runner-up for Best Comedy at the British Animation...
The voting for the one page scene competition doesn't close until Friday so you've still got lots of time to choose your favourite. At the moment, it looks fairly evenly split, so it could either way! If you haven't voted yet, click here (or scroll down to the previous post...
** UPDATE - FRIDAY 12TH FEBRUARY **And the winner is 'The Denouement' by Caitlin Catherwood & George Pursall. Well done you! You win the brainstorming session with Julie and the other goodies she has lined up. As you have her email, feel free to get in touch, or I'm sure...
INDELIBLE FRECKLES
Applications and submissions for contests or funding or plain ol’ attention sometimes require a paragraph on the supplicant. Here’s a placeholder I stumbled across in my archives. I wish I could remember what medication I was on when I drafted it. NINA T survived three tours of duty in Afghanistan, and...
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Been saving these up, oh yes I have. The last swords-and-sandals epic I saw was Gladiator. Since then, Troy, Alexander, Rome and 300 have come and gone with nary a flicker of interest on my part. But The Incomparable’s review of Rob Tapert and Sam Raimi’s Spartacus has sparked...
Back in the day when floppy disks abounded, 40MB hard-drives were tha bomb, and WordPerfect was the wordprocessor du jour, I bet I looked down with poorly masked derision at the old-timers who insisted on printing off hardcopies of everything they generated for peace of mind. When GoogleDocs came out, paving...
A few mornings back, The Dog and I had barely started our run when a neighbour’s dog – a mastiff bitch called Charlie – came up to say hello. We stopped – we’re polite social animals, the Dog and I, and sniffs were exchanged – I merely proffered my...
Let’s say you’re writing a thriller where your heroes are forced to take one of their own to a hospital, and for whatever reason the authorities MUST NOT KNOW whatever the hell they’ve been up to. How d’you wanna play the hospital trip – straight or strange? Straight: INT. HOSPITAL – DAY A REGISTRAR...
The Thinking Writer
WHY HE WON’T READ YOUR F^(!ING SCRIPT
For anyone feeling rejected, Nikki Finke posts this terrific essay (originally published in the Village Voice) from screenwriter Josh Olson (”A History Of Violence”). Don’t just read the essay; look at the comments, too. Some important viewpoints....
You are reading classic posts on the Thinking Writer. Feel free to refresh the page or search the archives for more....
Writer and screenwriter - “On The Waterfront”; “What Makes Sammy Run”. See his obituary here....
Please visit and contribute to the Screenwriting Wiki. It takes a little learning to get used to posting and editing wiki posts, but the result is worth it. You will be building a long-term resource for screenwriters, created by and owned by screenwriters. The wiki includes articles...
If you want to do some deep psychology on your characters, wander through the Keirsey Temperament Website. It has a fascinating system of categorizing personality types that may focus you on who your characters are, what each needs in order to be complete by the end of your story,...
HERE’S WHAT WRITERS EARNED THIS YEAR
As reported today on Variety.com, this was a banner year for writers: Despite the WGA strike, earnings for writers rose 4% to a record $943 million in the fiscal year ended March 31, reflecting accelerated work on feature scripts. Feature work jumped nearly 16% to $502.5 million as studios stockpiled, but TV...
The Screenwrightist
Writing can be confusing at times because the way things were done at one time are not always the best way to do them, it is just all they had back then. At one time novels were the highest form of storytelling technology. Anything you can think of can be...
Eternal Sources of Character Story Conflict
Playwriting and much television writing is mostly dialogue. What people say to each other can come off as simply talk if there is no character motivation behind it. When writing dialogue it is easy to bless whatever comes out of your head as gold, but a yardstick can help keep...
TV Writing is Mostly About Dialogue
Writers often put on paper whatever comes into their minds first. Freewriting is a great skill to have, but a consideration of the media you are writing for can help you communicate in it best. Just as novels cannot as accurately describe things like a photograph, there are certain things...
Many writers overlook short form material, concentrating on full-length works such as novels, films, and plays. Though longer works can seem more fulfilling and more in demand than shorter pieces, there are some great reasons to put effort into short writings. A short film especially holds a lot of value...
Writers Should Learn Story Structure
photo: oscheneMany writers just write whatever comes in their head and when it feels "finished" they bring it to friends and then share it with the world. They do not believe in any kind of act structure and feel constrained by the idea of craft. These writers yearn to be...
Writing Places Most Writers Overlook
photo: Tuvie Writing is mostly a solitary activity. Since writing only requires a writer and a writing instrument, writers spend a fair amount of time alone. Although others can be around as the writing happens, they are not necessary and can even sometimes get in the way. Being along so often...
Cyber Screenwriter
Writing Your Screenplay Without Expensive Software by Susan Hart
If the idea for a screenplay has been eating away at you for a while, but you lack the money to buy an expensive software program for your computer -- do not despair. Nothing more is needed than a simple word processing program (or you can use a more complex...
One of the challenges of being a screenwriter is that fulfilling your goal is an all-or-nothing proposition. An actor can get small parts and work and see themselves on TV and in a movie, even if they never become a star. But as a screenwriter, your script either gets produced...
It may be hard to tell from some of the stuff you see coming out of Hollywood, but believe it or not, no one sets out to be a mediocre writer.No writer dreams of writing that crappy screenplay with the unintelligible plot. No writer fantasizes about creating paper thin characters,...
Literary Agents Vs Managers - 5 Tips For Deciding Which to Go With First by Melody Jackson
For most screenwriters, it can seem like the whole process of trying to sell your script is one big "Catch 22": You can't get certain producers to read your script without an agent or manager, but agents and managers don't want to represent you until you've made a sale. The...
How to Write a Treatment For a Hollywood Screenplay by Melody Jackson
When you are preparing to write a screenplay or even preparing to do a major rewrite, it is very helpful to create a blueprint or treatment of what you are going to write prior to actually writing or rewriting it. This is what a treatment is used for. It will...
Hollywood Contacts - 5 Steps For Screenwriters to Make Connections and Keep Them by Melody Jackson
By now someone has probably told you, "You gotta know someone to have a career in Hollywood." And that is actually true. Getting Hollywood contacts on your Rolodex is critical to any and every career in Hollywood.The thing they probably didn't tell you, though, is that you don't have to...
Running With My Eyes Closed
Check out Where Have All the Women Gone? Long Time Passing in The Research Wrap Blog. Pilot season has been especially unkind to women writers this year. And the staffing situation isn’t much better. Take at look at this chart included in the post: What about cable? Perhaps, I thought, cable would...
Did You Say You DIDN’T Want An iPad
I sure do, but more than that, I can’t wait to create something for one....
This morning, I got up my nerve and played a little Chat Roulette. This is the site where you turn on your web cam and then click to look at total strangers via their web cams, and text chat with them. I was a little apprehensive about it. Strangers! What do...
I was cruising the web this week looking for information about soon-to-be-released television series and was shocked to find virtually nothing. I’m talking about more than one series — series that are in the can and awaiting air dates. Yet, the only information about them are their IMDB pages and...
Check out the latest episode of Hailey Hacks. Then go friend Hailey on Icanhascheezburger.com....
Flash mobbing hits the Olympics! And I love that everyone is wearing their fabulous red mittens. I have red mittens, but I wasn’t invited....
Writersroom Blog
Writers 10 Rules And Why I Hate Them So
There's a big old pompous article in the Guardian Books Section entitled 10 RULES FOR WRITING inspired by Elmore Leonard's Ten Rules (yeah, Elmore Leonard, that great literary giant) that's tipped me into a twisted rage this week. The Guard......
Three pages of the screenplay for In The Loop are up on the Fade In website - and they've been annotated by Armando Iannucci. We also have an interview with Armando from last year on the BBC writersroom website, where......
This year's Oscar-nominated scripts are all available online. Find 'em here.......
Climbing To Making It Nirvana While Freebasing IMDB
I always find the suicide of a successful artist shocking. Such as Alexander McQueen this past month. Take a profile shot of his life and all seems gleaming: World renowned in his chosen field, rich behold comprehension, famous friends and......
Out, on a grief stricken [character name]
Check out the alternative endings to last week's live episode of EastEnders, and reveal the other possible murderers of Archie Mitchell!......
An Hour a Day Keeps the Existential Angst Away
In the book The 101 Habits of Highly Successful Screenwriters there is a section on the hours these highly successful scribblers devote to their craft. Each and every one of them tells the editor of their gruelling work schedule. Getting up before dawn and pounding on the laptop, at furious...
Mystery Man on Film
Hey guys,I’m back for one last post – links to 101 of my best articles!Who needs film school?-MM-----------------------------------------------Cinematic StorytellingI read Cinematic Storytelling, which was written by the great Jennifer Van Sijll, and I just LOVED IT. This should be in the library of every aspiring screenwriter on the planet and...
Hey guys,I’ve moved! You can find me athttp://www.mysteryman.org/ About the new site:- I was finding that most of the things I used to blog about ("news," "around blogosphere," "check out this article" type posts) I now tweet, which doesn't take up as much time. This new site will be premium...
Hey guys,I think it’s time for a new website, don’t you? Nothing terribly ground-breaking, just a little more organized, a little flashier. So we are devoting all of our energies to the as yet unnamed site, which I will announce here in due time. Until then, you can catch me...
Hey guys,Yesterday was Alfred Hitchcock’s 110th birthday. He was born on the east of London at Leytonstone on August 13, 1899.To celebrate, MTV posted Faith No More's video of "Last Cup of Sorrow,” a comical yet faithful homage to the master’s canon of great films. Lindsay Goldwert and Emily Christensen...
BALLS OUTA Truly Somewhat AWESOME Original ScreenplaybyTHE ROBOTARD 8000I can’t tell you how many e-mails I’ve received about this script. Over a hundred, I’ll bet, all asking (sometimes begging) me to do a script review. I added this to my to-do list. And God help me, the moment has arrived....
Hey guys,I’ve decided to give up the old Screenwriting News posts and Tweet Daily any and all screenwriter-worthy links as soon as I see them. I’ve also added the “Tweeted Screenwriting News” feed to my sidebar, and yes, you can follow me without joining.If you appreciate the news but...