People always point out that a relationship with an agent is something like a marriage, but without the sex (usually). Which means that sometimes there will be a divorce—at this point, the high profile one is J. K. Rowling dumping hers…
I think what we can learn from documentary makers is to pause before we launch into the obvious story and dig deeper to see if there’s a more interesting, perhaps more subtle, one lurking underneath…
You don’t really want totally arbitrary events in your script, but if you need to capture their attention, put it in and then in the next draft work your way backward in the story so it has some motivation…
An interesting twist on the old “write what you know” adage comes from aspiring screenwriter Mark McCann, who also is a policeman. One …
Shy and awkward is how screenwriter Seth Lochead describes himself. When he was starting out he felt he had to choose between building his career by socializing or by writing a great script.
As a filmmaker, getting movies made, seen and sold sometimes seems impossible. And if you haven’t yet made your first feature, sometimes it’s easy to get caught up in all the reason’s why it can’t be done.
Since starting Filmmaking Stuff, many screenwriters have written me, asking if I could provide advice on how they can protect their screenplay from theft. I usually tell screenwriters that most producers will not go through the process of raising a gazillion dollars without compensating the screenwriter fairly.
Or it may be that in the middle of my script things drag along too slowly–a common problem of first drafts. In that case, reminding myself that the traditional story model calls for escalating conflict can lead to better consideration of how I can add incidents that ramp up the tension and drama.
For filmmakers and screenwriters alike, one of the great things about Jurgen is his ability to make things happen. As you will read in this week’s Filmmaking Stuff guest article – When Jurgen was starting out, he quickly learned to stop asking permission and as a result, he carved his screenwriting career.
Based on my decade of making movies (and prior to that, working as a reader for a producer in New York City) – I am in the final stages of production. This screenwriting system will be based on a new step-by-step, fill in the blank approach to writing a movie script.
If you’re a writer, or a writer director or a writer-director-producer, or simply a producer working with a writer, sooner or later it …