Screenwriting and Dungeons and Dragons (D&D). What possibly could a roleplaying game have in common with the century-old art and craft of writing a screenplay for film or television? What on Middle Earth could these two worlds have in common? Believe … Read More
3 Steps to Unlock Your Extraordinary Villain Within
Are you, as a villain, reaching your fullest, most extraordinary villain self? Or is your villainy being limited by mundane, mealy-mouthed tropes or other half-baked screenwriting mistakes made by your creator, the screenwriter? It’s time to take charge of your … Read More
How to Improve Act One by Putting Your Characters Into a “Pickle”
Somebody once said — I think it might’ve been Mel Brooks — “If your Act 3 doesn’t work, go back and rewrite Act 1.” Every movie and film must start somewhere, right? If the movie doesn’t start, then there’s probably … Read More
How to Write a Logline With Stakes and Irony
How to write a good logline? Easy. Just make sure it has stakes and make sure it has irony. How to do that? Lemme ‘splain: First up, what’s a logline? Well, a logline is a 1-2 sentence blurb that describes a film. … Read More
Subtext in a Screenplay – How Screenwriters Can Write With More Depth
Subtext in a screenplay isn’t easy to spot, and writing subtext — or writing subtextually — isn’t easy to do. A screenwriter requires not only verbal dexterity, but a certain depth of life experience to draw from, in order for her … Read More
Getting into scenes late and leaving scenes early
Getting into a scene late and leaving it early. It can be difficult, even for expert screenwriters. But in Hollywood filmmaking, screenwriting lives or dies depending on how well it can dance on the ever-shrinking stage of audience attention span. … Read More
Screenplay Action and Description – How to Write it Like A Badass
Writing a screenplay often involves coming up with beautiful characters, stark settings, and really cool hovercraft race sequences. Communicating these elements effectively is the task of the script’s action and description text. The challenge is that not only must the … Read More
Screenwriting sci-fi or fantasy – How to balance lore with story
Crafting a lush fantasy world is no small feat. Not only does the screenwriter have to concoct a myriad of otherworldly details, she also has to connect us with those details in a meaningful way…
Screenplay Exposition – How to Write it Lean and Mean
What makes good screenplay exposition? I compare some exposition in the Raiders of the Lost Ark screenplay with a user-submitted script.
How to Not Be A Racist Screenwriter (Even Accidentally)
Racist screenwriter isn’t an archetype you see a lot of in Hollywood. But racism in screenwriting is all too common. It’s true that the film industry is taking significant steps towards diversity, and that we can discuss how big those … Read More