The Francis Ford Coppola Way (tip #29)

“Francis Ford Coppola may have people over to his house and read his script and discuss things, then go back and rewrite. This is very much like the way I work with the story team.”
Brad Bird
Two-time Oscar winner
Writer/director The Incredibles,  Ratatouille
Creative Screenwriting magazine
Volume 14 #3
Page 66

Read Full Post »

Normal is Not Funny (tip #28)

One of my all-time favorite quotes about screenwriting comes from Richard Walter at UCLA; “Planes that land safely do not make the headlines and nobody goes to the theater, or switches on the tube, to view a movie entitled The Village of the Happy Nice People.” When things are normal there is no conflict, and [...]

Read Full Post »

Simplicity in Screenwriting (tip #27)

In the past week I watched two modern classic films (Deliverance & Scent of a Women) and read the script again for Juno. Though these movies are different in genre and were made in three different decades they have at least one thing in common – they are simple stories.
Four guys go take a boating [...]

Read Full Post »

Descriptive Writing- Pt 5, Setting (tip #26)

Today we’ll look at three well known movies and see how parts of  particular scenes were written from the perspective of settings:
INT. MEMPHIS SUPERHUB–NIGHT–LATER
Our executives work amid the army of EMPLOYEES sorting the rivers of Christmas packages that flow relentlessly into the Hub. Some still have ties on, others have on Christmas hats incredibly complex; [...]

Read Full Post »

Descriptive Writing- Pt 4, Action (tip #25)

Writing action in a screenplay is not to be confused with car chases (though it could be a car chase). The action, or as it is also called the narrative, is simply what’s supposed to be happening on screen. More often than not it is a few blurbs rather than thick paragraphs. If there is [...]

Read Full Post »

Descriptive Writing- Pt 3, Characters (tip #24)

When you break down the core aspects of a screenplay you have scene headings (INT. HOSPITAL ROOM – DAY), dialogue (“I’m walking here!”) and what is called scene description, action or narrative. It’s the little blurb that sets up the scene and explains what’s going on in between the the dialogue.  Today we’ll look at [...]

Read Full Post »

Descriptive Writing-Part 2 (tip #23)

There have been over 100 movies and TV programs based on the novels and short stories of Stephen King so it’s safe to say that his writing strikes a cord with viewers as well as readers of his books. Here are some excerpts of what King has to say about descriptive writing:
“Description is what makes [...]

Read Full Post »

Descriptive Writing-Part 1 (tip #22)

This week we’ll look at examples of descriptive writing and Joan Didion is a fitting place to start. While Didion did co-write the screenplays A Star is Born and Up Close and Personal she is best known for her essays and novels. John Leonard of The New York Times wrote,“There hasn’t been another American writer [...]

Read Full Post »

Average Length of a Movie Scene (tip #21)

Yesterday I was reading David Bordwell’s book The Way Hollywood Tells It which as the subtitle says is a look at Story and Style in Modern Movies. Bordwell taught film studies for several decades at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. (I think he recently retired.) Robert Ebert has said, “David Bordwell is our best writer on [...]

Read Full Post »

Writing from Theme (tip #20)

“I think what makes a film stick to the brain is the theme.”
                                                                   William C. Martell 
“There’s no place like home.”
         [...]

Read Full Post »