Yes, I actually used to use that as a pick up line. Because in my youth I wrote and directed a bunch of
short films. That's actually how I started out - my parents had an 8mm home movie camera and I would save
up my paper route money and buy a roll of film and make little film starring my little brother about
alligators in our back yard. The grass was supposed to be water and the alligator was paper mache.
Eventually I grew older, more sophisticated, and continued to make 8mm films in high school as a way to
meet girls. The movies worked, my love life didn't. In my Community College film appreciation class we had
to make a 3 minute movie every semester. I had a Super 8mm camera by then, and made an epic 30 minute movie
that parodied all of the films we were forced to watch in the class called THE SHORTS OF BILL MARTELL
which opened with titles over my underwear. Later I did a sequel, MONDO SHORTS: UNDERWEAR OF THE WORLD
that had parodies of everything from the movie CARRIE to my classic NIGHT OF THE LIVING LIFE INSURANCE
SALESMEN ("You're in evil hands"). These were all fun to make - and I actually met a girl and fell in love
and we ended up in a suburban house with three dogs and so many domestic expenses that I had to stop making
16mm films and focus on writing because it was cheaper.
You may be interested in writing and directing some short films - these are great "calling cards" and
executives who are too busy to read your 110 page script may be able to find the time to watch your 10
minute short film... especially if it won awards somewhere. Though it's more likely they'll find a directing job for you off a short than a writing job. But how do you write a short film? Do they have
3 acts? And if they do have 3 acts, what do you do about that Syd Field thing about Act 1 ending halfway
down page 27 if you only have a 10 page script?
I have written and directed a bunch of shorts, and even won some awards for them. I've also been on film
fest juries where I had to watch and judge hundreds of short films. If you haven't read my Raindance Diary from 2004
where I reviewed almost *every* short I saw at the festival, and some of the things
I said there may be helpful. (oops! The link to that is broken!)
There's also a book by Frederick Levy on breaking in with short films. I saw one of his presentations
(I think at Santa Fe) and many of the things in his book are helpful. Here are some of his ides about short
films mixed in with some of mine.
SHORTER IS BETTER
Frederick says keep it at 10 minutes or less, and I agree. My friend John enters these 24 hour film challenge
things, where the movie has to be 3.5 minutes or less... and all of his films are *too long* at 3.5 minutes.
Get in, get it done, get out! Don't over-stay your welcome! Just because the *limit* is 3.5 minutes doesn't
mean your film has to be that long - it can be one minute. The short needs to last as long as the story lasts -
and not a second longer! One of the Raindance shorts went on *forever* - and it was only 3 minutes long!
You want to make sure every *second* counts in a short. This means a 3 minute short is constantly giving
us new information - no "coasting". A feature script might be able to "coast" forward on previous information
for a page because there are 110 page. A short has no time to waste, no time to coast. The story needs to be
constantly evolving! Things need to be happening all the time.
But wait! Can you tell a story in 10 minutes? Is that even enough time? Part of the Raindance Film
Festival every year is the Nokia 15 Second Film Festival... you read that right! 15 seconds! That's
the amount of video time on a cell phone. Back in 2004 the winner of the competition was written by a
guy who took my big two day class, Steve Robinson with his short HAVE I PASSED?
Nokia 15 Second Shorts
(Click on "The Finalists" then click on "2004 Finalists" to see Steve's film)
Check out the other 15 second short films on the site - and see just how much story you can fit
into that little time. I really liked the speed dating film and am still haunted by the twist at
the end of the HAN_MAN movie.
PROGRAMMING
Another reason why shorter is better: programming films is easier if the film is 10 minutes or less.
A film festival is made up of features and blocks of short films. Usually the festival is in 2 hour blocks,
with features filling the 2 hours and a block of short films running just under 2 hours. The more short films
you can fit in the 2 hour block, the more variety at the festival and (as Elliot from Raindance once said)
the larger the audience if the filmmakers and their friends show up. Which would you rather do - show three
30 minute short films or eleven 10 minute short films? You need time between showings for the festival goers
to get top the next screening and to clean out the cinema - so you can't show four 30 minute films.
Another great thing about a film that runs in that 10 minute range is that if can be used to fill in time
when a feature is short. A 90 minute feature might have a short or two before the film - which allows the
festival to show even more short films. The ten minute thing is a ball park running time - your short may be
7 minutes or 12 minutes and it will still be easy to program. It's those 20-30 minute films that are difficult.
They eat up a huge part of that 2 hour time block and can't be partnered with a feature.
So a shorter running time, in that 10 minute range, means your film will be easier to program and end up
in more festivals.
Also, less time to get boring. Ten minutes is a really long time.
PUNCH LINES
Most short films are structured with a set up and a punchline. Some may be 2 act structure: just the set
up of the conflict and a punchline resolution or twist at the end, others are a strange form of 3 acts with
a set up, a "get used to the situation" act 2, and the twist or punchline at the end.
In fact, I think punchlines are the most important element in a short film. All of my shorts were set
ups & punch lines... and not all were funny. I did a short called UNTIL PROVEN GUILTY about a pair of detectives
on stake out who chase a guy with a bunch of bags who runs out of a department store during a payroll robbery.
Much of the film is a foot chase (the "get used to the situation" - the longer the foot chase the more we are
sure the detectives are chasing the payroll robber). Ends with one detective savagely blowing away suspect
*after* he gives up. They look in bags... stolen merchandise! The payroll thieves got away, and they just
killed a small time shoplifter. That's a punchline.
You want some sort of ironic twist at the end if you're writing a serious story, or a big laugh if it's a
comedy. You don't want that SNL peter out end. The structure of many shorts is set up and punch line - kind
of like a 10 minute (or less) TWILIGHT ZONE episode.
The Socal Film Group is a group of screenwriters who share equipment and work on each other's short films
- a great bunch of folks (friends of mine). Just over a year ago their new film TOSSERS (about Gay Frisbee dancing) played at MockFest in Hollywood.
A few years ago the Silverlake Film Festival held at the Arclight Cinemas
(Cinerama Dome in Hollywood) had an entire evening devoted to their films. Their films range from commercial
parodies like FLONOSE (where your sinuses flow so well your brain might slip out) to silly comedies like WHO'S
ON FIRST: THE MOTION PICTURE (where film titles create confusion at a video store) to the AMC horror short
winner THE STALL (about a man in a public toilet stall with a killer doing horrible things just beyond the door).
At Silverlake I saw one of their films for the second or third time... and it made a major emotional impact even
though I already knew the twist end. FINDING SPACE (written and directed by Danny Grossman) is about a husband
and wife looking for a parking space in a huge mall parking lot... and having a conversation about their
relationship. But something is odd about the conversation. You can't quite put your finger on it. Then we
come to the twist ending - which is similar to the twist in THE SIXTH SENSE... and it hits you right in the
heart. This is an *emotional* punchline. So don't think of punchlines as something funny - it may be an
emotional punch!
Which brings up subject matter. Frederick Levy says do a parody of a film as your short - those get
passed around town like crazy. I've seen a half dozen BROKEBACK take offs in the past few months, so I
guess that's true.
You want to find the clever parody, not the obvious one. GEORGE LUCAS IN LOVE is both a parody of
SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE and the STAR WARS movies. In fact, the STAR WARS movies have spawned an entire parody
industry - from the COPS take off TROOPERS to my friend Anthony's SURREAL WORLD: TATOONIE. Bug eyed actor
Steve Busceme says that no two movies should ever meet each other, so combining two movie into one parody
is probably the best approach to create humor. SWING BLADE took the movie SWINGERS and introduced it to
SWING BLADE with really silly results. These films are fun to make. Most of my early films were parodies,
from my take off on every western ever made A FISTFUL OF MOZZARELLA FOR A FEW PIZZAS MORE (which started
with William S. Hart and ended with Clint) to FOR SORE EYES ONLY (a Jams Bond movie about the evil Dr.
Lawnraker's plan to fire a 100 foot tall can of Right Guard aerosol deodorant into outer space to destroy
the ozone layer). The key to a parody movie is to remember that the situation is not the joke, the jokes
are other funny things you come up with in *addition* to the situation.
MYSTERY
Use mystery to create an intriguing short! I saw this great short at the Temecula Film Festival called
COUSIN OF SLEEP about this high school kid who has to get his stuff back from his girlfriend's place -
and all of their friends talk about why she did it... and you think it's about breaking up, but what they're
saying is a little confusing... you know there's something you're missing and keep trying to figure out what
*really* happened. There's a scene where they select clothing from the girl's closet - what is that all about?
The mystery is what drives the film. You know that it isn't just a break up, because *everyone* is sad about
the event. Ends up (punchline) she killed herself! But the mystery of what happened kicks off the film and
keeps us involved in the story. Again, this is a great tool to use to build that story before you spring
that punchline twist.
THE EXTREMES
Great things come in small packages. So don't wimp out. You have less time to tell your story, but that
doesn't mean the story can be less exciting or less emotional. Give us a 2 hour experience in 10 minutes.
Just like when you are writing feature, the story isn't about the second most interesting thing that ever
happened to the character or the third most interesting thing, your story is about *the* most interesting
thing that ever happened to them. The event that changed their life. That big moment. You may only have
10 minutes, but you want to make a maximum impact on the audience. You want to leave your mark on the
viewer and have them remember your short film for years to come. As a writer, you want that story to be
so interesting that the viewer may want to read some of your feature screenplays.
But you want emotional extremes, you don't want any negative extremes: extremely violent, extremely
disgusting, extremely crude, etc. I read a friend's short script where he has a coke whore shoving a
poodle in a microwave and blowing it up in graphic slow motion. You know, I don't want to see that film.
His theory was to make a film that really pushed the limits - and people would remember it. Nice theory,
but you want them to remember your short for the right reasons not the wrong reasons. Don't make a
film that's just plain sick. You want something concentrated and emotional, not sickening.
KEEP IT SIMPLE
You probably aren't paying people, so keep cast and locations at a minimum. You have to think like
both a writer *and* a producer. The more complicated your short is to make, the more chances for things
to go wrong. I have a friend who has been working on the same short film for *years* now, because he took a
simple story and made it more complicated - added locations and characters and effects and props and... now
he has an epic short film (if that's even possible). You can make something so difficult to film that you
will never be able to complete it - and that makes it a money-pit. The purpose of making a short film is to
show it to people. That means you have to finish it! Keeping the story simple will make it easier to film and
easier to finish.
I did a film called LAUNDRA-MATT about a guy named Matt doing his laundry. It was every gag I could come up with that
took place at a coin laundry (there was one right down the street from my apartment). My story was about
bachelor doing his laundry... and everything that could go wrong. That red sock that ended up with your white
shirts. Things that shrink. Overloading washers. Too much detergent. What setting do you use to wash leather shoes?
(I said it was a bachelor.) Anything funny I could come up with. I cast my friend, and paid for his actual
laundry. Shot in a day at the laundramat. Filming took a couple of hours. I also did a film called PSICKO!
about a husband and wife who keep trying to kill each other during a meal - two cast members, one dining room...
and an electric carving knife! Small casts are best. One location is best. Too many people and places make it
complicated - and things are bound to go wrong.
My FIST FULL OF MOZERELLA western had a big cast and a lot of locations, and was one problem after another.
People didn't show up, locations didn't work out, props were forgotten, rolls of film were lost. The day I
had the most supporting actors show up was the day my lead flaked. I had to shoot his costume draped over
a paper bag I'd brought the props in. Over the shoulder shots of every one else... then, later, I shot his close
ups and cut it together. Lesson learned - figure out a way to shoot the whole thing in one day with only a few
characters. That mean the *story* has to be simple: one or two locations and only a few characters and nothing
expensive or complicated as far as props or stunts or FX. One thing to think about is the "Robert Rodriguez
School Bus" thing - if you know where you can get a school bus for free, write a story around it.
Start with what you have access to and wrap your story around that. I could easily get a couple and an
electric carving knife...
The real key to writing a short film is to keep it simple: a short and simple story, a limited cast and
limited locations, an interesting idea and a great punchline.
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!
Thinking about writing a big Disaster Movie? An Historical Epic? An Epic Adventure Film? Or maybe you like Gladiator Movies? This book looks at writing Blockbusters and those Big Fat Beach Read novels - anything epic! Usng movies like JAWS, POSEIDON ADVENTURE, LAWRENCE OF ARABIA, THE GUNS OF NAVARONE, and those MARVEL and FAST & FURIOUS flicks as examples. What *is* a Blockbuster? 107 years of Blockbuster history! Blockbuster Characters. Blockbuster Story Types! Why modern Blockbusters are soap operas! Social Issues in Blcokbusters? Big Emotions! Keeping All Of Those Characters Distinctive! How to avoid the Big problems found in Big Movies and books! More! If you are writing a Big Event Movie or a Big Fat Novel, there are tips and techniques to help you!
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.
Why pay $510 for a used version of the 240 page 2000 version that used to retail for $21.95? (check it out!) when
you can get the NEW EXPANDED VERSION - over 500 pages - for just $9.99? New chapters, New examples, New techniques!
"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.)
"The Presidential Suite of the Hollywood Hoover Hotel looked like a bloody battlefield: bodies everywhere, furniture broken, red liquid dripping from the walls, dead soldiers littering the elegant Berber rug as clouds of smoke overhead bounced between two air conditioning vents.
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?"
Screenwriting books have been around as long as films have. This series reprints vintage screenwriting books with a new introduction and history, plus new articles which look at how these lessons from almost 100 years ago apply to today’s screenplays. Anita Loos book is filled with information which still applies.
In addition to the full text of the original book, you get the full screenplay to Miss Loos' hit THE LOVE EXPERT, plus several new articles on the time period and women in Hollywood.
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 !
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.
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.
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.
*** 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!
NOIR & MYSTERY80 minute CD 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!
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IDEAS AND CREATIVITY - 80 minute CD 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 CD 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).
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!
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.
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!
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!
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!
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!
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!
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?
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!
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!
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!
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!
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!
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!
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!
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!
Movie Magic Screenwriter is the best selling screenplay formatting software and the choice of Hollywood professionals. Screenwriter automatically formats while you write so you can focus on what you're writing, not where it goes on the page. It also formats for television, stage, novels and comic book scripts so you've got an all in one package for any story you want to write. Academy Award Tech Winner!
E BOOKS: New Blue Books and Novelettes!
I am expanding all of the Blue Books from around 44 pages of
text to around 200 pages! Some are over 250 pages! See what is availabale and what is coming soon!Also, I've been writing Novelletes and there
will soon be novels. E BOOKS: BLUE BOOKS & NOVELLETES
ONLINE CLASSES
MY OTHER SITES
B MOVIE WORLD Cult Films, Exploitation, Bikers & Women In Prison, Monster Movies.
The NAKED SCREENWRITING CLASS ON CD!
The 2001 London Class on 8 CDs! Recorded *live* the morning after the Raindance Film Festival
wrapped. The two day class on 8CDs, plus a workbook, plus a bonus CD with PDFs. The 2 Day Class on CD!
BOOKSTORE
Every screenwriting book in the world! SCREENWRITER'S BOOKSTORE In Association With Amazon.com From the latest screenwriting book to
guides for finding agents and producers... all with at the
Amazon.com discount!
BOOKLETS & PRODUCTS
FIRST STRIKE BLUE BOOKS
Each Blue Book is 48
pages and focuses on a different aspect of screenwriting. Dialogue. Visual Storytelling. Your First Ten Pages. Act 2 Booster. Protagonists. Great Endings. Seventeen Blue Books now available!
CLASSES ON CD! Take a class on CD! GUERRILLA MARKETING - NO AGENT? NO PROBLEM! and WRITING THRILLERS (2 CDs). Full length classes on CD. Now Available: IDEAS & CREATIVITY, WRITING HORROR, WRITING INDIE FILMS, more!
Take classes on CD!
