Over the last few years screenplay competitions have been popping up all over the place. Some are attached to established film festivals or sponsored by local filmmaking groups or even government agencies. Others are run as stand-alone events. Some of these competitions are free to enter, whereas others charge up to $50 or more for…
Aspiring screenwriters are often told that all their characters sound the same. The grandma sounds the same as the teenager. The professor sounds the same as the stripper, etc. The advice generally given to remedy this problem is to: “Give each character a unique voice, speech patterns, inflections, and vocab,” and / or, “Give each…
There is a long history of literary writers crossing over into screenwriting, whether it be to adapt their own work, create something new, or adapt the work of others. Some of them have made this transition with great success, and have been able to translate their written voice into a visual medium. Many others, however, this transition…
From the outside looking in, a movie is just a collection of scenes that are tied together. So what separates the great films—the ones that are embedded in our collective consciousness—from the forgettable ones? Several things elevate a movie into being memorable: a great concept, a great cast, and ultimately, a great screenplay. As a writer, you…
As you’re thinking about getting ready to try and sell your script, you should be asking yourself, is it really ready? The business of screenwriting is hard enough without jumping into the market unprepared. Besides the actual writing, which is a sometimes torturous process in itself, there is everything else that goes into getting your finished work…
With so many players involved in the filmmaking process, from the actors, writers and directors, to the editors and cinematographers, not to mention the studio executives throwing in their two cents, it’s hard to tell who is responsible for the finished product of a film. So who is the true author of a film? For…
The main sticking point with dialogue in a screenplay, and something that tortures most beginning writers is how to make the words sound believable, even realistic, without sounding forced or too perfect. It’s a fine line to walk between what real world speech sounds like as opposed to what movie dialogue sounds like, and how…
With the number of re-makes coming out these days, you’d think every original film idea had been used a dozen times. Not to say that it hasn’t (the black-white “buddy cop” film has practically become its own genre. Examples: Showtime (2002), Blue Streak (1999), The Man (2005), Money Train (1995) and Lethal Weapon (1987)). The reason Hollywood films are often pushed…
Right this very second, in the heart of every struggling, undiscovered screenwriter, in the dark, hidden corner deep within, there is a voice, a clear whisper, saying one thing: You’re never gonna figure this out. And this is not referring to the story with its gaping hole, the finale missing a payoff, the hit and…
