What is your story about? Don’t tell me it’s about a guy who robs a convenience bank to get the money to pay for his daughter’s cancer operation. Tell me it’s about income inequality and the lack of affordable healthcare. That is the difference between story and theme. Even though they’re different, they play off …
Tag: screenwriter
The Amateur Missed the Mark
The Amateur wanted so badly to be a Jason Bourne movie. Unfortunately, it missed the mark. It was an entertaining movie with nice performances from Rami Malek as Charlie Heller, a CIA decoder whose wife is killed in a terrorist attack, and Laurence Fishburne as the CIA trainer, Henderson, who must get Heller ready for …
Adapted Screenplay Nominee: Emilia Pérez
I have been down on Emilia Pérez for a long time. I heard a lot of negative reviews about it before seeing it, but I went into watching it with an open mind. The story of Emilia Pérez as a production is one of missed opportunities. It could have and should have been a great …
Story Structure and the Hero
I have talked to many screenwriters over the years who lament the idea of the 3-act structure and the supposed restrictions it places on writers and the screenwriting process. This is a simplistic view of what story structure really is. There is a reason that the 3-act structure (really 4-act structure) has become the industry …
BSsentials – Jaws
Oh, my god, this film is so fucking good. It’s impossible to overstate how excellent of a film Jaws is, and how important it was in the history of cinema. Rarely is there such a confluence of such greatness and such historical importance in a single film, and Jaws hits all the right notes. It’s ranked #48 on …