MONDAY'S SCRIPT TIP:

TAKE US SOMEPLACE COOL

I'm writing a movie about what happens on my patio. The second bedroom of my apartment is an office, and it overlooks the apartment complex patio. Right now there's nobody out there... well, there are a couple of birds chirping around on a table... but on Saturday the couple across the courtyard will be barbecuing. They've got a kid who is constantly screaming and causing trouble and sometimes the couple gets into a debate about how best to discipline him. Dad wants to paddle him, mom thinks a "time out" is a good idea. They usually barbecue chicken, because you can get chicken on sale at the grocery store for 99 cents a pound sometimes - I've heard the mom talk about it. My script will also have the woman across the hall in a bikini, because she sometimes sits on the patio and works on her tan. I've said "Hello" to her, but she ignores me... pretending to be asleep. Sometimes late at night the guys from upstairs sit on the patio and smoke dope - if I breathe deeply through my open window I can... Oh, never mind. Hey, the birds are flying away! FADE OUT.

Every script takes us into a world where the story takes place. The audience is going to pay $12 to spend two hours living in that world. You can chose any world you want - the only limit is your imagination! So take us someplace cool! (someplace better than my patio)

FILM WORLDS

The #1 film over the weekend at this time last year was DOWNTON ABBEY which managed to clobber RAMBO and AD ASTRA and push last week's #2 movie HUSTLERS down a couple of notches (still in the Top 5). HUSTLERS is based on the true story of a group of strippers who scam wealthy Wall Street Traders (who managed to profit off the 2008 market crash) for hundreds of thousands of dollars... and then got busted. It's the story of the friendship between two women, and manages to be a female empowerment movie.... with lots of stripper scenes. Does that make it four qudrant? One of the great things this film does is take us into the world of strippers - and in an early scene, old pro Ramona (Jennifer Lopez) demonstrates all of the specific techniques involved in pole dancing to new girl Destiny (Constance Wu) and it is fascinating, Theses gals are *acrobats* and you get to learn how they do all of their moves. You may think "they're strippers, they take off their clothes" but the film shows that there is more to it than that. The high heels they wear have two different ways to grab the pole, there are different ways to spin and each has it's own positive (guys throw money for this move more than that move) and negative (it's damned hard and takes muscles and endurance strength). You get a lesson on pole dancing in this film and then cheer when Destiny masters the most difficult move. You also get to go back to the "champagne room" and see how these gals manage to get big tips without doing anything that crosses the line into prostitution. And you meet these gals' families - their kids and parents and see their lives outside of the strip club. You are taken into their world... and then taken into their criminal world when they cross the line and begin ripping off the Wall Street guys. How do they rip these guys off? They show you step by step...

The #1 film over the weekend 5 years ago took place in Lego Land, where everyone has to follow the instructions and Everything Is Awesome and you should never touch strange pieces. It is a world of order, where a builder like Emmet follows the same pattern every day, gets up at the same time and says hello to his neighbors and goes to work where he uses those Lego blocks to build buildings. As Christy Lemire says in her review: “The Lego Movie” is the rare film based on a toy or a game that truly feels like its own unique universe rather than a shameless, extended infomercial. And it's a cool world to spend an hour and a half in.

GRAVITY takes place in outer space, and not only can people not hear you scream... once you start moving it is very hard to stop. We really get to see how working in space is much different than working here on earth, and how small problems can quickly escalate. The whole experience of the film is about space, where there's no gravity to hold you down. I think much of the draw of the film is the world it takes place in...

A few years ago I saw director Zak Forsman's new film DOWN AND DANGEROUS at a film festival in Hollywood, about a lone wolf drug smuggler who is trapped between an ultra corrupt DEA Agent and a violent Drug Kingpin. This is an indie film funded by a kickstarter program, but looks like a big Hollywood production. The great part about the film is that it takes you into the world of drug smugglers. You learn how to smuggle drugs! The clever drug smuggler has all of these cool ways to get past the border guards with his goods. You see the *details* of his world. Instead of a typical crime film, it's almost a procedural! And by taking us inside that world and showing us how things work, this indie crime film becomes *fascinating*. Your story doesn't have to take place in Outer Space or Lego Land to take us into a cool world! DOWN AND DANGEROUS does what HUSTLERS does and takes you behind the scenes in a world you probably don't want to visit. A unique world. A world you may be curious about.

A few years ago we had *three* films that took place in Rio de Janeiro! FAST FIVE did something interesting and avoided the tourist locations and luxury for the gritty slums. Though there have been films that took place in the favelas before, it is an interesting and unusual location... and part of what makes the film unique. The first HANGOVER sequel went halfway around the globe to Thailand and gave us a tour of Bangkok along with the story. Both of these films give the audience a sort of travelougue of places you would probably not want to visit in real life... but in the safety of a cinema? Cool!

TOY WORLDS

A few summers ago the #1 movie TOY STORY 3 took us into the world of toys, which are alive when humans aren't looking. Though we have been in this world in two previous films, this third installment takes us deeper into the world, since the boy these toys belong to, Andy, has now become a man and is going off to college... the toys have been outgrown. We learn that toys are responsible to their owner kids, that they live to be played with... and *not* being played with is painful to them. When the toys realize their potential fates are: being sent to the attic in a box, being donated to a child care facility, or being thrown away where a garbage truck will crush them... we don't know which is worse. Will Andy decide to take some of the toys with him to college? When they end up in a garbage bag, they know their fate... and escape to the child care facility donation box.

Which brings us into a *new* world - the child care - where old stuffed bear Lotso is the toy in charge. This is a world that we have never seen before - not in the previous two TOY STORY films, and this is where the bulk of the story takes place. A world where toys do not have owners - they are free. A world where toys are played with *every day*. A world where kids may grow up, but a new group of kids replaces them - so that the toys are always the center of attention. A place that sounds like heaven for toys... but is it? This new world for the TOY STORY movies is what not only creates the story, but makes this story unlike the others. And the *details* of this child care world are what make the film fun. You will never look at one of those wire storage baskets in the same way again! The "Caterpillar Room" and the "Butterfly Room" are different parts of this new world, and we completely understand the differences between them. Every element of the child care facility world is part of the story... and fascinating. This is the world the story takes place in, and it is unique and an integral part of the story being told - not just a background to the story. TOY STORY 3 takes us into a world where humans have never been before, which is cool! TOY WORLD 4 took us back to that world one last time.

SPACE WORLDS

The new STAR TREK movies take us boldly where no man has gone before. In 2009's reboot, we not only got to go to Star Fleet Academy, we got to go to several different planets and even a different time! Since we were back with Young Kirk and Young Spock and Young Chekov before the incidents of the first TV series, I thought the movie should have had more of a sense of wonder than it did. But the Academy was filled with aliens and had Kirk nailing that green alien girl between classes... hey, that stuff is supposed to come with exploring alien worlds! Not just hanging around on Earth. The follow up also just took us back to Earth. Hey, for films based on a TV show about space travel way out into that final frontier of space, this two new films spend almost all of there time right here on Earth... where we live. Booooring! The original TV series would take the Enterprise and her crew to a new planet every week where there was a new crises, at least one new form of alien life (and some hot extra terrestrial for Kirk to nail), and some valuable social issue lesson for Kirk to learn by the end of the show (it was the late 60s). But every week we would be in some cool new world - whatever the writers could imagine that was still within the budget of the show.

The wonder that may have been missing from the STAR TREK reboots can be found in the 3D animated film BATTLE FOR TERRA, which takes us to another planet (Terra) where tadpole-like creatures live in peace and harmony and whales can fly. One of the great things about this film is that the *technology* on Terra is completely different than ours, as if they took a completely different turn during the Industrial revolution and technology was based on wind and wood. Their version of the car is a parasail, their version of a sky scraper is a tall tree. This location is unique - you have never seen anything like it on film before and that makes it very interesting, even when the location is just the background to a conversation. Of course a couple of minutes into the story this cool place is invaded by evil aliens hell bent on destroying paradise and putting up a parking lot... and those aliens would be *us*.

UNUSUAL WORLDS

All of this is science fiction, you say! Well, ANGELS & DEMONS takes place right here on Earth, but takes us to places we have never been before - not only inside the Vatican and inside the Vatican politics of electing a new Pope, but also into the world of the Illuminati - that secret organization of rogue scientists what have been waging a top secret battle against the Catholic Church for hundreds of years. Even on Earth there are secret worlds where film has yet to take us - and Tom Hanks and his weird haircut was our tour guide for this one. We will not be going to any of the normal stops on the Vatican Tour, he's going to take us to all of the cool places that are strictly off limits - in fact, if you ask the Vatican these places don't even exist. But we're going to go there anyway - Cool!

THE 300 doesn't takes place in the world of professional bowling, as you might expect, but takes us into the world of Spartan Warriors, trained from birth to be he perfect soldiers. We see how hey are trained. How they fight, and even how they die glorious deaths when outnumbered a hundred to one. For two hours we are taken into their world, and see the battles through their eyes. The other Greek soldiers are farmers in armor, the Spartans are warriors 24/7/365. The sequel not only takes us back to this world, it shows us a *different* world within that world.

BLADES OF GLORY takes us behind the scenes of a silly and slightly exaggerated version of Olympic ice skating. Even though this is a comedy, we've seen a glimpse of this world in real life during the Nancy Carrigan episode. We know that on the ice they may be graceful, but behind the scenes it's a cutthroat competition and not everyone involved is as sophisticated off the ice. Will Ferrell movies like ANCHORMAN are great at taking some world or occupation we are familiar with and then showing us the behind-the-scenes part of that world... and making fun of it. We get both the tour of the world behind the curtain... and comedy!

ROBOTS takes us into a world run entirely by those metal dudes, where two robots might fall in love, get married, and buy a "kid kit" and build a child. Where that robot can grow up and set out for Robot City - a world of steel and Rube Goldberg contraptions. ROBOTS cretes a world that's amazing and real and totally different than anything you've ever seen before. A world where the greatest Robot in history, Mr. Bigweld, can be tossed in the scrapheap in favor of the younger, more ruthless Mr. Ratchet... who wants to phase out replacement parts for older robots (which will eventually kill them). Soon, all robots will be exactly the same. That's a story we can relate to, in a world that's interseting and amazing.

HARRY POTTER AND THE GOBLET OF FIRE took us into the world of kid wizards. From the magic train that departs from platform 9 (in some other dimension) to Hogwart's School for Wizards, to the secrets street where wizards shop for magic wands and potion ingredients, the story takes us into a fascinating world completely unlike the one where we live - even though these characters seem to exist in our world as well. Do wizards really walk among us? Are there schools where the spelling test is all about *casting* spells? If your magic wand gets bent (and we all know how painful that can be) do the spells come out weird? This summer we get a new HARRY POTTER movie that will take us someplace else that is cool.

TROY takes us back to ancient Greece, where warriors still fight face-to-face with swords and Generals are itching for an excuse to send their standing armies into battle. A world where the beauty of a woman can launch a thousand ships and take two tribes to war. Where the best soldier in the world is treated like a Rock star... Oh, and for the ladies - Brad Pitt is often nekkid.

The stupid film VAN HELSING takes us to the most secret part of The Vatican, where an order of Monks wage a secret war against unholy monsters - using high tech (for the time) gizmos, a network of spies, and a James Bond-like assassin named Van Helsing. We also get to go to Transalvania, a country populated by monsters and lorded over by Count Dracula and his three vampire brides. In Transalvania, the creatures of the night are commonplace. Your own brother might be a werewolf! The villagers expect nightly raids from vampires, they *expect* a few people to be drained of their blood every once in a while. They even get angry with Van Helsing for fighting the Brides... now the vampires will kill for revenge.

Even a silly rom com like 13 GOING ON 30 takes us behind the scenes at a fashion magazine where editors live in fear of having their best stories scooped by the competition. It's like a well mannered cat fight - the editors smile perfect white teeth at each other while they back-stab and compete for the boss' attention. We get to see this world through the eyes of a naive 13 year-old girl who wakes up one morning to find herself an editor on the magazine... and locked in mortal combat with her middle school rival.

The LORD OF THE RINGS Trilogy took us into the world of Middle Earth. There are wizards here, but they aren't the cute kids from Hogwarts - they are wicked men who use witchcraft for world domination. This is a world of warrior knights and elf princesses and cursed Kings. A world of sword fights and charging armies on horseback and castles with moats. For almost three hours we are taken into this world completely unlike our own, where an epic battle rages.

FAR FROM HEAVEN took us into well-manicured 1957 suburbia - a fantasy world that rivals Middle Earth. In this perfect world everyone is well mannered - and worried about what their neighbors might think. Homes are tastefully decorated, no one drinks too much at Christmas parties, all of the men watch football and all of the women go to cultural events. In Middle Earth the Orcs may have foul breath, but here everyone's breath is minty fresh 24 hours a day. It's a Stepford World lifted from the films of Douglas Sirk where the slightest deviation from "the norm" is considered scandalous behavior.

GLADIATOR took us inside the arenas of ancient Rome. It showed us how gladiators train, how they live, how they battle, what kinds of food they ate, and how they can rise from slave to hero.

CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON took us into a magical world where people can defy gravity by running up trees and standing on the sides of walls. A world of sacred swords and deep traditions.

ALMOST FAMOUS took us on the tour bus with a rock and roll band at the moment they became famous. We met the roadies, the "band aids", the wives of the rock stars, and learned who takes out the laundry.

TRAFFIC took us into three worlds: We see the behind the scenes political life of the Drug Czar, we see what it's like to be a policeman in Mexico, and we sit in the back of the truck on stakeout with Don Cheadle and Luis Guzman.

Part of why we love movies is that we get to live other people's lives for two hours. I don't want to join the Navy, but I want to sit behind the stick of a F-14 fighter plane as a Top Gun pilot for a couple of hours and experience their world... which is why they are making that sequel to TOP GUN. The more details of that world you can show me, the more enjoyable my experience. In a strange way movies are a VR ride - the more detailed the world we create, the more the audience can immerse themselves in it. They more realistic the experience.

Your Screenplay Checklist:

* What world is your script taking us into?
* Is this a world the audince has never been to before - somewhere unique and interesting?
* Does your story take us behind the scenes and show us something new?
* How much of that world do you let us experience?
* How detailed and realistic is that experience?
* Does your script take place in a world an audience would WANT to spend 2 hours in?

Take us someplace cool.

COMING SOON!!!

Want To Look Like An Expert?

RESEARCH & WORLD BUILDING Blue Book!

Does this gun fire 6 shots or only 5? In all of the excitement of writing your action scene, you might not have done the research... and your hero could be out of ammo! Whether you are writing a novel or screenplay, you can save your hero, and your story, by doing a little research first! This book looks at Why you should research, Whether you should research First or Later, PLUS the importance of World Building in Science Fiction, Fantasy... and the worlds you explore in every other genre. Movies like JOHN WICK and THE GODFATHER take place in their own unique worlds... and writers must create them! YOU are the technical advisor on your Screenplay or Novel.

Using movie examples like TOP GUN, HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER, BLUE CRUSH, ADVENTURE LAND, several of my produced films, JOHN WICK, the novels of Donald E. Westlake and Thomas B. Dewey, SPY KIDS, the LORD OF THE RINGS movies, SOYLENT GREEN (which takes place in the far off future of 2022), and many others we will look at researching stories and creating worlds. The 8 Types Of Research, the 10 Types Of Information To Look For, 12 Important Elements Of World Building. Plus chapters on How To Rob A Bank and Commit Murder And Get Away With It for those of you interested in crime fiction, and Researching The Future for those writing science fiction, and Levels Of Reality if you are writing about a version of the real world.

No matter what you are writing, this book will help you find the facts... or make them up in a convincing way! Mid-May

NEWEST AND BLUEST!!

All About Rewrites!

REWRITES Blue Book!

Rewriting In Waves?

When You Finish Your Screenplay Or Novel...
The Rewrites Begin!

The end is just the beginning! You’ve finished your story, but now the rewriting begins! This 405 page book shows you how to rewrite your screenplay or novel to perfection. Everything from Character Consistency to Shoeboxing to How To Give And Receive Notes to 15 Solutions If Your Script’s Too Long! and 15 Solutions If Your Script’s Too Short! to Finding The Cause Of A Story Problem to Good Notes Vs. Bad Notes to Finding Beta Readers to Avoiding Predictability to Learning To Be Objective About Your Work to Script Killer Notes and Notes From Idiots to Production Rewrites and What The Page Colors Mean? and a Complete Rewrite Checklist! The complete book on Rewriting Your Story!

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All About Endings!

GRAND FINALES Blue Book!

The Perfect Ending For Your Story!

The First Ten Pages Of Your Screenplay Are Critical,
But What About The Last 10 Pages?

Creating the perfect ending to your story! This 100,000 word book shows you how to end your story with a bang, rather than a whimper. Everything from Resolution Order to Act Three Tools to Happy or Sad Endings? to How The Beginning Of Your Story Has Clues To The Ending (in case you were having trouble figuring out how the story should end) to Falling Action to How To Avoid Bad Endings to Writing The Perfect Twist Ending to Setting Up Sequels & Series to Emotional Resolutions to How To Write Post Credit Sequences to Avoiding Deus Ex Machinas, to 20 Different Types Of Ends (and how to write them) and much more! Everything about endings for your screenplay or novel!

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NO KINDLE REQUIRED! Get the *free* app (any device, except your Mr. Coffee) on the order page on Amazon!

NEW in 2020!

All About LOGLINES, TREATMENTS, and PITCHING!

LOGLINES, TREATMENTS, and PITCHING! Blue Book!

Distilling Your Screenplay!

Loglines, Treatments, Pitching, Look Books, Pitch Decks, One Pagers, Rip-O-Matics?

You have written a brilliant 110 page screenplay, but how do you get anyone to read it? You need to distill it down into some form of verbal moonshine or story rocket fuel that will ignite that bored development executive or manager or agent and get them to request your screenplay. But how do you shrink those 110 pages into a 25 word logline or a 2 minute elevator pitch or a one page synopsis or a short paragraph? This 100,000 word book shows you how! Everything you need to know! From common logline mistakes (and how to solve them) to how your pitch can reveal story problems to the 4 types of pitches!

272 Pages - ONLY $4.99!

NEW in 2020!

Making Your Own Movie?

WRITE IT: FILM IT BOOK!

Making Your Own Movie?
Writing An Indie Film?
Writing A Low Budget Genre Script To Sell?
Writing A Made For TV Holiday Movie?

You will be writing for BUDGET. On a standard spec screenplay, you don’t have to think about budget, but these types of screenplays writing with budget in mind is critical!

If you are making your own movie, budget, is even more important - and you need to think about budget *before* you write your screenplay... or you will end up with a script that you can’t afford to make (or is a struggle to make). Everyone is making their own films these days, and even if you have done it before there are lots of great techniques in this book to get more money on screen - for less money! You can make a film that looks like it cost millions for pocket change.

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THE BOOK THAT STARTED IT ALL!

*** THE SECRETS OF ACTION SCREENWRITING *** - For Kindle!

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"SECRETS OF ACTION SCREENWRITING is the best book on the practical nuts-and-bolts mechanics of writing a screenplay I've ever read." - Ted Elliott, co-writer of MASK OF ZORRO, SHREK, PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN and the sequels (with Terry Rossio). (ie; 4 of the top 20 Box Office Hits Of ALL TIME.)

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BRAND NEW!

*** MITCH ROBERTSON #2: THE FAMILY'S JEWEL *** - For Kindle!

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Mitch Robertson stepped over the body of an ex-child star turned sex tape star turned pop star and entered the room, spotted a gun on the floor and picked it up... careful not to spill his coffee with three pumps of mocha syrup from Penny’s Coffee Shop. That coffee was gold, the only thing keeping him going in this dazed state of wakefulness. The gun felt light. Holding it, he saw the silhouette of an 80s action star sitting sideways on a tipped over chair. Motionless. Was he dead? Mitch was still hung over from the Awards Party the night before, and wondered whether this was all some sort of crazy nightmare that he would wake up from... but when he tripped over the brown legs of a bottomless Superhero, flaccid junk encased in a condom but still wearing his mask, and hit the edge of the sofa, gun skittering and coffee spilling, he realized that it was all very real. What the hell had happened here?"

Short Novel. Only 99 cents! - and no postage!

Tips FAQ

My New Script Secrets Newsletter!

THE BLUE BOOKS!

FIND A GREAT IDEA!

*** YOUR IDEA MACHINE *** - For Kindle!

****

Expanded version with more ways to find great ideas! Your screenplay is going to begin with an idea. There are good ideas and bad ideas and commercial ideas and personal ideas. But where do you find ideas in the first place? This handbook explores different methods for finding or generating ideas, and combining those ideas into concepts that sell. The Idea Bank, Fifteen Places To Find Ideas, Good Ideas And Bad Ideas, Ideas From Locations And Elements, Keeping Track Of Your Ideas, Idea Theft - What Can You Do? Weird Ways To Connect Ideas, Combing Ideas To Create Concepts, High Concepts - What Are They? Creating The Killer Concept, Substitution - Lion Tamers & Hitmen, Creating Blockbuster Concepts, Magnification And The Matrix, Conflict Within Concept, Concepts With Visual Conflict, Avoiding Episodic Concepts, much more! Print version is 48 pages, Kindle version is over 175 pages!

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FIGURE OUT YOUR STORY!

OUTLINES & THE THEMATIC Blue Book.

ARE YOUR SCENES IN THE RIGHT ORDER?
AND ARE THEY THE RIGHT SCENES?

Your story is like a road trip... but where are you going? What's the best route to get there? What are the best sights to see along the way? Just as you plan a vacation instead of just jump in the car and start driving, it's a good idea to plan your story. An artist does sketches before breaking out the oils, so why shouldn't a writer do the same? This Blue Book looks at various outlining methods used by professional screenwriters like Wesley Strick, Paul Schrader, John August, and others... as well as a guest chapter on novel outlines. Plus a whole section on the Thematic Method of generating scenes and characters and other elements that will be part of your outline. The three stages of writing are: Pre-writing, Writing, and Rewriting... this book looks at that first stage and how to use it to improve your screenplays and novels.

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GOT STRUCTURE?!

*** STRUCTURING YOUR STORY *** - For Kindle!

William Goldman says the most important single element of any screenplay is structure. It’s the skeleton under the flesh and blood of your story. Without it, you have a spineless, formless, mess... a slug! How do you make sure your structure is strong enough to support your story? How do you prevent your story from becoming a slug? This Blue Book explores different types of popular structures from the basic three act structure to more obscure methods like leap-frogging. We also look at structure as a verb as well as a noun, and techniques for structuring your story for maximum emotional impact. Most of the other books just look at *structure* and ignore the art of *structuring* your story. Techniques to make your story a page turner... instead of a slug!

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STORY: WELL TOLD!

*** STORY: WELL TOLD *** - For Kindle!

This book takes you step-by-step through the construction of a story... and how to tell a story well, why Story always starts with character... but ISN'T character, Breaking Your Story, Irony, Planting Information, Evolving Story, Leaving No Dramatic Stone Unturned, The Three Greek Unities, The Importance Of Stakes, The Thematic Method, and how to create personal stories with blockbuster potential. Ready to tell a story? Print version was 48 pages, Kindle version is over 85,000 words - 251 pages!

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START STRONG!

*** HOOK 'EM IN TEN *** - For Kindle!

Your story doesn't get a second chance to make a great first impression, and this book shows you a bunch of techniques on how to do that. From the 12 Basic Ways To Begin Your Story, to the 3 Stars Of Your First Scene (at least one must be present) to World Building, Title Crawls, Backstory, Starting Late, Teasers and Pre Title Sequences, Establishing Theme & Motifs (using GODFATHER PART 2), Five Critical Elements, Setting Up The Rest Of The Story (with GODFATHER), and much more! With hundreds of examples ranging from Oscar winners to classic films like CASABLANCA to some of my produced films (because I know exactly why I wrote the scripts that way). Biggest Blue Book yet! Print version was 48 pages, Kindle version is over 100,000 words - 312 pages!

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NO KINDLE REQUIRED! Get the *free* app (any device, except your Mr. Coffee) on the order page on Amazon!

MOVIES ARE CHARACTERS!

*** CREATING STRONG PROTAGONISTS *** - For Kindle!

*** CREATING STRONG PROTAGONISTS *** - For Nook!

Expanded version with more ways to create interesting protagonists! A step-by-step guide to creating "take charge" protagonists. Screenplays are about characters in conflict... characters in emotional turmoil... Strong three dimensional protagonists who can find solutions to their problems in 110 pages. But how do you create characters like this? How do you turn words into flesh and blood? Character issues, Knowing Who Is The Boss, Tapping into YOUR fears, The Naked Character, Pulp Friction, Man With A Plan, Character Arcs, Avoiding Cliche People, Deep Characterization, Problem Protagonists, 12 Ways To Create Likable Protagonists (even if they are criminals), Active vs. Reactive, The Third Dimension In Character, Relationships, Ensemble Scripts, and much, much more. Print version is 48 pages, Kindle version is once again around 205 pages!

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I WRITE PICTURES!

*** VISUAL STORYTELLING *** - For Kindle! (exclusive)

Show Don't Tell - but *how* do you do that? Here are techniques to tell stories visually! Using Oscar Winning Films and Oscar Nominated Films as our primary examples: from the first Best Picture Winner "Sunrise" (1927) to the Oscar Nominated "The Artist" (which takes place in 1927) with stops along the way Pixar's "Up" and Best Original Screenplay Winner "Breaking Away" (a small indie style drama - told visually) as well as "Witness" and other Oscar Winners as examples... plus RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES. Print version is 48 pages, Kindle version is over 200 pages!

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DESCRIPTION & VOICE Blue Book!

DESCRIPTION & VOICE Blue Book.

IS HALF OF YOUR STORY IN TROUBLE?

Most screenplays are about a 50/50 split between dialogue and description - which means your description is just as important as your dialogue. It just gets less press because the audience never sees it, the same reason why screenwriters get less press than movie stars. But your story will never get to the audience until readers and development executives read your script... so it is a very important factor. Until the movie is made the screenplay is the movie and must be just as exciting as the movie. So how do you make your screenplay exciting to read? Description is important in a novel as well, and the “audience” does read it... how do we write riveting description?

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PRO DIALOGUE TECHNIQUES!

*** DIALOGUE SECRETS *** - For Kindle!

***

Expanded version with more ways to create interesting dialogue! How to remove bad dialogue (and what *is* bad dialogue), First Hand Dialogue, Awful Exposition, Realism, 50 Professional Dialogue Techniques you can use *today*, Subtext, Subtitles, Humor, Sizzling Banter, *Anti-Dialogue*, Speeches, and more. Tools you can use to make your dialogue sizzle! Special sections that use dialogue examples from movies as diverse as "Bringing Up Baby", "Psycho", "Double Indemnity", "Notorious", the Oscar nominated "You Can Count On Me", "His Girl Friday", and many more! Print version is 48 pages, Kindle version is over 175 pages!

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WHAT IS A SCENE?

*** SCENE SECRETS *** - For Kindle!

***

What is a scene and how many you will need? The difference between scenes and sluglines. Put your scenes on trial for their lives! Using "Jaws" we'll look at beats within a scene. Scene DNA. Creating set pieces and high concept scenes. A famous director talks about creating memorable scenes. 12 ways to create new scenes. Creating unexpected scenes. Use dramatic tension to supercharge your scenes. Plants and payoffs in scenes. Plus transitions and buttons and the all important "flow"... and more! Over 65,000 words! Print version was 48 pages, Kindle version is around 210 pages!

Only $4.99 - and no postage!

SUBPLOTS?

*** SUPPORTING CHARACTER SECRETS *** - For Kindle! (Exclusive)

Expanded version with more techniques to flesh out your Supporting Characters and make them individuals. Using the hit movie BRIDESMAIDS as well as other comedies like THE HANGOVER and TED and HIGH FIDELITY and 40 YEAR OLD VIRGIN and many other examples we look at ways to make your Supporting Characters come alive on the page. Print version was 48 pages, Kindle version is around 170 pages!

ONLY $4.99 - and no postage!

ACT TWO SOLUTIONS!

*** ACT TWO SECRETS *** - For Kindle!

Expanded version with more techniques to help you through the desert of Act Two! Subjects Include: What Is Act Two? Inside Moves, The 2 Ps: Purpose & Pacing, The 4Ds: Dilemma, Denial, Drama and Decision, Momentum, the Two Act Twos, Subplot Prisms, Deadlines, Drive, Levels Of Conflict, Escalation, When Act Two Begins and When Act Two Ends, Scene Order, Bite Sized Pieces, Common Act Two Issues, Plot Devices For Act Two, and dozens of others. Over 67,000 words (that’s well over 200 pages) of tools and techniques to get you through the desert of Act Two alive! Print version was 48 pages, Kindle version is well over 200 pages!

ONLY $4.99 - and no postage!

READY TO BREAK IN?

THE BUISINESS SIDE

*** BREAKING IN BLUE BOOK *** - For Kindle!

Should really be called the BUSINESS BLUE BOOK because it covers almost everything you will need to know for your screenwriting career: from thinking like a producer and learning to speak their language, to query letters and finding a manager or agent, to making connections (at home and in Hollywood) and networking, to the different kinds of meetings you are will have at Studios, to the difference between a producer and a studio, to landing an assignment at that meeting and what is required of you when you are working under contract, to contracts and options and lawyers and... when to run from a deal! Information you can use *now* to move your career forward! It's all here in the Biggest Blue Book yet!

Print version was 48 pages, Kindle version is over 400 pages!

$4.99 - and no postage!

STORY IN ACTION SERIES!

THE MISSION IMPOSSIBLE MOVIES

NEW: Updates On Films 7 & 8 Casting!

All Six Movies analyzed! All of the mission tapes, all of the “that’s impossible!” set pieces and stunts, the cons and capers - and how these scenes work, the twists and double crosses, the tension and suspense (and how to generate it), the concept of each film as a stand alone with a different director calling the shots (broken in the sixth film), the gadgets, the masks, the stories, the co-stars and team members (one team member has been in every film), the stunts Tom Cruise actually did (and the ones he didn’t), and so much more! Over 120,000 words of fun info!

THE MISSION IMPOSSIBLE MOVIES - 347 Pages - Only $3.99 !

BRAND NEW!

*** THE BOURNE MOVIES

NEW: Updates on TREADSTONE TV show!

All five "Bourne" movies (including "Legacy" and it's potential sequels) - what are the techniques used to keep the characters and scenes exciting and involving? Reinventing the thriller genre... or following the "formula"? Five films - each with an interesting experiment! A detailed analysis of each of the films, the way these thrillers work... as well as a complete list of box office and critical statistics for each film. This book is great for writers, directors, and just fans of the series.

Only $3.99 - and no postage!

Over 240 pages!

*** THE TERMINATOR MOVIES *** - For Kindle!

He's back! The release of "Terminator: Dark Fate" is set to begin a new trilogy in the Terminator story... 35 years after the first film was released. What draws us to these films about a cybernetic organism from the future sent back in time? Why is there a new proposed trilogy every few years? This book looks at all five Terminator movies from a story standpoint - what makes them work (or not)? What are the techniques used to keep the characters and scenes exciting and involving? How about those secret story details you may not have noticed? Containing a detailed analysis of each of the five films so far, this book delves into the way these stories work... as well as a complete list of box office and critical statistics for each film. This book is great for writers, directors, and just fans of the series.

ONLY $3.99 - and no postage!

HITCHCOCK FOR WRITERS!

Strange Structures!

*** HITCHCOCK: EXPERIMENTS IN TERROR! *** - For Kindle!

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Contained Thrillers like "Buried"? Serial Protagonists like "Place Beyond The Pines"? Multiple Connecting Stories like "Pulp Fiction"? Same Story Multiple Times like "Run, Lola, Run"?
HITCHCOCK DID IT FIRST!

This book focuses on 18 of Hitchcock's 52 films with wild cinema and story experiments which paved the way for modern films. Almost one hundred different experiments that you may think are recent cinema or story inventions... but some date back to Hitchcock's *silent* films! We'll examine these experiments and how they work. Great for film makers, screenwriters, film fans, producers and directors.

Only $5.99 - and no postage!

LEARN SUSPENSE FROM THE MASTER!

*** HITCHCOCK: MASTERING SUSPENSE *** - For Kindle!

Alfred Hitchcock, who directed 52 movies, was known as the *Master Of Suspense*; but what exactly is suspense and how can *we* master it? How does suspense work? How can *we* create “Hitchcockian” suspense scenes in our screenplays, novels, stories and films?

This book uses seventeen of Hitchcock’s films to show the difference between suspense and surprise, how to use “focus objects” to create suspense, the 20 iconic suspense scenes and situations, how plot twists work, using secrets for suspense, how to use Dread (the cousin of suspense) in horror stories, and dozens of other amazing storytelling lessons. From classics like “Strangers On A Train” and “The Birds” and “Vertigo” and “To Catch A Thief” to older films from the British period like “The 39 Steps” and “The Man Who Knew Too Much” to his hits from the silent era like “The Lodger” (about Jack The Ripper), we’ll look at all of the techniques to create suspense!

Only $5.99

AUDIO CLASS!

NOIR & MYSTERY80 minute MP3 packed with information on writing Film Noir and Mystery scripts. Using examples from CHINATOWN to OUT OF THE PAST to DOUBLE INDEMNITY you'll learn how to create stories in this dark, twisted genre. How to plant clues, red herrings, suspects, victims, spider women, fallen heroes, the funhouse mirror world of noir supporting characters... and the origins of Film Noir in literature Noir dialogue and how noir endings are different than any other genre. All of the critical elements necessary to write in this critically popular genre.
The Noir & Mystery Class is only $15 (plus $5 S&H). First 20 on Limited Black Disk!

PAMDEMIC SALE! $5 OFF!

IDEAS AND CREATIVITY - 80 minute MP3 packed with information. Tools to find ideas that are both personal *and* commercial. Hollywood wants scripts with High Concept stories... but not stupid scripts. Developing *intelligent* high concept ideas. How to turn your personal story into a blockbuster - or find your personal story in a high concept idea. Brainstorming and being creative. Ideas and Creativity is $10.00 (plus $5 S&H)

WRITING INDIES - Writing an Indie film? This class covers everything you need to know - from Central Locations to Confined Cameos. Using examples from SWINGERS, THE COOLER, STATION AGENT and others, this 80 minute MP3 is packed with information. How Indoe films challenge the audience (while mainstream films reassure the audience). Structures, using BOYS DON'T CRY, RUN LOLA RUN, HILARY & JACKIE, and others as example. Writing for a budget, writing for non-actors, getting the most production value out of your budget. Writing Indies is $10.00 (plus $5 S&H)

WRITING HORROR - The essentials of a horror screenplay - what do ROSEMARY'S BABY, NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD, THE EXORCIST, BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN, THE OTHERS and OPEN WATER have in common? This class will tell you! All of the critical elements necessary to write a script that scares the pants off the audience. Writing Horror is $10.00 (plus $5 S&H).

Click here for more information on CLASS MP3s!

FINAL DRAFT SOFTWARE

Use your creative energy to focus on the content; let Final Draft take care of the style. Final Draft is the number-one selling application specifically designed for writing movie scripts, television episodics and stage plays. Its ease-of-use and time-saving features have attracted writers for almost two decades positioning Final Draft as the Professional Screenwriters Choice. Final Draft power users include Academy, Emmy and BAFTA award winning writers like Oliver Stone, Tom Hanks, Alan Ball, J.J. Abrams, James Cameron and more. * * * Buy It!

copyright 2023 by William C. Martell