I read a script for a client recently that had a lot of good things going for it. I enjoyed the story, I liked the characters and the dialogue was snappy, witty and smart. And yet, something was bothering me the entire time I was reading it. What bothered me even more was that I …
Category: Structure
Film Noir and the Production Code: An Unlikely Alliance
For more than four decades the Production Code, otherwise known as the Hays code, controlled the content of American films. It was established in 1930 by William Hays with the blessing of the major studios, as well as conservative religious groups, and was initially released as A Code to Govern the Making of Motion and …
3-Act Structure in a Sequence – Jaws
A few weeks ago, I blogged about a scene from Children of Men in which the scene was structured in 3 perfect acts. Certainly finding or creating a 3-Act structure within a 4-minute scene, while not necessarily easy, is often necessary and is usually clear to discern. But what about an entire sequence of scenes? …
3-Act Structure in a Scene – Children of Men
Anyone who has followed this blog with any amount of regularity knows that I am an advocate of proper structure in screenplays, especially if you’re an unknown writer who is trying to break into the business with a spec script. Using proper dramatic structure when writing your script actually frees up your creativity by providing …
Character/Story/Theme: The Holy Trinity of Screenwriting
Much ink and many pixels have been spent over the years over how to write a quality screenplay. Many people with more experience than I have waxed on about structure, mythology, inciting incidents, plot points, subplots, twists, turns, and every other theory imaginable. I, myself, have written about many of those same things here in …
The Act 2-Act 3 Transition: Three Reasons it Trips People Up
As screenwriters of varying experience and success, we’ve all heard over and over again about 3-Act structure. I’ve written about the importance of structure in this blog many times, and especially how important it is for young and unknown screenwriters to demonstrate that they have a grasp for the structure before anyone will take them …
Dean DuBlois on Screenwriting
Dean DuBlois has directed such memorable animated features as Lilo & Stitch, How To Train Your Dragon and How To Train Your Dragon 2. The following link is to an article he wrote on his process. http://blog.artella.com/post/138032019011/some-thoughts-on-story-by-dean-deblois-i-was-asked
Comedy and Drama: Not Mutually Exclusive
I can’t tell you the number of times someone has given me a comedy script to read and it’s as dull as it can be because the writer forgot the one essential ingredient to all screenplays and that ingredient is drama. Likewise, I’ve read many dramatic screenplays that are morose and depressing because the writer …
Musicals and Action Films: Opposite Sides of the Same Coin
I just saw Pitch Perfect 2 the other night, and it got me to thinking about something. I actually enjoyed the film a lot more than I anticipated I would. It was very funny and the music and dance numbers were well-performed and well-choreographed. All in all it was a very entertaining film, and really …
The Underrated Importance of a Strong Ending
Watching Kramer vs. Kramer the a couple of weeks ago got me to thinking about how important a strong ending is to a film, and how infrequently people seem to talk about it, at least in terms of screenwriting. Sure, we always hear about structure and character depth and subtext in dialogue, but it’s not …