Someone asked what the worst advice I’ve ever heard about being a writer was, and my answer was “Write what you know” - because I don’t know anything. I’m a stupid blue collar kid who used to work in a warehouse, I know about palletizing boxes and wrapping them in plastic... do you think someone would pay me to write a script about that? And how many screenplays or short stories or novels can I get from that?
They say that everybody has a book in them, but once you have that surgically removed what do you have left?
Writing novels or screenplays isn’t a “one and done” occupation, it’s a career - writing a stack of novels or a stack of screenplays.
You don’t just need more than one script or novel, you need more than one story.
And for that you need to use your imagination to write what you don’t know... to create stories that are way outside of your experiences and be able to come up with dozens of *different* stories using your creativity. You don’t want to be telling that one story over and over again. You want to build up your imagination muscle so that you have hundreds of stories to tell.
I really liked THE FAREWELL (written and directed by Lulu Wang), it’s funny and sad and one of the best films I have seen in the indie “dying grandmother” genre (where a talented character is seen as a screw up by everyone in their family except for their grandmother who really understands them... then the grandmother dies and they have no allies). In this story, Billie (Akwafina) is the talented character whose parents are tired of supporting her financially, but her grandmother Nai Nai (an endearing Zhao Shuzhen) in China supports her emotionally... and maybe financially as well. Her parents, father Haiyan (Tzi Ma) and mother (Diana Lin), want her to get a real job and do this art thing as a hobby... but she manages to hold them off by saying that she is about to get a sizable grant that will pay the bills for over a year. Moments after she has that conversation with her parents she gets the letter denying her the grant. She is broke, how can things possibly get worse?
Her parents tell her that Nai Nai is dying, and the entire family is flying to China to be with her one last time. One of Billie’s cousins Hao Hao (Chen Han) is getting married to provide an excuse for the family reunion, because - in the Chinese culture you don’t tell people that they are dying. Why ruin their last days on Earth? Why cloud the memories of this family reunion with thoughts of death? Whatever she does, Billie must not let on that Nai Nai is dying. That is the twist that makes this different than all of the cliche “dying grandmother” movies. Because Billie can’t keep a secret, and she has this special connection to her grandmother and wants to tell her... The story has all kinds of great comedy scenes where they must intercept x-rays before they get to Nai Nai and usher her away from doctors and drunk family members who are just about to blab. Billie ends up going from the most likely to spill the beans to the one who takes charge of making sure that nobody else does. Oh, and her cousin’s wedding, the reason for the entire family to fly to China for this reunion? He doesn’t really want to get married. So that’s another fire that Billie is constantly having to put out - keeping the marriage on track. The movie is a lot of fun, and is so autobiographical that the end credits show photos from the actual event, including writer Lulu Wang’s cute little grandmother... who is still alive years later by some miracle.
This is definitely a “write what you know” screenplay, but what will Lulu do next?
She has all of this momentum from THE FAREWELL, now is the time to set up a bunch of screenplays... But what if this is it? What if she is the cinema version of a One Hit Wonder?
ONE STORY, RETOLD
BREAKING AWAY (1979), written by Steve Tesich, is one of my favorite movies. Hey, working class guys and bicycles, how could it not be? Tesich won Best Original Screenplay Oscar for that script,. Because I loved BREAKING AWAY so much when it came out, I became a huge fan of the screenwriter and tracked down every movie he wrote and stood in line to see it on opening day. Though all of them featured working class guy leads, none were as good as BREAKING AWAY. The one that came closest was his adaptation of THE WORLD ACCORDING TO GARP, a novel I had read before seeing the movie. GARP was a huge best selling novel, and very visual... and he didn’t create it, he just adapted someone else’s creation.
Tesich died with only six movies...
One great one and one good one and four other ones. He was the screenwriting version of a One Hit Wonder.
And that’s the big problem, here. Tesich wrote one great script, did a really good adaptation... but seemed unable to do anything else. He did not seem to have the skills to pull of a thriller like EYEWITNESS (an okay film - I like it), and FOUR FRIENDS may be his life’s story but it has no story - it’s a complete mess. It’s a great example of why Write What You Know is terrible advice - the film is a melodramatic version of everyone’s mundane life. The thing I liked about the movies he wrote was the working class background of his characters - whether it’s working in a steel mill or working as a building’s janitor, he showed real people doing real work and makes it part of the story. We need more of that. But it seems as if he was just parting out the same story again and again. Like he had *only one* story to tell - educated working class guy locks horns with immigrant father and enjoys bike riding (did I mention that aspect of EYEWITNESS? Sorry... and AMERICAN FLYERS is all about bike racing). The relationship between Danny and Tom in FOUR FRIENDS is similar to the relationship between Hurt and Woods in EYEWITNESS... and similar to those Four Friends in BREAKING AWAY. It as if he had a few dozen scenes and a few dozen characters that he rearranged to make a different script. Five films, one story.
We all have our “mega themes” that pop up in our scripts - those elements of our lives that show up in many of our character’s lives. That’s fine, in fact - that’s great. We want our screenplays to be personal rather than generic. But we need to have *many* stories to tell, and *different* stories, and be able to work within some popular *genre* so that once we’ve won our Oscar for Best Original Screenplay and the phone starts ringing with people who want to buy our next original screenplay or have us come in and pitch stories, we can keep our writing career going.
There’s another script tip in rotation about having enough screenplays finished, so that when someone reads a script and likes it but doesn’t want to buy it and asks “What else you got?” you can give them some other script... and *keep* giving them scripts until they find one they want to make or hire you to write a script for them. You *need* more than one good screenplay...
But you also need the screenplays to be different stories with different characters. If all of your scripts are the same basic story with the names changed - or just similar stories - you burn out fast. Chances are, that producer is going to be reading script #2 and wonder why it all seems so familiar. Did he pick up script #1 by mistake? Even though it is smart to specialize in one genre, you want different stories within that genre. That means you need to be able to come up with dozens, maybe hundreds, of different stories... and different characters... and different scenes.
MORE THAN ONE?
One script may open the door for you, but one script is not a career. If you spend 25 or more years writing screenplays and get paid for one script or assignment every year - that’s at least 25 *different* stories you’re going to need... but actually maybe 4 or 5 times that many, because you will also need fresh new stories for the scripts and pitches that *do not sell*. When I get called in to pitch ideas for some cable producer, I have to pitch 5 *different* story ideas the day after tomorrow... and if I get a call like that every month? That's 60 ideas a year - 60 *different* ideas a year. That’s a lot of different stories - do you have many different stories with different characters? Can you imagine yourself *writing* 100 different stories in your career? Do you have that many stories in you?
That is why instead of Write What You Know, you need to develop your imagination muscle so that you can come up with those 100 different screenplays and be able to pitch 60 different ideas in a year. You need to be able to generate all of those ideas, and they need to be different! If you pitch the same story with pieces rearranged 5 times to a producer, you probably have *less than* a single chance. They will hear all of those similar stories and think that you are lacking imagination and not want to hire you.
WORKING OUT
I always refer to the imagination as a muscle, because you need to do work outs frequently to keep it in shape, and when you begin it is liable to be flabby and way out of shape. Many new writers have problems coming up with ideas, because their imagination is out of shape. The strain their brains and decide to give up - it’s so much easier to adapt a book that they don’t own the rights to or write some form of fan fiction that breaks all sorts of copyright laws. Here’s the problem with that - your imagination muscles aren’t getting any stronger. They are just as flabby and out of shape. So that isn’t going to help you. Though it is hard and painful to work out those muscles at first, that is what you have to do. The reason why some producer hires you to adapt a book or hires you to write a sequel or remake is because of the imagination and inventiveness in your original screenplays. That is what they are looking for - the strong imagination, the story that displays your ripped creative muscles.
Yes, you are going to begin as a weakling, but if you avoid working out, you will still be a weakling. If you ask people for help “lifting” - coming up with an idea - you will still be a weakling. “Hey, these dumbells are too heavy for me - can you help me lift them?”
When you are stuck, push through. That isn’t easy. Your brain may end up in pain. But push through.
I have some methods in the Ideas Blue Book, but the main thing to do is look for the road less traveled. Look at things from a different angle. Think weird.
One of the problems that we have as writers and even as human beings is following the exact same path every single time. You probably drive to work on the exact same roads every single day - and that means that you no longer see those roads. You are on auto-pilot. Doing the same thing over and over again is a great way to shut off your brain... and we want to not just use our brains but push them to their limits again and again. Steve Tesich won an Oscar for BREAKING AWAY, but I don’t think anyone will really remember his other films. (There *are* people who saw FOUR FRIENDS as kids and loved it, a small buy seemingly loyal fan base - the film is filled with topless scenes, has an anti-authority lead character, and deals with father-son issues... many teen boys liked these aspects - but the film was a flop when it was released.) I liked the blue collar point of view of his stories, but they were all the same story. He was driving to work down the same road every day...
THE ROAD LESS TRAVELED
You want to take as many alternate routes as possible. Explore. Don’t take an idea at face value, look at it from every possible angle and add “What if?” into your thought process. AIRPLANE! Is one of my favorite movies, and that scene where Stryker hands Johnny a report and aks “What do you make of this?” is a great example. Johnny doesn’t see the report as a report, but as a piece of paper - thinking weird - and then rattles off a bunch of origami figures and other things that you can do with a piece of paper. That’s funny, because he isn’t taking the “road” that you are supposed to take in that scene... but it is a great example of how we need to start thinking so that we can give that creative muscle a work out. Look at things weird.
One of the tools that I use for coming up with ideas is breaking things down into their elements and then playing around with those. Sort of taking one different road on my way to work... and looking at the sights and maybe finding another road from that strange road that also gets me to work. When you begin to “unravel” your usual thought process you can find your *unusual* thought process. When I am coming up with 3 or 4 ideas for a story that takes place at a specific location that the production company has access to, I break the location down into possible things that it can be, just like Johnny with that report. What else could this be? Sometimes if you look at just aspect of a location or a story - one unusual road - you can see things that no one else has ever thought of before (or, at least, very few people).
After we built the submarine set for CRASH DIVE, the producer wanted to reuse it a few more times to get his (well, HBO’s) money’s worth from building it. I came up with STEEL SHARKS, and then I figured that we had killed the submarine movie - and needed to do something else. With the same set. So I began looking at it differently - this could be a space station, this could be an underwater laboratory, this could be an underground bunker, this could be... And I made a list of all of the possible things that set could be that *was not* a submarine. Hey, I could have looked at it differently: what are some other uses for a submarine that are not a war movie? Or not an action movie? FANTASTIC VOYAGE is a submarine movie, right? Make a list of genres and leave off war and action films - now how can you use that submarine set in each of the genres? You may be feeling some muscle strain when you get to Western - but wasn’t Captain Nemo from that time period? There’s a swell science fiction film called FINAL COUNTDOWN about a modern day aircraft carrier that gets zapped back to World War 2 and has to decide whether to interfere or not - and you can zap a submarine into the future or the past. Heck, one of those cheesy Edgar Rice Burroughs movies from the 70s has Doug McClure on a submarine that finds a lost world populated by dinosaurs! Once you break something down into components, you can find the road less traveled for *each* component and generate a bunch of different ideas.
The problem with Write What You Know is that once you have done that - once you have written the best story from your life, be it Lulu Wang’s THE FAREWELL or Steve Tesich’s BREAKING AWAY people are going to want something new from you. New and different. That means you are going to tell your second and third and twentieth story from your life (that time in high school when I directed my first play - performed one night only - and my brother had a concert on that same night... and my parents picked my brother’s concert over my play), you are going to have to work that idea muscle and find stories that are not from your actual personal experiences, but from your *emotional experiences* - instead of a play and a concert, I used the emotions for that in the relationship between the two pilots in BLACK THUNDER - one who was always chosen as the favorite by their mentor... that was my doorway into that story, so that it was a personal story... about a stolen top secret fighter plane. Every single one of those hundred or so screenplays that you are going to write has got to be personal, or all of the imagination in the world will ne for naught.
So start working out that imagination. Don’t ask people for help doing the lifting, that doesn’t build your muscles. “But it’s hard!” Of course it is, that’s the point. You aren’t trying to do something easy. You are working to build up those muscles!
You don’t only need more than one script, you need more than one story... so don’t write what you know, use your imagination and write what you *feel*.
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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!
NO KINDLE REQUIRED! Get the *free* app (any device, except your Mr. Coffee) on the order page on Amazon!
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.
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.)
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!
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!
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!
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!
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!
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!
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.
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!
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!
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 ***
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!
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!
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!
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?
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?
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.
"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?"
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?
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.
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The Blue Book Series!
20 Books On Writing (screenplays and novels) with in depth information and pro techniques
on specific elements of writing. From Creating Compelling Characters to Your Idea Machine to Reseach & World Building to Marketing.
Each book is packed with actionable information to imrove your writing!
"Bill's little blue books on the art of screenplay writing are legendary," Best Selling novelist Dale Brown.
The Book That Started It All!
My Best Selling Screenwriting Book, recommended by Oscar Winners and Top Box Office Screenwriters
and just about everyone else!
Plus WRITE IT FILM IT - my book on how to write low budget screenplays to sell to others... or make yourself! Filled with great techniques to
keep your budgets low without sacrificing excitement!
Plus the VINTAGE SCREENWRITING SERIES - early books on screenwriting (1912-1925) expanded with commentary and some history on early Hollywood... and New Jersey!
NOVELS & SHORT FICTION
From bodyguard Jackson Bolt to screenwriting detective Mitch Robertson to badass
violent cop Shelly Steele to the Crime Time Thriller series, my transition from professional screenwriter to prose is in full swing.
See what's new and exciting on the page!
"Bill's little blue books on the art of screenplay writing are legendary," Best Selling novelist Dale Brown.
HITCHCOCK BOOKS
Three books looking at Hitchcock's films and how to apply the techniques to writing and film making.
Each book focuses on 17-20 of his 50 films, with an in depth essay on each examining the Mastrer Of Suspense's methods to create edge of your seat
suspense or groundbreaking narrative experiments or looking at the importance of each element of story.
STORY IN ACTION
Each book looks at a popular film franchise with a detailed analysis of each of the films,
complete with box office, budget, RT scores, and behind the scenes information. Why was this entry a hit and that entry in
the franchise a flop? Every film is broken down and examined... what did it do right? Do wrong? What can we learn from
these films to help our own writing?
CLASSES ON MP3! Take a class on MP3! GUERRILLA MARKETING - NO AGENT? NO PROBLEM! and WRITING THRILLERS (2 MP3s). Full length classes on MP3. Now Available: IDEAS & CREATIVITY, WRITING HORROR, WRITING INDIE FILMS, more!
Take classes on MP3!
THE BLOG!
A Whole Week Of Programming! SEX IN A SUBMARINE (no actual sex is involved) From Trailer Tuesday to Film Courage Plus to THRILLER
Thursday to Fridays With Hitchcock and more! My blog has all kinds
of great stuff! Check it out! Lots of cool stuff every day!
