TUESDAY'S BIZ TIP:
THAT'S NIC(H)E!
Here we are at the beginning of 2026 with ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER touted as both the most likely Best Picture Oscar Winner *and* a major financial failure, at the same time that actress Kristen Stewart is bemoaning that Hollywood studios only make sure thing blockbusters these days instead of edgy indie films. So what is Hollywood to do? And what are we to do as writers?
HOLLYWOOD HISTORY...
The problem is that there are two types of films and two types of audience and two ways to make and finance a movie... and somewhere in the 1980s all of that got blurred and now studios have become focused again... sort of. Hollywood used to be the only game in town - people went to the cinema for visual entertainment, there was no TV. So they made all kinds of movies, from Blockbusters to Oscar bait and everything in between. Then Televisions popped up in everyone’s living rooms and smaller stories, more personal and dramatic stories, ended up on the small screen... while the big screen became more spectacle oriented to lure people out of their living rooms. Sometimes a made for TV movie like 12 ANGRY MEN (1954) was so popular that it made sense to remake it as a movie with movie stars in the cast as Oscar bait (1957). But most films were still big lavish escapism, and the silly musical AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS ended up winning Best Picture Oscar.
Then we hit the anti-establishment late 60s, early 70s when Hollywood realized that a big lavish musical like STAR! isn’t what people wanted to see, and those rebel filmmakers found success with EASY RIDER and FIVE EASY PIECES - films that were anti-establishment but also big hits. Financial successes that Hollywood loved. That era ended in the mid to late 70s, and we got big exciting films like STAR WARS... and Independent distributors like Miramax released those edgy Indie films which were now made outside the system again.
The “John Cassavettes method” - where you rounded up a bunch of actors who would work for close to free and rented equipment and just made the film yourself. *Independently*. Just *you* making a movie. Usually you made a few films out of pocket, and if those films made a profit, a distrib like Miramax would fund your next film(s). These films didn’t play in the multiplexes, they played in art houses in big cities. I used to drive to Berkeley and Palo Alto and San Francisco to see movies like this.
The 80s were filled with Indie Films that were popular, and eventually Disney bought Miramax and Universal bought Focus...
Once again, a change in what the audience wanted to see... and those “Indie Studio Divisions” became distributors for films made independently that were Oscar bait. The studio could make their huge popular tentpoles... and win some Oscars on the side for these niche films that often lost money if they weren’t nominated (“Oscar Bump”).
Which brings us to now...
A BIG BOLD BEAUTIFUL BOMB
Kristen Stewart and Paul Thomas Anderson and plenty of others seem to be confused about what movies the mainstream audience will pay to see and what movies are niche... which a smaller audience will pay to see. Up until ONE BATTLE Anderson’s films have been made on a “midrange” budget, $40m or less. His films have all star casts, so even if they are small, intimate films... they can draw enough paying customers to be a success at that budget. They are niche films aimed at a niche audience.
But the old days of Independent Films where Cassavettes got his actor friends to work for scale, or those films like “Brothers McMullen” shot for $25,000 with a 3 person crew on, um, “borrowed” equipment, starring actors who would work for close to nothing? Now those films cost $45 million, or as much as $170 million for ONE BATTLE. Movie stars are paid movie star rates. The films themselves are filled with blockbuster type set pieces. And I doubt that the crew was only 3 people. Hey, those types of Indie Films are still made (may I suggest Paul Osborne’s great CRUEL HEARTS? - he’s basically a one man band who shoots and edits and lights his films... and finds great actors who work for SAG Ultra-Low rates - Cassavettes style Indie Filmmaking). But PTA and others who used to make low budget films now seem to want to make films on a big Hollywood budget with a very niche indie type story.
As writers we need to match our stories to the best budget for that kind of story... and write accordingly. You might not think budget is any of our business, but the subject of our screenplays and the number of locations and speaking roles... plus those set pieces and special effects... all impact budget. If we are telling a story that only appeals to a small audience, we need to write something that can be made on a small budget. Though Hollywood might still be making $170 million niche movies, regardless of how great those films might be? Sooner or later the bean counters will notice how much they are spending on niche films and stop funding them. Now you will need to make those films on a traditional Independent Film budget... and that might be as little as $25,000 (not $45 million). If you watch “Brothers McMullen” of any of the Cassavettes movies or “Clerks” or “Hollywood Shuffle” or any of those great 80s Indie films? They still hold up. They still work on those pocket change budgets.
A BIG BOLD BEAUTIFUL JOURNEY was a film that just didn't work for me. A $45 million budget... and just over $20 million worldwide in ticket sales. Since income is split with the theaters around 50/50, a $45 million film needs to make close to $100 million to break even... now factor in advertising and that $45 million investment was probably closer to $80 million or more. So $160-200 million to break even?
There are some big emotional moments near the end that work, but it's a struggle to get there.
The reason why?
WELCOME TO NARNIA
The story is about a man who has avoided love and romance most of his life who has to go to a friend's wedding a couple of hundred miles away... Except his car has been (coincidentally) booted, so he rents a car with a talking GPS that ends up sending him on a journey with a woman he meets at the wedding who also has problems with relationships, and they find a series of doorways without any attached buildings - doorways to their pasts which explain and explore the reasons why they are perpetually single.
So what we have is a fantasy story that takes characters on a trip down memory lane. A bit of A CHRISTMAS CAROL and NARNIA. Except both of those stories and all of the others like this begin in the real world and have a portal to the fantasy world. Even Edgar Rice Burroughs has a dying soldier crawling into a cave... That transports him to another world (Mars).
I think part of the "audience acceptance" of fantasy worlds is starting out in reality. NARNIA takes place during WW2's London bombings. A very real world that we, as the audience, want to escape... And really want those kids to escape. These books and movies begin in our world and find the magical doorway into that fantasy world.
This film has no doorway. No demarcation between reality and fantasy... So it's hard to believe. The real world of the city Colin Farrell lives in is completely fake and Fantasyland. When his car is booted, he goes to this fantasy car rental place run by wacky people. It looks like no car rental place I've ever seen. It operates like no car rental place I've ever seen. So everything from the first frame seems fake. There's no reality, and no portal... So we start out not believing anything...
When we need to start out *believing* so that we identify with the characters and invest in them... Then go through the portal.
If this had been my script, I would have had a seemingly normal car rental place with normal cars, and the "magic" wouldn't have happened until the GPS sent him to Burger King... Where that woman he flirted with at the wedding had also been sent by her GPS. Then they notice the license plates are consecutive on their rental cars... from the same rental agency. Now when her car won't start, they carpool back to the city and go through a portal - maybe a tunnel - and end up in Narnia. Now we can have those flashbacks about their past...
NARROW CASTING
After the initial fumble, it just keeps fumbling. In a story where you can't tell the difference between Narnia and New York City, in a post JOKER 2 world... "What if there are show tunes?" seems like an obvious "No!" - but here they are! The moment from the trailer at Farrell's high school where his first love dumps him? Well, they are theater geeks and both are cast as leads in HOW TO SUCCEED AT BUSINESS, and we get musical numbers. Dance numbers. And even though *I* was a theater geek in highschool, I think that's a very small percentage of the ticket buyers and would have made it something more mainstream. Study group. You lose the singing and dancing... But that might be a good thing.
The *story decisions* all make it more and more niche, instead of more and more mainstream. This is already a strange indie type story, so when you have a choice in the story you want to choose the situation that will appeal to the most people. As a High School theater geek, I can tell you that doesn’t appeal to anyone. You are further narrowing your audience with that choice instead of finding the common ground that the majority of ticket buyers would understand. You lose the musical numbers with a Study Group... but that’s a good thing... maybe even a great thing.
It's strange that we don't know what either of these people do for a living. The characters often seem purposely vague... But specific when it comes to show tunes.
The other thing about these two is that they are flawed people with flaws that might not be easy to identify with. He's a sad sack who's heart was severely broken and has never gotten over it (um, I get that character, I might even be that character, but I don't want to fantasize that I am that character in a cinema). And she is afraid of commitment to the extreme - and cheats on everyone so that the relationship ends quickly (another person I don't want to fantasize about being for 2 hours in a dark cinema). I know that both are real things. I know that this is a story about 2 people who can't find love, finding each other...
But even though these trips down memory lane are meant to show them accepting themselves and healing themselves? I'm still really skeptical about this relationship. I don't see the follow through on this healing because it's not in the film. The scenes that they think are epiphanies are often moments in real people's lives where they thought they were going to make a change... But didn't.
So this whole film becomes the "meet cute" for people who are going to break up a month from now.
EXCESS BAGGAGE
Later scenes dealing with their parents worked for me because they were dealing with unresolved conflicts with someone who has passed away - and I think that's a big emotional moment that we can all relate to. But those scenes have little to do with their relationship issues, so even though the work emotionally, I’m not sure they should be part of this story.
Though we all dream of having a big cathartic moment where we figure out how to solve all of our life’s problems, and that might even be a common fantasy for the audience that we could tap into in a story... the problem is that despite the show tunes, this is a real downer of a story. It’s everything that is wrong with the characters that you are supposed to identify with - and none of those things are the fantasy life that I want to experience when the house lights go down and the film begins.
Those *are* things that you could explore in an edgy indie movie. And if this film had been budgeted under $5 million, it would have been successful for the bean counters at the studio and we might be talking about it as an Oscar contender... or and Independent Spirit Awards contender. The story decisions to take a dark story and make it even more niche still wouldn’t be a good idea, but at least the film would find an audience. I think the more you can avoid “narrow casting” your script and make it something that will appeal to a larger audience, even if it’s an indie film, the better your chances of success and making another film or selling another script.
A Motion Picture is the most expensive way to tell a story.
If you are writing a small story for a small audience? Find that least expensive way to tell that story. Limited locations. Limited speaking roles. No big extra scenes. And find the way to tell the story that will appeal to the largest audience, not the niche audience.
Yes, all of that is part of our job.
I wanted this film to work, but feel like it wasn't trying to meet the audience halfway. Wasn't imagining the audience's feelings and responses to these scenes. Things like the car rental agent with profanity in every sentence pulled me out of the story completely - and that's only a couple of minutes in. As writers we need to be thinking about the audience - how will they respond to this? What do we want them to feel now, and how is our writing creating that feeling?
A niche story needs to be made on a niche budget... and then try to reach out to a larger audience instead of seemingly trying to exclude as many people as possible.
Maybe ONE BATTLE wins Best Picture this year... but between it's cost and it's length and it's entertainmnet value? Hard to believe it's ever going to maker its money back.
Remember the audience has to pay to see your story, and even if it’s streaming they need to spend their precious time watching it. There are a million other films on Netflix (etc) and they can easily quit watching your story and watch someone else’s!
The audience is our boss. They pay us. Don’t piss them off.
THE BOOK THAT STARTED IT ALL!
*** THE SECRETS OF ACTION SCREENWRITING *** - For Kindle!
*** THE SECRETS OF ACTION SCREENWRITING *** - For Nook!
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"SECRETS OF ACTION SCREENWRITING is the
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BRAND NEW!
How Do I do That?
101 SCREENWRITING ANSWERS Blue Book!
New to screenwriting? You probably have questions! How do I get an Agent? How do I write a phone conversation? Do I need a Mentor? What’s does VO and OC and OS mean? What is proper screenplay format? Should I use a pen name? Do I need to movie to Hollywood? What’s the difference between a Producer and a Production Manager, and which should I sell my script to? How do I write a Text Message? Should I Copyright or WGA register my script? Can I Direct or Star? How do I write an Improvised scene? Overcoming Writer’s Block? How do I write a Sex Scene? And many many more! This book has the answers to the 101 Most Asked Questions from new screenwriters! Plus a Glossary of terms so that you can sound like a pro! Everything you need to know to begin writing your screenplay!
All of the answers you need to know, from a working professional screenwriter with 20 produced films and a new movie made for a major streaming service in 2023!
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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.
344 Pages - ONLY: $7.99!
Tips FAQ
HITCHCOCK FOR WRITERS!
Strange Structures!
*** HITCHCOCK: EXPERIMENTS IN TERROR! ***
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 - Kindle Version
LEARN SUSPENSE FROM THE MASTER!
*** HITCHCOCK: MASTERING SUSPENSE ***
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!
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THE BLUE BOOKS!
FIND A GREAT IDEA!
*** YOUR IDEA MACHINE ***
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 ***
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 ***
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!
Only $4.99 - Kindle Version
STORY: WELL TOLD!
*** STORY: WELL TOLD ***
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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HOW DO I DO THAT?
*** 101 SCREENWRITING ANSWERS ***
New to screenwriting? You probably have questions! How do I get an Agent? How do I write a phone conversation?
Do I need a Mentor? What’s does VO and OC and OS mean? What is proper screenplay format?
Should I use a pen name? Do I need to movie to Hollywood? What’s the difference between a
Producer and a Production Manager, and which should I sell my script to? How do I write a Text Message?
Should I Copyright or WGA register my script? Can I Direct or Star? How do I write an Improvised scene?
Overcoming Writer’s Block? How do I write a Sex Scene? And many many more! This book has the answers to
the 101 Most Asked Questions from new screenwriters! Plus a Glossary of terms so that you can sound like a pro!
Everything you need to know to begin writing your screenplay!
Only $4.99 - Kindle Version
NO KINDLE REQUIRED! Get the *free* app (any device, except your Mr. Coffee) on the order page on Amazon!
START STRONG!
*** HOOK 'EM IN TEN ***
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!
Only $4.99 - Kindle Version
MOVIES ARE CHARACTERS!
*** CREATING STRONG PROTAGONISTS ***
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 ***
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 ***
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!
Only $4.99 - Kindle Version
NO KINDLE REQUIRED! Get the *free* app (any device, except your Mr. Coffee) on the order page on Amazon!
WHAT IS A SCENE?
*** SCENE SECRETS ***
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 - Kindle version
SUBPLOTS?
*** SUPPORTING CHARACTER SECRETS ***
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 - Kindle version
ACT TWO SOLUTIONS!
*** ACT TWO SECRETS ***
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 - Kindle version
Can You Make It bigger?
***BLOCKBUSTERS (and BEACH READS) ***
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!
ONLY $4.99 - Kindle Version
NO KINDLE REQUIRED! Get the *free* app (any device, except your Mr. Coffee) on the order page on Amazon!
All About Rewrites!
*** REWRITES Blue Book! ***
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!
Only $4.99 - Kindle Version
Want To Look Like An Expert?
*** RESEARCH & WORLD BUILDING BUILDING! ***
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.
Only $4.99 - Kindle Version
All About LOGLINES, TREATMENTS, and PITCHING!
*** LOGLINES, TREATMENTS, and PITCHING! ***
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!
ONLY $4.99! - Kindle version.
READY TO BREAK IN?
*** BREAKING IN BLUE BOOK ***
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!
Only $4.99 - Kindle version.
STORY IN ACTION SERIES!
THE MISSION IMPOSSIBLE MOVIES
NEW: Updates On Films 7 & 8 Casting!
The First 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 ! - Kindle Version
*** THE BOURNE MOVIES
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 - Kindle version
Over 240 pages!
*** THE TERMINATOR MOVIES ***
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 - Kindle Version
FICTION
Featuring Shelly Steele !
*** THE SHOTGUN APPROACH ***
A Pop Star is murdered on the VIP floor of a luxury hotel by a shotgun blast to the face... completely ruining an original piece of art
on the wall behind him. Violent SFPD Homicide Inspector Shelly Steele must find the murderer... without killing anyone in the process.
That won't be easy! A locked room, A handful of clues. A chase and shootout on the hotel's fire stairs.
Who is the killer? His ex-Partner? His ex-Wife? His ex-Record Label Owner?
THE SHOTGUN APPROACH 105 pgs!
ONLY $.99 - Kindle Version
Featuring Smart & Final !
*** A FINE UPSTANDING CITIZEN ***
25 years ago Senator Milano killed a man. Now he's one of a dozen suspects in an information leak.
Being interrogated in the executive boardroom on the 30th floor of an office building...
The informant will not be leaving by the elevator. Can he solve the crime before they discover his secret?
Fnd the rat before the trap springs on him?
A FINE UPSTANDING CITIZEN (CRIME TIME THRILLER) 86 pgs!
ONLY $.99 - Kindle Version
Crime Time Thriller !
*** FOLLOWED HOME ***
Bowden knew the best place to find a victim is somewhere they feel safe. Diane Taylor would be his next victim...
It began with a car jacking at an upscale grocery store, but fresh out of prison Bowden decided to take everything -
forcing Diane to drive him her her luxury home. Trapped in her SUV with a violent man, can she find a way to turn the tables on him and survive?
FOLLOWED HOME (CRIME TIME THRILLER)
ONLY $.99 - Kindle Version
Featuring Smart & Final !
*** PRIME RATE ***
Chuck Skinner brought his father's failing butcher shop back into the black with the help of modern day cattle rustlers. Nice story if it ends there...
But now the head of the MaryAnn Mob of cattle rustlers suspects him of cooking his books, and has brought in an "accountant"
nicknamed Smart & Final... to hold him accountable. Can Chuck talk his way out of this?
PRIME RATE (CRIME TIME THRILLER)
ONLY $.99 - Kindle Version
MITCH ROBERTSON MYSTERIES
Mitch Robertson #1
*** THROUGH THE RINGER ***
Screenwriter Mitch Robertson just wants to sell a script, but ends up solving the mystery of a whiz kid writer whose new script stinks.
From an upscale vodka bar in Beverly Hills to the Writer's Guild Library to an old mansion in the woodsy Brentwood district, Mitch follows
the clues to uncover the secret of the hot new writer who has suddenly turned cold.
THROUGH THE RINGER
ONLY $.99 - Kindle Version
Mitch Robertson #2
*** THE FAMILY'S JEWEL ***
"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?"
Short Novel. Only 99 cents! - Kindle Version
NEW!
Mitch Robertson #3
*** THE UNHAPPY MEDIUM ***
When Warren Moultie, the "Psychic To The Stars", private files, with dirt on everyone in Hollywood, are stolen, Mitch must find them and the
thief before the blackmail begins! But when studios and movie stars and pop music stars and TV stars begin receiving demands for millions
typed by an ancient typewriter on cheap paper, the entire Entertainment Industry is depending on him. Who stole the files? The Psychic? His wife?
His mistress? One of his famous clients?
Novella. Only 99 cents! - Kindle Version
