While you’re brainstorming brilliant ideas, keep these tips in mind.

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The Three No-Nos

Let’s get one — okay, three — things clear to start.

No births. No deaths. No marriages.

When it comes to specs, you don’t want to alter the makeup of the show. You can’t just kill off a main character, introduce someone brand new, or marry two characters off. Birth, death, and marriage are the kinds of big life events you want to stay away from in spec scripts.

Of course, there are certain instances when a birth or death would occur naturally within the world of a show.

If you’re speccing Grey’s Anatomy, for example, it’s wholly possible that someone would come into the hospital and end up dying in the operating room. Or a patient might discover they have a medical complication with their pregnancy that causes one of the doctors to re-evaluate something in their personal life.

But you’re not going to kill-off Meredith Grey or suddenly announce that Miranda Bailey is pregnant. There are just some things — well, three things — you don’t do with specs.

Read More: The Literary Manager's Process of Selling Your TV Spec Pilot  

Bridgerton (2020– )

Make a Nice Sandwich

It’s true, you can write a spec script of the first episode of your show’s next season. But it’s a risk you must be willing to take. 

The name of the game in specs is longevity — you want your spec script to have the longest shelf life possible. If you write a spec of the first episode of season three of Bridgerton, and then season three premieres and the actual writers of the show have gone in a completely different direction, your spec is essentially useless.

Instead, try to find a way to sandwich your spec script between two existing episodes of the show.

This has become increasingly difficult as shows have gotten more and more serialized. It’s much harder to find a place within the latest season of Only Murders in the Building to situate a spec episode than it is for Abbott Elementary.

So, you have to look for gaps. 

As you’re rewatching your show, try to find any gaps — either between episodes or within storylines — where you might be able to sandwich in a spec. Keep an eye out for time jumps and pay attention to where the elapsed time in between episodes is a bit vague.

What happens between episodes three and four? Find out in your spec: episode 3.5!

Read More: What is a Story Engine and How Can It Help Your TV Pilot

Only Murders in the Building (2021– )

Be Normal, But Stand Out

I’m sorry if I’m the first person to break this to you, but your spec episode isn’t going to get made. You could write the best spec of The Sex Lives of College Girls imaginable, but Mindy Kaling isn’t going to buy it and produce it for the upcoming season.

The good news is… that means you have incredible freedom when it comes to what your spec episode can be about.

With specs, you want to stick to the series’ established structure and format, utilizing the major characters and locations to demonstrate that you’re capable of writing someone else’s show. BUT! You don’t have the budgetary restrictions or time constraints that must be taken into consideration when it comes to filming actual episodes of the show. 

Say you think it would be hilarious for the vampires of What We Do in the Shadows to visit the Statue of Liberty and then get stuck there when the sun comes up. The producers of the show might tell you that Liberty Island as a location poses too many production limitations and difficulties, but you don’t have to worry about that because you’re just writing a spec! Your spec isn’t going to be made… so go for it! 

Above all, you want your spec script to be memorable. So, write a “normal” episode of the show when it comes to structure, format, and tone, but take big swings in terms of story so that you stand out.

Read More: How to Structure a Great TV Pilot 

Abbott Elementary (2021– )

Shine The Character Spotlight

Specs are a great opportunity to shine a spotlight on unusual pairings of characters. Every show has its typical pairs… but what about characters who don’t often interact?

Take Ted Lasso. Wouldn’t it be fun if Coach Beard and Rebecca had a storyline together? Or what about Coach Beard and Keeley? Coach Beard and Roy? Basically, put anyone with Coach Beard and you’ve got a winning spec.

In all seriousness though, look for characters who aren’t often paired up and center your spec on that new and unique dynamic.

Or bring one of the minor or recurring characters to the forefront. Keeping with our Ted Lasso example… maybe there’s a spec to be written about Mae, the barkeep at the Crown & Anchor. Or Roy’s niece Phoebe, or Will, the new kitman in season two.

The point is, shows are populated with tons of characters, all of whom have stories you can tell in your spec.

Read More: 7 Unusual Ways to Describe Characters in Your Screenplay

Ted Lasso (2020–2023)

Build on the Afterthoughts and Throwaway Details

When I’m planning to write a spec, I purposefully go overboard on the note-taking while I rewatch the show. As I do this, I make sure to keep a running list of little details.

Anything can go on this list — a piece of character backstory that isn’t fully explained, a throwaway anecdote that was probably only included because it provided a good punchline, details that seem like afterthoughts but could become much more. I even add questions that I have about the characters or plotlines. 

Then, when I’m trying to figure out what my spec episode could be about, I look to this list for inspiration. Without fail, I can always find a kernel of something to center my spec around. 

When I was writing a spec to sandwich into the second season of Ted Lasso, during my rewatch I noticed that, in the wake of Earl the Greyhound’s untimely demise in episode one, Rebecca mentioned that the club made a hefty donation to a local dog shelter called “Barkingham Palace.”

Ding! Inspiration. I centered my whole spec episode around the team visiting Barkingham Palace to volunteer with the shelter dogs.

Using these small details that are already part of the show to build up into a full episode not only proves that you know the series well, but it helps make your spec feel like part of the show’s world. 

Read More: How to Watch a TV Show You Want to Write a Spec Script For

Put Yourself on the Page

Yes, writing a spec means that you’re writing someone else’s show. But that doesn’t mean you can’t infuse your script with your own unique perspective and voice.

Maybe there was a teacher who had a big impact on you in middle school and that relationship is something you can turn into a storyline for Abbott Elementary. Or a friend told you a mortifying story of a hook-up gone very wrong that could become the basis for an episode of Sex Education. Or maybe a lesson you learned after years of therapy could become a theme for a spec of Shrinking.

Don’t be afraid to mine your own life for story ideas. The more you can put yourself on the page, the better.

CHECK OUT OUR PREPARATION NOTES SO YOU START YOUR STORY OFF ON THE RIGHT TRACK!

The post Tips for Coming Up with an Idea for Your TV Spec Episode appeared first on ScreenCraft.

We’re excited to share that Family Guy’s current showrunners, Richard Appel and Alex Sulkin, are the grand jurors for the ScreenCraft Animation Competition. But before we task them with reading finalists' scripts, we sat down with Appel and Sulkin to hear their thoughts about TV writing, as well as writing for animation.

Check out the full interview below and continue on for five of the most inspirational takeaways from that chat. 

1. There Are Many Paths to Becoming a TV Writer

It used to be that if you wanted to be a TV writer, you had to write a spec script of an existing show, get representation and wait by the phone until your script got read by someone important. Nowadays, there are many ways to get noticed – especially if you write comedy.

Though Appel doesn’t have a lot of extra time to spend on social media, he does enjoy scrolling through Instagram to see what catches his eye. 

“There are so many things that make me laugh out loud that people post!” says Appel, and admits that they’ve hired a writer to work on Family Guy based on his Twitter account. “Seth [McFarlane], who is on Twitter, was following a writer named Damien Fahey who kept sending me his stuff. We brought him in and he's developed into a really strong writer and presence at the show. It's not just that showrunners like me and Alec read things, I'll get links sent to me. We'll follow up.” 

Appel adds that it’s important to just make stuff. “You have your phone, make little short videos, something is going to get out there if it's really funny and really good or creative and just find that platform, that venue,” he says. 

Got a great animation script? Enter it into the ScreenCraft Animation Script Competition!

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2. The Secret to Your Spec Script is Revealing Your Voice

If you don’t get discovered on Twitter, you’ll still need to write a spec script to be considered for a TV job (and even if you DO get discovered on Twitter, having a spec ready to go can only help your chances!). But putting your own voice into that script is crucial.  

Appel says when he plans to hire someone at Family Guy, it’s normal for him to read upwards of about 80 scripts, “Let’s say 60 are a ‘No’ and 10 are a ‘Maybe.’ Then you read one and it has a voice. There is a character in it who you think, ‘I couldn't write that!’ The structure may not be sound. The story may peter off, but 99 out of 100 times, I'm going to want to hire the person with the voice because the truth is you can't teach someone of the elements of writing.”

Appel goes on to say that having a voice, understanding stakes, making them earth-shattering and highly personal, and knowing how to escalate conflict, are all elements of a great spec.

Read More: How to Choose a TV Show to Spec

3. So, What Exactly is Voice?

Coming up with a universal definition of ‘writer’s voice’ is difficult and Appel gives an honest answer: “I'm not sure I know.” He likens it to that famous Supreme Court oral argument about pornography: I know it when I see it. It’s the same with writing. 

“When you read something that makes you stop and take notice,” says Appel. “For me, often it's a character speaking a certain way or with an observation or a line that seems so authentic and something that wouldn't have come to me.”  

Based on Appel’s answer, perhaps we can attempt to define voice this way: Voice comes from writing that is so authentic, so personal, that it couldn’t come from anyone else but you. But it’s also written in a way that is coherent and accessible to others. 

Read More: How to Give Your Screenplay Your Voice

4. Advice If You’re Struggling on Defining Your Own Voice

Some showrunners like to read original pilots and some like to read specs of existing shows. Appel recommends writing the latter, especially if you’re not yet sure how to express your authentic self in an accessible way.

“I’m always happy to read a spec script for a Modern Family, or whatever the show is, because the job you're being hired to do is to channel the voice of another creator with his or her characters and bring them to life week after week. And you can tell in a spec script of Veep or Modern Family, whatever it is, if the writer gets the characters and gets the voice of the show. To me, if you don't yet know your own voice - and I'm not being facetious -  write in someone else's,” says Appel.

'Family Guy'

5. How to Deal with Writer’s Block

So many writers struggle with either starting a project or more likely, finishing a project. Luckily, Appel says he can help.  

“I have a trick that I'm proud of. Whenever I'm stuck, hit with writer's block, which happens to us all – and [writer’s block] is a fancier name for the absence of ideas, laziness, exhaustion, whatever it is – I always do the same thing and maybe it works because I’ve been an A-type personality my whole life.” 

Read More: 7 Tips to Stay Motivated When Writing Isn't Your Day Job (Yet!)

Appel says he imagines he’s taking a final exam in college. “It's nine o'clock. You have to turn in your blue book. I know they don't do that anymore, but you have to hit send or whatever they do at noon and you sure as hell don't want to turn in nothing because that's a guaranteed fail. You've got three hours: go!”

After the three hours, he says to take a break and then open the computer and review what you have. 

“Even if it's shit,” says Appel, “get it on the page so you can come back to it and just see what's there.” It may not be much, but it’s likely something will be usable or, at the very least, there’s half a scene or an idea to build on.  

Read More: 6 Animated Shows That Changed the World of Comedy

CHECK OUT OUR PREPARATION NOTES SO YOU START YOUR STORY OFF ON THE RIGHT TRACK!

The post 5 Screenwriting Tips from 'Family Guy' Showrunners appeared first on ScreenCraft.

For most screenwriters, the obvious “other” form of writing is playwriting. There is an obvious similarity between the two, but also a crucial difference: it is much easier, quicker and cheaper to get a play produced than a screenplay. 

Read More: Stage Plays vs. Screenplays: 7 Differences You Should Know About

Here are five 21st century plays that may not yet be as well known as they should be (and they are certainly less well known than the five 21st century plays that I recommended last year). Nevertheless, they are all superb. And they are particularly inspirational for screenwriters because they are all relatively small-scale, with small casts (one is actually a one-person show) and low production costs, demonstrating just how easy it is to produce your own play – so long as it’s supremely well written. 

Got a great stage play? Enter it into the ScreenCraft Stage Play Competition!

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1. Typical by Ryan Calais Cameron (2019)

Ryan Calais Cameron is not just the most successful young black British playwright but possibly the best young British playwright full-stop. He first came to prominence in 2018 with Queens of Sheba by Jessica L. Hagan, which he brilliantly adapted for the stage from her own incredible (and incredibly funny and perceptive) writing about misogynoir, the unique nexus of racism and sexism that dark-skinned black women face. More recently, he has had two plays running simultaneously in London in the spring of 2023: For Black Boys Who Have Considered Suicide When the Hue Gets Too Heavy, about six young black men meeting for group therapy; and Retrograde, based on a real-life drama that the great Sidney Poitier (the Ali of Acting) faced in fifties Hollywood. 

However, the very best of all of Calais Cameron’s joyous, inventive and utterly theatrical works may just be Typical, his one-man show about the true story of a highly decorated black British military hero who nonetheless died in police custody after being the subject of a racist attack. In its fusion of poetry and drama, Typical is genuinely Shakespearean, but just in case that doesn’t sound like fun for non-Shakespeareans it also takes in the ridiculous (but perfectly observed) minutiae of dressing up for the night, the sexual politics of the dancefloor and tributes to great 90s pop, from Whigfield to the Spice Girls. In short, Typical is anything but; it is an absolutely atypical piece of poetic drama. 

The Passion of the Playboy Riots

2. The Irish Play (or The Passion of the Playboy Riots) by Neil Weatherall (2017)

This is a play that I have seen all the way from inspiration to full production, having met its writer, Neil Weatherall, at a London writers group in the autumn of 2016 and then being stunned when he actually did what very few writers (myself included) ever do by writing and producing a play within six months, which has subsequently been a hit at the 2019 Edinburgh Festival and already become something of a staple of the London fringe theatre circuit. 

The Irish Play (which was its original title and which I much prefer to its full title of The Passion of the Playboy Riots) is the story of early 20th-century Ireland as told through the formation and growing pains of the country’s national theatre, The Abbey, whose prime mover was the great Irish poet, W.B. Yeats. Weatherall takes us on a remarkable theatrical journey from backstage at what is little more than a school hall through to the formation and initial extraordinary success of The Abbey, taking in Yeats’s own romantic machinations and the fabled Easter Uprising of 1916. 

The Irish Play may have been one of the many theatrical victims of the Covid pandemic, in that it really should have been performed worldwide to the Irish diaspora (or ‘Paddyaspora’) to mark the 100th anniversary of Irish independence in 2022. Nevertheless, it is so good that it genuinely bears comparison to a certain Shakespeare play known universally as “The Scottish Play.”

3. Darling, by Kathy Rucker (2019)

Kathy Rucker is a former film industry professional who eventually found her true love in theatre and so far she has expressed that love most successfully with Darling, a beautifully written little play about an epic mail fraud in the U.S. Midwest in the 1980s. It is a four-hander in which every one of the four characters is perfectly realized: Petey, a troubled young man who is possibly autistic before the term is widely known; his seriously ill father, who struggles to cope with Petey’s problems after the premature death of his wife; Angie, who is the pen-pal (note for younger readers: a pen-pal was someone who you exchanged letters with) who Petey pours his heart out to and sends what little disposable income he has; and Dave, “Angie’s” boyfriend and de facto controller, who writes the “love letters” that “Angie” sends to Petey and, it transpires, thousands of other lonely young men. Dave dreams of being a latter-day Ernest Hemingway, but in reality his literary gift is for fraud on an industrial scale. 

In its meticulous depiction of a real-life, pre-internet scam, from initial inception through to its eventual collapse after Petey decides to visit Angie, Darling is superbly written, combining subtle yet authentic dialogue, detailed plotting and – somewhat ironically, given its subject matter – beautifully truthful character development. It received its world premiere in London in 2021, as, hopefully, will Rucker’s next play, Possum Trot, about a Midwest near-ghost-town. (She is making the Midwest her own personal dramatic milieu.) 

However, as I told Rucker after attending one of its first performances, Darling would also be perfect for cinematic adaptation. Although it is set in the 1980s, it has the feel of the classic, small-town and small-scale 70s crime dramas, such as The Friends of Eddie Coyle (1973), that the Second Great Age of Hollywood excelled at. Hopefully, one day it will receive its cinematic dues.

4. Mosley Must Fall, by Martin McNamara (2018)

Martin McNamara is one of the finest FMs (Fellow Martins) writing today, but he has far more going for him than his splendid first name. He first came across my radar, or more specifically my radio, with My Cambodian Twin, a brilliant BBC radio play about the tragically premature death of his partner, indeed soulmate, fellow writer Annie Caulfield. It was based on her own book of the same name about her travels around Cambodia with the woman she came to regard as her spiritual “twin,” a dancer called  Sophea Kagna. And in among the wonderfully realized radio depictions of South-East Asia was probably the most moving tribute to the sheer comic genius of Frasier, the greatest TV sitcom ever, which was one of the few sources of solace for Annie (and McNamara himself) as her life ebbed away. 

More recently, McNamara has written another wonderful radio adaptation of a hugely moving book, Brendan Behan’s Borstal Boy, in which the great Irish playwright recounted the unlikely happiest days of his life, spent in a British young offender’s prison after he had proved himself to be perhaps the most inept bomber in the history of the IRA. 

However, lest anyone think that McNamara is “merely” a brilliant adapter for radio of pre-existing books, there is also Mosley Must Fall. That is his own original play about the involvement of a survivor of the Easter 1916 Uprising in Dublin (McNamara and Neil Weatherall are friends and they are both keen students of Irish history, so it is perhaps not surprising that they have both written about, or at least referred to, this seminal event). Having fled Ireland, he becomes embroiled in the battle against British Fascism, led by the titular would-be British Hitler, in London’s East End in the 1930s. 

Intersectionality, meaning the interconnectedness of different social categories such as class and nationality, is one of the great 21st-century buzzwords. However, McNamara effortlessly brings it to life in this play about an Irishman who leaves his homeland to escape one war but finds himself involved in another one in England. And for those lucky enough to have access to BBC Sounds, probably the greatest contemporary collection of radio drama in the world, his own radio adaptation of Mosley Must Fall is still available to listen there.

Read More: What Pro Script Readers Consider When Reading Cinematic Stage Plays

5. The Coral, by Georg Kaiser (1917); adapted for the 21st century by Emily Louizou

The final recommendation for 21st-century plays that screenwriters (and indeed anyone else) should read may seem something of a swizz, in that The Coral was actually written in the early 20th century by the great German Expressionist playwright Georg Kaiser. However, it merits inclusion on this list because of the extraordinary adaptation of the original play by Emily Louizou of Collide Theatre for its first British production in over a hundred years, which ran at London’s Finborough Theatre in the autumn of 2022 and which will hopefully be revived elsewhere soon. 

The Coral, as written by Kaiser and adapted by Louizou, is undoubtedly one of the strangest plays I have ever seen, but seeing it was also one of the most thrillingly theatrical experiences of my life. It is the story of The Millionaire, the ultimate industrialist who has risen from poverty to great wealth but is still driven by fear of returning to his humble and impoverished roots. Because of his extreme paranoia and fear of attack by anyone from Communists to members of his own family, The Millionaire hires his doppelganger, The Secretary (who is as poor as he is rich), to appear for him in public. And the only way of telling the two very different men apart is a small piece of coral on The Secretary’s watchchain. 

Forget the bizarre-sounding premise, though, because in reality – or rather in performance – The Coral was both brilliant and bracingly odd; indeed, it was quite unlike almost any other play I have ever seen. And Louizou, who also directed, overcame the obvious difficulty of finding two exact physical lookalikes through the use of masks, which, post-pandemic, took on its own new and particularly menacing meaning. 

Above all, though, The Coral is the definitive proof that 21st-century playwrights (and screenwriters, who, as William Goldman knew, must write something other than screenplays) need not only rely on their own original creations. They can also reach back into the past to create something that is both new and timeless for our new and uniquely perilous century.

Read More: 4 Playwriting Tips From a Geffen Playhouse Reader

CHECK OUT OUR PREPARATION NOTES SO YOU START YOUR STORY OFF ON THE RIGHT TRACK!

The post Five 21st Century Plays Every Screenwriter Should Know appeared first on ScreenCraft.

In the latest film, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, the audience follows two main Spider-People: Miles Morales (Shameik Moore) and Gwen Stacy (Hailee Steinfeld) as they skip through multiple universes, meet several different Spider-People and attempt to fix a broken Spide-Verse that is hanging on by a thread.

It’s a wild, wonderful cinematic experience and offers a lot for screenwriters to take away, even if they’re not writing the next superhero tentpole film.

Got a great animation script? Enter it into the ScreenCraft Animation Competition!

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Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2023)

Open with a Recap

It’s been five years since the last Spider-Verse film. Throw in multiple Marvel movies, a few live-action Spider-Man films and everything else going on in the world and the audience needs to be brought up to speed.

The first scene in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse does just that and explains Gwen Stacy’s role in the version of Earth she inhabits. A lot of things that you know about Spider-Man ring true including characters like Peter Parker, J. Jonah Jameson, George Stacy and others, as well as the origins of gaining the spider powers.

At the end of Act 1, Miles has his first moments of screen time where he starts off recapping what’s been going on since the last film and explaining his origins as well.

Not everyone follows every detail of an original film or idea, so having the recap is important. It doesn’t have to be long, but it’s a piece of exposition that helps the audiences engage better with the story because they have a greater understanding of what happened in previous films. Shazam!: Fury of the Gods is another recent sequel to use the recap at the beginning of the movie.

Read More: 5 Serious Takeaways from Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse Co-writer Rodney Rothman

Spider-Man Across the Spider-Verse (2023)

Vigilante or Villain?

There’s nothing more demoralizing than being a misunderstood hero. Just ask Spider-Man in several of his films or Batman, Superman, the Ghostbusters and the list goes on.

Gwen Stacy’s Ghost Spider starts off the film accused of killing Peter Parker and trying to reclaim the trust of those who want her captured; which includes her father who’s a detective. The hero who becomes a villain provides another level of challenges for the protagonist to overcome. It’s hard to beat a super-villain but having the whole world against you makes it so much harder.

While this device is used a lot in superhero movies, it works well in other genres. Legal dramas can pit a lawyer against a system who thinks they’re defending a guilty person (i.e. To Kill a Mockingbird) or an action-thriller where someone is on the run from the law and must prove their innocence (i.e. The Fugitive, Enemy of the State).

Read More: 6 Reasons Screenwriters Should Consider Animation Writing

Spider-Man Across the Spider-Verse (2023)

Keeping Secrets

Often superheroes fight behind masks hiding who they are to protect their real identities and the people they care about. Spider-Man is no exception. For Gwen Stacy, she desperately wants to tell her father that she’s the Ghost Spider and that she didn’t kill Peter Parker, but she can’t reveal who she really is.

Miles Morales also can’t reveal to his parents that he’s a superhero crimefighter even when it impacts their trust in him.

Main characters with deep secrets are another way to make the hero of your story consistently in conflict. Not only are secrets something that the characters fight with internally, but it’s something they’re afraid will be found out.

For superheroes, a reveal of their secret identity is truly horrifying. On a consistent basis, they are fighting villains who want to hurt people so it’s no wonder they wear masks. Secrets are great tools for characters. Whether it’s a student who doesn’t want people to know she can turn into a panda (Turning Red) or a love affair between two men (Brokeback Mountain), secrets drive conflict both internally and externally for characters.

Spider-Man Across the Spider-Verse (2023)

Exposition in Action Scenes

In the first major action piece of the film, Gwen Stacy hears about a supervillain causing trouble at an art museum and heads that way to stop him. It’s there that she encounters a Renaissance version of The Vulture and a battle begins. As the fight ensues, more Super-People from different universes show up. It’s during this action sequence that the audience learns who these new versions of Spider-People are and where they came from: Jessica Drew a.k.a Spider-Woman (Issa Rae) and Miguel O’Hara a.k.a Spider-Man from 2099 (Oscar Isaacs).

Exposition in action scenes is ridiculous when you think of it in the context of the real world, but is one of the best ways to fill the audience and the characters in on backstories and thoughts in film. As Gwen, Miguel and Spider-Woman try to capture the Vulture, they have a discussion about who the new Spider-People are and we learn of Gwen’s awe.

From car chases to hand-to-hand combat, if you’re looking for a place to add exposition, consider putting it into an exciting action set piece in your story.

Read More: 101 Enchanting Animation Story Prompts

Get Super Creative

Don’t hold back on creativity. While there is the standard comic book version of Spider-Man, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse offers a look into a unique, fun and unconventional way to tell the story. This is just one example of imaginative storytelling.

The Best Picture winner at the Oscars this year was Everything, Everywhere, All at Once, which was another multiverse story that had scenes where the characters had hot dogs for fingers. The Lego Movie was made with the characters mobility limited to how the Lego brick characters moved.

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is another example of how you can find new and creative ways to share your story. Most important is not to be creatively unconventional for the sake of it, but rather to use it as a tool that best tells your story.

Superheroes are human. It’s important to remember that they have their own personal lives with everyday issues. Sometimes they revolve around family or school, other times it’s love or a death. In Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, both Gwen and Miles must deal with personal issues. And while they aren’t as menacing as a super-villain trying to destroy the multiverse, these are relatable conflicts that helps keep the audience engaged while adding another layering of problems for the hero.

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The post 5 Screenwriting Lessons from ‘Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse’ appeared first on ScreenCraft.

Since the pandemic, streaming networks like Netflix, Hulu and Peacock have been thriving and actively seeking television content because if there’s one thing people have liked to do in the age of COVID it's binge-watching great shows

If you don’t have a spec TV pilot, now is the perfect time to turn your best feature spec script into an hour-long TV pilot. 

Considering you have already created the characters, world and tone of your feature-length story, adapting it to TV pilot form is just a matter of reimagining your structure. Here are some things to keep in mind as you go through the process.

Read More: What is a Spec Script (and Why Should You Write One)?

Read Pilot Scripts in the Genre of Your Spec

Read. Pilot. Scripts. This is the first step to familiarize yourself with the hour-long format on the page. Most TV drama pilots are between 55 and 65 pages and are broken down into acts. Traditionally, these acts allow for commercial breaks on network (and some cable) TV channels. Networks like HBO don’t have commercials and neither do the streaming services, but you should still think about breaking your story into acts because it will help both you and the reader understand exactly where they are in the story. The number of acts just depends on the show. Some have as few as four acts and some have as many as six, so it’s really up to you. 

The acts are separate from the teaser, which is the opening one to three pages at the very beginning of the show. The teaser may introduce the protagonist, sometimes the antagonist or a sticky situation the protagonist will be forced to deal with later in the episode.

As I was adapting my historical feature script set in Victorian England into a TV pilot called Ada and the Machine, I studied the pilot script for Peaky Blinders. Because the show is very similar in tone to my feature script, it was incredibly helpful as a guide to how much plot and action to include in each act. I also used it as a template to help me know where to break my acts.

'Peaky Blinders'

Recalculate Your Timeline

The great thing about TV is that instead of telling your entire story in a tight, two-hour window, you now have somewhere between eight and 22 luxurious hours to tell that story, depending on the number of episodes you end up having. 

Focus on the first act of your feature script. It is where you introduce all your main characters and set up the central conflict in the story. To be clear, your first act of the feature screenplay is not your pilot, but simply the part of your feature script from which you will mine most of the TV pilot.

My feature script spanned two years of my protagonist, Ada’s, life. My pilot took place just in one week of her life. The goal is to parcel out your story, to really slow things down and get into the small details of things you just don’t have time for in a film. I was able to add two new characters and additional dialogue. 

‘A’ Story, ‘B’ Story, and ‘C’ Story

Most good TV shows have up to three storylines in each episode:

• A story: The main storyline that mostly concerns your protagonist
• B story: May involve a secondary character, but will eventually influence your protagonist
• C story: A very small storyline, often used for comedic effect or a romance.

Don’t worry if you feature script doesn’t have a B or C story, you can easily add B and C storylines. They will help make the world of the show feel more filled out and rich. 

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Create Hooks for the End of Each Act

At the end of each act and the episode, there should be a hook – a cliffhanger that entices the viewer to keep watching, tune in next week or immediately binge the next episode. These type of hooks were originally created to keep the viewer from turning the channel during commercials, but even shows without commercials have them. You can think of them as the rising action, an increase in conflict, or a question that must be answered. 

In my pilot, my protagonist is a mathematician, but also a gambling addict who thinks her math skills will allow her to overcome the odds. A good hook for me was having her place a bet on a horse that not only couldn’t she afford, but if she loses, the situation could affect the status of her upper crust family. If I’ve done my job and the viewer is properly invested in the outcome, they will absolutely be on pins and needles to find out the outcome of horserace.

Keep Your Main Conflict Alive

In a movie script, you want to have some type of resolution or denouement at the end so people can walk out of the movie theater feeling satisfied. A movie audience expects the protagonist to overcome their challenge and, by doing so, they have transformed, hopefully creating catharsis for the viewer. 

In a TV show, however, your protagonist doesn’t arc – they mostly stay the same, facing the same character flaws each week that get them into new sticky situations. When we are emotionally invested in a character, we want to see them continually being tested. 

There will be “wins” for the protagonist, but never to the point where all conflict is resolved until possibly the show’s end. If you are mainly used to writing features, this may be a bit of an adjustment, but remember a TV series takes a long-haul approach.

Create a Show Bible

The show bible is a document that keeps all pertinent information regarding the world of the show in one place. It includes the history of the characters, the location, and anything an incoming writer or producer would need to know about the show. 

Traditionally, show bibles were tools for new writers that would come into the writer’s room after a show had established itself, but now they can be used to help sell a TV pilot. If you look at the bible for Netflix’s Stranger Things (called Montauk in the bible), it is a deep dive not only into character and location, but also into tone, atmosphere and references specific films from the 1980s like Fire Starter and Poltergeist to really make clear the nature of the show’s feel and look. 

Your show bible should be a combination of important information and a continuation of your storytelling. It should answer every question perhaps not answered in the pilot itself. It is a companion piece with the pilot and should create excitement for the reader.

An excerpt from the TV Bible for ‘Stranger Things’

So, give it a shot! Not only is it good to branch out and challenge yourself as a writer but, with TV experiencing such a wonderful renaissance right now, this is such a great time to try out a medium that you're unfamiliar with. This golden age of television has everyone begging for excellent pilot scripts, so strike while the iron's hot.

Shanee Edwards is a screenwriter, journalist and author. After receiving her MFA in Screenwriting from UCLA, she was hired to adapt various stories for the screen including Apes or Angels, the true story of naturalist Charles Darwin, and Three Wishes, based on the New York Times best selfing novel by Kristen Ashley. You can listen to her interview Oscar-winning screenwriters on The Script Lab Podcast, or read her book Ada Lovelace: the Countess who Dreamed in Numbers. Follow her on Twitter: @ShaneeEdwards

The post Now is the Perfect Time to Turn your Feature Spec into a TV Pilot appeared first on ScreenCraft.

ScreenCraft has so many great virtual events, panels, and interviews to check out, each one covering specific topics designed around the expertise and experience of the guest speakers.

These events are geared toward helping you sharpen your skills as a professional writer. They are masterclasses with some of the greatest voices in the industry. The best part is that all of their experience and knowledge is available and accessible to anyone with an internet connection.

So how can you get the most out of these virtual events (or any, for that matter) and be more efficient with your interactions? Let's dive in!

Research the Speakers

Find the industry professionals that speak to you. Do you love the writing from that show you just binge-watched? Maybe the showrunner is appearing as a guest on a free panel you can attend. 

Even if you’re attending a virtual event and don’t know all of the guests, look them up and see what they’ve accomplished. 

By doing this, you’re able to hone in on questions that relate to their experience. By centering your question around their credits, it’s easier for them to conjure up a memory and deliver anecdotes on how they approached crafting your favorite scenes. 

But one of the best reasons to research speakers is because every writer’s journey is different. There are so many roads and footpaths into Hollywood. You can learn from every single one of them and come out with a better understanding of how to navigate your own path forward.

Come With an Open Mind

You never know, a single phrase uttered in passing during a panel discussion could spark a fire inside of your soul when you’re least expecting it. That’s the beauty of listening to writers, producers, and representatives who have extensive experience working in the industry. There is so much to be learned. 

Creatives never stop learning, so there’s no reason to go in thinking you know everything about the topic at hand. Odds are, the panelists will touch on areas you hadn’t considered.

The topic might not resonate with you at the moment, but one day it might. I was recently writing an action scene when I recalled what Tony Gilroy said about the importance of physical location in a fight scene during ScreenCraft’s 2020 Virtual Summit. I had no idea at the time (I was eating spaghetti) that what he said would inform my writing over a year later.

Leave yourself open to learning all you can if you have the opportunity.

Use what you learn today to become the guest panelist of tomorrow.

Stay On Topic

Some of these discussions are general Q&A’s that touch on a variety of subjects, while others are meant to be a deep dive into the specifics and technicalities of craft and career. Questions that may be appropriate in the former may not exactly be a good fit for the latter.

Some questions are unavoidable. 

How do I land an agent? 

What should I include in a query letter?

How can I get into a writers’ room? 

Sure, these are perhaps the most pressing questions writers face early on in their careers, but if the panel is called Writing the Perfect Action Sequence, they’ll likely do no service to the discussion at hand.

If you have the opportunity to ask a question, try to build on the conversation at hand instead of derailing the discussion with a question that comes out of left field.

During the ScreenCraft Virtual Pitch Finals, producer Jessica Matat came onscreen to ask Ben Cory Jones a focused question that continued the conversation about pitch decks and look books that he had already been discussing. Her question allowed Ben to clarify and dig deeper, thus broadening the scope of knowledge on that particular topic.

If the conversation is about World Building in Sci-Fi & Fantasy, it might not be the best time or place to ask, “Where the agents at?”

Keep the flow going by staying on topic. 

Prepare Thoughtful Questions

If there’s an aspect of the topic that hasn’t been discussed yet, don’t be afraid to ask. The goal for many of these conversations is to cover as much ground within that specific topic as possible. 

During the screenwriting panel Raise the Stakes: How to Write Action & Adventure That Sells, an audience member asked a technical question that helped expand the conversation to cover more ground. They asked, “What are some of the biggest challenges you face when it comes to adapting from source material?”

Each member of the panel was able to talk about their personal experience in adapting source material. The topic added another angle to the conversation that had been missing. 

Interact and Network

The chat rooms for these events are a lot of fun, and I always come away with a handful of new people to engage with on social media. It’s a great way to meet fellow writers and build a community. 

A lot of times, it’s not the showrunners and agents that will give you that big break, but the unrepped writers and assistants that you come up with who will soon assume those very positions of power. It’ll be the writers and collaborators you’ve met along the way who will refer you to others. 

Meet as many people as possible and cultivate those professional relationships over the years and you’ll always have a safety net to fall back on.

Be Ready to Be On Screen

Just like attending in-person events, make sure you’re presentable if you have the opportunity to ask a question live. Clear the clutter out of the corner of the room, and make sure your audio and video are set up beforehand so that there are no surprises. 

When presenting your question, try to be succinct and clear.

Make a great impression. 

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Approach these panels with a plan to take in as much information as you can. There are so many amazing speakers who offer great insights for up-and-coming writers. Take it all in and apply the lessons you learn to your craft and career.

You’ll be a stronger writer for it. 

Ready to put these tips into practice? Check out ScreenCraft's upcoming virtual events! They're free!

Kevin Nelson is a writer and director based in New York City, baby. He has written and produced critically acclaimed short films and music videos with incredibly talented artists, worked with anti-human trafficking organizations, and would rather be in nature right now. See more madness on Instagram or follow his work on https://www.kevinpatricknelson.com

For all the latest ScreenCraft news and updates, follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

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The "drama" genre has evolved from an all-encompassing understanding of performance art into a more precise manner of storytelling. Despite this narrowing of focus, drama remains a multifaceted genre that draws in viewers from all walks of life. There are many elements of the drama genre that a screenwriter can utilize in order to create a memorable experience for readers. 

A great drama has the ability to speak universal truths that connect cultures from around the world on an interpersonal level. Wherever these stories are spun, they are tales that transcend boundaries because of their humanistic nature. 

ScreenCraft contributor Ken Miyamoto best described drama as "a state, situation, or series of events involving interesting or intense conflict of forces."

Drama is created when a heightened sense of reality is portrayed through relatable human experience. It’s the performance of our relationship with the world and others. Human history is drama. In Aristotelian thought, drama would be more akin to tragedy, dealing with serious, important, and virtuous people, in contrast to comedy which deals with human weaknesses and foibles.

Since the dawn of Hollywood, great dramas have been celebrated as the pinnacle of cinematic art.

What are some of the most essential traits of great drama screenplays?

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Conflict

It all begins with conflict. 

A hunter tracks down a wounded deer and discovers a drug deal gone wrong. He is met with a choice. He decides to take the money, kicking off a chain reaction of events that leaves a whole lotta death and destruction in its wake. In No Country For Old Men, if Llewelyn Moss had never taken that money, then he would have no conflict — and no story to tell.

This scene is a series of small conflicts that leads the main character from one critical decision to the next. His fate is an accumulation of his decisions.

• Conflict #1: Llewelyn shoots a deer but doesn’t kill it, so he has to track it.
• Conflict #2: Llewelyn finds a separate trail of blood and spots a wounded dog.
• Conflict #3: He tracks the second trail of blood and finds the shoot out. A wounded man asks for water. This leads to more conflict later when Llewelyn makes the decision to honor the request.
• Conflict #4: Llewelyn hunts down the last man standing and takes the money.

Conflict forces the protagonist out of their comfort zone. Everything is hinged on the decisions that the character makes throughout their journey. It’s how the character responds and reacts to conflict that drives the plot forward and ultimately defines them. Usually, it’s the characters’ bad decisions that get them in trouble in the first place.

For Llewelyn, his decision to take the cash creates a trail of blood money that leads a homicidal maniac and a cartel to his front door, tracking him down like a wounded deer. The hunt is on the moment he makes his choice.

Character

The most memorable characters connect with audiences on a deeper level because of their vulnerability. Audiences need to care for the characters. Even antiheroes like Walter White garner sympathy despite their increasingly villainous actions. 

Audiences want characters to make the right decisions based on real life expectations. As an example of a “pure” character that most audiences adore, let’s look no further than Rudy.

Audiences root for Daniel “Rudy” Ruettiger because he always tries to do the right thing. His flaw is something that he can’t change. He’s too small for his big dreams. He’s resigned to follow in the footsteps of his father and brothers and work in a steel mill for the rest of his life. His best friend Pete is the only person who believes in his dream to play football for Notre Dame. When Pete dies in a work accident, Rudy is called into action.

Rudy is a likable underdog character that routinely fails despite his best efforts. The repeated failures only push him to work harder, which endears him even more to audiences. It’s Rudy’s relatability that makes his character so defined. Every hard worker with a dream sees a little bit of themselves in his resolve. 

Character Arc

A character can’t remain stagnant. They have to realize their flaws at some point and make an effort to overcome them. Seeing how it’s usually the character’s main flaw that gets them into hot water in the first place, this becomes what they need to change in order for resolution. Some characters rise to the occasion while others falter. Think of the two characters in Bradley Cooper’s A Star is Born, Ally and Jackson Maine. 

After discovering Ally’s raw talent in a bar and falling in love with her, country singer Jackson Maine slips deeper into a hole of addiction as his popularity wanes. Meanwhile, Ally’s star rises which creates conflict that jeopardizes Ally’s aspirations and spells ruin for what’s left of Jackson’s stifling career. Ally has to make choices that put her career first, or else she might sink with him — leading to different ends of the character arc spectrum.

One character rises while the other falls, serving as a cautionary tale for our protagonist Ally on the price of fame as she reaches her pinnacle moment. The emotional turmoil of losing her husband leads to her emancipation.

If only it didn’t have to be so hard for our characters to reach their full potential — but it does. 

The more your characters overcome, the greater the payoff is at the end of your script. Audiences want that triumphant moment like in The Pursuit of Happyness. For two hours audiences watched Chris Gardner suffer. Two hours of sacrifice and hard work and steady losing. Then, when he finally wins and steps outside after landing the big job, the audience takes that breath of fresh air with him. His tears are their tears. His triumph is theirs too because they were with him every painful step of the way.

Blend Genres

An incredibly dazzling display of emotional range can be found in the series Fleabag by super creator Phoebe Waller-Bridge. In the first season, a young woman grieves the death of her best friend the only way she knows how — by sleeping with different men and generally living up to her moniker. 

The first season’s running joke is Fleabag’s capacity to seemingly have no limit in her taste for men. Her sexual appetite introduces the audience to great comedic relief characters that are punctuated by Fleabag’s witty introspections and fourth wall breaks.

The punchline of the first season’s running joke is the perfunctory reason behind her best friend’s death. The dramatic reveal leaves the audience feeling a conflicted mix of emotions — knowing that the character flaw that made them laugh all season is the very thing that made them cry. 

The ability to manipulate an audience’s emotions from laughter to tears, then back to laughter again is an essential trait of great storytelling. If your story produces the desired emotional effect that you wish to elicit — whether that’s to cry, scare, or laugh —  then you are doing your job as the writer. 

Life isn’t singular — it’s a vast range of emotions and experiences. To go back to Bharata’s Rasa theory — the principle human feelings are, “delight, laughter, sorrow, anger, energy, fear, disgust, heroism, and astonishment.” 

Use them all.

Authenticity

The greatest stories ever told are rooted in reality, however fantastic they might be. They speak on uncomfortable truths felt by all but only spoken by the few and the brave. Stories such as Fleabag come across so personally because they’re written with a vivid rawness that is almost autobiographical. Audiences crave stories that are real. 

Sure, nonsensical action blockbusters will always be a thing — but with the rise in streaming platforms and the influence of social media — audiences are responding to a new wave of realism with record breaking support. Content has never been more accessible. That means there’s a high demand for new stories told by new voices. 

Oftentimes a writer might think, “Whoa, this is way too personal. I can’t possibly include it in my script.”

You should. By being vulnerable with yourself, you are being vulnerable with your audience. This makes your characters more relatable and everything much more layered. Someone out there is going through the very same thing that you are, hoping they are not alone. Show them that they aren’t.

Be true to yourself. Be fearless. Be real.

Relevance

This is an often overlooked trait. It's what will "hook" a producer or development executive who asks "why this, why now?"

How does your screenplay reflect the social dynamics of the setting?

Historical, biopic, military, and other true stories remain popular sub-genres of drama because they cover events and public figures that are already well known by audiences — giving these films the ability to make sales on the subject matter alone. Despite the date or location of your screenplay, all art is reflective of the time in which it is created. Why does your story need to be told right now?

Our favorite hapless hero Forrest Gump exemplifies this. Forrest Gump was released in 1994 on the tail end of the millennium. It was a reflective and nostalgic time that called back to previous eras and subcultures. 

Forrest meandered through the greatest milestones of recent American history, depicting the coming of age story of an entire generation that will never get old. History is always relevant.

Drama is everywhere. 

It’s in the stories we tell our co-workers during break or family members at dinner. It is a fixture of our daily lives. Some people thrive on it. Others don’t want no drama. Regardless, there is no escaping it, so writers channel it into their work whether they realize it or not.

The writer who is able to translate the complexities of being human with empathy and compassion through their own unique point of view is well on their way to writing the next great drama screenplay. 

Kevin Nelson is a writer and director based in New York City, baby. He has written and produced critically acclaimed short films and music videos with incredibly talented artists, worked with anti-human trafficking organizations, and would rather be in nature right now. See more madness on Instagram or follow his work on https://www.kevinpatricknelson.com

For all the latest ScreenCraft news and updates, follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

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There’s plenty to learn from the creator of Gilmore Girls, Bunheads, and, most recently, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, about crafting the most important elements of story, creating compelling characters, and believing in your own writing. 

Fall in Love with Your Story

“I don’t believe you should go into any project with a shot in hell of succeeding if you have a specific zeitgeist desire. It just can’t work. You have to fall in love with your story and what you want to tell people, and live in a world that you’re gonna enjoy for a while, and hope to drag some people along with you.” (Rolling Stone interview) 

First and foremost, fall in love with your story. Many writers sink into the trap of trying to deduce what will be “hot” in the upcoming pilot season or predict what kind of shows execs will be interested in ordering to series. As Sherman-Palladino suggests, that’s not the way to do it. Instead, craft characters and a story you truly care about. If you love the story, that passion will come through in your writing and your pitch and be contagious to anyone listening.  

What a Story's Really About

“Always make the big small and the small big. It’s not about the plot, it’s about the people… The truth of what the characters are feeling has to be the most important thing you put out there.” (Variety interview)

Never forget that story grows organically from characters. When Amy Sherman-Palladino pitched Gilmore Girls, the pitch was simple: it’s about a mother and daughter who are more like best friends than mother and daughter. The relationship between Lorelai and Rory Gilmore was always central to the series, and every plot and storyline grew out of their characters. While plotlines can get messy and tangled, the truth of the story always comes back to your characters’ universal experiences and emotions. 

Create Characters Who Need to Grow

“Sometimes people who have the biggest journey to take are the most interesting characters in the end.” (Rolling Stone interview)  

Amy Sherman-Palladino loves Joel. While Midge Maisel’s ex-husband isn’t perfect by any means, that’s what makes him such an appealing character to his creators. Joel has room to learn, grow, and evolve, which makes for a much more interesting and complex character arc. Writers must remember that for any character arc to feel earned, the character has to experience some kind of growth. The journey must feel earned. 

Have Some Kind of Plan

“We’ve always made sure that, anything we pitch, we can see at least five years in our heads. If you can’t, there’s nothing worse in life than, “We have a great pilot and then it’s like, now what do we do?” (WGA interview) 

You may not know the final four words of your series from the very inception like Sherman-Palladino did with Gilmore Girls, but it’s still crucial to be able to look ahead. While you may only be writing a pilot episode, your concept must have the legs to carry an entire series — whether it be for two seasons or 20. Make sure that your characters have room to change, your storylines have the ability to morph, and your themes can be just as meaningful at episode 100 as they are at episode one. Some kind of plan is better than no plan at all, and just because you have one doesn’t mean you have to stick to it exactly.

Believe in Your Work

“People make terrible mistakes in the fear of being fired. And it’s better to be fired than to compromise on something that is going to destroy what you had in the first place.” (BAFTA Guru interview)

As Sherman-Palladino explains, TV writers are often driven by fear — fear of being fired. The process of creating television is collaborative by nature, which means there are usually too many cooks in the kitchen and notes flying back and forth like stray ingredients in a complicated soup. But as a writer, you have to be fearless. You have to believe in your work enough to step up to bat for it when someone tries to change it. Stick to your guns, stand up for your story, and believe in those words you’ve put on the page. 

Have a funny screenplay that can make our Hollywood judges chuckle? Enter the ScreenCraft Comedy Screenplay Competition! Early Deadline ends February 28th.

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Last year ScreenCraft hosted its inaugural ScreenCraftVirtual Pitch Competition Grand Finale event in November and it was a huge success with the jury, writers, and the writing community. All the three winners impressed the jury with their pitches and gained the attention of the industry with their 2-minute pitches!

• Lizzie Perin, the Grand Prize Winner’s inspiration for her winning pitch, BAKO came from her own struggles to embrace her identity as a “Japanese American” writer as someone who was adopted and grew up in white, Southern culture. 
• Kyra Jones, the first runner-up’s inspiration for GO TO THE BODY comes from her work as a professional sexual violence prevention educator and survivor advocate, and wanted to write a story that accurately depicted the experiences of Black survivors and their loved ones.
• Wesley MacInnes, the second runner-up’s inspiration for BLACKOUT’s pitch was based on his life as an artist in the music industry and is a deep dive into the underbelly of the industry.

Learn more about theses talented writers here: Meet the ScreenCraft Virtual Pitch Top 10 Finalists. And you can see the full video of their pitching here.

With the 2021 ScreenCraft Summit Virtual Pitch Competition open for submissions, we thought we’d bring you the learnings from the winners of our previous season. Here’s what they had to say about how to pitch in a virtual room.

Enter Now  |  Early Deadline in 22 days

According to you, what is the importance of pitching for a writer?

LIZZIE: Pitching demonstrates that you understand the core elements of storytelling: character arcs, themes, tone, and story structure. It’s a good exercise for me to see if I have fully fleshed out my story. It also seems like an inevitable part of a screenwriting career these days. At some point, you will have to take a script from your laptop and sell it to someone. On a personal level, I think it's necessary to connect a pitch back to you so the listener knows why you are the one to tell this story. To do this, you have to do some soul searching and be honest with yourself. I think this sort of critical thinking makes you a better writer, and the courage to tell a stranger something vulnerable makes you a better person. Plus, it’s good to remember that stories are meant to be shared. It harkens back to the old days when people used to recite Odysseus’s adventures to each other. Before writing, speaking is how storytelling existed. It feels full circle to finish writing a script and then pitch a story aloud. When you step back from the process, there’s poetry to that cycle.

KYRA: Unless you want your scripts to stay on the page forever, you absolutely need to be able to pitch and pitch WELL. You can have the most phenomenal, Oscar-worthy script, but if you want to get it into the hands of someone who can actually get it produced, you have to be able to talk about the project in a way that gets them excited not only to read it but to work with you. Pitching is selling your story and yourself. You need to show you’re worth going to bat with execs and investors for and that you’re someone who’d be dope to collaborate with. Producing films and series can often take years, and stakeholders have to feel like you’re worth being stuck in the weeds with for a good chunk of their life. A good pitch has to do all that in a limited amount of time, but if you master the art, the doors that it will open are endless.

WESLEY:  Collaboration is vital to create any kind of work in film, and I think that, in a lot of ways, you are essentially pitching your ideas as a writer any time you collaborate; you’re taking the idea in your head and trying to communicate it in terms that resonate and excite other people. Pitching is essential, in that it is the nexus between the creative and the business world, and you have to be able to pitch in order to take a great idea and make it into something real and tangible.

How did you prepare for the pitch?

WESLEY: In general, I prepare for a pitch by trying to zoom out as far as possible from the core of my project and from there find the most engaging way to invite someone inside, layer by layer, until they reach that core themself. I find when you’re really deep into a project it is challenging at times to think back to if you knew absolutely nothing about it and how you would take someone in that condition to a place where they want to know more.   I prepped my pitch by breaking it down into sections (for me it was Personal Connection to Material, Story and Characters, and Tone and Comparables).  From there I wrote a pitch, memorized it, and ran it many times until I felt I could do it in my sleep if need be.  This allowed me to come in and have some fun, trusting that I had the backbone to rest on.

LIZZIE:  For the first round, I wrote a longer version of my story – over the 350-word limit. Then I went through and cut the most unnecessary parts until I got down to the core of it. I asked myself if this is the first time someone hears this, would they understand me? 

For the second round of recording a video pitch, I wrote a specific script to memorize based on my 350-word document. From there, I filmed myself and painstakingly watched the videos. What do I have to cut to get my time down? Where should I have paused for emphasis? Figuring this out, I sent a more finalized video to my friends; I showed it to writer and non-writer friends for feedback. Taking their notes into account, I recorded it one last time for the video round.

For the final verbal pitch, I went through a similar process of making sure I knew my pitch inside and out. I practiced live to friends. I also recently read that a way to cure stage fright is to eat something, so I had crackers on hand to eat while I watched the other incredible writers pitch. By the time I pitched, I knew I had done all I could to prepare.

KYRA:  Since I’m producing Go to the Body independently, I’ve actually been pitching the project a lot lately. In October, my producer and I won the pitch competition at the Chicago International Film Festival (which was extra wild because the contest happened to fall on one of our filming days for the proof of concept, so I had to hop off the director’s chair to virtually pitch from set). For Screencraft, I was solely talking about the screenplay and my connection to it, so I had to adapt it to paint more of a picture of the characters and their journey. When writing a pitch, I try to answer these questions: What is the story? Why is it important? What other films/TV shows does it compare to? Why does it need to be told now? Why am I the right person to tell it?

Did you read/memorize pitch or was it more freeform?

KYRA: I read my pitch. Feeling more comfortable going freeform is definitely something I need to work on. I’m always nervous I’m going to forget something important! But if you can make it feel natural and conversational, it will give you more opportunities to inject your personality into the pitch.

WESLEY:  I created a script for my pitch and had it entirely memorized.  However, I try to then throw that script away just a little bit in the moment and use it more as the reference point from which I can choose to stay totally on the plan or veer off if I feel a moment comes up.  I find it helps me mentally to know that I have it entirely memorized and could auto-pilot the pitch if needed. 

LIZZIE: I’m a hardcore memorizer. I was taught to be a memorizer in my pitching class at FSU, and I stand by what I learned. If you don’t know what you’re going to say, you may get caught off guard and freeze, or worse, blab. Knowing exactly what to say made me feel more confident.

Did you refer to any existing pitch content for reference? What was an inspiration?

LIZZIE: I didn’t. I was afraid I’d be nervous or want to imitate someone in a way that wasn’t natural to me. I did have the benefit of taking a pitching class in grad school, so I got to watch how my friends pitched and know what kind of pitching style I liked. 

KYRA: Wendy Calhoun was actually a huge inspiration for my pitch! I have seen her speak on several panels about pitching, and she always has the best advice. I definitely referenced my notes from those events when preparing.

WESLEY:  I did watch the Screencraft webinar the judges which allowed me to get a feel for their personalities and the things they were looking for in a pitch.  I think knowing your audience is absolutely essential in creating a pitch as everyone presents a different potential entrance point for a conversation, so that was big for me.

What's the most important thing you learned during this entire process?

WESLEY: I would say the most important thing I learned in this process is that you are rewarded for leaving your comfort zone. The idea of pitching my project in front of a live audience was quite daunting.  It is a different art form.  I’m glad I took the plunge and entered the competition.  The experience alone gave me a lot on insight into my own pitching process, how other people pitch, and allowed me to meet a bunch of interesting creatives.

KYRA: I learned exactly how far being vulnerable about your personal connection to the story will get you. I knew this in theory before the competition, but the judges repeated it consistently aftereach finalist pitched. I think that my connection to Go to the Body’s subject matter as a professional survivor advocate is ultimately what got me into the top 3. Finding yourself in the narrative makes whoever you’re pitching to invest in both the script and who is writing it. Remember: “Personal” doesn’t mean “autobiographical.” You wrote it because there was something compelling you to. What was that thing pushing you to put this narrative into the world? Open with that when you pitch.

LIZZIE: I learned to trust myself when I’m pitching. I was incredibly nervous, but when it came down to it, I knew my story better than anyone else in the world. That’s what I told myself – out of the billions of people in the world, no one knew my script better than I did. That gave me some peace of mind. I was also reminded that the judges, like most people, really are there to help. Almost everyone I’ve met in the industry has been genuine and supportive.

Best single piece of advice from the judges?

LIZZIE:  I think the best note I got was the note behind all of the notes – setting up my story. Next time, I want to set up my comp, lead character arc, and some rules for the show (since it’s a fantasy), a little sooner. I think the earlier I can clarify structure and world-building, the easier it is for people to follow. 

KYRA: Wendy’s advice to paint a picture of one of the scenes to put the audience in the main character’s shoes stuck with me the most.

WESLEY: The first is to always demonstrate your strong personal connection to the material; you’re showing not just why this story should be told but why YOU are the one to tell it.  I’m of the opinion that when it comes to creative ideas in all art forms, there is nothing you can come up with that has not been generated in some way before… and this is totally ok.  The second piece of advice was something I can strengthen in my own pitch.  It was the need to add levity and a bright side.  My pitch was fairly dark and I do believe would benefit from a bit more on the up swing.

How is a Zoom pitch different than in-person? (If you've pitched before)

WESLEY: Zoom pitches have the upside of doing it from the comfort of your own home, which is quite nice.  However, you lose the vibe of the room a bit.  This is why I like to have a pitch fully memorized, so that if you are not getting anything back from the room on Zoom you can still get your idea across.  However, in the case of this Pitch Competition the judges and live viewers were all so so so kind and gave such warm welcomes to our projects.  So, it was very much possible to feed off of it.  I would say it is a good idea to have done as much tech testing in advance as you can (mic, camera, lighting, internet connection, etc.) and then realize that Zoom will always add a random element beyond your control that you just need to roll with and realize everyone is in the same boat.

KYRA:  The pros are that you can have your notes up and it’s less obvious when you check them than it would be in-person. Another pro is that you can pitch in your home or another space that feels familiar and comfortable, AND you can pitch in sweatpants and no one will be the wiser! The cons are that it’s harder to connect with who you are pitching to through eye contact and reading their body language. Everyone is just a floating head. Additionally, through Zoom you really have to be ON IT with your personality, or else whoever you’re talking to will just get bored and start browsing Etsy for gifts for their grandma.

LIZZIE:  My actual pitch and my process to prepare were the same as they would have been in person, but there were other little things I had to consider, like buying a ring light, arranging my background, etc. The weirdest thing during the pitch was that I had to look at my laptop camera to “make eye contact” as opposed to look at the person. Because I had that focal point, I was unable to read the room and know what’s landing, so that was simultaneously freeing and scary. My camera has a green light when the video is on, so there was this surreal feeling I was trying to shake off that I was like some sort of delusional Gatsby cliché. Despite all this, the best part of pitching on Zoom was that I wore my penguin slippers. In person, I always feel the need to wear heels to these kinds of events because I'm so short, but in my bedroom, I went for my old, comfy penguin slippers. 

Did you get any offers from this pitch?

KYRA: I’ve been lucky enough to win or place highly in a number of screenwriting competitions and film festivals over the last two years, but nothing has gotten me close to the type of immediate, potentially life-changing results as the ScreenCraft Virtual Pitch Competition. Other competitions send out a list of the finalists and winners to a broad collection of agents, managers, and execs. Then, you kind of just cross your fingers that someone will take notice of your logline and reach out to you. But the folks at ScreenCraft really do the work to connect you with specific industry people they think could fall in love with you and your story. They personally advocate for you and your unique voice. Neha and Emily (who run ScreenCraft’s competitions) reached out to me and asked if I was represented and what they could do to help me advance my career. I told them I was ideally looking for a BIPOC manager/agent, and they were really thoughtful about who they sent my work to. Hollywood really listens to ScreenCraft and takes the writers who they discover seriously. It’s truly amazing.

Additionally, because the pitch competition happened in front of a live audience, there are now hundreds of new people who are now familiar with Go to the Body and are rooting for it to be produced. My social media blew up after my pitch with wonderful, encouraging messages from people who loved the story. Most of those messages were from other Black women, which made me really emotional. There were a lot of happy tears shed after this experience.

LIZZIE: I have sent my script to two different producers/production companies, and I have sent it to several managers. We’ll see where it goes! Aside from my offers, Screencraft has sent my script to a few managers, so I’m hoping to hear back from them after the holidays. The Screencraft Team has been so kind and supportive thus far, and I'm excited to work with them moving forward. I feel like I’m on the precipice of a big career move, but even if I’m not, this has been a great experience. I made connections, learned a lot, and I have the confidence to continue writing.  

WESLEY: I don’t mean to be coy in dancing around this question, but as I said above, I’ve had a couple of interesting opportunities come up.  However, they are too early in their proceedings to publicly speak on.  I will say this: being in the Virtual Pitch Competition and being in the top 3 has certainly already drummed up some opportunities for me that I would have been hard pressed to create on my own, and I’m grateful for the shot.  I’ll keep you guys posted.

Any advice for first-time pitchers?

WESLEY: Here are my five best tips for first-time pitchers:

1)     Find your hook.  Get out of the depths of your project and zoom waaaaay out and figure out what it is that people need to hear first to get them interested and then build a track from there that begins at the entrance and goes deeper and deeper into the maze until it reaches the coolest nugget that makes your project undeniable.  Then figure out what your best personal connection is to the piece and find a way to work that into the pitch strongly.  Oh, and do yourself the biggest favour and pick other amazing projects to compare yours to… it’s like a cheat code because you are evoking pre-existing images in other people’s minds when you bring those up.  So, do it!

2)     Prep prep prep… Write and re-write your pitch until it feels good.  Memorize it and run it aloud.  Run it to people you trust.  Run it to your pet.  Run it to yourself.  But definitely try to say it aloud a lot before you go to do it.  It will create muscle memory that will help you when your nerves come up.

3)     Don’t sabotage yourself right out of the gate by saying anything like “this is my first time” or “it’s not quite done” or anything like that.  If you are pitching, the room is yours… don’t give up your power.  Everyone has doubts in their own work… you don’t need to broadcast it.  Trust yourself and your work.

4)     Make people lean forward, rather than blowing them back.  Everyone has their own pitching style, but I personally think (especially in the era of zoom pitching) that there is great value to an understated and conversational pitch.  Show your passion for the subject, but don’t “pitch it”.  Being really big can be a lot to take and can make people miss your important points.  If you’ve built a solid pitch you should be able to speak near a whisper and have people leaning in and hanging on every word.  This will also allow any BIG moments to hit hard.

5)     Let it all go… When the time comes, throw all the prep away and try to have fun with it.  This is story telling after all, and somewhere along the line it should bring joy to your heart.

 Your story is worth telling, so if you want to do it just start and don’t stop until you have a draft.  Don’t get it right… get it written. 

KYRA: Practice! Pitch for your friends and family, but since they are obviously kind of biased, ask other writers and filmmakers you know if you can practice on them. If it’s a Zoom pitch, record yourself so that you can watch it back and see what you look like. Pitching is a bit of a performance, and just like acting or any other type of performance art, you have to do it repeatedly to master it.

LIZZIE: A silly piece of advice – wear a ring. I’m a fidgety person, and I tend to touch my hair and my face Home Alone-style when I’m nervous (yes, even during Covid, I can’t stop). If I wear a ring, I can subtly twist it in a way that’s not distracting and utilizes that nervous energy. Even if I don't touch it, I feel secure knowing it's there. The advice behind the advice here is to know what makes you you. What habits do you have that benefit you, and what habits do you have that prohibit you from reaching your fullest potential? If you can’t work past your nerves, find a way to with them. Take some time to introspect, and then wear a ring.

The ScreenCraft Summit Virtual Pitch Competition is open, with the additional advantage of pitching to the ScreenCraft Summit audience! If you have a 350-word pitch ready, don't wait on it! Use this as an opportunity to polish and prepare the best damn pitch for your script. Be sure to check the contest page for upcoming deadlines. Also, if you wish to check out the 2020 ScreenCraft Virtual Pitch Grand Finale event, you can watch it on our ScreenCraft Facebook Page, or read more here. 

The post Virtual Pitching Advice for Screenwriters appeared first on ScreenCraft.

Most screenwriters spend their entire careers writing in just one genre, whether they intend to or not. Hollywood likes to put writers into neat little boxes and keep them there. It’s understandable producers want you to be “that rom/com writer” or “that psychological-thriller writer” so they know what to expect when they hire you. But the truth is, you shouldn’t limit yourself because the script market is constantly changing.

If we've learned one thing from 2020 it's that everything can change overnight — even Hollywood. If your writing has been feeling stale, you might just need a change of scenery — or genre — to get the creative juices flowing again. Who knows, you might even open up some new doors and make new contacts in a genre you never expected. There are even plenty of genre-specific screenplay competitions you can enter to tap a new market.

Here's everything you need to know to branch out and write a screenplay in a brand new genre.

Take a stab at horror

If you’re used to writing thrillers or drama, consider writing in the horror genre. Horror has a number of subgenres to choose from so you can find your perfect story, but the best part about writing horror screenplays isn't just a wide range of topics. Horror is simply one of the most popular trending genres in Hollywood right now.

Writing a horror screenplay is similar to a drama. All you have to do is heighten the stakes, usually with a supernatural element. To write horror, just ask yourself, ‘What truly scares me?’

• Scared of vicious hammerhead sharks? Set up a story that puts your protagonist face to face with the predator.
• Terrified of serial killers? Challenge yourself to think of the last person anyone would think is a cold-blooded killer and make them your antagonist.
• What about a deadly, invisible virus that’s silently killing hundreds of thousands of people? All you have to do it look around you to get ideas for your screenplay.

Writing a horror screenplay can be cathartic. You might even discover a healthy way to channel your anxiety into a page-turning script.

The world needs more meet-cutes

War and other uncertainties like a pandemic have a lot of people longing for escapism. The fun and safety of a rom/com is a great distraction from the world’s woes. Just choose characters or an environment we haven’t seen in a rom/com before, which shouldn't be too hard considering how strange things have gotten over the past few months.

• Is the love story about a thruple trying to make the polyamorous romance work? You can explore the complications and upsides of a three-way relationship, from hiding it from family and co-workers to the possibility that one person’s bed simply isn’t big enough to hold all three.
• How has dating and meeting people changed post-COVID? What does a meet-cute look like when you're not supposed to get within six feet of someone?
• Or… could your rom/com take place in the ride-share world? Could it be a star-crossed romance between a Lyft and an Uber driver?

The possibilities are endless — and growing. Stick to the traditional rom/com structure, but make the world feel fresh and surprising. There's plenty of room in this genre for new perspectives and unexpected stories.

Get your spurs jangling and write a Western

The Western film is a truly American art form no matter where it’s set. From small towns like Hadleyville, New Mexico in High Noon to far-flung galaxies like Star-Trek, or the techy future of Westworld. The setting doesn't matter as much as getting the "western" tone and style right. Get creative when it comes to your western setting and focus on the genre-specific elements.

The Wild West is thought of as a lawless, dangerous place with harsh elements and uncivilized people. It’s a place where people feel a duty to conquer the wilderness in the name of civilization or fight for justice. Could the new Wild West be the lawless tech landscape of artificial intelligence? Of course! Just remember to avoid old cliches and make the stakes as high as possible.

Get in touch with your inner-child and fly high into Fantasy

Fantasy films are some of the most powerful genre films out there. From Avatar to The Shape of Water, these films capture our imagination (and Oscars) and create wonderful metaphors that resonate deep in our psyches. Now is the time to get creative and dream up a world that makes you happy.

Maybe it’s a land of Munchkins and witches like in The Wizard of Oz. Or maybe you prefer a remote tropical island where mermen and mermaids are real but dying from ingesting too much plastic? Dark, but ok. Writing a fantasy genre screenplay is a great excuse to let yourself go to unexplored places. Don't limit yourself to the stories you've already heard. Find somewhere no one else has dared to go and write your back to the rest of us.

Celebrate life by writing a Holiday movie

Halloween and Christmas movies have become ubiquitous in October and November/December, so why not see if there’s a way to push the envelope a bit and tell a holiday story from your unique perspective?

What is that one strange tradition your family engages in every Christmas that you hate? Or you could look to another popular holiday like Valentine’s Day or St. Patrick’s Day for inspiration. Maybe a human child is mistakenly raised as a Leprechaun but doesn’t fit in because he’s so unlucky? (Yes, that’s basically the plot of Elf, but a funny Leprechaun movie does have potential.)

Regardless of which holiday you pick, write a screenplay about a holiday you love to celebrate so your creative juices flow.

Pro Tip: Decide ahead of time if your script is going to be a family movie or something more adult, like a rom/com. It'll save you some time down the road.

Gas is cheap so fuel up and write a road trip movie

The best road trip movies are characterized by the journey, not the destination. Great road trip movies like Little Miss Sunshine, Mad Max: Fury Road, and Y Tu Mama Tambien are all great metaphors for personal growth and change. In each one, the characters travel the proverbial long road of life and are constantly tested by emotional roadblocks along the way.

Considering we’ve all been stuck in a car with our dysfunctional family or person we didn’t like, it should be easy to look to your own experiences to find conflicts. Just make sure the stakes are as high as possible to create tension and a sense of urgency like the characters in Thelma and Louise who are running from the law after killing a would-be rapist.

Write a film based on history

History-nerds unite! My personal favorite genre is historical fiction and I love getting lost in the research. There are so many interesting and surprising characters from history, especially lots of dynamic, impactful women whose stories have never been told. And if you're anything like me, you've had some spare time on your hands to read a few biographies.

Are you fascinated by the Civil War? Ancient Greece? The painters of the Renaissance? Pick a part of history that most intrigues you and watch every documentary and narrative film on the subject you can find. Become the expert and figure out how themes from this specific piece of history are relevant to today. If you’re fascinated by the Industrial Revolution, you may want to find the similarities to today’s tech revolution. Unfortunately for us history always repeats itself, but that gives screenwriters many cautionary tales to tell.

How to write in popular screenplay genres

Most of us have watched our world transform in a matter of months. If you ever wanted to experiment with a new screenplay genre, now is the time to test the waters. Because we're all hungry for new stories right now.

Want to know more about genre screenwriting? Check out our library of screenplay writing books and courses for every genre from Comedy to Horror to help kickstart your next genre screenplay.

The post 7 Popular Screenplay Genres to Explore Right Now appeared first on ScreenCraft.

So without further ado, here is ScreenCraft's 2021 Screenwriting Competition Calendar.

Here’s to a successful new year of creativity and growth for all writers!

Here are ScreenCraft’s 2021 writing competitions in order of opening date:

2021 True Story & Public Domain Screenplay Competition (Feature, TV)

• Opens: January 1st
• Early deadline: January 31st
• Regular deadline: February 28th
• Final deadline: March 31st

2021 Summit Virtual Pitch (Feature and Episodic Series)

• Opens: January 1st
• Regular deadline: January 31st
• Final deadline: February 28th

2021 Comedy Screenplay Competition (Feature, TV Pilots)

• Opens: February 1st
• Early deadline: February 28th
• Regular deadline: March 31st
• Final deadline: April 30th

2021 Sci-Fi & Fantasy Screenplay Competition (Feature, TV Pilots)

• Opens: March 1st
• Early deadline: March 31st
• Regular deadline: April 30th
• Final deadline: May 31st

2021 Fall Film Fund (Features, TV pilots, Documentaries, and Shorts)

• Opens: March 1st
• Early deadline: March 31st
• Regular deadline: April 30th
• Final deadline: May 31st

2021 Action & Adventure Screenplay Competition (Feature, TV Pilots)

• Opens: April 1st
• Early deadline: April 30th
• Regular deadline: May 31st
• Final deadline: June 30th

2021 Animation Screenplay Competition (Feature, TV Pilots, and Shorts)

• Opens: May 1st
• Early deadline: May 31st
• Regular deadline: June 30th
• Final deadline: July 31st

2021 Drama Screenplay Competition (Feature, TV Pilots)

• Opens: May 1st
• Early deadline: May 31st
• Regular deadline: June 30th
• Final deadline: July 31st

2021 Stage Play Screenwriting Competition (Stage play scripts with adaptation potential)

• Opens: June 1st
• Early deadline: June 30th
• Regular deadline: July 31st
• Final deadline: August 31st

2021 Feature Screenplay Competition (Features)

• Opens: June 1st
• Early deadline: June 30th
• Regular deadline: July 31st
• Final deadline: August 31st

2021 TV Pilot Screenplay Competition (Accepting 1-hour, Half-hour, and Short Form Pilots)

• Opens: July 1st
• Early deadline: July 31st
• Regular deadline: August 31st
• Final deadline: September 30th

2021 Virtual Pitch Competition (Spring) (Pitches for Feature and TV Shows)

• Opens: August 1st
• Regular deadline: August 31st
• Final deadline: September 30th

2021 Horror Screenplay Competition (Feature, TV Pilots)

• Opens: August 1st
• Early deadline: August 31st
• Regular deadline: September 30th
• Final deadline: October 31st

2021 Cinematic Book Writing Competition (Novels and True Stories)

• Opens: September 1st
• Early deadline: September 30th
• Regular deadline: October 31st
• Final deadline: November 30th

2021 Cinematic Short Story Writing Competition (Short Stories)

• Opens: September 1st
• Early deadline: September 30th
• Regular deadline: October 31st
• Final deadline: November 30th

2021 Spring Film Fund (Features, TV pilots, Documentaries, and Shorts)

• Opens: September 1st
• Early deadline: September 3oth
• Regular deadline: October 31st
• Final deadline: November 30th

2021 Family Screenplay Competition (Feature, TV Pilots)

• Opens: October 1st
• Early deadline: October 31st
• Regular deadline: November 30th
• Final deadline: December 31st

2022 ScreenCraft Screenwriting Fellowship (Feature, TV Pilots)

• Opens: October 1st
• Early deadline: October 31st
• Regular deadline: December 31st
• Regular deadline: January 31st
• Final deadline: February 28th (2022)

Make sure you click the "Remind Me" option on the competition page for the competition that you want to submit to. We look forward to reading your work in the new year.

For all the latest ScreenCraft news and updates, follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

The post 2021 ScreenCraft Screenwriting Competition Calendar appeared first on ScreenCraft.

What got you interested in writing a script about the holidays?

Tiffany Paulsen: Honestly, I never set out to write a ‘holiday’ movie per se. But when I came up with the hook of following a relationship over the course of a years’ worth of holidays – I realized by starting and ending at Christmas – it could be both a traditional ‘holiday’ movie – and still work just as well playing all year long!

Why do you think we've seen such an explosion of Holiday (and other seasonal) movies on Netflix and other streaming channels?

Well, I think holiday movies have ALWAYS been an audience go-to for warm fuzzy comfort viewing; which is why we tend to watch the same ones over and over again. (ELF anyone?) With the popularity of streamers and people now having the luxury to watch movies at home (and well, no choice now with covid) it's that same cozy comfort food. Holiday movies are the macaroni and cheese of film. Everyone loves them and they never get old – so we want more more more! They also tend to attract great talent because who doesn’t want to do a holiday movie???

You're a former ABC/DISNEY Fellowship winner. What role do you think fellowships and screenwriting competitions, in general, have had in your career?

I absolutely credit competitions for my career! The first script I ever wrote was a finalist in the Nicholl’s Fellowships ( put on by the Academy). From that success, I was contacted by producers and managers wanting to read my script. From those meetings, I ended up with a manager and the idea for my second script – which went on to win the Disney fellowship.

That competition relocated me to L.A. for a year, paid my expenses for a year, got me my first agent, and totally changed the trajectory of my career (as my focus had been acting). I always encourage people to enter competitions, as without them I’m not sure I’d be where I am today!

What's the best part about writing a romantic comedy?

Being a fly on the wall as two people fall in love... and wishing it was happening to me.

How do you write a compelling movie when the audience essentially "knows" how it ends before they watch it? Or do they?

I call this out in HOLIDATE – we know they’re getting together from the poster! But the fun is making the inevitable as messy and complicated and as unexpected as possible – for the characters as well as the audience. I think that’s why you’re finding so many creative ways to tell a rom/com these days. Are plot twists important for you or gimmicky? I think humans are inherently messy and funny – especially in relationships.

If you’re telling a story about authentic characters on an authentic journey, I think the plot twists will make themselves known.

I would use the term ‘conflict’ more than twists. Stories need conflict or every movie would be; girl meets boy; they live happily ever after. You have to have the “girl loses boy” at some point – however, you define that – or you don’t really have a story. So the long answer is – “No! I don’t think conflict is gimmicky – I think it’s necessary!”

What's your one piece of advice for writers who want to write a holiday feature?

Don’t just think of CHRISTMAS when you think of holidays! As we showed in HOLIDATE – there is an entire calendar year full of celebrations that can set the stage for fresh stories. And more and more, buyers are looking for ‘holiday’ stories that can air year-round – spring, summer, and fall!

What's the best way for new and emerging writers to get their holiday or rom-com scripts into the right hands?

As I mentioned above – screenwriting contests!! Even placing or getting an honorable mention in a respected competition can open doors. Either with interested producers and managers finding you directly – or – it gives new writers a specific talking point when reaching out to potential reps and buyers.

“Hello, Ms. Smith. Attached below is my award-winning holiday script for your consideration,” might be just the thing that gets someone to stop and read your logline as opposed to hitting delete.

How to write a great holiday film

The market for seasonal movies has exploded over the past five years. Streaming platforms, Hallmark movies, and even big-budget blockbusters are embracing the genre and themes of holiday movies. And studios are looking for great stories to invest in.

For more screenwriting tips and holiday fun, follow Tiffany on Instagram @TheTiffanyPaulsen.

And if you have a great seasonal or four-quadrant script, take the next step in your screenwriting career and enter the ScreenCraft Family Screenwriting Competition. Get your story in front of writers, judges, agents, and managers that know how to spot the next big script. You might like where your career is at next holiday season.

The post The Secret to a Great Holiday Movie: Interview with the Tiffany Paulsen, Writer of Netflix's HOLIDATE appeared first on ScreenCraft.

Half Brothers tells the story of Renato (Luis Gerardo Mendez), whose father, Flavio (Juan Pablo Espinosa), abandoned him and Renato’s mother in Mexico two decades prior when he left to find work in the United States and never returned. When Renato, who’s now a successful Mexican aviation executive, gets a call from his dying father in Chicago, Renato reluctantly goes to America to reconcile with his dad. He’s shocked, however, when he discovers he has a half-brother, the quirky and sensitive Asher (Connor Del Rio). They are forced on a road trip together, tracing the path their father took from Mexico to the U.S.

How to write a road trip film

Written by Eduardo Cisneros, known for 2013’s Instructions Not Included, and Jason Shuman, the film is a heartfelt road trip movie about a broken family trying to heal. The film blends its often very broad comedic tone with an authentic immigrant experience in a way that feels fresh and often quite funny.

The story uses Cisneros’ own immigrant experience as a jumping-off point. Cisneros was born and raised in Mexico but then spent a few years in the U.S. adjusting to the American culture.

“There were things that surprised me, being away from home,” says Cisneros. “It got me thinking about when I was a kid growing up in Monterrey, Mexico. My dad had to move to Mexico City for a job where he spent a few years and it was a challenge for our family, but he had to do it to provide for his kids. I’m the youngest of five. At the time I didn’t understand why something like that would happen. When I became an adult, also on my own, away from home, I started to think what it felt like for him. That was the seed, the kernel that got me thinking about the subject of empathy. It is the central piece of the architecture of the comedy and journeys,” he says.

Of course, the half-brothers in the movie are polar opposites, a trope that is often seen in road trip films, with Renato being the closed-off, uptight brother and Asher being the goofy, free-spirited one. The two struggle to find empathy for each other, creating a tension that helps propel the story when the plot sometimes feels contrived.

But Shuman admits, writing a road trip film is deceptively difficult.

“I think there’s always huge challenges for screenwriters in doing road trip movies,” says Shuman. “It seems like it would be easy, the plot is always moving forward because the actual characters are moving as opposed to sitting in a room – they’re always on the go. We actually found in our research those can be the most complicated movies to write. You have to be very specific with what you throw at them and what the beats of the journey are. If you have a false beat or a stop that doesn’t feel organic to the movie it can throw the whole pace and tone off.”

Cisneros agrees, adding, “Every stop [on the road trip] has to have a purpose in terms of revealing information but also provide a good, fun set-piece and bonding of the brothers organically.”

How to set the tone of your script

The tone of the film seesaws between the characters’ emotional pain and wacky, situational comedy that involves stealing an adorable baby goat, but it never goes too far in one direction. To find this balance, the writers studied Italian films.

“Eduardo,” says Shuman, “would show me a lot of Italian cinema that influenced him – Cinema Paradiso, Life is Beautiful – being some of the influences behind Instructions Not Included,” says Shuman. “So we were really inspired by movies that could shift and have these funny set pieces and then five minutes later, 30 seconds later, get very serious and somehow shift back again. It’s a difficult tone to keep juggling between but felt when done successfully, can be a fun journey for the audience. Audiences today try to stay ahead of the story, trying to see where things might go. We wanted to take them on an emotional journey that would be fulfilling with some twists and turns they didn’t see coming – so that means changing up the tone when you’re least expecting it.”

When the scenery is a character

One of the visual highlights of Half Brothers is the lush, nostalgic scenes set in Mexico. It was critical for Cisneros to show the country he remembers from his own childhood. Shuman agrees, saying, “One of the most powerful things was to portray the beauty of Mexico. Renato loves where he is from. That he was from this town that was magical, and beautiful and colorful, and has wonderful people, full of life. That isn’t the Mexico you see in movies like Traffic and Narcos.”

Shuman and Cisneros shared this advice for screenwriters:

“We have a lot of little mantras we say to each other all the time: Don’t get it right, get it written first,” Shuman says. “We find that rewriting is always more fun to us and is a lot easier than staring at the blank page. We always encourage writers – wherever they are in the process, to just fight through and get that first draft done so you’ve got a script and then you can go back and change it. But we’re also big structure professors. We don’t start our screenplay until it’s well ironed out. A good structure, like a good home, you want to build that foundation. But don’t spend a year writing one draft. Get it written and then go back and do your work.”

How to write a road trip movie

Cisneros’s advice is not to chase the marketplace. Instead, he says, “Write the story that excites you because it’s really tough to write. I’ve trained as a musician and done other forms of art, but I find that writing is the most difficult as you’re doing it. I think the reward comes more after you finish.”

Shuman and Cisneros are currently writing the script for a Latinx remake of 1986’s Short Circuit.

Shanee Edwards graduated from UCLA Film School with an MFA in Screenwriting and is currently the film critic for SheKnows.com. She recently won the Next MacGyver television writing competition to create a TV show about a female engineer. Her pilot, Ada and the Machine, is currently in development with America Ferrera’s Take Fountain Productions. You can follow her on Twitter: @ShaneeEdwards

The post The Challenges of Writing a Road Trip Film: Interview with the Writers of 'Half Brothers' appeared first on ScreenCraft.

The 2018 animated remake of The Grinch has earned over half a billion dollars all by itself in just two years. The Hallmark and Lifetime Channels have made a successful ratings business out of producing original Holiday-themed telemovies. The point is, the holiday genre is incredibly successful. When you factor in the pull of seasonal classics with the abundance of made-for-tv and streaming holiday films on Netflix and Hulu, it truly is the happiest time of the year for screenwriters.

But what is it about these holiday movies that makes people come back for more year after year? And how do you write a holiday classic that stands the test of time?

We've explored a few types of holiday movies in the past with Writing a Holiday Film, but in this article we're going to dive deeper into this genre to find out what makes a holiday movie truly great. There’s something to be said for a genre that creates timeless classics with an audience base that grows and grows each and every year. Here are the seven essential ingredients you need to write a classic holiday film.

7 Essential Elements of Great Holiday Movies

1. Nostalgia

Nearly every great Christmas movie allows the audience to be kids again. Even if they're about adult themes and stories, the holiday genre is steeped in nostalgia, coating every scene with familiar touchstones for audiences to grab onto and make their own. Even more interesting is how these movies get passed down to kids by their parents, becoming part of the holiday tradition.

(Most) adults have long outgrown the days of making a list for Santa. You don't pray for snow. And Christmas might be a bit of a headache with the stress of gifts, family, and all the other tasks that go into the holiday season. But when you watch a A Christmas Story you get to experience Christmas through the eyes of young Ralphie. You remember the excitement of snow days, snow forts, snow fights, seeing Santa in the mall, staring up at the endless Christmas lights in the city and suburbs, and getting that one special gift that was at the top of our lists — the one we've been dreaming about getting the whole year. And it feels great.

Nostalgia drives most holiday movies. And that's ok. Screenwriters and filmmakers need to tap into these powerful emotions with set pieces and scenes that take advantage of our shared childhood experiences of the holidays. Those universal themes and memories we’ve all experienced as children. The more small details that you embed in your screenplay, the more chances you have to remind a viewer why they love watching Christmas movies.

2. Magic

Believe it or not, there was a time when most of us believed in a fat, jolly, white-bearded man entering our houses through the fireplace. Even if your parents let you in on the secret, there's still a lot of belief and hope tied up with the holiday seasons. There's something to say that the darkest, longest night of the year is the night we choose to gather and celebrate with loved ones.

Even if you're a grinch, the magic of that truth (wink wink) is part of how we experience the season.

As adults, we live in a cynical world. We live in a world of practicality, deadlines, appointments, and bills. It's rough out there sometimes. But the beauty (and appeal) of Christmas movies like The Santa Clause, Miracle of 34^th Street, and The Polar Express, is how they tap into a part of our lives that we’ve long let go, and make us remember what it was like to really believe in something.

Even something as incredible as Santa.

When we watch these movies with our children, that magic is reborn and we pass that feeling of wonder onto the next generation. For adult audiences especially, the magic of Christmas, and the holidays as a whole, can stay alive as long as screenwriters and filmmakers are willing to explore it.

3. Family

For many of us, the holidays are all about family. And for those unfortunate enough to not be able to be with their family during that season, there’s that longing to do so. That’s what so many holiday movies explore so well.

The essence of family taps into the emotions of the audience, especially when estrangement and geographical separation is explored. Kevin longing for his family in Home Alone is something that pulls all of our heartstrings. The estrangement between the old man and his family living next door to Kevin in that same movie is something so many can unfortunately relate with.

Family (or the lack of family) is a universal theme, especially for holiday films. Structure your screenplay around the search to belong and what "home" really means and you'll have one of the most essential elements of a holiday classic.

4. Atmosphere

When it comes to holiday movies, atmosphere is everything. What would a holiday movie be without Christmas lights and decorations?

How good is a holiday movie without snow (yes, we know there doesn’t always have to be snow)?

What about crowded toy stores with desperate parents?

Atmosphere can even take an otherwise un-holiday movie to the top of many Holiday Movie lists.

• Die Hard
• Lethal Weapon
• Trading Places
• Batman Returns
• Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
• Gremlins?

All holiday movies. In fact, some of those are peoples' favorite holiday movies. On that note, what would a holiday movie be without Christmas trees?

5. Holiday Tropes & Clichés

Most critics and screenwriters scoff at tropes and clichés. They often feel that Hollywood cinema is worse off because of them. Nothing could be further from the truth. Audiences love what is familiar, especially when it comes to seasonal movies.

The test of a great screenwriter is giving audiences what they know while offering something new. For holiday movies, tropes and clichés are necessary — the crazy grandparent, the weird uncle, the rebellious teenager, the naughty kid, and the career-focused parent. But it's what you do with those familiar elements that make a story stand out and last for decades.

Those and more are all necessary components of holiday movies because the audiences can identify with them. The great screenwriters can turn those tropes and clichés on their head or at least offer a subtle spin.

6. Hope

The holiday season is a season of hope. I know that's an optimistic take, but it's true. Audiences watch these holiday movies over and over and over again because we can all use a little more hope in our lives.

When was the last holiday movie that you saw void of hope? Never. Even Bad Santa has a redemption arc. What great Christmas movies have ended on a sour note with no happy ending? None.

Even the holiday dramas like Home for the Holidays offer us hope in the end. Home Alone explores the idea of hope so well with Kevin’s mom on a seemingly hopeless journey to travel across the country to get back to her boy.

A holiday screenplay without hope is like a Christmas tree without presents under it. Write a hopeful screenplay and audiences will respond.

7. Redemption

One of the most common ingredients to holiday movies is redemption. There have been roughly 23 direct adaptations of A Christmas Carol For some reason, people are drawn to the journey of redemption that Ebenezer Scrooge takes on Christmas Eve. It's easily one of the most recognizable, enduring, and adapted holiday films for a reason. People want to believe they can be better than they were.

There have been many incarnations of It’s a Wonderful Life, which told the harrowing tale of George Bailey’s redemption after falling from grace in the eyes of his career, his town, his wife, and his children.

The need for redemption means that there is major conflict that the character(s) need to overcome. Conflict is the root of all great storytelling, so needless to say, the best holiday movies have redemption stories. Kevin needed redemption in Home Alone after wishing his family away.  So did the Grinch, Scott in The Santa Clause, Jack in The Nightmare Before Christmas, Clark in Christmas Vacation, and even Scrooge McDuck in Mickey’s Christmas Carol.

How to write a great Christmas movie

These are the seven essential ingredients you need to write a great holiday film. Like any good recipe, you can add and remove ingredients as you see fit. A sprinkle of magic here, a cup of hope there, a teaspoon of redemption, a pinch of atmosphere, etc. Just don't deviate too far from the tried and true formula that audiences love.

While Christmas is the holiday that clearly dominates the genre, it’s really about the holiday season as a whole that makes audiences of all walks of life and beliefs enjoy these movies. Beyond that, knowing that the holiday genre is one of the most consistent audience-pleasers and time and time again proves to have more legs and staying power than any other genre, consider taking these ingredients and making your own recipe for the perfect holiday movie — be it a Christmas or Hanukkah, or a combination of the two as we get with The Night Before.

Have fun with it. Happy Holidays, no matter how you celebrate.

If you’ve got the next great holiday movie script, enter it into ScreenCraft’s Family Screenplay Competition to get your story in front of judges who know how to create great stories for the whole family.

Ken Miyamoto has worked in the film industry for nearly two decades, most notably as a studio liaison for Sony Studios and then as a script reader and story analyst for Sony Pictures.

He has many studio meetings under his belt as a produced screenwriter, meeting with the likes of Sony, Dreamworks, Universal, Disney, Warner Brothers, as well as many production and management companies. He has had a previous development deal with Lionsgate, as well as multiple writing assignments, including the produced miniseries Blackout, starring Anne Heche, Sean Patrick Flanery, Billy Zane, James Brolin, Haylie Duff, Brian Bloom, Eric La Salle, and Bruce Boxleitner. Follow Ken on Twitter @KenMovies

For all the latest ScreenCraft news and updates, follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

The post How to Write a Great Holiday Movie: 7 Essential Ingredients appeared first on ScreenCraft.

James Patterson on intention

“Don’t set out to write a good thriller. Set out to write a #1 thriller.”

“If you’re going to write a bestseller … it’s got to work for a lot of people.”

“If you want to write for yourself, get a diary. If you want to write for your friends, get a blog. If you want to write for others … become an author.”

“You’re lucky if you find something you like to do, and it’s a miracle if somebody will pay you for it.”

Advice on getting started with your writing

“The more you know about, the more likely you are to combine things to make an idea that’s striking.”

“Research really helps your confidence.”

“Your mind creates your reality. If you expect nothing, you open up the universe to give you options. If you expect the worst, you usually get it.”

The importance of crafting eye-catching titles and cover images

“Nobody buys a book that they don’t pick up.”

“You gotta put something out there that gets their attention and gets them curious.”

James Patterson's advice for overcoming writer’s block

“Do not sit there like, ‘Oh, I don’t feel like it today. I don’t feel like it tomorrow.’ Feel like it! Do it! Force yourself.”

“Don’t think about the sentences; think about the story. Write the story down.”

“Don’t depend on others to give you strength. … Find it within yourself.”

Character development

“With respect to characters, you want things that really dig deep and say a lot very very quickly to get us interested in the person.”

“You want your readers to have strong feelings about your characters.”

How to write page-turning manuscripts

“In my opinion, one of the biggest secrets of suspense is setting up questions that the readers must have answered.”

“At the end, something has to propel you into the next chapter.”

“A good love story always keeps the pot boiling.”

“Ultimately, a great thriller is a roller coaster ride.”

James Patterson's advice for editing

“A lot of times you get people writing wonderful sentences and paragraphs, and they fall in love with their prose style, but the stories really aren’t that terrific.”

On being an eternal reader

“Better readers are better thinkers.”

20 Quotes from James Patterson to inspire your prose

Writing is a craft. You have to work at it. Take advice from pros like James Patterson and apply yourself to a dedicated plan to take your writing from a dream job to a reality. And if you have a book or short story ready to go, why not submit it to the ScreenCraft Cinematic Book and Cinematic Short Story Competitions. Your story might be the next big screen smash.

The post 20 James Patterson Quotes to Make You Want to Write appeared first on ScreenCraft.

Selling a script takes a lot of hard work, loads of planning, and little luck, but the good news is that people sell scripts every day. Hollywood is hungry for fresh voices and new stories. And while it can be challenging to get traction for your screenplay, there is a market for your script. Here are five essential steps you can take to sell your first screenplay.

How do most screenwriters sell their first script?

Major studios don't usually buy original scripts from unknown writers. Sure, it can happen, but you shouldn't plan on it. The majority of original script sales actually occur directly through production companies. And that's a result of packaging that entails the perfect timing and mixture of distributor, star, producer, and director.

Instead of only focusing on studio script sales, it's important to remember that hundreds of scripts sell to lower-tier companies that develop projects for international distributors — most of which seek out scripts for the still-breathing home entertainment global market. This market includes Direct-to-Bluray/DVD, Direct-to-Streaming, and Video On Demand. It's the industry that keeps aging action stars employed.

More info coming soon  |  Remind Me

But don't worry, you can make a living writing and selling dramas and comedies to Lifetime, Hallmark, and other specialty channels and streaming services as well. It's not all action. And then there's the indie market to fall back on as well. These markets may not offer the same big studio six and seven-figure paychecks for spec scripts, but it's more than enough to keep you writing. And you can always hold out hope that a big production company, producer, or studio will come calling one day.

Now that you understand some of the nuts and bolts of who is buying most first-time screenplays, here are the five simple steps that beginning screenwriters can take to get the script marketing ball rolling. Remember, these are just the basics. Selling your screenplays can take months or years of hard work and significant networking. But you have to start somewhere, though.

5 Tips to sell your first script

Write something worth buying: Invest time in your screenplay

The first step to selling your screenplay is to not try to sell your screenplay. No, really. Don't try to market your first screenplay. Don't take it to anyone or request them to consider it for acquisition. It's not ready. You're not ready.

Before you sell your first script, you need to develop your writing process. Because you'll learn very quickly that if you want to become a working screenwriter you have to be able to deliver — at a high level — under strict industry deadlines. You need to make those basic mistakes, learn from them, grow, and write, write, and write some more.

This advice is hard for a lot of new writers to hear. But patience is one of the most important parts of your early screenwriting career.

When you begin your screenwriting journey, allow yourself one to two years of writing. Just writing. Nothing else. And this time is not for a single screenplay. You need to conceptualize, develop, and write a few screenplays within that time period. That's how you better your writing. It's also how you train yourself to become a professional screenwriter that's able to write a script within the general contract deadline of ten weeks for each first draft.

Read Screencraft's Are You Truly Prepared for Success as a Screenwriter?

As you progress, you'll hopefully get past the newbie habit of writing your version of your favorite movies. You need to choose your concepts wisely. Give the industry something they haven't seen. They want a unique take on an otherwise familiar — but popular — concept. Show them something they didn't even know they wanted and you'll give them something worth buying.

Note: Test your screenplay by submitting it to major contests and getting feedback. But don't, in any way, shape, or form, be tempted to market your first couple of screenplays to buyers. Take your time. Learn your craft first and you'll go far.

Learn how to train yourself to be ready for screenwriting success with this free guide.

Create marketing material

After you've put in the time and mastered your craft, it's tempting to jump ahead and start contacting potential buyers. But you need to prepare yourself first.

To sell a screenplay you need to write a:

• Strong logline
• Short synopsis
• Killer query letter

Read ScreenCraft's Writing the Perfect Query Letter for Your Scripts!

How to write a script synopsis

A logline and query letter are essentials for any spec script, but the short synopsis is just for you in case anyone asks for a little more during a pitch or follow-up email. If you need a sample synopsis, check out the paperback novels at your local bookstore. Read the back jacket synopsis and write your own a three-paragraph hybrid of a paperback back jacket synopsis, roughly the same length, with the first paragraph summarizing the first act, the second paragraph summarizing the second act, and the third paragraph summarizing the final act.

You generally won't include the short synopsis within your query letter, but it's a nice thing to have ready.

Once you have your logline, short synopsis, and a few different versions of your short, sweet, and (very) to the point query email content, save everything in a single document. Now it's time to do a little research.

Compile a list of potential buyers 

Research is a must if you want to sell your script — especially if it's your first script sale. And the first step is to aim your email queries at the right people. Don't blanket the industry with queries to anyone that you find an email address for. It's a waste of time.

A better place to start is by signing up for IMDBPro. Once you have an account (they offer a free 30-day trial period if you're not ready, willing, or able to buy) you can begin searching for movies that are similar to your screenplay in genre or subject matter:

• To sell a horror script, you need to approach companies that make horror movies.
• If you have a comedy script, focus on studios and agents that make and rep comedies.
• If you have a drama script, you want to approach specialty companies that make award-winning dramas

Build a genre-specific list of execs and agents to target with outreach and networking.

Another way to build your list of query targets is to find movies like your script and see which production companies made them. You can also watch similar movies and pay close attention to the few production companies and distributor logos that open the film. Then look those companies up on IMDBPro.

You can also search for the writers of those movies and see who represents those types of writers.

Once you have this information, try to find contact email addresses for as many relevant people as possible. This will be hit or miss, but email queries are the easiest ways to connect with companies, and it scales nicely. Some may have policies against reading unsolicited material or emails (all of the major agencies, many of the major production companies, and all of the studios), but that's part of the game.

Create a spreadsheet with any contact information you can find so you can track when you've sent each email and how the responses go. Write the company name, what movies they've produced, the specific person you've found (producers, development executives, etc.), and the email address. Before you contact a single one, create a list of at least five to start off with. Preferably more. Then, using your marketing material — logline and query letter copy — you can start emailing queries.

Note: Rejection and silence will follow. But you have to keep trying and trying and trying. If you have a script worth buying, someone will bite. 

Network, network, network

Once you've started marketing your screenplay, you need to keep the momentum moving forward. Don't wait for someone to come calling. Sitting by your phone or email waiting for that magical call will do you no good. You have to continue plugging. Now is the time to network.

Start by looking at who you know. Do you have any contacts at studios or agencies? Does your roommate? What about any other writers you know? Rack your brain for friends of friends of friends to get your foot in the door, because personal introductions are still one of the best ways to get your script off the ground.

Read ScreenCraft's Maps Screenwriters Can Use to Build Their Industry Network!

If you live in the Los Angeles area or are considering a move, it's smart to consider finding a job that gives you an edge.

Read ScreenCraft's 7 Studio Jobs That Give Screenwriters an Edge!

And whether or not you live in Los Angeles, you should be considering visiting film festivals and writers conferences to expand your networking.

Read ScreenCraft's How to Network & Pitch at Pitch Fests, Film Festivals, and Industry Events and Three Achievable Networking Goals Screenwriters Can Accomplish!

Networking is how most deals get packaged. Cold query emails, while important, are shots in the dark. Networking is how you tilt the odds in your favor.

Keep writing

Never stop writing. That's one of the great secrets to a long screenwriting career. Always write. Even if you spend hours a day networking and marketing your screenplay, you still have to write if you want to call yourself a writer. Never wait by the phone or by your email inbox. Always be pushing your work to others. And you also need to always be writing as you do.

This is your life now. You write, write, and write. Then you market while you're writing. Leave the rest up to the fates.

How to sell your first script

Selling yourself as a writer is a big part of selling your screenplays. Most contracts come from writing assignments, and your original screenplays can work as writing samples to prove that you're worthy of those coveted paid writing gigs.

Leverage each of these five basic steps to get your script ready to sell and in the hands of Hollywood decision-makers. Because once you've sold your first script, you'll be on to your next project in no time.

Ken Miyamoto has worked in the film industry for nearly two decades, most notably as a studio liaison for Sony Studios and then as a script reader and story analyst for Sony Pictures.

He has many studio meetings under his belt as a produced screenwriter, meeting with the likes of Sony, Dreamworks, Universal, Disney, Warner Brothers, as well as many production and management companies. He has had a previous development deal with Lionsgate, as well as multiple writing assignments, including the produced miniseries Blackout, starring Anne Heche, Sean Patrick Flanery, Billy Zane, James Brolin, Haylie Duff, Brian Bloom, Eric La Salle, and Bruce Boxleitner. Follow Ken on Twitter @KenMovies

For all the latest ScreenCraft news and updates, follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

The post How to Sell Your First Screenplay appeared first on ScreenCraft.

Imagine me back in January. A completely unknown writer, my name indistinguishable to anyone in this industry and wondering why I exhausted eight gnawing years of my life pursuing this goal of using my imagination for a living. In an industry filled with hurdles, I’ve found that the tallest one is simply breaking in and joining it.

I had the ideas and the passion. I just needed the introductions. That’s where ScreenCraft came in. And it’s why everyone looking for their start should apply to programs like the ScreenCraft Screenwriting Fellowship.

What I learned from the ScreenCraft Fellowship

During this past "ScreenCraft Fellowship Week" of general meetings, I met with a dozen different individuals. From fellow writers to producers, studio execs, and more. Two giant takeaways come to mind reminiscing of my time with this pantheon of talent:

1. The screenwriting industry is smaller than you think
2. You need collaboration to succeed

The screenwriting industry is small

It’s easy to think of Hollywood as a vast ocean, but upon closer inspection, it’s actually more like a lake. Everyone has met or worked with nearly everyone else. That alone allowed me to see the value of networking in its purest form and really makes my job as a young writer clear.

While navigating through this industry you should consider every encounter, small or big, a job interview

The shaking of just one hand potentially put me in contact with everyone else this person had met. It was now my job to convince them that I was worthy of being a part of their web.

I found that with a strong visible passion, memorable conversation and personality, and of course the right ideas, these people would be more than eager to introduce me to whoever it was they believed could elevate me to where I wanted to go. While navigating through this industry you should consider every encounter, small or big, a job interview. Because they are paying attention.

You need other people to become a successful screenwriter

The second takeaway from this week of meetings was how important collaboration really is. Though I understood that multiple people would have input on my stories I was worried about when I needed to listen to some and ignore others.

• Which notes matter more?
• Can I make everyone happy?

After my meeting with a fellow writer and producer of Rick and Morty, I was made aware that the answer to those questions was a simultaneous "yes" and "no."

Of course, no soul in the world understands your story better than you, but to be worried that the wrong note might change your story can also make you ignorant to the fact that it can also enhance it. Listening, from the source, about how an episode of Rick and Morty gets made from the ground up helped me understand how to approach my work in a contrasting light.

I believe you need to look at notes like making a sandwich. If your original idea is the meat and bread, notes are the condiments that will complement it. You don't shove every ingredient into a specific sandwich. The same is true for your story. Not everything (or every note) should go in a story. It’s your job to decipher what would be delicious or not. And then trust that an audience will find it satisfying.

The real value of a screenwriting fellowship

The lessons I learned this week seem endless. Each screenwriting fellowship experience will be different for every individual, but beneficial to anyone. What was really important for me during the fellowship process was how much clarity about my job as a screenwriter I left with.

I actually lost this and other competitions many times before finally winning. I know how exhausting it is to fail repeatedly, and I know how futile it may seem to repeat yourself. But I guarantee you, all that previous failure was worth my current success. I implore you to keep losing — until you finally don’t. It’s worth it. Try not to stress.

The next ScreenCraft Screenwriting Fellowship is currently open and accepting applications. Click here to learn more and take the next big step in your screenwriting career.

Tevin Knight, ScreenCraft Fellow 2020

Born and raised in NJ, Tevin inspired to create by watching the great works of Pixar and Hanna-Barbera. Fresh off winning two prestigious screenwriting contests, Tevin Knight is on a mission to build a catalog of television shows and characters that rival his idols in volume.

Tevin is managed by Kaplan/Perrone and repped by Gersh.

The post What I Learned from a Full Week of Hollywood Meetings appeared first on ScreenCraft.

Julie Delpy on the importance of writing and directing

Julie has written (or co-written) every movie that she has directed, which is an incredible achievement. Part of the reason why she takes such strong ownership of the creative process before filming stems from watching both of her parents in the industry. Both of her parents were actors.

“My dad would go into severe depression because he was just an actor. And I could see him being miserable when he was not being an actor.”

She decided that she didn’t want that life for herself and started writing from a young age. “The first Before movies; I just found a journal from when I was like 13 years old. And it's half of what I see in the film. It's from my journals when I was like a teenager.” And the feelings that she wrote about as a teenager stayed with her when she co-wrote the scripts for Before Sunset and Before Midnight. “It was with me still in my twenties. Feelings of love, magic between two people, that connection.”

How to write a screenplay in any genre

Julie, who was already making a name for herself in the industry as an actor, wrote her first feature-length film at the age of 15. And although it was liked by a lot of people in the industry, they felt that she was too young. She eventually directed her first film at the age of 36.

“When Richard Linklater cast me in the Before movies, it was clear that what I was going to bring to him was going to be creative input and writing, and I liked to convince people of my capacity with the creative side.”

The other fascinating thing about Julie is that she likes all of her films to be completely different. She doesn’t want to settle in one genre. She even ‘tricked’ people into backing Two Days in Paris after the success of the Before films.

“I tricked people into giving me money, thinking they were doing exactly Before Sunset. And then I wrote something very different. I thought I was going to be able to pull off doing no screenplay because I wanted to do an improv movie because I really love improvisation. And then I decided to completely write the screenplay, so at the last minute I wrote an entire screenplay in two weeks,”

She then explained her strategy for writing a script quickly. ”Once you've done the framework of things, it can go very fast.”

“I spent years developing the story. I'm obsessed with structure. I mean, you have to be very, very thorough with structure and then you can write quickly because I have a very solid structure that's behind it.”

What inspired Julie Delpy to write 'My Zoe'

Delpy shares how screenwriters and directors naturally have to pull from their own life experience to tell new and powerful stories. Even if that inspiration comes from a painful place. “When I started writing this film, I was in the middle of a divorce...and it really didn't feel like a divorce. It felt like a horror movie or like sci-fi... not that I was fighting for child custody, but I was fighting for my son's life.”

“The truth is when you get into a divorce and you share a child, you have to recreate two different children basically because you have a child with this person, but then you have to recreate a new child that you're going to raise on your own. And so it's a very strange feeling, which in a way, the film is a translation of this.”

She found that translating her emotions into writing helped her. “Instead of having a breakdown, I put it into writing.”

A creative screenwriting outlet allows you to “deal with pain or joy or complicated times and to turn it into something. It’s cathartic and not singing to the darkness of your own self and lose yourself in it. Writing is probably the easiest way for me to express myself.”

Julie Delpy's screenwriting advice

“From the writing process, you have to think of shot lists. It's like packing a suitcase. It's like preparing for a trip. It becomes a job and I love being practical. Then you have to be creative on set, but mostly, you have to be super organized.”

Signup for the ScreenCraft newsletter for more screenwriting tips from industry pros. Or download one of these helpful screenwriting guides to jumpstart your next script.

The post Julie Delpy on Screenwriting: Genre, Creativity, and Improv appeared first on ScreenCraft.

November, 1975. The height of a national recession and a personal depression. I’d been fired from my job at a PBS TV station because I had unknowingly been renting film gear from an associate who was in fact sneaking the station’s gear out the back door for his equipment rental house, which existed only in his imagination and on the fake invoices he’d printed up to dupe me. Worse, the indie stoner film I’d shot on weekends with his purloined gear, while a film festival crowd-pleaser, had disappeared after a week in theaters when its distributor went bankrupt three days after the premiere, and my intermittent appearances in print barely covered groceries. The week of my birthday, the closest thing I had to employment was the hundred bucks my friend the infamous prankster Alan Abel spotted me to come to New York and aid him in his latest stunt, “Omar’s School For Beggars” — a non-existent institution which in true Abel style had duped national television and print media. That’s me, with the mustache, on the verge of breaking character:

But unlike “Omar’s School For Beggars”, one actually existent institution in New York City was Greenwich Village’s Cinemabilia Book Store, tucked behind the Waverly Theatre, which in that pre-Amazon era was the only thing of its kind, an oasis of knowledge in all things filmic. So, after wrapping my part (above) in Alan AKA Omar’s “weekly panhandling class” (actually, the only class ever, staged to dupe broadcasters) in Cinemabilia’s stacks I discovered “The Technique of Screenplay Writing” by Eugene Vale (Published 1948, rev. 1972). As I skimmed its pages, the penultimate chapter struck me with its list of  “common mistakes.” No less than one hundred and forty-two (!) mistakes were enumerated, including such mysterious movie ailments as “#25: Subintention misunderstood as main intention” and “#80: Failure to to imply execution of unopposed intention in lapse of time.”

I had no idea what either of these "mistakes" meant, but the idea that a script could be de-bugged was all the encouragement I needed; by the time the Metroliner returned me to Philadelphia (and another Omar stunt, this time in print) I was halfway through the book — by the end of the year, I was halfway through a Science Fiction-Body Horror spec script I had run through Vale’s gauntlet of trouble shooting… by March, I typed “The End” on it… and by April I was 3,000 miles away, sitting in front of Harve Bennett at Universal Studios who had — incredibly — bought my Science Fiction-Body Horror screenplay with the proviso that I remove all the body horror but keep the Science Fiction in order to better make it over into the prime-time family-friendly Six Million Dollar Man two-parter, “Deathprobe.”

“Your construction’s rock solid,” Harve began, “and your pace relentless… Vale?” A bit startled, I nodded.  “He’s definitely the best as far as construction and staging, but…”

Now my confidence withered as scene after scene, Harve flipped from one dog-eared page to another, pronouncing “You have a jump on page 32…another jump on 37…. 49…“

“A jump?”

Harve lowered his reading glasses on their chain to give me a look as if I’d asked, “Adverbs?  What are those?”

“Do you know Egri’s book?” My blank look about the volume spoke volumes. Harve turned. “Betty, get me a copy of Egri for Steven.”  In what was an apparently regular event in Harve’s process, his secretary went to a closet and withdrew a copy from a stack of identical paperbacks of The Art Of Dramatic Writing: Its Basis in the Creative Interpretation of Human Motives.

Egri's book turned out to be the best road map to characterization I’d encountered either then, or since, with “jumps” his term for the dialogue potholes to avoid on the way.  Better yet, his focus on characterization and exposition made it a perfect complement to Vale’s deep dive into construction and structure, and I’ve yet to find a single guide that equals this dynamic duo when consulted in tandem.^[1]  To this day, I cherish Harve’s recommendation and his advice as he handed it to me at his doorway: “Read this before you rewrite this script, and read it again before every other script you ever write for the rest of your life.^[2]  Oh, and by the way, your berserk space probe can’t be American or NASA will cut off our stock footage, make it Russian.”

And so with my first Hollywood script sale under my belt and “The Art of Dramat!c Wr!t!ing” (sic) under my arm, I began my official Hollywood career.  I hope !t can do the same th!ng for you.

^[1] A recent one that comes close is Sam Smiley’s 2005 extensive revision of his “Playwriting: The Structure of Action” : It has echoes of both, but its greatest recommendation to today’s screenwriters is its use of recent motion pictures as models (full disclosure: including my own), which may be more familiar to current readers than Vale and Egri’s 20th, 19th and even 18th Century examples.

^[2] Obviously, I did, and after 45 years, it shows:

Steven E. de Souza is among the handful of screenwriters whose films have earned over $2 billion at the worldwide box office. He started his career as a Philadelphia-based writer for PBS, The New York Times, Premiere and other media outlets until he won a car and a color TV as a contestant on an LA game show -- and then talked his way into the office of several producers to leave behind some writing samples, leading to a contract with Universal Television as a story editor. From there, he moved into producing Knight Rider (1982) and then earned his first film credit, on 48 Hrs. (1982). That film, along with Commando (1985), Die Hard (1988) and Die Hard 2 (1990), established his reputation as a writer who could juggle both action and humor. That combination remains evident in all of his subsequent work, which expanded to include science-fiction (V (1984), The Running Man (1987), Judge Dredd (1995)``, horror (Tales from the Crypt (1989), Possessed (2000) and fantasy (The Flintstones (1994), Cadillacs and Dinosaurs (1993), Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life (2003). He has been nominated two times each for the Edgar Allen Poe award for best mystery screenplay and the Saturn award for best Science Fiction/Fantasy Film. In 2000 he was honored with the Norman Lear Award for Lifetime Achievement in writing. He has served a judge and generous mentor for the ScreenCraft Action & Adventure Screenplay Competition. 

The post Two Essential Screenwriting Books Recommended by the Screenwriter of DIE HARD appeared first on ScreenCraft.

How to succeed in Hollywood: Screenwriting advice from a competition winner

What have you been up to since winning the ScreenCraft Drama competition in 2018?

Xavier Burgin: It's been an amazing amount of work happening since I won the Screencraft Drama competition in 2018. The accomplishment I'm most proud of is directing Horror Noire, a documentary focusing on the history of black people within the horror genre from the 1900s to today. I'm absolutely ecstatic with how it came out, plus anyone can watch it on Shudder for free right now.

Screenwriting obstacles and challenges

What were some of the biggest obstacles to getting your screenwriting career started?

XB: To be candid, I still feel like my career is getting started. I'm still working to get my first narrative piece off the ground as a writer/director. Still, I'd say it's access.

A couple of years ago it would've been impossible for me to pitch in some of the rooms I've now walked into. You can have amazing work, but without access, the hurdles can oftentimes feel insurmountable.

As your career takes off, has anything been easier than you expected? Tougher? Any flat out misconceptions?

XB: It's a marathon, not a race. I've learned that building your career can be a slow climb. Unless you're already rich, have rich parents, or rich connections, the industry is entirely different. Hollywood is not a meritocracy. You need talent (of course), but wealth plus connections can often overshadow this.

As a writer and/or filmmaker, you need to be ready for this reality and never allow it to stop you from pushing for your projects and vision.

How to write genre screenplays: Horror

What draws you to the horror genre? What are some of your favorite horror films or TV series? And what do you see for the horror genre moving forward?

XB: Horror is a genre that can both terrify you and offer an escape from the insanity of the world. Terror is just as potent at eliciting an honest, guttural response to the world as laughter. We as humans crave terror in our entertainment, it's just a case of what type of terror most resonates with us.

When I think about horror, these are the films I always come back to:

• It Follows
• The Haunting of Hill House
• Don't Breathe
• Get Out
• American Horror Story Season 1
• Hereditary
• The Witch
• Train to Busan
• Eve's Bayou
• The Platform
• Event Horizon
• Candyman

I'm hoping the genre really embraces telling non-traditional horror stories. Films and TV that specifically center black and brown stories with those same people at the helm. For me, I feel there's an untapped amount of stories the genre should embrace. I also can't wait to see more sci-fi horror that, while scary, focuses on a heavy dive into lore in the same way we've seen the Alien series do so.

How did Horror Noire come together?

XB: I always make sure to give credit where it's due. Horror Noire began with the book of the same name written by Dr. Robin R. Means Coleman. Ashlee Blackwell of Graveyard Shift Sisters went to her and said she wanted to build something bigger with this amazing wealth of knowledge. They then partnered with Stage 3 Production to put the initial idea together.

Shudder became interested in the project once Jordan Peele won his Oscar for Get Out. From there, Shudder & Stage 3 Productions wanted a young, black filmmaker who understood this world, its impact, and could bring a vital vision to the team. That's when I became a part of the project.

How to find a manager or screenwriting agent

You have a very clear focus for what the types of projects you want to make and the stories you want to tell. How did you find advocates whether reps, producers, ScreenCraft, etc. to support and share that vision?

XB: I met my agent a year or so ago after winning the Screencraft competition. I'd been on his radar for a good amount of time, but it was a combination of the work I was doing, plus mad love from his assistant that led me to partner with him at CAA. My manager has also been keeping up with me for nearly four years before we decided to work together.

I've noticed it's more important to keep creating and finding ways to make yourself visible to the right people vs. trying to "get" a manager or agent. If someone's interested and sees your talent, they will make it known. By allowing that to happen, I've been able to build a team that intrinsically believes in my vision, first & foremost.

What are you’re working on now?

XB: My writing partner (Tommy Wright) and I finished a horror mystery feature known as A FAMILY REUNION. The story focuses on a young boy in the deep south who figures out his connection to an African deity that provides his family with generational wealth, talent, and prosperity. The story delves into generational divides within black families, along with asking the question of how steep a price we, as black people, would be willing to pay for the freedoms we, on a societal level, cannot attain without violent shifts of infrastructural power in America.

Currently, I'm writing a pilot for an Afro-futuristic sci-fi show that focuses on black culture and the state of the world after the collapse of the American empire. I have to keep this one under wraps, but it's been fulfilling writing on a topic I truly haven't seen before.

Finally, in a complete 180, my writing partner and I finished writing a script called XPLORE. The story focuses on a soon-to-be-divorced black couple who try to work out their problems through the use of a new app they created together. This one is a favorite of mine because it's a romantic comedy set in Silicon Valley. Personally, I've always wanted to see more representation within the space of technological achievement.

There's more work I'm putting together, but I'm excited about where these projects could lead. It's also been really fulfilling working within the sci-fi/horror/fantasy space.

How to make it as a screenwriter

If you could give aspiring writers one bit of advice from a craft standpoint, what would it be?

XB: This may sound obvious, but hone your ability to write as much as you can. You can learn the intricacies of production through trial and error, but nothing sets you apart quicker than people realizing you're an incredibly talented writer. Write as much as possible, but also try to read as much as possible too. You need to see how other great writers articulate their vision. Use that build your own unique view.

If you could give aspiring writers one bit of advice from a career standpoint, what would it be?

XB: You need to be ready for the long haul. You could become an overnight success or it could take you a decade to "make it." I've been working as a filmmaker for nearly a decade now and I'm still considered in the infancy of my career. I recommend that anyone who wants to be a filmmaker ignore "overnight success" stories. They're seldom real and when you peel the cover back, you'll see an individual who has probably been working for years before that break happened.

Anything you want to plug, talk about, or share with the ScreenCraft audience?

XB: This is very random, but I highly recommend everyone watch "Infinity Train." It's a cartoon show I decided to check out on HBOMax. It is some of the best storytelling and world-building happening in TV right now. You're missing out if you don't give it a shot.

I've been far more focused on my work, so I've pivoted away from having a prominent presence online as I used to, but I want to implore any filmmakers who have questions or need advice to reach out to me. It's not hard to find my contact on the net. I can't help anyone get a show or film off the ground (for now), but if you're wondering about what you should do next in your career, I'll always try my best to give advice, and if I don't know it, I'll always be upfront about that.

Enter an upcoming screenwriting competition and take the next step in your screenwriting career. And be sure to sign up for our weekly newsletter with tips from industry pros, inspiration from fellow screenwriters, and all the competition and industry updates you need to know to get ahead in your screenwriting career.

The post How to Make it in Hollywood: Advice from a Screenwriting Competition Winner appeared first on ScreenCraft.

In a recent ScreenCraft AMA, Emily spoke with three-time Emmy award-winning producer, director, writer, and cinematographer Kevin Bachar about her writing process, time management techniques, and how she creates blockbuster action movies. You should watch the entire video (it's great). But if you don't have time, here are six of the biggest tips and takeaways from Emily Carmichael's fast-paced AMA on how she approaches writing an action screenplay.

Emily Carmichael is a juror for ScreenCraft's Action & Adventure Screenplay competition.

How to get started as an action screenwriter

Emily got her start as a playwright and director while attending Harvard University and then a film student at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. Her advice for evolving into a high demand action-adventure screenwriter and director is simple — create an outline.

"There's nothing boring about writing with an outline," Emily said. In fact, Emily points out that this key step can help writers avoid problems further into the writing process, and it can speed up the writing phase of the project. Speed and problem-solving are just part of how she's collaborated on Hollywood blockbusters and gained popularity with her short films across the festival circuit.

Emily also stresses that writers need to research their subjects with purpose. Focus on studying subjects and places that will help you move the story forward and create meaningful set points. Lastly, Emily advises new and emerging screenwriters to tailor their writing to specific genres.

"If you want to get into a certain genre, you should make work as close to the genre that you can." Emily points out that she typically avoids genre-blending in order to keep her work clear and focused.

Time management tips for screenwriters

Screenwriting is a job, and that means hitting goals and writing on a schedule. To help manage expectations, combat writer's block, and churn out top-level scripts, Emily recommends these three techniques that help keep screenwriters on target:

1. Be honest with how much time you want to dedicate to a particular project. It's tempting to say "yes" to every project that comes your way, but being overly accommodating is only going to add complications down the road. Be clear and communicate your capabilities honestly and you'll be off to a much better (if slightly slower) start.
2. Set reasonable goals. Be realistic with your schedule, so you can make progress with attainable timetables.
3. Use the Pomodoro technique. “My number one piece of advice is: use the Pomodoro technique,” said Emily. [41:15] This one technique can improve the quality of your writing time and combat writer’s block. Work for a specific interval of time and then take a break. Repeat. Emily also recommends keeping a journal of your workflow.

How to write a compelling story

Emily's advice for action set pieces is both universal and specific. Use set points with intention. Every set piece in your script should propel the story forward. “There is so much that can happen doing set pieces. I just go for it," she adds. "Don’t hold back on your set pieces.”

Emily also encourages screenwriters to be as creative as possible while keeping the stakes high. "When the stakes are life or death, that is a story." Look for ways to add different moods, weather elements, and terrains to scenes to keep audiences interested.

How to pitch your action screenplay

Sadly, writing a great script is only half of the story. To become a successful screenwriter you have to make other people care about your story. And that means mastering pitch meetings.

Screenwriters need to develop skills beyond writing that allow them to effectively explain the essence of their film. Emily implores writers to lead with their passion, and tell the human story of their screenplay—not a summary of the plot. "A pitch is not a summary of the screenplay," Emily warns. Aside from this guiding principle, Emily's advice for pitching your script is all about being prepared and managing expectations:

1. Be prepared. Emily advises writers to create a document of what you will say during the pitch. Remember to write it in a conversational style
2. Get to the root of your story. Avoid getting bogged down in too many details or a lengthy summary of the plot
3. Tell people how your story will end. A pitch meeting is not the time to keep people in suspense. Nobody wants to buy a screenplay without knowing how it's going to end
4. "Don't be afraid of your excitement," warns Emily. Genuine emotion can help people get excited about you and your screenplay, and according to Emily, enthusiasm and authenticity can be huge assets when it comes time to sell your script.

Action screenwriting success

There's no fast-track to screenwriting success. However, there is a carpool lane. You can increase your odds of gaining attention and interest in your scripts if you follow Emily's three pieces of screenwriting career advice:

1. Enter contests. Screenwriting contests are a great way to gain experience, get feedback, and grow your body of work.
2. Build relationships. Part of getting an agent or a paid gig is to form connections until you find people that trust and care about your work. Develop partnerships with screenwriters, directors, and other people in the industry.
3. Complete your first screenplay. Emily warns against trying to write the perfect script on your first try — because it probably won't happen. “To write something great you will probably have to write a bunch of things that aren’t great.”

Reaching the finish line

According to Emily Carmichael, “A screenplay is done as soon as you can stand to have another person read it.” [56:30] The first step to becoming a successful screenwriter is finishing your script. The second step is getting that script into the hands of people that can do something with it.

If you have a finished action or adventure script that you can stand to have someone else read, now is the time to submit it to the ScreenCraft Action & Adventure Screenplay competition. Take the next step in your screenwriting career and submit to a jury of professional writers, producers, directors, agents, and industry insiders like Emily Carmichael.

The post 15 Action Screenwriting Tips from Emily Carmichael appeared first on ScreenCraft.

Your script needs to be outstanding — literally. It has to stand out from the thousands of other screenplays circulating in the market at any given time. Most screenwriters can write a screenplay that has a solid plot, worthy characters that work within that plot, and coherent story and character arcs that drive the plot. You need to do more. You need to impress script coverage readers into describing your script with one of these seven powerful adjectives. Because these are the words decision-makers are looking for when searching for new and original screenplays to represent and purchase.

What is script coverage?

Script coverage is the analysis and summary of a screenplay's story, characters, and quality of writing. It's used by studios, production companies, management companies, and agencies to track incoming spec screenplays (screenplays written under speculation that they will be acquired by studios, production companies, and financiers) for potential film and television projects. Script coverage is also a big part of screenplay competitions where professional readers recommend scripts to jurors and judges.

Script coverage is the driving force of Hollywood development and acquisition deals, so while it's essential to write a great plot, interesting characters, and solid delivery of those elements, you have to make sure you clear the reader bar with excellent script coverage scores. If the script coverage for your screenplay is packed with the powerful adjectives that draw the attention of Hollywood insiders, you're on your way.

7 adjectives to aim for in your next script coverage

1. Cinematic

When a script reader labels your screenplay as "cinematic" that coverage describes a couple of very crucial things that Hollywood insiders like to see. The first is that the screenplay evokes the visuals of a motion picture very well. Don't forget that your screenplay is written — for the screen. If you can make a reader feel like they're watching a movie play in their mind's eye as they read your script, that's a powerful thing.

Script coverage that includes the word "cinematic" signals to producers and development execs that the scenes are arranged in a cinematic way — as if already produced and edited like a professional film or television episode. And that's always worth considering.

Read ScreenCraft's Why Screenwriters Should Think Like Film Editors!

"Cinematic" coverage also signals that your screenplay doesn't read like a novel. You don't want lots of backstory, exposition, and inner character thoughts to slow down the pacing of your script. Film and television are visual mediums where stories are told primarily through visuals, with dialogue as accompanying storytelling and character development tools. Always keep that front of mind and you'll receive better script coverage.

Questions to consider: Cinematic

• Is your screenplay cinematic?
• Is it written in a way that feels like it's already edited to hit those cinematic beats we see in movies and television today?

2. Clever

When the word clever is attributed to your screenplay, it means that the concept, story, and characters are handled in a witty and inventive way. Hollywood insiders read hundreds of screenplays per year. And script readers, in particular, have read the same types of stories a dozen times over.

• A cop looking to crack an unsolved case
• Characters trying to survive a force of nature, a beast, or a monster
• An adventurer on a quest or voyage
• A troubled protagonist trying to find themself
• People dealing with tragic or comedic situations

A majority of screenwriters trying to break into the industry by giving Hollywood what they've already made a hundred times over. But a small percentage of screenwriters are smart and inventive enough to offer a witty or inventive take on what we've already seen before. There's nothing wrong with giving execs what they want, but a clever script is a great way to stand out from the crowd and generate interest in not just your script, but your writing career.

Questions to consider: Cleverness

• Is your story clever?
• Does it take something audiences have seen and turn it on its head or approach it from a completely different perspective?

3. Original

As we've discussed, being clever usually refers to handling an otherwise familiar concept, story, or character in a different and exciting way. But when you're being original, you're creating something that we either haven't experienced — or rarely do. Perfect examples of truly original screenplays are Charlie Kaufman's Being John Malkovich and Adaptation.

Being John Malkovich tells the story of a puppeteer that discovers a portal literally leading into the head of movie star, John Malkovich. It doesn't sound as weird now, because it's a classic, but at the time this was an incredibly original screenplay concept.

Adaptation tells the story of screenwriter Charlie Kaufman as he becomes desperate while trying and failing to adapt The Orchid Thief by Susan Orlean for the screen — leading him to the crazy solution of writing himself into the story.

• Are they clever screenplays? Yes.
• Are they a clever take on an already established genre or concept? No — far from it. They are wholly original.

Not all spec scripts need to be original. Clever is more than good enough to get noticed most of the time. But unique and original screenplays enthrall Hollywood insiders because they are often a breath of fresh air (when written well). And that's an essential part of the equation. You have to write an original idea well for it to be taken seriously. A poorly executed original concept that isn't cinematic or compelling (see below) isn't going to garner you any attention.

A few years ago, the top script on the spec market (and Hollywood's coveted Black List) told the story of Michael Jackson — through the eyes of his pet chimp Bubbles. That's original.

4. Compelling

Compelling screenplays are scripts that instigate strong and forceful reactions in the reader. They cause readers to feel like they have to keep reading to see what happens next. Talk about powerful!

Sadly, there's no secret formula to creating a compelling concept and screenplay except time, hard-work, and inspiration. You just do your best to engage readers as quickly as possible, offer multiple paths the stories and characters can take, and choose paths that are unexpected or unexplored within the usual film and television fare.

Cast Away was compelling because we wanted to see how an average character would react to being a castaway on an island.

The Matrix was compelling because it drew us into the mystery of the Matrix and how Neo would respond to the truth.

The Pursuit of Happyness was compelling because we empathized (see below) with the protagonist's situation and wanted to know if they were going to get what they've been striving for.

Ask yourself, does your script offer story and character situations, twists, turns, and revelations that compel the reader to continue on?

5. Well-Paced

Pacing is seriously underrated, especially when it comes to script coverage. Well-paced scripts have great rhythm. They don't linger too long on moments. They don't go on tangents with scenes that have little or nothing to do with the plot or story. Well-paced scripts don't waste any time, word, page, or sequence — everything on each page serves the single purpose of moving the story and characterizations forward.

When a reader says that your script is well-paced, it's one of the highest compliments you could get in script coverage because it tells the next person up that it's a quick and easy read. Your script isn't going to be a long and drawn-out chore, like so many spec screenplays are from amateur screenwriters.

Questions to consider: Pacing

• Does your script comply with the "less is more" mantra?
• Is your script covered in long dense paragraphs of text and scene description?
• Does it waste no time with unnecessary storylines, tangents, and third-rate characters?
• Does your script read quickly and easily?

Read ScreenCraft's Why Every Screenwriter Should Embrace “Less Is More”?

6. Empathetic

Empathy is often defined as the action of understanding, being aware of, being sensitive to, and vicariously experiencing the feelings, thoughts, and experiences of another. It's a really good thing for a reader to feel when they read your script. Screenplays that inspire or embody empathy indicate that audiences will connect with the characters and stories on the screen.

Here are seven of the best ways you can create empathetic characters in your screenplay:

1. Mourn the loss of a loved one
2. Make them the underdog
3. Make the, an animal lover or protector of innocence
4. Have them deal with disease, addiction, or mental and physical struggles
5. Showcase their loyalty
6. Overcome a common fear
7. Show them being treated unfairly

Read ScreenCraft's 7 Ways Screenwriters Can Create Better Character Empathy!

Character empathy is vital to your screenplay. If the audience doesn’t feel some form of empathy towards them — especially your protagonists — there’s going to be less of an impact made upon them. You want and need to make that cathartic (see below) mark on whoever reads your script and whoever watches your movie or pilot.

Questions to consider: Empathy

• Are your characters empathetic?
• Do people identify with or understand your characters' motives (even anti-heroes)?
• Will the audience identify or sympathize with their plights?

7. Cathartic

Have you ever watched a movie or read a screenplay that stayed with you afterward? I hope so. Because walking out of the theater or closing a script and feel truly changed or affected somehow is what great movies are all about.

Catharsis — that satisfaction we feel after the resolution of a story or a protagonist's journey — is arguably the best way to connect with Hollywood decision-makers. If you can make a reader or a development exec walk away satisfied with the story you told, the rest is semantics.

What's interesting is that the catharsis you feel when you read a great screenplay often has little or nothing to do with you personally. Because if the script was so well written that you somehow felt placed within the shoes of the protagonist and felt their own catharsis by the end of the film as they either achieved what they had been striving for against all odds or felt some relief from their struggles amidst tragedy.

You don't have to love baseball to feel a wave of emotions when Kevin Costner plays catch with his dad in Field of Dreams. It's just such a human moment that it transcends the specific scene, leaving many viewers with a profound sense of closure.

The same goes when a father finally meets his goal of giving his son the life they both deserve together in The Pursuit of Happyness.

Or what about when a wrongfully terminated teacher is shown the love, support, and appreciation of his students in Dead Poets Society? You don't have to love Keats to appreciate that moment.

That’s the magic of an amazing screenplay and movie. It leaves the reader or the audience truly touched, affected, and (if you're lucky or very, very good) changed. Catharsis should always be the goal of your screenplay.

How to make your screenplay stand out

Any script or film can tell a good story with an interesting plot and some compelling characters. Not every script or film can leave a lasting mark on a reader or audience. And that's what you want to accomplish with your script. You want to leave a lasting impression.

If you want to impress the managers, agents, development executives, and producers that read your script give them cleverness, craft, and catharsis. And before you submit your screenplay to anyone, look for ways in which each of these seven powerful adjectives can define your script.

Sure, specific adjectives like hilarious (comedies), thrilling (thrillers), horrifying (horrors), and dramatic (dramas) are essential, but these seven adjectives above are universal. And they should be part of any genre that you tackle.

Ken Miyamoto has worked in the film industry for nearly two decades, most notably as a studio liaison for Sony Studios and then as a script reader and story analyst for Sony Pictures.

He has many studio meetings under his belt as a produced screenwriter, meeting with the likes of Sony, Dreamworks, Universal, Disney, Warner Brothers, as well as many production and management companies. He has had a previous development deal with Lionsgate, as well as multiple writing assignments, including the produced miniseries Blackout, starring Anne Heche, Sean Patrick Flanery, Billy Zane, James Brolin, Haylie Duff, Brian Bloom, Eric La Salle, and Bruce Boxleitner. Follow Ken on Twitter @KenMovies

For all the latest ScreenCraft news and updates, follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

The post 7 Powerful Adjectives You Want Associated with Your Screenplay appeared first on ScreenCraft.

Here are three simple techniques you can use to improve the pacing of your script and a few reasons why you need to pay more attention to script pacing as a professional screenwriter.

Who are script readers?

Professional script readers read and evaluate hundreds of screenplays in a very short amount of time, and not just at the studio level. Industry readers also read scripts and submissions for many of the major screenwriting contests, competitions, and fellowships. And while strong concepts, engaging stories, and rich characters are all elements that will ultimately determine the success of your screenplay in the long run, you can't ignore the process of the reading experience.

Because if your script can't hook professional script readers (and quickly!), your screenplay might not get very far.

Why script pacing matters

Great script pacing can be what helps a screenwriter:

• Selling a script
• Win a contest
• Get a manager or agent

Script pacing really is that important. You can't afford to bury an amazing concept, story, and collection of characters in long blocks of scene description, and overly-written dialogue. These unnecessarily-long scenes/sequences can easily bloat your screenplay to 140-pages. And that's not going to be a great reading experience for the reader.

But if you can take all those great elements and craft a well-paced 100-page screenplay (give or take) you promise the reader not only an entertaining read. You make it easy for them. And people like easy reads. Here are three specific screenwriting hacks to help you strip out the fat and speed up the pacing of your screenplay.

Read: How long should your screenplay be?

How to speed up script pacing: Trim scene descriptions

Screenplays aren't novels. They shouldn't have long paragraphs of text or lengthy descriptions. If you want to speed up the pacing of your script, start by removing unnecessary scene descriptions and trim important descriptions to the bare essentials. The more "ink" on the page, the longer it takes for the reader to read it, so cut out as much as you can.

If you're having trouble shrinking scene descriptions down to size, use these three screenwriting devices to help you trim descriptions to the bone:

1. Fragments
2. Single-Sentence Blocks of Description
3. Broad Strokes

How to use fragments to speed up your script

Fragments offer you the freedom to get a visual across to the reader with minimum effort. Less really is more here:

• Dark and cold.
• Cold and wet.
• Hot and miserable.

Fragments are a screenwriter's best friend. Use them as often as you can.

Single-sentence blocks of scene description

Single sentences that represent a single block of description help you to communicate a visual beat. Remember that screenplays are ultimately meant to describe a visual medium (movies). So every block of scene description needs to communicate a single powerful visual that you hurl at the reader.

• This is what I want you to see.  
• Now you see this.  
• Now, this happens.  

There's a beat to it, right? But watch what happens when we put those three short sentences into one longer block of description. Watch how the rhythm changes as you read it:

This is what I want you to see. Now you see this. Now, this happens. 

It's the same information, but when you put it on one line together, it reads differently. It feels heavier. It also feels slower. If we change the text to represent a musical beat, you can feel the rhythmic differences:

• Boom Bada
• Boom Bada
• Boom

There's a beat to it. But when you combine those beats by taking away that white space — that pause — you get a vastly different rhythmic experience:

Boombadaboombadaboom.

That second example has your mind reading it as more of a garbled sentence than a series of flowing beats. You're forced to slow down to make sure that you read it right. That's pacing. Go through your script and space those paragraphs out to create single-sentence blocks of scene description. Use two sentences at the most, if need be and you'll accelerate your script's pacing.

Broad strokes and script pacing

Details are for novels. If the scene description you're writing isn't vital to the story, don't include it. Always focus on the broad strokes. Go through your script and see where you've gone into too much detail — then condense that section or remove it completely.

Here's a quick example of how to cut down scene descriptions to just the broad strokes:

Overwritten scene:

Rewritten scene:

The rewrite embraces fragments, includes a single sentence block (in this case, accompanied by two single-word fragments), and focuses on the broad strokes of the visual the screenwriter wants the reader to envision. And it reads like a dream. All the information you need is there, and you didn't even realize you'd read it.

How to speed up script pacing: Focus on a smaller story window

A common issue with screenplays written by novice screenwriters is that they tend to use too wide of a story lens. This leads to extra characters, too many story arcs, and lots of locations. All of which, in turn, can lead to a slower-paced screenplay (and a more expensive production). An easy way to  fix this is to ask yourself three questions:

1. Do I need that first act buildup, or can I just throw my characters into the concept's conflict after briefly showing them in their ordinary world?
2. Do I need to have the characters return to their ordinary world and linger there? Can I just briefly have them return within only a page or couple of visual moments?
3. Is there a story within the story that I could focus on more?

In The Big Chill, we see brief glimpses into each character's ordinary world before throwing the conflict (news that their common friend has committed suicide) at them. The audience has a solid understanding of the backstory for all of the main characters in less than five minutes — with almost no dialogue. That's a fast-paced script. And it's accomplished by showing snippets — moments — of each person's life. The story lens is close and intimate, and it works. It gives you context while leaving you wanting more.

In Good Will Hunting, after Will's court-ordered therapy and math sessions are complete, we briefly see his new evolved ordinary world and that of the supporting characters around him.

Beyond shaving off the front and backend of the script, you should see if you can condense the scope of your story to a smaller story window. This can actually benefit the script by increasing the conflict within the confines of the smaller story window you use. You can enhance key genre elements as well by adding more comedy, action, melodrama, or scares as the genre demands.

Viewing a story with a smaller lens means more focus on the story and characters you chose to hone in on. And you're able to enhance the genre elements within.

How to speed up script pacing tip: Intercut different scenes 

By now you're cut most of the extended scenes and trimmed unnecessary sequences. But eventually, you'll get to a point where you can't trim anymore without affecting the story narrative and characterizations. It's frustrating, right? You've done plenty of rewrites, and you believe that you've cut away all of the fat that you can. Yet your script still seems to linger. The solution to the problem is actually quite simple.

This is where you need to think like an editor. Figure out how you can break up longer scenes by intercutting it with other scenes. Move from one scene to the other, back and forth, and feel free to do so with multiple scenes and story points as well. Give your script some energy. The opening character introductions of Magnolia intercut multiple character scenes, creating a fast-paced drama:

The film utilizes this style throughout the whole story. It's so much better than the usual bland collection of scenes built up on top of each other. Intercut your scenes to convey fast-paced energy, flow, and style. That is how you truly create a well-paced, engaging, and cinematic screenplay.

Read ScreenCraft's Why Screenwriters Should Think Like Film Editors!

How to speed up the pace of your script

Script pacing is a tricky thing to describe, but it's an easy thing to fix. Use these three actionable and easy screenwriting hacks to speed up the pacing of your script and entice readers to keep reading:

1. Cut down your scene description 
2. Focus on smaller story windows
3. Intercut multiple scenes together

Ken Miyamoto has worked in the film industry for nearly two decades, most notably as a studio liaison for Sony Studios and then as a script reader and story analyst for Sony Pictures.

He has many studio meetings under his belt as a produced screenwriter, meeting with the likes of Sony, Dreamworks, Universal, Disney, Warner Brothers, as well as many production and management companies. He has had a previous development deal with Lionsgate, as well as multiple writing assignments, including the produced miniseries Blackout, starring Anne Heche, Sean Patrick Flanery, Billy Zane, James Brolin, Haylie Duff, Brian Bloom, Eric La Salle, and Bruce Boxleitner, and the feature thriller Hunter's Creed starring Duane "Dog the Bounty Hunter" Chapman, Wesley Truman Daniel, Mickey O'Sullivan, John Victor Allen, and James Errico. Follow Ken on Twitter @KenMovies

For all the latest ScreenCraft news and updates, follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

The post 3 Simple Tips to Speed Up Script Pacing appeared first on ScreenCraft.

This writing duo has penned CBS Films’ Five Feet Apart, The Curse of La Llorna aka "The Children", the new Dirty Dancing film for Lionsgate, along with the upcoming Nightbooks for Netflix with Sam Raimi. Mikki also wrote the YA novel All This Time, which just debuted on the New York Times’ Bestseller List at #4.

Learn what writers, producers, agents, and executives are looking for in a cinematic book or short story! And if you're ready, enter the ScreenCraft Cinematic Book Competition here.

How did you two meet and start screenwriting together?

Tobias Iaconis: Well, I don’t particularly enjoy writing, but movies were the thing that clicked with me. I met Joe Bratcher and Judy Farrell while taking screenwriting courses at UCLA. In college, I began to understand how films were made and that writers were involved in crafting the film. I thought that might be my way into making movies. Joe and Judy were teachers at the UCLA extension and they invited me to join a writing group that they hosted out of their home.

I would recommend every writer do that. We would table read our scripts, give constructive feedback, and “bitch and moan” about the industry. I was in that group for a number of years when Mikki rolled in from Georgia.

Mikki Daughtry: A friend said, “Just go to this writers’ group." So I went and met Joe and Judy and Tobias was in there. And I came in with my practice script, and I wrote my first pages as a part of the class. It was a character piece just for practice. And Tobias was writing and he was writing a lot of action and commercial films. And I like commercial films!

I think we were drawn to each other’s work because there is a deep character study in everything that I do.

Read More: The Screenwriting Do's and Don'ts of Intellectual Property

How do you collaborate on adaptations?

MD: So I was adapting a book and we had just chatted in the group. It was a sci-fi horror novel that was an ensemble but they wanted him to pull up one of the characters and center the story around her. And I had written this little character thing and I thought, alright now I’m gonna have some fun and write a horror movie. It was called Fight or Flight. It was Most Dangerous Game-meets-Bourne Identity.

It was a fun story and so commercial. And Tobias came up to me outside at the break and said “Nobody in here writes like that. I’m working on this book…” and we struck up a deal. He wanted to rewrite my fight scenes in Fight or Flight and he wanted me to center his story around the female lead. After that, we started switching everything. Nothing has gotten written that we both haven’t taken a look at. As soon as we made being writing partners official we got in the finals at Austin, our reps signed us.

Is the Austin Film Festival the first contest you submitted to? Did you ever submit to any others?

MD: We were discovered at the Austin Film Festival. I was having a not a “dark night of the soul”, nothing that dramatic, but maybe a “twilight” of the soul. Questioning if I was any good. So Tobias took all of our scripts and submitted them to Austin and didn’t tell me. And then I’m just toiling away and he calls me and says, “I submitted everything to Austin, and we’re in the finals with two of our scripts.”

It was Elsewhere that became my YA novel that just debuted you at #4 on the New York Times’ Bestseller List, and the other was Godless. Those were both of our passion projects. We got our reps, David Boxerbaum and Adam Kolbrenner, and that's how it all started.

How did you guys land Five Feet Apart?

MD: Elsewhere made the Blacklist that year, and Justin Baldoni had an idea that he had gotten CBS Films really interested in the idea of two kids with cystic fibrosis who fall in love but can’t touch. And he was looking for writers and had gotten hold of our script and he called and he said, “I want you on this project”.

How did your screenplay become a book?

MD: We had written a screenplay, and it is unknown if it was CBS or Justin’s idea to reverse engineer the story into a novel, but CBS has ties to Simon and Schuster. And somebody said, “This would actually be a great YA novel”. They asked us to write the novel, but we didn’t have time.

TI: This idea happened while we were in pre-production.

MD: We’re making changes to the script as we’re casting, so we’re in the midst of those changes when they say, “Oh let’s make this a book.” Simon and Schuster took the different drafts of the screenplay and they hired a writer (Rachael Lippincott) to adapt it to a novel. So it was literally the exact opposite of how it usually goes where the book comes first. And all of the dialogue came straight out of the script and different drafts than the shooting script. But Rachael was able to put all of those scenes that were cut into the book.

How are you balancing writing working on these solo projects, in addition to working with Tobias?

MD: I don’t sleep. It’s weird. He and I really have a weird brainwave connection. We’ve been partners for so long that if I’m stressing at 3 am, the next morning he’ll say, “I couldn’t sleep last night, what was going on.” Even with my solo projects, he reads everything I write. He encourages, he supports. We’re always partners even when we’re not partners.

Do you two have a set process when you work on projects together?

MD: It depends on the story. I wrote the pitch for Five Feet Apart myself and then we practiced it, and he noted it, and we changed some things. And then we went and pitched it together. For Nightbooks we sat in a room together and figured it out together. He figured out most of the pitch on that one. We don’t have a set way to work. It’s frustrating for people to hear.

TI: It’s pure chaos. I will say as we’ve been partners for many years now, my strengths are bleeding into hers and her strengths are bleeding into mine. But it’s very situational depending on what the project demands and what our schedules allow. Sometimes it’s just a passion question. This one is something I feel passionate about and that one I feel lukewarm about so I take the lead on the one I’m more passionate about.

What kind of stories do you look for in Cinematic Book Competition submissions?

MD: I want to see someone who has a grasp of the language, who knows grammar. Not a bunch of “Oh, I feel shook.” That’s good for today, but in two years no one’s going to be saying that and your work’s going to be dated. So that’s a level of professionalism I would like to see.

Mikki and I are always looking for that magic in a story

TI: We are adapting a book for Netflix called Nightbooks that begins shooting next week. It’s a scary children’s tale, and I love how fun it was and how magical it is. And when I say magical, Nightbooks is literally about magic, but I also love magical romance stories. Magical adventure stories. That heightens the rules of the world.

They're just a little bit tweaked and a little bit broken. They introduce some sort of imaginative wondrous novel elements. It’s something Mikki did so well in Elsewhere and All This Time. And that’s what drew me to Nightbooks. I think Mikki and I are always looking for that magic in a story.

MD: I think what we love is this magical element. I love a story about the real world but I live in the real world I want something that’s just a little bit different. Even with Marvel movies — they’re not the real world. They look like it but they’re heightened.

What does “cinematic storytelling” mean to you?

MD: You need visuals, sequences that you can visualize. Look at Hunger Games. That was a first-person, totally internal story but it had enough going on, and it was well written so that you could envision everything that she was thinking, doing, feeling.

TI: Right, because film is a visual medium.

MD: You want the drama, love, and emotion to be there. But, without the visuals, a movie is just a play. We steer ourselves towards a little more fantastical. Even though Five Feet Apart was very real, it was skirting on those heightened, life or death emotions.

What can people look forward to seeing from you guys?

MD: All This Time will hopefully be a movie. The book came out this week and Lionsgate has already bought the rights to the movie, and we’ll be working on that script very soon. We also have the new Dirty Dancing film, Nightbooks, and All This Time.

Any final thoughts or words of encouragement for writers?

MD: I always say: Be Kind. As you’re working your way up. Don’t buy your own hype. There will always be someone better and someone always to tell you you’re not as good as you think you are. Be prepared for that and listen to it, and take notes. Be humble in a room when someone’s giving you notes. Even if you think it’s a bad note, someone is seeing a hole in your story and you need to listen.

TI: I would echo what Mikki said about kindness. We had a mutual friend who gave Justin Baldoni our Blacklist script Elsewhere. He didn’t have to do that. And because he passed along that script to Justin Baldoni, Five Feet Apart happened.

MD: Don’t be afraid to help someone else. We absolutely want to pay it forward, but we’re not easy. When we take on something it is basically like putting our names on it too because it’s our reputation, so we have to be careful about that. But it goes back to my nitpicky thing about grammar, be good at your job and people will take you seriously. So I try always to be good at my job.

Submit your short story, novella, or book to the Cinematic Book Competition and take the next step in your screenwriting — or novelist — career.

The post How to Adapt a Book for the Big Screen appeared first on ScreenCraft.

This event will feature The Writer's Journey author, Christopher Vogler and industry panelists:

• Darren Aronofsky, Oscar-nominated filmmaker of Pi, Requiem for a Dream, The Fountain and Black Swan
• Jeffrey Kripal, Professor of Philosophy and Religious Thought at Rice University, author of Kali's Child and Esalen: America and the Religion of No Religion
• Will Linn, Ph.D. in mythological studies with an emphasis in depth psychology from Pacifica Graduate Institute in Carpinteria, CA; a BA in philosophy from the University of the South.
• Moderated by Corinne Bordeau, co-founder of the Esalen Inspirational Film Festival

Join this free virtual event for an in-depth talk about the importance and influence of myth on film and a look at how the Hero's Journey continues to shape our stories.

This event will not be recorded, so if you want to hear from this lineup of speakers, be sure to join the live event. Sign up by October 20th to be entered into a raffle to win a hard bound edition of The Writer's Journey 25th Anniversary Edition.

• When: Thursday, October 22, 2020 5pm Pacific Time / 8pm Eastern Time
• Register for the FREE event here

The Writer's Journey: 25 Years & Counting

Join this expert panel of storytellers for a night of inspiration and investigation into the mythic roots of the stories that drive us, from Aristotle’s Poetics to Joseph Campbell's The Hero with a Thousand Faces to George Lucas' Star Wars. Celebrate what makes the purpose and power of telling stories.

This Mythosophia event is presented by Michael Wiese Productions & ScreenCraft with the support of our partners: Myth Salon, Mythology Channel, Mack Sennett Studios, Conscious Good, Hollihock, and Hussian College in Studio.

Visit the ScreenCraft Facebook Page, this Thursday, October 22nd at 5 pm (PST) for the free live-streaming event: The Writer’s Journey 25th Anniversary with Chris Vogler, presented by Michael Wiese Productions & ScreenCraft

Related ScreenCraft blog post: The 12 Stages of the Screenwriter's Journey

The post The Writer’s Journey 25th Anniversary Event with Christopher Vogler appeared first on ScreenCraft.

But what can the family watch together on Halloween? Here's a simple guide for writers who want to break into the massive Halloween screenwriting market with a family-friendly Halloween feature.

Horror and family films draw big box office numbers

As a screenwriter, horror scripts are one of the most desirable acquisitions for studios, production companies, and distributors. Why? Horror flicks are cheap to produce and often yield major profits. Audiences love to be scared. It's the next best thing to going on a rollercoaster or jumping off of an airplane — all from the safety of your home theater or local cinema.

But Halloween is a family-driven month-long event as well. And within that horror genre lies a very profitable hybrid and genre-blend — family-friendly Halloween movies. Family films are also a huge draw. It's a multi-billion dollar genre. When you pair that with an equally successful multi-billion dollar genre like horror, you have the perfect storm of demographics and profitability.

Look no further than Adam Sandler. He is a pro at family-friendly Halloween-themed movies, with his Hotel Transylvania trilogy grossing $485,523,174 at the domestic box office alone. The franchise is funny. It has great family value messages. And it's full of otherwise creepy monsters and settings. In short, it has something for everyone.

And that is what appeals to producers and execs that buy scripts. Show them the perfect storm of demographics and profits and watch their interest grow.

Streamers love seasonal content

Another dynamic of the family-friendly Halloween movie is that streamers like Netflix, Amazon, and Disney Plus love seasonal features. It's becoming a growing draw for streamers as they take a nod from networks like Lifetime and Hallmark that have mastered the market of holiday season programming.

There will always be demand for seasonal content. And Halloween is right up there with Christmas in popularity.

Adam Sandler has even taken his box office clout to streamers in the recent Netflix Halloween release Hubie Halloween. While it is PG-13, it is still deemed as a family-friendly Halloween, albeit for the slightly older kids of the family.

Streamers are building content libraries. And their viewing algorithms focus on culture trends, current topics, and seasonal programming. If they can get their hands on continual seasonal options covering the most popular holidays, their brand only benefits. The more the merrier — or scarier.

How to find the right balance between family and horror elements  

As you can see, the family-friendly Halloween movie is clearly an enticing option for screenwriters to have in their screenwriting arsenal. However, you face some clear hurdles when it comes to blending horror concepts with the family genre. Family films can't:

• Be blood and gore fests
• Have nudity or provocative language
• Showcase realistic death and mayhem

You cancel out that family demographic if you have a lot of those conventional horror elements in your family-intended Halloween script. Normally in genre-blended screenplays, you want to equally balance the genres you are blending. But with family-friendly Halloween scripts, you need to add more weight to the family end of the scale, replacing blood, gore, nudity, provocative language, realistic death, and realistic horror with laughs and family value lessons.

At the same time, you can't forget to inject Halloween imagery. Kids like to be scared too. And with seasonal offerings, you need to inject your script's tone, atmosphere, and settings with creepiness, fun scares, spooky settings, and the Halloween spirit.

How to develop and write family-friendly Halloween movies

1. Identify your target demographics

The best family movies also offer up something for the adults as well. Toy Story, Shrek, and Hotel Transylvania movies all have moments and little jokes for the adults, so don't write simple childish humor that won't appeal to the older demographic. Remember, mom and dad are picking the movies their kids watch. It starts with them. So offer something for the older demographic as well.

Beyond that, you've got three MPAA ratings to shoot for. Knowing the ins and outs of them will help you to craft the right script for the intended audience and production company you market to.

Rating symbol	Meaning
	G – General Audiences All ages admitted. Nothing that would offend parents for viewing by children.
	PG – Parental Guidance Suggested Some material may not be suitable for children. Parents urged to give “parental guidance”. May contain some material parents might not like for their young children.
	PG-13 – Parents Strongly Cautioned Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13. Parents are urged to be cautious. Some material may be inappropriate for pre-teenagers.

We're obviously staying away from the R and NC-17 ratings here. Those aren't family-friendly. But these three ratings give you some guidance, as far as what you can and can't include. The MPAA offers further guidance. The following breakdowns are taken from the Motion Picture Association of America film rating system:

Violence

The violence in a G-rated film must be cartoonish in nature or minimal in quantity. If the violence is little more than minimal, it requires a PG rating. If the violence is stronger than mild, it requires a PG-13 rating. Rough and persistent violence requires an R rating. And overt, extreme, or exaggerated violence requires an NC-17 rating.

Language

G-rated films usually can have language beyond polite “swears” — heck, rats, dang, darn, shoot, etc. — but rarely, if ever, with profanity.

PG-rated films may have mild profanity — damn and hell — while PG-13 rated films may contain stronger language. Depending on the target audience — rather than a film’s actual age rating — one of the harsher sexually-derived words — an F-bomb —  can be used, provided that the word is not used with a sexual meaning.

Drug Use

A reference to drugs, such as marijuana, usually gets a film a PG-13 rating. An example of an otherwise PG film getting a PG-13 for a drug reference would likely be Whale Rider. The film contained only mild profanity but received a PG-13 because of a scene where drug paraphernalia was briefly visible. Critic Roger Ebert criticized the MPAA for the rating and called it “a wild overreaction.” Having more illegal drug use and/or abusing drugs as well as onscreen drug overdose, requires an R or NC-17 rating.

Sexual Content

As of 2010, the MPAA has added a descriptor of “male nudity” to films featuring said content. A brief scene of nudity (non-sexual) will require a PG-rating. More than brief nudity (non-sexual) will require a PG-13 rating. Sexually-oriented (full frontal) nudity will require an R rating. An explicit or violent sex scene, including scenes of rape or sexual assault, will require an NC-17 rating.

Family-friendly movie ratings

With family-friendly Halloween movies, you want to avoid anything that comes even close to the R and NC-17 ratings — for obvious reasons. Shooting for a G rating may be too difficult with the Halloween elements. PG is perfect for the whole family. PG-13 offers parents a decision to make, especially for the younger ones. But it's usually kept light enough for the whole family to enjoy in a comfortable way.

The best option is to do your research and see what family-friendly Halloween movies are rated, and what type of content is — and isn't — within them.

PG

PG-13

2. Make sure you have the key ingredients to a good Halloween movie

Since you're shooting for a seasonal Halloween theme, you need to make sure that you have the right elements of tone, atmosphere, and setting. So, your Halloween script should include:

• A seasonal Halloween setting
• Halloween costumes
• Trick or treating
• Halloween decorations and set design

Any visuals that can set the tone, atmosphere, and setting of Halloween are necessary. When production companies and streamers are considering your scripts for seasonal content, they need to be able to see that your script delivers on all of the familiar elements of the Halloween holiday season. Sure, you can write a family-friendly scary movie without Halloween elements, but including them only gives you added clout to fill their seasonal needs.

Then you need to hit the right story elements of a good Halloween movie. Common plot options include:

• A mystery to solve
• A spooky setting to explore — haunted house, haunted mansion, scary woods, dark caves, etc.
• Monsters, ghosts, ghouls, goblins, etc.
• Overcoming fears

A mixture of those three key elements can be the perfect blend to create a Halloween-worthy narrative. After that, you just need to hit the family film dynamics:

• Funny moments and characters
• Levity to distract younger children away from any scary, creepy, and spooky moments
• Family values taught
• Life lessons that can be learned

Those are all of the key ingredients to a successful family-friendly Halloween movie.

3. Develop a concept that sets your Halloween story apart from others

While there are conventions that you need to follow to write a family-friendly Halloween script, you need to mold them around an original concept and/or character. A Nightmare Before Christmas blended two holidays — Christmas and Halloween — into one (even better) night of mischief and merriment. And it became an instant seasonal classic — for Halloween and Christmas.

Hubie Halloween took the throwback 90's style of Adam Sandler comedies and blended them with Halloween themes.

ParaNorman took the concept of a kid that sees dead people and injected it into a family-friendly narrative, complete with a comedic take on what we saw with M. Night Shyamalan's The Sixth Sense.

Monster House took elements of Goonies and threw those character types into a Haunted House mystery story.

How to write a family-friendly Halloween screenplay

What's your angle? What's your original take? How are you going to write a family-friendly Halloween movie that stands apart from the rest?

To see success as a screenwriter, you have to play the odds. Within your stacked deck of screenplays, you need a few that appeal to the masses and can check those demographic/wants/needs boxes that production companies, studios, networks, and streamers have.

Halloween is one of the most coveted holidays for mass media. It comprises a whole month of programming and marketing. When October hits, audiences are ready to watch some creepy, spooky, and scary movies. And families want in on the mix as well. You could be the screenwriter that offers the next Halloween classic. Hopefully, this guide can help get you started on the next Halloween movie classic.

Ken Miyamoto has worked in the film industry for nearly two decades, most notably as a studio liaison for Sony Studios and then as a script reader and story analyst for Sony Pictures.

He has many studio meetings under his belt as a produced screenwriter, meeting with the likes of Sony, Dreamworks, Universal, Disney, Warner Brothers, as well as many production and management companies. He has had a previous development deal with Lionsgate, as well as multiple writing assignments, including the produced miniseries Blackout, starring Anne Heche, Sean Patrick Flanery, Billy Zane, James Brolin, Haylie Duff, Brian Bloom, Eric La Salle, and Bruce Boxleitner, and the feature thriller Hunter’s Creed starring Duane “Dog the Bounty Hunter” Chapman, Wesley Truman Daniel, Mickey O’Sullivan, John Victor Allen, and James Errico. Follow Ken on Twitter @KenMovies

For all the latest ScreenCraft news and updates, follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

The post How to Write Halloween Movies for the Whole Family appeared first on ScreenCraft.

Giles Alderson and Robbie McKane, from The Filmmakers Podcast, got to chat to her about her experience of working with award-winning directors Steven Spielberg, Ridley Scott and Barry Levinson and acting alongside Robin Williams. They also chatted about her experience of adapting the novel The Bay of Silence into a screenplay.

Her Background

Although she studied drama at university and had a successful career as an actress, Caroline “had always written”. As a young woman, she felt “more comfortable and more confident interpreting other people’s words”, especially in the male-dominant world of film. To be a writer required a lot of “chutzpah”, to persuade people to listen to what you had to say.

“I did think maybe there’s a chance for me to write something, and maybe I’ll be able to see it happen. I kind of always had the sense that at some point, when my kids might be a bit grown up and I learned a bit more about the business, that I might be able to just have a stab at maybe making my own movie.”

Adapting a Novel

“Adapting something from someone else’s work can slightly put you at one remove and that was sort of what I started doing. And by the time I came to The Bay of Silence, it had been percolating for quite some time.”

“I realised that the camera tells the story, by moving, just as much as the actors tell a story in their movements. And when you get the two together, that’s when you create amazing alchemy. And that’s what Steven Spielberg’s genius is, and out of that he can make you cry and you don’t even know why.”

While filming with Spielberg, she enjoyed watching him at work. “I was such a fan. I’d hang out and show people around set. There were weeks when I had nothing to do because I kind of topped and tailed the story, but there was no way that I wasn’t going to be involved, watching and being a part of it. So that was my film master class, and it blew me away.”

Taking Inspiration from Film Royalty

She was really lucky to have been ‘taught’ by some of the greatest directors in the history of film. While working on sets with Spielberg, Scott and Levinson (among others) she started considering the idea of working behind the scenes.

So what is the difference between these great directors? And how they work with their cast and crew? “Let’s turn it around and say, what do they have in common? Curiosity, empathy, and communication. And of course, they’re geniuses.”

“I think it’s more what they have in common. They’re extraordinary. They’re able to tell stories. Of course, they will have different ways of shooting, and different visions of what it is that tells a story. And I think that every filmmaker has his own particular stamp, or hers. The way they shoot, because inevitably, just like a writer or just like a great actor, you’re bringing all of you to it.”

She also took inspiration from Kathleen Kennedy on the set of Hook, because she was “so impressed by a woman producer.”

The First Steps (Re Working the Script/Novel)

After reading some of the best scripts in the world, and after working with film greats, how did she approach working The Bay of Silence from a novel to a screenplay?

Instinct. “The irony about film is that you know that a play, you can kind of workshop and you can go back and forth; but with film, you can do a read through, but you don’t really know.”

“You write the film the first time, on your own as a screenwriter’s version.” After that, it goes to production “which inevitably is going to have the input of the director and of the lead cast, because there have been rehearsals."

And then it changes in production “because sometimes you’re not getting what you need and you don’t have a budget that’s endless, and you just have to go for what you can get. And then of course, then you’re in the edit and it’s written again a third time.”

It’s a team effort. “I always see a screenplay as a roadmap for much smarter people to hack a path off the road, and go around if necessary.”

Adapting The Bay of Silence from a Novel to a Screenplay

So how did she do it? Did she break it down into chapters? Put notes along the wall?

“I think we all do it in different ways.” The book which was written from two points of view was enticing. She toyed with the idea of using multi-character POV, possibly for a TV movie or series; but at the time of writing the script, multi-character POV wasn’t a popular concept in film.

Linda Aronson’s The 21st-Century Screenplay (released in 2010) “is all about multi-character, whereas prior to this, of course, it had to be the hero’s journey and it had to be linear and we had to have the conflict.”

Getting the Option

I love psychological thrillers and I also really wanted to make a British film. And this is a British book written by Lisa St Aubin de Terán.

Lisa, who had been approached by many people to recreate versions of her books The Slow Train to Milan and Keepers of the House was at her wit’s end with proposals. And after many chats, Caroline and Lisa became friends.

And after further discussions about her intentions for The Bay of Silence, Lisa “gave me an option for a peppercorn amount that allowed me to just keep going on it”.

This was a great option “because what happens to lots of writer/producers is that they get to a point where they’ve got a three-year option and it’s running out, and they’ve spent money and it’s gone nowhere and they’ve been shopping it around and they just have to relinquish it and let it go. And then that book is re-optioned to somebody else. So, I was really lucky that I was able to pick it up and put it down.”

The Bay of Silence

While devising the script, Caroline decided that she would focus on only one POV. A man’s – “because men are victims as well – you know, sexual abuse, death of children, madness, not knowing your partner. All of those things happen to men as well.”

“And I think Claes’ performance of this ordinary man thrown into extraordinary circumstances, he’s so vulnerable and you just relate to him.

“And when you get to that central moment, which was the image that stayed with me and made me sort of start writing. I did start in the middle. I started in the middle and worked out. That central moment, that fundamental turning-point. I found that just really inspiring and I thought, okay, we’ve got to kind of make this work. And because it got linear, I just felt we had to see it through his eyes.”

“Don’t Look Now and The Vanishing were real inspirations to me because you are discovering at the same time as the protagonist, what was going on.”

Money Talks

Taking on the producer role, she decided to put her head down and keep below the radar, especially while trying to find a sales agent.

“Because I had been on so many movie sets and worked in so many countries and had talked to people, I realised that things were financed in very different ways.” She took a hybrid approach, using financing techniques and equity-based models from the UK, US and Europe to develop her “52-page business plan”. She managed to meet her four investors at a charity event in Texas.

Caroline’s Last Bit of Advice

• Stay Passionate
• Never Say Never
• Don’t Give Up

“There will always be someone who’s going to say no, you can’t and it’s not possible. And the other thing I would say is any opportunity that happens to come your way, don’t ever say no.”

Even though she’s a well-established actress, she still had to work hard and put in the hours. Now she’s got an incredible film, The Bay of Silence, staring some amazing people.

If you have a novel that is ready for the big screen or has cinematic potential; ScreenCraft wants to read it. They have their ScreenCraft Cinematic Book Writing Competition, and they’re looking for novels, novellas, true stories and biographies.

Click below to hear the full podcast with Caroline Goodall:

iTunes/Apple http://apple.co/3mJi6pJ

Spotify https://spoti.fi/32QX4gG

You can follow Caroline Goodall on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, and The Bay of Silence on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

The post Caroline Goodall on Adapting a Novel into a Screenplay appeared first on ScreenCraft.

• Amazon developed Lore
• Demi Moore is starring in an adaptation of Dirty Diana
• FX is developing the wildly popular Lovecraftian podcast, Welcome to Night Vale
• Netflix's Limetown stars Jessica Biel (which was so well-written, Biel thought it was based on a true story)

Hollywood has noticed the storytelling power and growing audience of well-written fiction podcasts. So it's no surprise that screenwriters are jumping into the podcast pool. But if you want to sell your podcast to Hollywood, you have to learn how to write a fiction podcast script that sells.

Join the expert panel of podcasters, writers, and judges of the Screencraft Podcast Writing Competition, as they discuss the changing landscape of podcast writing, how to write a fiction podcast, and what it takes to sell your podcast in Hollywood. If you don't have time to watch the full live stream, here are seven key takeaways from this panel of podcast pros on how to write a podcast that sells.

How to write a podcast that sells panelists

• STEPHEN PERLSTEIN, Vice President of Podcasts, Studio 71
• DAVID DEVRIES, Director of Development, Studio 71
• ZACK AKERS, Podcast Creator & Writer (Limetown, 36 Questions, The Wilderness)
• ERIN KYAN, Writer and Creator, Love and Luck Podcast

https://www.facebook.com/screencraft.org/videos/667470434152283/

Ensure the idea is sustainable [32:00]

Like a TV show, the fundamental idea behind a podcast needs to be sustainable over a long period of time. During the discussion, Stephen Perlstein recalled a story of would-be podcasters coming up with an idea to cover an entire TV show in a weekly podcast. While the idea is fun, it’s nearly impossible to sustain due to the amount of work it requires.

Erin Kyan points out, "You need to keep in mind what resources you actually have access to. Think about what’s possible. There’s no need to write an amazing script if there’s no way to produce that script." [4:10] Instead, make sure that your idea can generate content week to week while keeping the workload relatively low to avoid burnout. If you want a podcast that sells you need to offer a property that can stretch out for years to come, evolving and developing as it goes.

Don’t feel restricted by genre [33:00]

While most podcasts tend to stay in the crime or sci-fi genres, Erin Kyan was quick to point out that an intrepid podcast writer should not feel restricted by these preconceptions. "There is absolutely a market for any genre you can think of." Podcast popularity is still in its infancy so there’s still plenty of room to reinvent in genres as yet untouched. Likewise, the trend towards true crime that came in the wake of Serial could just as easily switch to romance, documentary, or period dramas.

It’s not often that a writer gets to play in a newly popular medium. Make the most of the opportunity by innovating in the field, surprising those you want to impress, and engaging audiences hungry for fresh content.

Podcasters have to network to make (and sell) a podcast [50:00]

In a similar piece of wisdom, Erin also pointed out the benefits of networking. If you’re not an all-rounder and require the help of audio engineers or voice actors, then networking is almost a necessity to produce your podcast. However, that doesn’t mean you have to have awkward drinks and forced conversation. “It’s just meeting people and making friends,” explains Erin. Take the business out of the equation and networking becomes enjoyable.

As a general rule networking is a requirement of the writing industry, but that doesn’t mean it has to be miserable. Come to a potential networking opportunity with an eye towards how you can help others. Not only will it make you feel better, but you’ll make more friends in the process.

Solve the problem of clarity [24:00]

In a conversation on the craft of making a podcast, Zack Akers cut to the core of sound design and writing by simply stating “solve the problem of clarity.” In a purely audio format, sometimes it’s difficult to fully relay the crucial exposition of what is happening in the story. Some podcasts use a documentary narrator to give context, others use sound design, some simply use dialogue to portray what’s happening.

Erin Kyan also went on to say that some of the best podcasts didn't necessarily have the slickest audio. "Your production value is not as important as you think it is. Some of my favorite shows are very scrappy shows." In the end, it doesn’t particularly matter which method you choose as long as it works. Read through your podcast script one more time and imagine just listening to it. Are there any points where the action of the story isn’t clear? Then solve the problem of clarity.

Pitch your podcast wherever you can [47:00]

Unless you’re planning to independently produce your podcast you need someone to help fund the project. Luckily, you've got a lot of options here. You can try and pitch to an audio drama studio, a radio station, an interested investor, or even your friends and family. In the young space of podcasting getting creative with who you pitch to is key. While pitching to a big fish like Spotify sounds great, do your research about smaller production studios and see if they’re accepting pitches for new shows.

David Devries noted how entering podcast writing competitions can increase the visibility of your podcast. "A really good way to get yourself noticed and read is through online competitions. You want to get as many people to see your work as possible." Alternatively, if you live in the UK or Oceania, you may be able to pitch a public body for an arts grant. Check with your local councils or broadcasting bodies to see if they are offering any opportunities for new and exciting shows to fund.

Ready to sell your podcast? Enter the ScreenCraft Podcast Writing Competition to get your show in front of judges who know podcasts.

Focus on the podcast, not any adaptations [26:00]

While it’s certainly true that there are many writers looking to write a podcast as a different way into the traditional TV and film industry of Hollywood, David Devries is quick to point out that this isn’t a healthy creative mindset. "Oftentimes I end up seeing a handful of people saying 'Here’s a TV script, here’s a movie script, and it works as a podcast.' Not all stories can be told on just an audio level."

Focusing on an adaptation of a podcast you haven’t yet produced is foolish as it’ll compromise the quality of the podcast itself. Before getting carried away with replicating the success of a podcast like Lore, focus on making your podcast as good as it possibly can be.

Spoil your story [56:00]

It’s episode 6 of your mystery podcast. As the killer is revealed you unveil a crazy twist that completely upends everything the listener thought they knew about the characters. Understandably, your natural instinct would be to keep this massive spoiler a secret so the surprise has maximum effect. But Stephen Perlstein offers a different perspective.

Don't hide your spoilers. Broadcast it as wide as you can. If you want your podcast to get attention then don’t hide your narrative hooks, show the best stuff up front to hook listeners and potential buyers in. How do you think The Sixth Sense gained so much traction when it first released?

How to write a podcast that sells

Writing a podcast that sells is all about creating something you're passionate about. Build on a sustainable idea, find other passionate creators that can participate and enhance your project, and build a cult following of die-hard fans. If you can manage to do all that, all you have to do is get the word out by submitting to podcast writing competitions and contests. And who knows, maybe Hollywood will come knocking.

Sign up to the ScreenCraft weekly newsletter for alerts about livestreaming events like these and more helpful tips and tactics to help take your screenwriting (or podcasting!) career to the next level.

The post How to Write a Podcast That Sells: 7 Tips from Podcast Pros appeared first on ScreenCraft.

15 Most Popular Television Genres (and how to write each one)

1. Sci-fi and Fantasy

Science fiction and fantasy are both incredibly popular genres of television, largely thanks to the runaway success of Game of Thrones. Sci-fi and fantasy shows take viewers out of grounded reality and explore the possibilities only our imaginations can create. It's worth pointing out that while these two genres are often lumped together, they each have distinct tropes and formatting notes. Just an FYI.

If your goal is to write a sci-fi or fantasy TV show, check out these hit shows for inspiration:

• Westworld (sci-fi Western)
• Snowpiercer (eco-fiction)
• Dr. Who (time-travel fantasy)
• Lovecraft County (fantasy-horror)

You can even download the Game of Thrones pilot script to see how to write and format sci-fi and fantasy scripts.

2. Hour-long Drama

The hour-long drama has nearly an infinite number of subgenres. Some are serialized and have a story arc that lasts the entire season. Others are procedural dramas where the main conflict is resolved by the end of each episode (i.e., a crime is solved, or a judge makes a ruling in a court case). It's a big genre.

Procedural dramas include police shows like CSI and NCIS New Orleans. Serialized dramas include the rebooted Perry Mason (a courtroom drama) and Succession (family drama).

Download this Succession episode script for an example of how to write and format a one-hour serialized drama script.

3. Fictional Crime

Another subgenre of the hour-long drama, crime shows are the bread and butter of network television. Often told from the point of view of the police or other investigators. shows like FBI, Chicago P.D., Bluebloods, and Law and Order: Special Victims Unit are classic TV crime genre mainstays.

More recently, cable channels and streaming services have found success creating fictional crime shows from the point of view of the criminals, such as The Sopranos, Breaking Bad, Animal Kingdom, and Ozark.

Here are some free television script downloads to help you write a fictional crime show:

• Ozark pilot episode script download (PDF)
• Breaking Bad pilot episode script download (PDF)

4. True Crime

Every once in a while, an event or true crime will take place and capture our imaginations. Remember Amy Fisher and Joey Buttafuoco? Between 1992 and 1993, there were three docudramas that aired on TV about that story:

• Amy Fisher: My Story
• Casualties of Love: The “Long Island Lolita” Story
• The Amy Fisher Story

More recently, the show Dirty John told the true, deception-based romance of Debra Newell and John Meehan. Other recent true crime shows include The People v. O. J. Simpson: American Crime Story and The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story.

Download the script for The Assassination of Gianni Versace to see how to write and format a true crime episode for tv.

5. Period Drama

Technically, the period drama is part of the hour-long drama genre. But this genre is so popular right now it deserves its own category. The biggest (and really only) criteria for a period drama is that it takes place in a very specific time in history. This often means that the show is centered around amazing costumes, historic locations, and painstaking attention to detail to avoid anachronisms.

Popular examples of period dramas include the smash success Downton Abbey, The Crown (currently the most expensive TV show of all time), The Alienist, and Vikings.

Download an episode script for Downtown Abbey to see how to write a period drama for television.

6. Horror Genre TV

American Horror Story has really reinvented the television horror experience and will be returning for its 10th season, employing incredibly talented actors like Jessica Lange and Kathy Bates.

Other popular TV horror shows include The Haunting of Hill House, Penny Dreadful, We are the Walking Dead, The Terror, and new show Ratched, which is an origin story of Nurse Ratched from the film One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.

Learn more about writing a horror TV show here or download a script (PDF) for an episode of American Horror story to see how to format tv scripts for horror television.

7. Television Sitcoms

Ever since I Love Lucy debuted in 1951, Americans can’t seem to get enough of television sitcoms. Still popular today, the classic three-camera sitcoms are still shot in front of a live audience on a soundstage. And while many sitcoms haven't changed much in 50 years, there have been some recent innovations to the format and style of the television sitcom.

Single-camera sitcoms, like Young Sheldon, Malcolm in the Middle, and Emmy award-winning Schitt’s Creek avoid traditional three-camera formatting and blocking. Shot without an audience or a laugh track, these one-camera shows have almost become a subgenre in their own right. Especially with the way that a single-camera sitcom impacts the pace and style of the screenplay.

Single-camera sitcoms feel closer to reality and allow for varied locations and shifts in tone from comedy to drama, depending on the show. But despite their stylistic differences, both single and three-camera sitcoms typically run 22-minutes per episode.

Download the pilot episode script for Schitt's Creek to see how a single-camera sitcom is written and formatted.

8. Spin-off television shows

A spin-off is when a minor character becomes so popular on an established TV show, that they leave to star in their own show. The 1970s and 80s saw lots of sitcom spinoffs with popular spin-offs that included:

• Mork and Mindy was a spin-off from Happy Days
• The Facts of Life was a spin-off from Diff’rent Strokes
• Frasier was the popular long-running spin-off from Cheers

And while many spin-offs flop, sometimes the spin-off can be more popular than the original tv show that spawned the character.

More modern-day spin-offs include Young Sheldon, a prequel of the parent show The Big Bang Theory, and The Good Fight which emerged from The Good Wife. Even reality shows have spin-off potential. Here Comes Honey Boo Boo that came from parent show Toddlers & Tiaras.

Download the pilot episode script for Frasier to see how to write a spin-off show.

9. Musical comedies

When a musical TV show is done well, it's often a huge hit. That's because musicals and musical comedy television shows hit viewers hard. They encompass heightened emotions that get expressed through songs and dance that tell the story in a stylized way. And people like it. No, they love it.

Popular musical genre television shows include Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist, Glee, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, and Fosse/Verdon.

Download an episode script of Fosse/Verdun to see how to format a musical comedy television screenplay.

10. Soap Operas

This genre of TV gets its name from the dishwashing soap that advertisers used to market to housewives in the commercials between scenes. And while a lot of things have changes since those days, daytime "soaps" are still a big part of the television landscape.

Several classic soap operas like General Hospital and Days of Our Lives still exist, but have the soap opera genre has largely been replaced by reality TV shows. What’s become popular are so-called "evening" soap operas like Scandal, Grey’s Anatomy, Riverdale, and Gossip Girl.

The new generation of primetime soap operas is full of romance, breakups, and characters who can’t resist meddling in other people’s affairs. Sounds a lot like classic soap operas to me. But no matter what you call it, soap operas are still one of the most popular genres on tv.

Download an episode of Scandal to see how the modern soap opera has evolved.

11. Animation

Animated TV shows tend to be comedies simply because anything is possible. And that opens up a lot of comedic opportunities — for viewers of all ages.

Animated tv shows have exploded in popularity with legacy programs like The Simpsons, SpongeBob SquarePants, and South Park giving way to modern classics like Bob's Burgers, Samurai Jack, Archer, Bojack Horseman, and Rick and Morty. Animation isn't for kids anymore, and television studios have definitely taken notice.

Learn more about writing for animated television and feature-length films.

12. Reality-TV

While most reality TV shows do employ writers, they are mostly concerned with mining the drama between the characters and not writing actual scripts. Shows like Keeping Up with the Kardashians have deeply permeated American culture, influencing make-up and fashion trends, and even plastic surgery. Other popular reality TV shows include:

• The Real Housewives
• The Jersey Shore
• Project Runway
• The Bachelor
• Survivor
• Big Brother
• Naked and Afraid.

Reality television has become so popular that there is even another subgenre of reality game shows where contestants compete for prizes or money. It's a booming tv genre with some room for certain creative writers and producers.

13. Sketch Comedy and Variety Shows

Sketch comedy has been around forever. But the most recognizable sketch comedy show currently on the air is, of course, Saturday Night Live. SNL is entering its 46th season this fall! A hallmark of sketch shows like MADtv and The Carol Burnett Show is that they were performed in front of a live audience and often include musical guests and guest hosts.

More recent takes on sketch comedy shows include Inside Amy Schumer and Portlandia, which blend scripted comedy with improvisation, and are shot without a live audience.

14. Talk Shows

Everyone has a favorite late-night talk show, (I miss you, David Letterman!), but daytime talk shows like The Dr. Phil Show or The Ellen Show are still one of the most popular tv genres. Luckily, these shows employ a lot of writers!

Writers on both daytime and late-night talk shows typically write jokes, monologues, and segments for the host. This content also features interviews with celebrities or troubled individuals that are not scripted and usually shot in front of a live audience. As more talk shows expand into streaming platforms and YouTube writers are creating more digital-friendly content to bolster the writing for television. It's an exciting time to write for tv talk shows.

15. Children’s TV Shows

Animated shows like Dora The Explorer and Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood are favorites for children. Live-action shows like Sesame Street are often educational and always popular with parents. But in my humble opinion, nothing will ever take the place of the totally crazed H.R. Pufnstuff that ran from 1969 to 1970. Go watch an episode if you've never seen it. It's wild.

How to write for tv: Most popular television genres

Now is a great time to write for television. Streaming platforms are exploding, content is expanding, and explored niche television shows are finding their audiences. And these shows need good writers. Learn how to write for any genre of TV and jumpstart your screenwriting with a career in television.

The post How to Write for TV: 15 Most Popular Television Genres appeared first on ScreenCraft.

There are literally thousands of novellas and short stories that have been made into spectacular films. And thousands more waiting for someone to adapt them. Here are 13 of the best short story adaptations and why these little stories work so well on the big screen.

Got a great short story? Enter it into the ScreenCraft Cinematic Short Story Competition!

More info coming soon  |  Remind Me

Best Short Story Adaptation Screenplays

Arrival (2016)

Denis Villeneuve’s first foray into the world of literary adaptation was a critical and box office smash. Based on the short story, “Story of Your Life” by Ted Chiang, Arrival proved to be a quick favorite in the film community for its challenging story structure, heady themes of linguistics and determinism, and a one-of-a-kind score from the late Johann Johannsson.

• Read the original short story: "The Story of Your Life" by Ted Chiang
• Download the script (PDF): Arrival 

Rear Window (1954)

Believe it or not, Alfred Hitchcock’s classic film Rear Window is based on a 1942 short story by Cornell Woolrich called, “It Had to Be Murder.” However, like several other entries in this list, Hitchcock crafts a unique identity for his film by using his famous mastery of cinematic language to explore the typically Hitchcockian notions of voyeurism and deception.

You might think a movie from 1954 would be stuffy today, but if you haven’t seen it I promise you’ll be absolutely thrilled by the end. It's more relevant than ever, and a great example of how to adapt a short story or novella for the screen.

• Read the original short story: “It Had to Be Murder” by Cornell Woolrich (PDF)
• Download the script: Rear Window (PDF)

2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)

Based on “The Sentinel” a science-fiction short story written by none other than Arthur C. Clarke himself, 2001: A Space Odyssey is a modern classic. This film takes the core ideas of the original novel and uses the unique language of cinema to explore complex modern themes like evolution, predestination, artificial intelligence, the growing power of technology.

Thanks to this timeless material, this short story adaptation has remained a favorite among film communities since its release over 50 years ago. 2001: A Space Odyssey is a must-watch for anyone who wants to learn how to adapt short stories or novellas into screenplays.

Fun Fact: The original Arthur C Clarke short story that inspired 2001: A Space Odyssey is only six pages long!

• Read the original short story: “The Sentinel” by Arthur C. Clarke (PDF)
• Download the script: 2001: A Space Odyssey (PDF)

Candyman (1992)

Based on the Clive Barker short story of the same name, Candyman tells the story of an urban legend’s power over an inner-city Chicago community and the increasingly fraught racial relations within. While the original short story was based in Liverpool, England, and focused on class conflict, this adaptation effectively reconceptualized the core conceit of the story and repurposes it for themes that may be more directly relevant to an American audience.

• Read the original short story: "Candyman" by Clive Barker
• Download the script: Candyman (PDF)

Apocalypse Now (1979)

Joseph Conrad’s short story Heart of Darkness has captured the imagination of many a reader since its serial publication in 1899. While his story took place on a river voyage through the Congo, Francis Ford Coppola reinvented the core premise of the story to take place in the more contemporary and relevant setting of Vietnam. This setting changed recontextualized the British colonial anxieties of the late 19th Century into parallel Cold War anxieties in America suggesting that both are not as far apart from each other as it may first seem.

• Read the original novella: "Heart of Darkness" by Jospeh Conrad
• Download the script: Apocalypse Now (PDF) 

The Call of Cthulhu (2005)

Sticking very close to H.P. Lovecraft’s source material, this low budget 2005 film decided not to worry too much about the potentially massive budget needed for the cosmic-scale being of Cthulhu. Instead, they decided to film it like a 1920s silent film that would have been around when the story was first written, providing an interesting synthesis between the text and the culture in which the text was first written. 

Aside from direct adaptations like the film above, "The Call of Cthulu" has been the source material for dozens of adaptations for films, TV, and even podcasts like Welcome to Night Vale. The most recent adaptation of this genre-defining horror novella is Underwater, starring Kristen Stewart.

• Read the original short story: "The Call of Cthulu" by H.P. Lovecraft

The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951) & (2008)

Based upon the relatively obscure short story “Farewell to the Master” by Harry Bates, The Day the Earth Stood Still is a watershed moment in film history, not only for fully committing to the science-fiction aesthetic, but also for spearheading a boom in the science-fiction films of the 1950s. This movie launched the anxiety-inducing genre of "the other" and feelings of isolation and strangeness common among Americans at the brink of the Cold War. 

• Read the original short story: "Farewell to the Master” by Harry Bates

The Fly (1958) & (1986)

Using the short story of the same name by George Langelaan as inspiration, The Fly marked David Cronenberg’s big break into mainstream film culture. Cronenberg uses the core conceit of a man slowly turning into a fly to explore sexual anxieties, the nature, and ethics of science, as well as his trademark prosthetics work that result in some (very) gross scenes that still shock to this day. This movie stands as a testament that keeping things simple can concentrate a story’s power.

• Read the original short story: "The Fly" by George Langelaan

From Beyond (1986)

You can never get enough of a good thing. Which is why H.P. Lovecraft is on this list twice. Based upon Lovecraft’s short story of the same name, From Beyond follows a team of scientists exploring worlds just beyond human perception which puts them in a whole heap of trouble. Stuart Gordon and Brian Yuzna incredible horror film reinvents Lovecraft’s famous stodginess in exchange for an insane romp through sexual perversion and gruesome body horror.

• Read the original short story: "From Beyond" by H.P. Lovecraft (PDF)

A Muppet Christmas Carol (1992)

What else can you say about this movie that hasn’t already been said? This adaptation of Charles Dickens’s “A Christmas Carol” is a delightful romp through Victorian England jam-packed full of heart, wit, and belly laughs galore. Starring Michael Caine as Ebeneezer Scrooge and The Muppets as basically everyone else, this adaptation actually follows the source story very closely. What's really interesting is how it still manages to craft a distinct personality of its own. 

Fun fact: The actual title of the beloved Charles Dicken's novella is "A Christmas Carol in Prose, Being a Ghost-Story of Christmas."

The Invisible Man (2020)

I’m usually hesitant to put such a recent movie on lists like these. But Leigh Whannell’s interpretation of “The Invisible Man” by H.G. Wells is going to be remembered for years to come. By effectively recontextualizing the idea of the invisible man through the lens of gaslighting, a manipulative and sadistic psychological ploy, Whannell’s movie explores and empathizes with how being gaslighted truly feels and how isolating it can be. The Invisible Man is a prime example of how screenwriters can adapt a short story from 1897 to still feel relevant today. 

Fun Fact: The complete title of this literary classic is " The Invisible Man: A Grotesque Romance." Now you know.

• Read the original short story: "The Invisible Man" by H.G. Wells

The Mist (2007)

Any list of best short story adaptations wouldn’t be complete without the modern purveyor of all things horror, Stephen King. While the 1980s were the heyday for Stephen King adaptations, Frank Darabont’s version of The Mist in 2007 was remarkable both for the effective scares, but imaginative Lovecraftian world-building. 

Make sure you stay tuned for an ending that has lived in near-infamy ever since its release. If you can I highly recommend watching the Darabont-approved black and white version. 

• Read the original short story: "The Mist" by Stephen King

The Third Man (1949)

After World War 2, the British author Graham Greene was a force unto himself, churning out bestseller after bestseller. Carol Reed adapted his short story, "The Third Man" a year after publication with a stunning screenplay. The Third Man contains an iconic soundtrack, a moody and expressionistic aesthetic, and a knock-out performance by Orson Welles.

You'll never forget the shot where you first see the infamous Harry Lime with a cat between his legs.

• Read the original short story: "The Third Man" by Graham Greene (PDF)

Best short story adaptations

Hopefully, these iconic short story screenplay adaptations have got you searching for inspiration in different places. Find a short story or novella and see how you can adapt it for the screen. Just make sure your screenplay pays attention to pacing, has an engaging hook, and is centered around an emotional core. Get creative with the source material and find a way to elevate it higher.

If you're really interested in writing short story adaptations for the screen, learn more about screenplay adaptations and enter the ScreenCraft Cinematic Short Story Competition to see if your short story is right for the big screen.

Read More: How to Write a Short Story

The post 13 Classic Movies Based on Short Stories: Best Short Story Adaptations appeared first on ScreenCraft.

Boseman's stardom shot into the stratosphere in 2016 when he took on the role of Marvel superhero Black Panther in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, appearing in four MCU films as the character. The film Black Panther earned him an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture, as well as a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture. That film would go on to become the first superhero movie to be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture. In large part to Boseman's excellent performance in the titular role. Boseman also starred in 2019's 21 Bridges and had a supporting role in Spike Lee's 2020 film, Da 5 Bloods.

It's impossible to sum up the impact of Boseman's brief yet iconic career. However, we've compiled ten pieces of advice and wisdom from Chadwick Boseman that will hopefully inspire actors, filmmakers, and screenwriters for decades to come.

10 inspiring Chadwick Boseman quotes for screenwriters

Find your purpose as a writer

When you are deciding on next steps, next jobs, next careers, further education — you should rather find purpose than a job or a career. Purpose crosses disciplines. Purpose is an essential element of you. It is the reason you are on the planet at this particular time in history.

Too many screenwriters in Hollywood just focus on getting the next job or moving up in their careers. Yes, getting that paid gig is important. You need those assignments and script sales to become and remain a professional screenwriter. But you need to look beyond the next job — and figure out your purpose in your screenwriting journey. That's where you discover the screenwriter you truly want to be.

Do you aspire to write screenplays that bring about change in racial issues, introduce diversity, or bring awareness to certain types of stories that the world needs to know? Do you want to make people laugh in different ways? Or do you just want to offer the world some much-needed escapism? What's your purpose as a screenwriter? The next check will pay the bills and keep you in the game, sure. But once you know your purpose in this industry, you'll find yourself better-defined as a screenwriter. And that will appeal to potential agents, managers, development executives, and producers.

Take the initiative and write

"I started out as a writer and a director. I started acting because I wanted to know how to relate to the actors. When people ask me what I do, I don't really say that I'm an actor, because actors often wait for someone to give them roles."

Don't wait for someone to ask you to write a script. If you want to be a professional screenwriter, you have to be ready, willing, and able to develop your own concepts and put in the work to write them — and write them well. The great thing about being a screenwriter (and director), is that you have the opportunity to be more proactive in your career. All that you need to do is create.

Sure, a majority of working screenwriters rely solely on writing assignments. And like actors, you need to "audition" for those positions. But the way to prepare for those "auditions" (what we call pitches) is by having a stack of amazing scripts that can prove your worth as a screenwriter. Don't wait around and hope for someone to offer you a screenwriting job. Keep writing. Hone your skills. And give them multiple reasons why they should hire you.

Just keep writing

I'm an artist. Artists don't need permission to work. Regardless of whether I'm acting or not, I write. I write when I'm tired, in fact, because I believe your most pure thoughts surface.

Exhaustion and desperation don't always have to be negative aspects of the writing process. Your breaking point will sometimes prove to be the moment where inspiration explodes out of the walls you've unknowingly created by overthinking and over-pushing yourself to conjure scenes, characters, and moments within your screenplay projects. That is when the purest moments of your writing are unleashed.

Read ScreenCraft's 3 Ways Screenwriters Can Avoid the Paralysis of Analysis! 

Rejection is part of screenwriting

Sometimes you need to get knocked down to understand what you fight [for].

You can’t avoid rejection as a screenwriter. Screenwriting is simply going to break your heart again and again. Your screenplay won't make the first or last cut of that screenwriting competition, contest, or fellowship. You'll struggle to get representation. That producer or development executive you got your spec script to won't like it. And when that rejection happens, no words of inspiration are going to overshadow it.

Just know that you’re not the only one going through it. Rejection is simply something you have to get through and (hopefully) learn from. Try to remember what you're fighting for as a screenwriter and you'll find a way to tell your stories.

Music inspires good writing

I love all types of music. Jazz, classical, blues, rock, hip-hop. I often write scripts to instrumentals like a hip-hop artist. Music inspires me to write.

Music is a huge part of the cinematic experience. So it's easy to understand why adding music to your writing process can help create cinematic moments within your screenplays. It’s all about embracing every element of cinema to help write your screenplay. The magic of screenwriting is transferring what’s in your head to paper or screen. When you conjure scenes, sequences, and moments in full cinematic context — complete with both visual and audio flair — that information will show in the work. Your writing might even develop a certain type of pacing, tone, and atmosphere.

And the music you choose as part of your inspiration will often lead you to the right beats, crescendos, and emotions that will make your script not just better — but a cinematic symphony.

How to write better heroes

The only difference between a hero and the villain is that the villain chooses to use their power in a way that is selfish and hurts other people.

This is one of the most accurate and elegant descriptions of how to write a compelling villain. Remember that it's not just power, but how a character uses it, that defines them.

Read ScreenCraft's 15 Types of Villains Screenwriters Need to Know!

Don't judge the character

One of the first things I was taught as an actor was, 'Don't judge the character.'

This applies to screenwriting as well. Never judge the characters that you conjure or the real-life characters you portray within your pages. And don't use the screenplay to judge them. It's a common mistake that isn't talked about as much as it should be within screenwriting and filmmaking circles.

Present the characters as they are — flaws and all. Don't push the plot to judge them, punish them, or ridicule them. Show them to the world. Unpeel those layers. And then let each audience member react in their own way.

It's ok to say no

I said yes too much. I said yes to certain projects that weren't for me. It was somebody else's vision and somebody else's dream and somebody else's artistic endeavor, but it didn't necessarily fit in my grand scheme.

There is an argument to be made that you, as a screenwriter, should take every screenwriting job that you can. To a point, that's true. However, at some point in your career, you're going to have to figure out what stories you want to tell and how you want to tell them. Making decisions based solely on money can be soul-breaking in the end.

So when you're writing that lackluster by-the-numbers B action flick or forgetful television movie for a solid paycheck, always be developing those concepts that represent where you want to go in your career. It's a balancing act. You have to pay the bills and feed yourself, but you also have to feed your soul. Never lose sight of that.

Write for yourself, not the approval of others

The number one rule of acting is, 'Do not seek approval from the audience.' People don’t realize that. You can’t do stuff to get applause. You have to live in the truth.

The same can be said for screenwriters. If you're writing a script to please a demographic, woo a certain type of industry insider, or check the boxes of a current hot trend, you're not living the truth within your writing. You're not trying to tell a compelling story. Instead, you're trying to please someone whose judgment and reaction you have no control over. Just focus on writing a compelling cinematic tale. See it in your mind's eye as if it's playing within a theater only you can view. And just tell the story. The rest is up to the fates.

Write your characters from within

When you play characters, you shouldn’t just be putting on their characteristics — you should be finding it inside yourself.

Screenwriters and actors handle characters in both similar and different ways. Actors are tasked with the physical representation of the character — but to do that effectively, they have to tap into the emotions of that character as well. Screenwriters are tasked with the creation of the character to pass that work onto the actor for their performance of it — but to do that effectively, they also have to tap into the emotions of that character just the same.

And for actors and screenwriters to accomplish their jobs of portraying characters effectively — either on the page or the screen — they have to look inward to find elements of those characters within themselves. That's the secret to great character development.

Inspirational words from Chadwick Boseman

Hopefully, some of these wise words from a true artist resonated with you. Use them in your screenwriting journey. Thank you and rest in peace, Chadwick. You'll never be forgotten.

Ken Miyamoto has worked in the film industry for nearly two decades, most notably as a studio liaison for Sony Studios and then as a script reader and story analyst for Sony Pictures.

He has many studio meetings under his belt as a produced screenwriter, meeting with the likes of Sony, Dreamworks, Universal, Disney, Warner Brothers, as well as many production and management companies. He has had a previous development deal with Lionsgate, as well as multiple writing assignments, including the produced miniseries Blackout, starring Anne Heche, Sean Patrick Flanery, Billy Zane, James Brolin, Haylie Duff, Brian Bloom, Eric La Salle, and Bruce Boxleitner, and the feature thriller Hunter’s Creed starring Duane “Dog the Bounty Hunter” Chapman, Wesley Truman Daniel, Mickey O’Sullivan, John Victor Allen, and James Errico. Follow Ken on Twitter @KenMovies

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The post 10 Inspiring Chadwick Boseman Quotes for Screenwriters appeared first on ScreenCraft.

And Hollywood is taking notice. But there's one emerging podcast genre in particular that's gaining popularity amongst film and TV development executives that every screenwriter should to know about: Fiction podcasts. Here's everything you need to know about fiction podcasts, including why they're taking off, how you can write a fiction podcast, and what you can do to get your fiction podcast script in front of industry professionals.

Not your grandma’s radio play

If you’re thinking that fiction podcasts are just a digital rehashing of old-timey radio dramas that were popular in the 1930s and 40s – think again. Widespread access to technology has really lifted the genre by leaps and bounds, making it an exciting space full of creativity and experimentation.

If the general rule of a movie script is "show don’t tell," the general rule of a fiction podcast script is tell me more–but in a variety of ways

Many of the fictional podcast stories are unconventional and push the envelope; even mashing up genres. There are no major advertisers to offend or MPAA ratings to adhere to so there’s no reason not to turn things up a notch. Turns out there’s a lot of new ground just waiting to be explored in the audio-only realm of fiction. It’s like the wild, wild, west of entertainment.

How to write a fiction podcast script

Just like a movie, your fiction podcast needs a script. Unlike movies, the emphasis is on the audio not the visuals. If the general rule of a movie script is "show don’t tell," the general rule of a fiction podcast script is tell me more–but in a variety of ways.

Some of the best ways to adapt a traditional screenplay to a fictional podcast script is with dialogue and narration, foley, sound effects, and even sounds from nature as well as music. The idea is to transport the listener to another world full of sound and mood—a world you create.

The good news is you can easily write a fiction podcast script using your regular screenwriting software like Highland or Final Draft. Because a screenplay is formatted to create one minute of screen time per page, the same holds true for air time.

If your first episode is 15 pages, you can expect to have about a 15-minute-long fiction podcast

How long should a podcast be?

It's no secret that most podcast listeners like short, serialized stories. They fit into our busy lifestyles. That's why most fiction podcasts follow the episodic TV format and come in around (or under) 3o minutes. As screenwriters, we know about writing serialized scripts for television, but it’s possible your fiction podcast will be shorter than a thirty minute TV show.

But like most things in the podcast space, that's not a hard rule. Some popular fiction podcasts can be an hour or longer. It really depends on your genre.

Also like TV shows, people tend to gravitate toward podcasts that release an episode every week—or at least twice a month. This schedule gives listeners something to look forward to. But some producers like to release an entire season all at once so listeners can binge them (and create impressive download numbers). Again, the choice of podcast length and release schedule is up to.

However, the way you end each episode should resemble the classic TV model of "the hook."

Every podcast episode needs a hook

If you're adapting a screenplay or writing a new podcast script, it's important to break your content down into smaller, digestible blocks. However, avoid the temptation to tie up the end of each episode with a neat bow. Great storytelling—whether it's podcasts or TV—always needs a good hook. A hook is a type of cliffhanger that will leave a conflict unresolved – at least until the next episode.

• Has a character gone missing?
• Is there a mysterious spaceship hovering in the sky?
• Did someone discover a strange creature living under their house?

Podcasts have become a crowded space. You need to entice people to listen to the next episode. A hook does that. There's even some compelling research that shows how hooks release oxytocin, the chemical in the brain that promotes the feeling of well-being. Maybe you can even write a podcast episode about the phenomena.

Hollywood is listening to podcasts

Studios are desperate for content right now. Networks want fresh innovative intellectual property—especially if a show can build a large and loyal following. Development executives are turning to podcasts the same way TV programmers in the 1950s adapted radio shows like The Lone Ranger for the small screen. In fact, the last few years has seen a flurry of development deals for popular fiction podcasts.

• Blumhouse TV is currently adapting the horror podcast The Horror of Delores Roach for Amazon
• FX is developing the surreal fiction podcast Welcome to Night Vale
• Amazon’s Homecoming, starred Julia Roberts is in its first season and Janelle Monae in the second
• Limetown on Amazon Watch, signed Jessica Biel to star

Hollywood is hungry for great fictional podcasts. You just have to know how to write a great fictional podcast script.

How to write a fiction podcast script

It's surprisingly easy to adapt an existing screenplay into a fiction podcast. You just have to modify the visual details and use sound cues and exposition in the dialogue to create the world of your story. Let your characters to describe what they see—blue skies with radiant sunlight and a double rainbow; a dark basement lit by a single candle; or the inside of a human brain, where neurons light up like fireworks. Let the dialogue and exposition set the scene.

Any genre will work for your fiction podcast script, but some of the most popular over the past few years include:

1. Science fiction
2. Fantasy
3. Horror
4. Mystery (true-crime)
5. Comedy

But don't be discouraged if you want to write in a different genre than what you see here. The podcast space is wide open right now. Many successful fiction podcasts combine genres with impressive results. If you’re adapting an existing movie script, you just need to streamline the story a bit, possibly cut or combine characters and break it down into multiple 5 to 30-page segments. Also, make sure there’s a hook at the end of each episode.

If you’re looking to tell a new story in a fiction podcast, do your research and see what already exists in the space. Check out what’s popular and study the storytelling techniques that you think are most successful. Then create something new! There's plenty of room for your audio fiction podcast in the media landscape today. In fact, there's never been a better time to write a podcast.

If you like this, sign up for ScreenCraft’s weekly newsletter for more in depth genre screenwriting tips, free downloads, and early announcements for podcast, TV, Film, and genre screenwriting competitions to help launch your screenwriting career.

The post What Makes a Great Fiction Podcast Script? appeared first on ScreenCraft.

Fiction podcasts are an exciting new narrative form that's not only rising in popularity, but also providing Hollywood with fresh adaptable content for television, particularly as Hollywood is shut down due to the coronavirus. Hollywood wants to develop good podcasts into tv and movies. You just have to know how to write a great podcast script.

The best part writing a podcast is that you can get started right now, especially if you already have a screenplay to adapt. Here are eight simple tips to help you adapt your film or tv screenplay into a fiction script podcast.

1. Write with your ears, not your eyes

Films are a visual medium. And as screenwriters we all know it’s the imagery on screen that tells the story. A lover’s look, an empty frozen wilderness, or a burned-out dystopian land—these images set the scene and mood for a story. But podcasts aren't like that.

A podcast, like radio or even a novel, needs to be told exclusively through sound. That requires a big shift in thinking, but it's not difficult to do.

Dialogue, obviously, is a big part of what the listener will hear, but it’s just one element. Imagine your listener is wearing a blindfold. You need to take them by the proverbial hand and guide them through the sounds of your world.

Let's say you've written a film screenplay about a pirate, like Blackbeard. To adapt this screenplay to a podcast you just have to exchange the visual imagery for audio cues. Instead of a fancy pirate with a peg leg and gold earring, the listener hears the uneven stamp and scuffle of his pegleg clomping across the creaky wooden planks of his ship. The stormy ocean hisses and thunders. Ropes are pulled tight in the wind and sails unfurl with a crisp snap. Gold coins tinkle from a treasure chest and a cannonball splinters a ship to floating debris. Maybe his parrot squawks. You can even use some old timey pirate-style dialogue.

The point is, an 18th century pirate ship is a rich sonic landscape for your fictional podcast script. Use it.

2. Format your fiction podcast script like a screenplay

To be clear, there are no industry standards for how to format a fiction podcast script. Some writers even create them in Google Docs. But if you are adapting your screenplay that has already been formatted in software like Final Draft, keeping that familiar format provides one big advantage: Your screenplay is formatted so that each page equals one minute of screen time – or in this case, air time.

A 20-page script will give you roughly a 20-minute podcast

Just make sure you go through the script and remove all your “action” and add sound effects.

3. Should your podcast have a narrator?

You can absolutely write for a narrator in your podcast script. In fact, an omniscient voice describing the location and even the action is a great way to adapt your screenplay to the podcast format. Welcome to Night Vale is especially great at this. In each episode, local radio DJ, Cecil Baldwin, literally reads the community bulletin and news updates for his small desert town. And it's effortless scripted storytelling.

Again, there are no rules (yet), but there are also clever workarounds and cheats you should consider. Some fiction podcast characters keep audio journals to explain in detail everything that is happening. We're Alive, a popular first-person account of a zombie outbreak (they recently hit 200 million downloads), relies on a running account from our survivor narrator.

On the other hand, many fiction podcasts don’t have a narrator at all. Music, sounds, and dialogue are edited to make the setting and action clear. You will still need some expositional dialogue at certain points in the story when sound alone won’t do the trick. The best fiction podcasts make this narrator-free type of storytelling feel effortless, like the audio is flowing over you.

Coming from a screenwriting background this writing style might be a challenge at first. But  listen to more fiction podcasts. You’ll get the hang of it and soon, you might not even miss the narration at all. The bottom line is that you are the master of your universe and get to choose how you tell your story.

4. Keep podcast scenes to three or four characters

Too many voices can be confusing for podcast listeners, especially if your actors are not diverse in age or gender. The fewer the characters, the easier the scene is to follow. When adapting your screenplay to a podcast script, give each character a distinct style of speaking and when casting voice actors, make sure they have different vocal qualities. Accents can help with this, so can slang, when appropriate.

5. Structure podcast episodes like a TV season

If you think about a season of television, there is one major arc for the season, with smaller arcs in each episode. This is a great strategy for writing or adapting a screenplay to a fiction podcast. You can even be obvious about it.

Feel free to call your first episode the "pilot" and the last episode the "season finale."  Audiences will appreciate the clarity. Plus, fiction podcasts are generally 10 to 30 minutes long, so it usually works really well. They key to using this episodic TV structure is to keep the listener’s attention through conflict.

What does each character want, and what (or who) is standing in the way of them getting it? There should be loads of conflict in every single episode. Just like in a screenplay, torture your protagonists and give your story a strong antagonist.

6. How to write a podcast hook

As you divide up your screenplay into smaller, digestible blocks full of conflict, don’t tie up the end of each episode with a neat bow. It’s imperative to add a hook. A hook is a type of cliffhanger that will leave a conflict unresolved–at least until the next episode.

• Has a character decided to call off their wedding?
• Did a sexy, mysterious stranger entered the bar where your protagonist has been a bartender for 20 years?
• Have the magic beans for which you traded your cow begun to grow?

The hook is what drives your listeners to click on the next episode to get the answers, or at the very least, linger in the listener’s mind until they have time to enjoy the next installment. Writing a compelling hook is an essential skill for all storytelling, but it's especially important if you want to write—and sell!—a podcast script.

7. How to use special effects (SFX) in a podcast script

Use the special effects abbreviation, SFX, in your fiction podcast script before describing the sounds. It's up to you if you want to indicate where the musical interludes happen.

If you have iMovie or GarageBand, you can access lots of free sound effects and music. If not, there are many websites where you can download both free and paid mp3 sound effects and music. Just remember less is more. The SFX are there only to help tell the story. It’s important that the SFX don’t steal the focus or become jarring.

8. Create a signature sound

Every fiction podcast has a signature sound or unique soundscape that helps tell the story. Some have a darker in tone with musical accents that utilize the sharp keys of a piano to create tension. Others embody lively atmospheres that sound youthful and cheerful. Don’t worry if you don’t yet know what your signature sound is—you'll find it as you develop and shape your podcast.

If you need help defining your audio theme, ask yourself:

• If my story/podcast was a genre of music, would it be punk rock or country?
• What sounds would quickly identify my podcast's genre to the audience?

Think about the mood and tone of your story and remember, your listeners will likely expect to have a similar sonic experience each time they listen to your fiction podcast.

Sign up for ScreenCraft's weekly newsletter for more step-by-step screenwriting tips, free downloads, and early announcements of competitions for podcast, TV, Film, and genre screenwriters. 

The post How to Turn Your Screenplay into a Podcast Script (8 Easy Steps) appeared first on ScreenCraft.

Hosted by 2019 ScreenCraft TV Pilot winner, Rachel Feldman, join these expert panelists for literally everything you ever wanted to know about how to write a TV bible:

• Crystal Holt - Director of Development & Scripted Programming at (AMC Networks)
• Sean E. Crouch - TV Writer, Creator, and Showrunner (Amazon, FOX, CBS)
• David Knoller - Executive Producer, TV Writer & Director (HBO, Starz, FOX Television)

But if you didn’t catch the stream or don’t have time to watch the recording, here are eight key takeaways from the conversation.

1. Learn the differences between a TV bible, treatment, pitch-deck, and lookbook

If you’re not sure what the difference between these seemingly interchangeable documents are, now’s the time to learn. While every pro was careful to explain that each document’s definition can change with time and with different executives cycling through power in Hollywood, here are the general definitions.

Bible: A TV bible is a kind of guiding star that summarizes everything about the show as concisely as possible. If an exec reads your show bible they should know exactly what kind of show you’re pitching.

Treatment: A treatment is a prose document that retells the story of the pilot script. This allows executives in a rush to recap their memory of your pilot script or to get a quick impression of the story.

Lookbook: A lookbook is a visual document that uses images to relay the feeling and tone of a show. Usually, this involves using pictures from the internet or from other shows.

Pitch-Deck: While often interchangeable with a bible, a pitch-deck usually is the culmination of the bible, treatment, and lookbook into a single long document. If the bible, treatment, and lookbook are individual cards, the pitch-deck is your whole hand.

2. Learn how to structure your TV bible

Sean E. Crouch, one of the pros on the panel, shared a very useful way to structure a show bible. Start the bible with a teaser, bridge the teaser into an explanation of the world of the show, then bring in the characters, followed by what those characters will do in the pilot, concluding by teasing what future seasons and arcs would look like.

While this isn’t gospel, it’s a great place to start if you’ve never written a TV bible before.

3. Perfect your logline

Writing loglines doesn't have to be a pain. In fact, that single-sentence description of what your show is about can make or break your chances of a successful pitch. As Crystal Holt (a producer and development executive) said, “The logline is the first thing I can say no to”. This means that if your logline isn’t up to par it could ruin even the greatest pitch. Make sure that sentence is perfect.

4. The lookbook has to be visually stunning

While you don’t need to be a graphic designer to make a bible, treatment, or even a pitch-deck, there is no excuse for visual sloppiness in the lookbook. After all, TV is a visual medium, so making your lookbook visually cohesive and appealing is vital. Consider hiring a graphic designer to help craft a lookbook with a unique visual identity that’ll stick in an exec’s head. Make it look premium, deliberate, and professional.

5. Research other TV bibles

While it’s easier to wing it, researching the bibles of other successful shows could be the difference between success and failure. Take careful note of how they describe their show. Remember, your bible isn’t a technical manual, it’s a work of literature. Paint a picture with your words, thrill your audience, make them excited to invest in your show.

6. Set out on firm legal ground

When you’re making any of these documents you will likely use images from the internet. Rachel Feldman made a point to clarify that using images like this is okay because you will not sell the pitch, you’re selling a show. However, if you’re pitching an animated show and you’ve hired an animator to draw concept art then you must pay them, no questions asked.

7. Get creative in the age of Zoom

In the age of COVID all pitches are done over Zoom or other video-calling platforms. For all we know this could be the way of the world for a long time so you should get familiar with the platform and how to use it to your advantage.

Some writers have crafted 20-minute long videos with sleek production values to make a pitch while others, like Sean E. Crouch on the panel, have used Zoom to put on a slideshow with more than a hundred images to accompany his pitch. We’re in a new frontier of pitching, so getting creative could pay massive dividends.

8. Lean into your joy

Concluding the panel, Crystal made a poignant point to lean into your joy. It is painfully clear when a writer is pitching a show they don’t have any passion for. Follow your interests wherever they lie and trust that your earnest enthusiasm will translate into the pitch. As she concisely said, “We want your ideas, but we want them from you”.

If you want to learn more about TV Bibles and how to pitch to anyone, sign up for our weekly newsletter. It’s packed with industry news, tips from the pros, and invites to more online events like this one.

And you still have time to sign up for the TV Pilot Competition. Registration ends September 15th.

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The post How to Write TV Bibles & Treatments: 8 Tips from the Pros appeared first on ScreenCraft.

There are two schools of thought as it relates to an answer. Producer 1: “Sure, as long as you express outright that you do not have the rights” (if that’s the case). Or, Producer 2: “Not under any circumstances. It makes your script appear unprofessional and you as the writer inexperienced or naive.”

In other words, it depends on who you ask.

The bottom line of both opinions is that you cannot, of course, actually use any copyrighted song in your film or television show, if produced, without the rights.

Fun fact: song lyrics in screenplays are one of the most common reasons that registrations are rejected from our Copyright Registration Service.

So, how do you go about attaining the rights to use song lyrics?

***

The tried and true response in all cases is to have an attorney look at any contract prior to signing, and to guide you through the process of rights attainment. If you are not yet that far, and you simply want to include the name of a certain song, or some lyrics of that song to set a mood in your scene, consider the following:

• Do you want to take a chance and alienate a producer with the second possibility, above? Is it worth the risk?
• Or, is there I way I can mention the song and/or include lyrics in the script without being egregious about it and implying any rights ownership?

To the second question, yes there is.

Here are some examples how:

• Original: The zombie versions of Mike and Daphne sway to Marilyn Manson’s cover of The Doors’ “The End” remix.    
• Revision: The zombie versions of Mike and Daphne sway to a goth remix of a dark rock standard.

In much the same way as a cardinal rule in screenwriting is to never do the director’s job — as in, do not include camera angles and other specific directorial instruction unless you are directing the screenplay yourself (and even then, in the event of outside funding, not until you have a financed  shooting draft ready to go) — use discretion in all instances when it comes to using the names of songs or their lyrics.

If you do incorporate lyrics into your script (we will get to how and why in a moment) always italicize them.

***

The Public Domain

Public domain songs (and any written art in general) are those that have either fallen out of copyright, or have never been copyrighted at all and/or ownership is unclaimed.

Song copyrights in the U.S. last 70 years after the death of an author, such as those created on or after January 1, 1978. Based on publication or registration dates, protection can extend up to 95 years from publication or 120 years from creation. I encourage you to speak to an attorney experienced in music law for specifics.

Copyright terms can be extended in certain circumstances, but they generally fall into the public domain once copyright ends. That means, for all intents, anyone can use the songs for commercial purposes without paying an owner for rights.

The difficulty arises when one considers using a song they believe is public domain, but is in fact not. Many an artist has been sued for such illegal use, so please use discretion.

A simple internet search for the office of Copyrights, or phone call to ASCAP (American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers), will also lead you in the right direction to determine a song’s status, though I would still retain an attorney for this purpose.

I cannot stress that enough.

Also, the internet can be a terrific resource for finding music catalogs containing songs you can license for film and television. Never assume, however, that the studio or network will pay for them.

And if you have a screenplay based on a story that's in the public domain, consider our annual True Story & Public Domain Screenplay Competition!

***

Back to our screenplays.

My advice is to not take too many chances and risk incurring the wrath of the Producer 2-types, above. In your script, go with the Mike and Daphne Revision example. Finally, on your hunt to license rights so you can use them in your script with no recourse, retain an attorney.

In our business, especially, it’s far better to be safe than sorry.

So the short answer is: avoid using song lyrics in your screenplay, or if you do use song lyrics, add a cheeky parenthetical note to the reader that you don't have the rights to the song, but of course a studio could get the rights if they wanted to.

Thank you for reading.

---

Joel Eisenberg is an award-winning writer and producer, and partner in Council Tree Productions, a television development company. He writes and edits a publication for Medium, “Writing For Your Life,” which you can follow here.  

Related ScreenCraft articles:

How to Get Representation for Your Writing (by ScreenCraft winner Anna Klassen)

9 Tips for Finding Your Authentic Voice as a Screenwriter

The post Can you include song lyrics in your screenplay? appeared first on ScreenCraft.

One of the questions I’m asked most frequently, relative to that article, is: “What’s better for me, an agent or manager … or both?”

The short answer is: “That depends on your career goals.”

Let’s discuss …

Questions That Reps and Writers Should Ask

Ask yourself, “What are my goals in reference to my work? Do I want to sell a single script? Build a career? Set up a script with a network or studio and attach myself as a writer in the event of financing? Finance my indie script? Have someone who pitches for me and has my back? All of the above?”

Even this: “Is it worth my while to an agent or manager's 10-15% commission?”

I find there is certainly value with both, though presently I am unrepresented by choice, save for my attorney.

To the commission question: An interesting phenomenon I’ve been noticing of late is many agents — including my former agent from CAA — have left or are leaving their agencies and becoming managers. Further, I also know a handful of former television and studio execs who have either done the same, or are planning on it.

I’ve asked why. These are some responses I’ve received:

“I wanted more freedom.”

“It was time to get away from the stringency of the agency.”

“I don’t know if my company will survive financially because of Covid.”

“I want to work on projects I like personally, as opposed to what the network looks for.”

The common thread of these and other responses, however, hearkens to the first: There are agents and executives in this business who are simply dissatisfied or concerned about their own careers— for whatever the reason — and want to strike out on their own. The role of manager is a particularly entrepreneurial, creative and open-ended career.

Read More: 9 Do's & Don'ts From the Perspective of a Major Literary Manager

Value Proposition of Agents vs. Managers

I’ve had the fortune of dining with the agents and execs who gave me those answers such as the quotes above. In a more private setting over a meal, personal opinion and honesty tend to prevail as opposed to a company line.

Managers have a vested interest in your project. They have neither posted a bond nor are regulated as agents are (by the ATA — the Association of Talent Agents), and generally receive a 15% commission as opposed to the 10% of agents. A manager’s vested interest is they are able to attach themselves as producers, which agents cannot do. They become one of the team and charge a commission, but they also are generally able to take a producer credit, and are enabled to collect further compensation from the project's budget.

In my experience, I’ve found that managers are more interested in a client’s career path, while agents are interested in the sale. There are always exceptions, of course. In the case of CAA, WME and ICM, packaging fees are a substantial part of their business models and Public Enemy #1 in their ongoing dispute with the WGA.

An effective, well-rounded agent will negotiate contracts on your behalf, while managers will sometimes guide you towards an effective agent for that purpose. Managers are not allowed to negotiate on your behalf. Some more experienced writers retain both an agent and a manager.

I’ve long said all agents are not created equal. Neither are all managers, of course. A good agent, being an agent who is well-connected, can certainly help sell or set up your spec script. A not-so-good agent will wait for you to do the work, then dot a couple of ‘i’s’ on an agreement and collect their commission.

I’ve been there, though I have to say for clarity’s sake that statement is not representative of all agents.

The equivalent on the manager side is retaining management for a term — say one to two years —  but quickly losing the interest of the manager in favor of a currently more sellable client. This happens with both agents and managers. The best advice I can give in this regard is to take as many meetings as you can, presently over Zoom or otherwise, and use your judgement as to with whom you have an easy rapport before you sign. Also, it's worth noting that it's fairly common for managers to simply represent you without a signed agreement. If you both have a good rapport, they simply trust that you'll be giving them their commission for work that they set up with you.

Then have a second meeting based on any lingering questions.

Do your due diligence, always. Has the representative actually sold or set up any projects recently? Are they new to the business? Who are their strongest relationships? Did they make a positive first impression?

A quick tip: Don’t trust anyone too quickly. Again, use your judgement but you can never be too cautious, as you will be signing an agreement with either an agent or manager for a decent period of time that no writer can afford to waste.

General Facts and Advice

1. If an outside entity is looking for a writer, and you are open to writing assignments, typically said entity will contact a manager before an agent. As a writer-producer, I do the same. An agent will get into the nitty-gritty such as payments fairly quickly, while a producer typically reaches out first to a manager to explore possibilities.
2. A manager will ultimately refer a (legitimate) producer to an agent if necessary, but will tend to work with the producer before and/or during that process.
3. I’ve written in the past about being a small fish in a big pond when it comes to a large agency. The same can happen with large management companies. You need to determine what is best for your career-stage. A small agent or agency and/or small manager or management company may not have the ability to properly handle you if you are a writer of mid-level experience. General rule of thumb: The more experience the writer has, the more continually employed their client base should be.  
4. Don’t immediately disqualify reps of smaller client bases, as individualized attention can be a boon to a writer. Again, do diligence as to their capabilities, as sometimes so-called boutique companies excel in working closely with clients.  
5. If you are an early-stage writer, smaller and more nurturing representation can be an asset. Remember always, though, that you will still have to do your share of the work. Never allow any rep to completely dominate your career regardless of agent or manager; always communicate with them, and make calls and queries yourself if/when necessary.

In Conclusion

There is no “superior” entity if you are determining whether to sign with an agent or manager. For newer writers I’d recommend the latter to guide your burgeoning career — many of whom can recommend an agent when the time is right. For those wishing to write and sell specs, a good agent can be most effective. For those mid to higher-level writers who want to staff on a television show or write studio features, both entities working in conjunction can be a huge asset.

Remember this, in all instances: Neither an agent nor manager earn money without their clients. You are the commodity.

As ever, I hope this helps …

Joel Eisenberg is an award-winning writer and producer, and partner in Council Tree Productions, a television development company. He writes and edits a publication for Medium, “Writing For Your Life,” which you can follow here.  

Related ScreenCraft articles:

How to Get Representation for Your Writing (by ScreenCraft winner Anna Klassen)

9 Tips for Finding Your Authentic Voice as a Screenwriter

The post Agent or Manager? A Primer for Screenwriters appeared first on ScreenCraft.

In my experience, I’ve found that assumption to be among the most common mistakes made by many early-stage screenwriters.

I hear variations of this frequently: “If only I had an agent, I’d sell my script tomorrow.”

Not so fast.

***

Ask yourself first, “Why do I want an agent?” Maybe you have a reason for not wanting a manager or entertainment attorney instead. Before embarking on your quest, honestly answer that question, and go from there.

Related article: 8 Differences Between Agents and Managers

For perspective’s sake, I’ve been in the business as a writer and producer for over 25 years. I speak around the country (well, I did until the pandemic) to writers and filmmakers about their craft and the business behind it. I am a current WGA member who consults with many artists on a daily basis over Zoom and the phone presently, and … I’ve been repped by the best: two years with CAA, and two years with Gersh prior.

I’ve also been repped by … not the best.

Today I am happily on my own. No agent, no manager.

I sell more that way. But that does not mean or imply that you should follow what works for me.

***

More real talk.

I was a small fish in an immense pond at CAA. TNT purchased my pilot and bible for what was to have been M. Night Shyamalan’s reinvention of “Tales from the Crypt” at the time, which became mired in rights issues and was never produced. However, for an agency of that size, I needed to have more projects of that quality. While I had some scripts in which they expressed interest, I quickly discovered I needed considerably more to be in line with their other clients.

I left the agency when my agent became a manager. I retained him for a few weeks, then decided being on my own was in my better interests. Besides, I used to be a telemarketer. I cold-called numbers found on IMDbPro to attain script meetings, and that worked for me.

Gersh was a similar experience a few years prior to CAA. Again, I had better luck on my own. Conversely, I also had other small agents for awhile who were too small and did not get many of their calls returned.

So what can you do? How can an effective agent truly further your career?

***

The first thing you need to know is the reality behind another common misconception: There are always exceptions, but too many agents (in the experience of myself and many associates) will wait for you to bring them a deal. It may sound cynical, but it’s true. They will then negotiate the finer points of your agreement and accept their 10% commission.

Gilbert Adler, a close friend and business partner who produced “Valkyrie” with Tom Cruise, “Constantine” with Keanu Reeves, “Superman Returns,” and every episode of the HBO version of “Tales from the Crypt” once said to me something that resonated:

“Don’t waste time looking for a good agent,” he said. “A good agent will come to you.”

In other words, many screenwriters will spend months and sometimes years looking for an agent, when they could have been networking and making calls on their own. Contrary to popular thought, you can break into the business without an agent.

Still, you would want at least a lawyer on your side to look at any paperwork. In terms of the “no unsolicited material” retort, the reason is this: If a company reads your script and passes on it, and they purchase a similar script from someone else years later, you can sue them and quite possibly win. If a script is solicited by these companies, and it comes through an agent or manager, or an effective entertainment attorney, you’re in the door. Think of it this way: These companies are finding their scripts from somewhere. That’s because, in reality, solicitation happens. You just need to be prepared, and that’s an example of where an agent can come in handy.

Here’s the rub: There are innumerable companies out there who will take meetings and hear pitches without the “unsolicited” quagmire. You just need to find them. Regardless, you can avoid that headache with a proven agent.

Further, due to the current WGA dispute with the ATA (Association of Talent Agents), many agencies who would not previously look at the work of non-WGA writers are now open to them.

Here is what you need to look for in a good agent for your current career status:

1. Signing with an agent that is right for you is like a marriage.

If you are a newer writer, interview several by setting up meetings. Kind aggression equates with respect in this business. Look for rapport. If you are a mid-level writer with some sales, go for someone bigger but not too big as to where, like me, you’d get lost. For established writers, your track record makes you a commodity. In all cases, perform due diligence! Make sure that the agent has a track record.

2. If you are looking to produce your own work, make calls on your own.

If you are looking to sell or set up a script, an agent will be of more use. Again, however, you need to do a heck of a lot of work on your own. Once you become a commodity, that is when many agents will work on your behalf and actively solicit you for work. But … you can find smaller agents who will do the same. You just need to call them. If you receive no call back from your solicitation, that should give you your answer.

3. Ask the agent bluntly:

“Will you send me out for work and actively submit my material? Or, should I do the work myself and you’ll help when the time comes?” There is nothing wrong with an honest query.

4. Be relevant.

Speaking of, if you are querying an agent via email, please be sure to only incorporate in your letter items that may be of interest to said agent. Your experience working as a manager at a supermarket will not matter (I did that years ago in my quest for my first agent, thinking my “managerial” experience would serve me). If you do not have practical screenplay sales experience, list any contests in which you have placed, or the screenplays you have written with their proper loglines. All agents know a writer needs to start somewhere. To receive a call back from an email query, you need to be very impressive for them to bother. Review that query letter, and send out only when convinced.

5. Be ready. Actually ready.

To reiterate something not to do: Don’t spend too much time looking for an agent if you are starting out. Put in that time with time spent working on your craft and making calls on your own. The more you work and get out of your comfort zone, the less mystical the process becomes and the more steps you will have taken for your own success. Winning a highly respected screenwriting competition can be a tremendous help too. Resources like ScreenCraft, Coverfly, WeScreenplay and Script Magazine are very helpful for writers who are in their first few years of developing their craft and knowledge of the industry.

ScreenCraft has a strong track record connecting talented emerging writers with agents and managers.

Explore ScreenCraft's upcoming writing competitions here.

***

Finally, to Gilbert’s point about “a good agent will come to you,” you need some mileage behind you for that to happen. I am in complete and utter agreement with the comment, as an agent works for you and not vice-versa.

And please note: A good agent for you can absolutely be a godsend for your career. You can certainly make more money and receive more work with a solid agent-partner who believes in you. The more money you make, the more money they make. They need to be convinced they can earn with you. That’s the psychology. I am very blunt about agents because they need you, or they would have no clients from which to attain a commission. Your work is their asset. You land a solid agent who will work on your behalf, there is nothing whatsoever wrong with that picture.

But too many writers fall into the trap of believing the writer needs the agent more. Try to avoid it. Too many agents realize exactly this, which opens the door to slogging off.

In the meantime, get some experience under your belt, network and meet as many people in and out of the business as possible, and hopefully soon the agent you never knew you have been looking for will solicit you.

Thank you for reading.

—

The post A Guide to Finding an Agent for Screenwriters appeared first on ScreenCraft.

I’m a Star Wars geek, so here are two exchanges that quickly come to mind.

From what is now Episode IV: A New Hope and was once known only as Star Wars:

Luke Skywalker: I did it! I did it!
Han Solo: Great kid! Don’t get cocky!

Solo’s response, each time I saw the film in theaters, received by far the loudest reaction (save for perhaps his “Woo-hoo” just before Luke blasted the Death Star) of any line from the film. He had already been portrayed as an arrogant, cocksure smartass. We found out only later on he had a heart under the rough exterior.

But the irony of the most cocky of men advising his younger cohort to not “get cocky” was brilliant. Solo’s character was beginning to jibe. He was in denial about his own flaws.

As he said to Princess Leia in the perhaps the greatest sequel ever made (ScreenCraft members, argue with me), The Empire Strikes Back:

Han Solo: (incredulous) Who’s scruffy-lookin’?

And, talk about character enhancement through dialog:

Princess Leia: I love you.
Han Solo: I know.

The Princess believed Solo was about to die. Han remained as proud and assured of himself as ever … though he was clearly apprehensive as to his fate.

But character is not built on dialog alone. It is built on context; it is built on action.

As I’ve been on a Harrison Ford kick in this article, remember how Indiana Jones defeated the seemingly unbeatable swords master in Raiders of the Lost Ark?

Indy pulled his gun and shot him dead.

He watched the display of swordsmanship for a few seconds, then ended it.

Indiana Jones is not a time-waster. He is, though, quite pragmatic.
***

We can go on with great characters throughout movie history.

Humphrey Bogart’s stoic, no-nonsense Rick Blaine from Casablanca, who very nearly fell apart after reuniting with his long-lost love, Ingrid Bergman’s Ilsa Lund. Speaking of, Ilsa’s Resistance-runner husband, Victor Laszlo (Paul Henreid), displaying nationalistic fervor while ordering the band of Rick’s Café Americain (with Rick’s nod as an okay) to “Play the Marseillaise. Play it!”

Gloria Swanson’s Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard, who refuses to believe her glory days are long behind her. Talia Shire’s Adrian from Rocky, a wallflower who escapes her shell in the name of love. Sissy Spacek’s Carrie White from Carrie, based on the Stephen King novel, abused and tormented by her peers and her mother, who wreaked havoc on her high school prom while her mother’s words rang in her ears: “They’re all gonna laugh at you.”

Spike Lee’s Mookie in Do the Right Thing, whose general apathy towards his day-to-day dead end existence led to a burst of extraordinary anger and a riot on the hottest day of the year. Jason Miller as Father Karris in The Exorcist, torn by the guilt of his dying mother and his wavering faith. John Travolta’s comeback as hitman Vinnie Vega in Pulp Fiction, whose character academic writer Joseph Natoli accurately described as “cool indifference.”

Joaquin Phoenix in Joker delivered a masterclass in acting, based on a screenplay that took the time to consider problematic issues regarding mental health. And, his dance down those steps — with no words save for a background song — in full Joker regalia was horrifying.

I can go on forever, it seems, but the more I list the more I will inadvertently omit.

The point is great creative works that tell story — be it screenplays, books, teleplays or live-action play scripts — are driven by their characters.

So, what can you do with your characters to make your screenplay that much more compelling?

What follows is a list of tips …

• Consider the characters you love. Or consider the ones I mentioned above with whom you are familiar. Ask yourself the following questions: 1) Why did this character resonate with me? 2) Why has this character remained so resonant with audiences? 3) What is the character’s main flaw that has driven his or her actions? Adapt your responses to characters in your own script.
• Write down real life conversations. Engage as many real life conversations as you can, and later on jot down quirks, tone of voice, looks (in terms of facial expression and physical appearance), and other prominent characteristics. Consider how these characteristics would make your characters more realistic.
• Write the qualities of your characters outside of your script. Are they interesting? Why? Are they archetypical with thoughts and emotions common to other resonant characters? Are they also different? What makes them unique?
• What do you want your actors to bring to their roles, if anything? Do you want them to slavishly follow your script, or to be able to improvise due to a certain personal quality? Reflect your answer in the writing of your characters. Leave room in your descriptions if the latter is your preference, though still include their general qualities. Your challenge is to make them stand out, regardless.
• Avoid cliché at all costs. We’ve all seen fast-talking Tarantino-esque gangsters dozens of times. Nothing beats the originals, so be original with your characters. Write as though you want other screenwriters to copy you.
• So-called “Rocky stories” have become tropes. We’ve seen these underdog stories repeatedly, to differing levels of success and quality. Again, your characters will make the difference. Those in the first Rocky, for example, all stood out in large part due to the synergy between the writing and the acting. We’ve seen characters like the concerned trainer before, the dim fighter (who later educated himself), the wallflower … The film’s dialog and heart also made this one stand out.
• Never be afraid to experiment, or “go there” in your writing. Lead the audience into believing your character is going to do one thing, before heading into unpredictable or even dark territory. Define your characters, though, so they don’t stagger in the dark and walk in circles, so to speak.
• Moral ambiguity is always a plus. If your character struggles with right and wrong, that potentially creates an interesting, compelling character so long as his or her struggle is real.
• What are their internal conflicts? We frequently talk about conflict as it regards story, but what of conflict as it regards your characters? What are those conflicts? If your characters have none, chances are they will fall flat and be one-note. Always give your characters conflict. Again, the one that comes quickest to mind for me is Rick in Casablanca. He could have had the girl, but he was noble and did what was right.
• Treat your characters as you would treat your loved ones. And, also, treat your characters as you would those you don’t like. Create situations and conflicts, then bring forth resolutions that you would want to see. The reality is we all have people in our lives we either do not care for or are ambivalent towards. No, I am not suggesting fantasizing about anything negative for them; I am wholeheartedly suggesting to determine the fates of characters you both love and dislike based on those you love and dislike in life. No one has to know who, if anyone, you had in mind during the writing process.

The reality of being a writer who sells is distinguished from the reality of being a writer who wants to sell by virtue of character and story.

There is a philosophical theory of reality, said to be based in a degree of scientific study, that asks: Did the world create consciousness … or did consciousness create the world?

Though I may not subscribe to the second option, I well subscribe to that line of thinking when it comes to creating compelling characters: Do characters make your story … or does story make the characters?

My response is this: The most compelling character in one of the greatest films ever made was not human. Sentient computer HAL 9000, from Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, was the movie’s core. Dr. David Bowman and Dr. Frank Poole were secondary.

Yet the story of the three resonates all these years later.

Why? Because the character of HAL made the story. Without HAL, we would have been simply floating in the stars for two hours.

Of course, there are innumerable examples where both options could be argued, but I stand by personally that great characters make great stories.

There’s only, then, a few more things to say: Thank you for reading, and work on those characters!

I hope you found this article valuable.

---

The post How to Create Memorable and Resonant Characters appeared first on ScreenCraft.

Screenwriting teachers tend to use a variation of the above when teaching the craft. For our purposes, I would simply lose the word “fiction,” above, as the model well applies to nonfiction screen work as well.

My question, then, is this: Is it possible for a screenplay to be compelling without a standard three-act structure?

Short answer: Of course, based on the quality of writing, specifically characters and story.

But let’s get philosophical for a moment. Does real life transpire over three acts? That’s certainly another way to consider the question. One can argue nascent stage, prime or most active years, and golden years is a 3-act structure.

In other words, a life can be divided into three acts.

And so can any story.

I would encourage you to stay within a safer zone, however, if you are working on more mainstream product. All bets are off for indies, but if you are looking to sell a studio-level feature film, be mainstream audience-friendly and consciously utilize your three-acts.

***

Within a screenplay a writer has approximately 120 pages (longer, if epic), or two hours, to tell a coherent and cohesive three-act story.

Let me share with you three common mistakes writers make when creating scripts with the standard three-act structure, which is itself an art.

Common Mistakes

1. Exposition is often utilized as an act in and of itself. If your screenplay features a character who spends more time talking about his old life, while being featured in present day, this is not only a typical mistake but potentially a very difficult habit to break. Exposition has its place, but do what you can to explain the character through action and dialog. Remember, film is primarily a medium of showing, not telling.

2. Many writers believe that following a main character from birth to grave is compelling by it’s nature. It is not. Many scripts for new biopics are submitted to me every year, as an example. You would be surprised at how many utilize the three acts of an entire life as the spine of their script. It is strongly advised to think of a single compelling story within that life, with subplots included, and begin your work from there. For example, Spike Lee’s “Malcolm X” was an epic, three-hour study of the civil rights leader that for this writer was compelling from beginning to end. The film’s story, if I was to pitch it to someone unfamiliar with the real-life Malcolm, regarded a young anti-white criminal from Harlem who became one of the nation’s preeminent — and controversial — civil rights leaders before his eventual reckoning in Mecca and ultimate assassination. The film did not start with his birth. Without spoiling anything, I strongly encourage you to watch this Spike Lee classic.

3. Being slavish towards writing in three acts is key to success. Big mistake, as once more far too many submissions I receive are so definitive, to the page count, of beginning and ending each act that story and character are lost. By all means incorporate three acts, but pay equal attention to story and character.

The best advice I’ve ever received on this matter came from, of all people, my dad. He was not a writer, but he had once shared with me part of him wanted to become one. He encouraged me to write my thoughts down on paper, as if I was dreaming and that dream was being channeled. Don’t worry about grammar, he said, three-act structure or edits. Get your thoughts down on paper first, then edit and pay attention to your mechanics after.

Many years later as a member of the WGA, I learned that many of my union peers write very much the same way. They spill their ideas on paper first and “put together” later. Not even in outline form, sometimes just scribbles on note paper. Many just write as my dad once advised me.

Truth be told, since my dad’s advice I’ve since become disciplined enough to do both as I go along. For those of you not as experienced, however, I would strongly recommend heeding his words.

Free write first, unless you are already disciplined to create your structure as you go along, and incorporate the three acts later. This way, again, those ideas are already on paper.

And the real work beckons.

***

Speaking of the WGA, a few weeks ago I posted the following on a Guild-member Facebook page, based on an unnerving phone call with one of my oldest friends:

Sharing with the hive for general thoughts.

I had a hair-pulling call with a close friend yesterday who has written over two dozen scripts in the 30 years I’ve known him. He says he wants to be a screenwriter more than anything.

The conversation went something like this:

Him: Okay, so I have Plot Point One, which ends in the first line of the second paragraph of page 31. But I worry that my inciting incident will get lost if the reader has to wait that long. If I change Plot Point One to the first paragraph of page 30, will that make a difference?

Me: First, you’re making me dizzy. This all sounds very mechanical ...

Him: I don’t want that, so let me ask you this. Plot Point Two and Plot Point Three are 32 pages apart. Is that okay or will it hurt my Three-Act Structure since the difference between Plot Point One and Two is 31 pages?

Me: (beat) How many scripts have you written since I’ve known you?

Him: About 25.
Me: How many have you sold?

Him: You know I haven’t sold any. None.

Me: Ever consider why?

Him: I thought you like my stories, though?

Me: I love your stories. But why you do think you haven‘t sold?

Him: Well, I’m following all the screenwriting books. Let me email you a diagram ...

Me: Diagram for what?

Him: One of the books said to diagram your entire script in a multi-point visual with individual boxes and arrows, and ...

It was a brutal call. My buddy was raised in a world of screenwriting gurus who have never sold.
How can I help him?

Let’s just say the responses the post received were similar to my response to my friend: He was wasting his time. And therein lies an issue.

The screenwriting world is rife with informational books about the theory of screenwriting. Some say they have studied the most successful films for research and found common threads. For one, I believe that to be a valid technique to improve one’s writing.

Others, who have called themselves either “screenwriting gurus” or some variant thereof, offer theories as to diagramming plot points, inciting incidents and the like.

This is all well and good if said guru has had real life experience writing and selling screenplays utilizing that penchant. If not, frankly I don’t listen to them nor have I ever.

I made Guild membership, again as have most of my fellow members, through hard work and trial and error.

When my friend back in the 80s was busy reading every screenwriting book he could get his hands on, which usually contained conflicting information, I starting optioning scripts because I made the phone calls and did the work to do so.

30-some-odd years later, my friend is still reading those old books. And he will likely see this blog as he is a regular ScreenCraft reader.

To him and to you I encourage exiting from your comfort zone and doing more.

This is what I mean by more:

1. Be sure you give your reader reason to read past the second page of your script. More scripts are relegated to the slush pile due to the reader being unable to read past the second page, which is usually enough to inform a reader of the quality of one’s writing. If the reader continues on to page 10 due to proper structure, and yet either the script is leading nowhere, or has not the hint of an inciting incident in its first act, they will likely put the script down.

2. A three-act structure is a storytelling base, not a rigid formation. Books tend to have three-act structures as well, save for those by William Burroughs (“Naked Lunch”), Franz Kafka (“Metamorphosis”) or authors of other stream-of-consciousness or hallucinatory work. For television, “Twin Peaks” created some history as the most original program of them all, according to many critics. Speaking of David Lynch, his features such as “Eraserhead” and “Mulholland Drive” were — deliberately —not the most rigid in terms of structure. Quentin Tarantino’s “Pulp Fiction,” one of the most critically lauded films ever made, smashed the three-act structure to bits. I write this to show you that films do not have to be so rigid. However, if you have not yet sold I would strongly recommend you play it safe for now and make sure your film has a defined beginning, middle, and end.

3. Hustle. None of this matters if you, like my friend, spends years studying books and not getting out there trying to sell.

To be clear, if I wrote down a list of my 10 favorite films, all but two followed the classic three-act structure. Follow that structure for now, until you become (more) established.

The rest is up to you.

---

Joel Eisenberg is an award-winning writer and producer, and partner in Council Tree Productions, a television development company. He writes and edits a publication for Medium, “Writing For Your Life,” which you can follow here.  

Related: 9 Tips for Finding Your Authentic Voice as a Screenwriter

The post How to Be Successful with the Traditional Screenwriting 3-Act Structure appeared first on ScreenCraft.

What does Eminem have in common with Robin Williams?

Creative genius would be one answer, of course. To the latter, no one — no one — could duplicate the voice of the late, great comic and actor.

Well, maybe Groucho Marx back in the day. His frequently spontaneous ramblings were something to behold as well, similar in some ways to Robin’s decades later.

Who could possibly write for these guys? Oh, they had their writers … but they were frequently second-guessed and upended for two gentlemen who used scripts as de facto bullet points, then went on and worked their own magic to make those writers look that much better.

The fact that both also tested material in front of live audiences certainly helped.

Regarding Eminem, he too is a wordsmith unlike any other. His earliest material foretold a breakout success, and he very nearly revolutionized the music business. Unlike another Caucasian rapper like Vanilla Ice, who was not taken seriously by the rap community and accused of appropriating aspects of the culture, not only was Eminem looked upon as the real deal but he has received more awards — mainstream and otherwise — than most any other rap artist.

Because he had presented his unique and authentic voice to the world, he made an impact. His words were emphatically not PC, and yet he received respect from such icons as Elton John and others, who believed the rapper shone a much-needed light on negative cultural stereotypes.

Via his own original voice.

***

Now let’s compare apples to apples.

How many of you appreciate the work of iconoclasts such as Quentin Tarantino?

Quite a few, apparently, as following the release first of “Reservoir Dogs,” and then “Pulp Fiction,” every other script producers such as myself received were mob-related with shotgun dialog. We all received veritable copies of Tarantino’s hits, along with one-pagers threatening to “out-Tarantino Tarantino.”

Very few of the copycats sold.

What about Tim Burton? Are you a fan? Could you have written such a personal, metaphorical work as “Edward Scissorhands?”

Writers such as Robert Towne (“Chinatown”), Spike Lee (“Do the Right Thing”), Jane Campion (“The Piano”), Mario Puzo (“The Godfather”), David Mamet (“Glengarry Glen Ross”), Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski (“Ed Wood”), William Monaghan (“The Departed”), Steven Zaillian (“The Irishman”), Greta Gerwig (“Little Women”), and Bong Joon-ho (“Parasite”) are studied in film schools for reason. Some have worked with other writers on their most prominent films; others have written alone.

All have developed distinctive voices.

***

Back to us now.

We’re screenwriters. Some of us have sold; some of us have yet to sell. How do we find our unique voices?

The following is a list of tips to help you create a sincerity and specialness in your writing that will help you stand out:

1. Use elements of real life acquaintances in your script.

Friends and family sometimes have an issue with writers, but as Sharon Stone’s Catherine Tramell told Michael Douglas’ Nick Curran in “Basic Instinct” (as written by Joe Eszterhas) in so many words, as a writer no one she meets is safe. Everyone is fair game for her writing. This should be a general rule for writers of any stripe. No one you meet has the same voice. Everyone you meet has a different tone and edge to their words. Take advantage of the world as presented before you. Base your characters on different people you meet.

2. Watch bad movies, then do the opposite of what they do.

I’m not kidding. Watch films that either you dislike personally, or have not been acclaimed at all by either critics or audiences. Study the laughable dialog … and write down, as an exercise, what you would have written in its place. It helps.

3. Study awards-worthy movies.

We’ve all seen films critics love and audiences loathe, and voice-versa, so I’m meeting both goalposts here. Notice, as I said earlier, how no two characters sound alike. Consider why.

4. Write down a list of 10 distinctive traits for each of 10 people you know or have met.

Keep these in a file, and refer to them later as you write your screenplay and flesh out your characters.

5. Think of your characters' pasts.

If you are an outliner — outlining a script prior to writing it — consider your characters’ circumstance(s) and write traits that you believe may well match them. Before you do, however, imagine your characters’ pasts. What unique circumstances brought them to this current point? For a relevant example, a white man born in New York City to wealthy parents will likely not have had the same upbringing as a black man born to poor parents in rural Alabama. The reverse is also true: A black man born to wealthy parents in New York City as contrasted to a white man born to poor parents in rural Alabama. Or, a black man born in rural Alabama to wealthy parents contrasted to a white man born to poor parents in New York City. When you begin to visualize distinctions, they are easier to write.

6. Go against expectations.

When creating and reflecting on your characters’ pasts, surprise us! Be brave; you’re a writer. Avoid of stereotypes. Subvert expectations if you want to delight your audience.

7. Learn tropes and archetypes.

Stray from the former, as tropes are interchangeable with clichés. Learn your archetypes. For example, Luke Skywalker was a farmer on a desolate planet who strived for adventure amongst the stars and met his destiny. His quest spoke to the adventurer in all of us. Similarly, Sylvester Stallone’s Rocky Balboa spoke to our inner underdog. If you can hit resonant archetypes, and give them unique voices, that’s half the battle.

8. Acknowledge your characters are every bit as important as your story.

A weak story will not be saved by strong characters, nor will weak characters be saved by a strong story.

9. Consider the concept of misconceptions.

What is the biggest misconception people have about you personally? Ask yourself why that misconception exists, and then contemplate creating a multi-dimensional character that addresses both his or her inner or outer lives. All characters should be multi-dimensional, and never just surface.

Developing a unique voice is imperative for a successful screenwriter. That voice encompasses both your characters, primarily, but also your storytelling ability and perspective -- as they are closely related.

Don’t give up. You got this.

Let me know, as always, if this helps …

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The post 9 Tips for Finding Your Authentic Voice as a Screenwriter appeared first on ScreenCraft.

You have spent weeks, sometimes months … sometimes even years perfecting your script. You have made sure your structure was impeccable and your grammar sublime. Your page count? Well within guidelines. And your story? Meticulously crafted.

All that hard work and … your effort paid off.

You sold or optioned the script.

Now what?

***

I remember my first notes well, from a television episode I sold way back in 1996. The less said about it the better (let’s just say for now it was on Cinemax, and very late at night). A friend of mine was writing for the same show, and he recommended me. He gave me guidelines, and I wrote a spec.

The production company thought the work was quality, and accepted the script.

I was 32 years old and I felt like I conquered the world. This was my first professional television sale.

And then, the notes, which I’ve kept:

Joel, we’re asking for a Page One revision. We like the episode title and the concept a great deal, but what we need is a closer approximation of our typical 30-minute show. Call the office tomorrow.

I could not reach the office, but I did speak to my friend who was in the loop. I had no idea as to the nature of the rewrite, as I had never heard the expression as noted. He told me a Page One revision was an entire rewrite beginning on page 1. “Watch a couple of episodes,” he said. “Follow the format and you’ll be fine.”

“Do I get paid extra?”

“You’re not in the Guild,” he said. “You get your flat rate and that’s it.”

I wasn’t happy; regardless, I submitted my new draft. It went over less well than the last one. My friend was angry.

“They’re giving you one more chance. You didn’t watch any of the episodes, did you?”

“I tried one and I couldn’t get through it,” I replied. “I read your scripts instead.”

He glared at me, instructed me again to watch the show, and get back.

Finally, the company greenlit my third-draft, and I got paid. By the time the show aired, other than the title and the concept, everything was changed. Including the characters.

I did not write for them again. They felt that they wasted time with me, according to my friend, which made sense as they never returned any of my followup phone calls.

And they were right.

***

I learned a big lesson from that experience: Never second-guess your production company, network or studio. If you receive notes, do not be defiant. Follow those notes to the nth degree. You may believe you know better, but to them you don’t. And they're the ones paying for it.

The game is about commerce to those who hire you, not ego. There is more than enough of both to go around in this business, but if you are striving to cultivate a lasting career, put the latter to bed and return to work.

***

Many years later, my team and I received notes from an executive at Ovation Network, who had optioned my fantasy book series, “The Chronicles of Ara,” as an eight-episode miniseries. See link to the announcement in Variety here.

Now, myself and my partner in the project, Steve Hillard, had created a story that would encompass a million words over eight-volumes by its conclusion. The story was scrupulously structured and centered around a corrupted muse who, until her curse, had inspired the entirety of man’s art and creation. Ovation had hired two brilliant writers for the pilot script (I had elected to step away from the adaptation).

The first executive note? “I want two muses, one good and one evil.”

I fought it, but knew right then not only would my entire story change, but so would the characters and themes. I lost the battle, but worked closely with the writers from there forward.

The project has since gone into turnaround.

My greatest lesson this time?

Don’t take anything personally, and treat your work — and its response — like a business.

***

The following are 10 tips on how to handle script notes (even if you disagree with them).

1. Never take any notes personally. Your work will be criticized and praised, and likely not in equal measure … until the company deems your work to be where they figure it needs to be.
2. Don’t ever give up. This is the stage of the game where a production company, network, or studio tends to exert their decision-making powers and replace writers who are not meeting their expectations. Keep going, do your best … Your career may be at stake. Yes, the pressure is on.
3. Develop rhino skin. You need a hell of a thick hide to deal in this business. Develop one by whatever it takes and earn the respect of your peers in the process.
4. Follow their notes to a T, but realize you will sometimes (okay, frequently) receive conflicting notes and not always from different people. Ask questions; mention it and don’t be shy. And realize that sometimes you can get to the "note behind the note" by asking the right questions.
5. Speaking of, you have a voice. Don’t just be a dictation machine. If you do not agree with a particular request, speak up. Be passionate, but be respectful. Some battles you will win if you can succinctly sell your point.
6. Conflicting notes will come from either the same individual, or different producers, or even members of the creative team. Recognize your decision-maker quickly. You will not please everyone. Develop a relationship with them, to the point where you can speak directly to them in the event of a conflict.
7. Notes will come from all over. The director will give you notes. Actors will frequently give you notes, especially those who are closer to the A-list and worried about their image as much as their paycheck. Learn to deal with egos and demands as you check yours at the door.
8. Let your project go. If you are fortunate to be retained as a writer of your project, accept that scripts are often revised throughout production. It’s part of the process.
9. Be appreciative of your place. You are a cog in the wheel ... but we all know, as screenwriters, that there would be no project without the script.
10. Through it all, keep practicing your craft. Try not to look at notes as an inconvenience. Try to develop an attitude that you are working towards further opportunity. That small shift in mindset can make a substantial difference.

***

I hope, as ever, that these words may help you. Thank you for reading, and please keep me informed as to your progress.

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Joel Eisenberg is an award-winning writer and producer, and partner in Council Tree Productions, a television development company. He writes and edits a publication for Medium, “Writing For Your Life,” which you can follow here.  

Related blog post: 7 Ways Screenwriters Can Impress a Producer

The post You've Got Screenplay Notes from a Producer, Now What? appeared first on ScreenCraft.

The midpoint of your screenplay is so much more than simply the middle of your narrative. Before we dive in, this free download is a lifesaver if you're struggling with screenwriting structure:

Learn the best way to structure your screenplay with this free guide:

Start thinking of this moment of the story as The Keystone Scene; the point that all of the narrative momentum is building to during the first half and then has to climb down from during the second half. A scene where your piece pivots in a variety of ways.

Below are six ideas you can use to craft a more compelling Keystone Scene for your latest screenplay.

I’M READY TO ADMIT

Act III of a five-act structure is the sequence where your protagonist begins to emotionally invest in their journey of change. The Keystone Scene is the first time that they will do or say something that showcases their understanding that they are in a pivotal moment of transformation they will begin to consider how they feel about the journey they are on.

THE EASY PLAN

At this moment your protagonist thinks that they have understood what their journey has been building to and believes that whatever action they are about to perform will allow them to achieve their happily ever after. However, the action is an echo of their old self and only causes them more grief as a result of performing it.

THAT’S NOT WHAT I WANT

In the first half of our narratives you have your protagonist working towards a perceived solution to the external problem that they are facing. During The Keystone Scene they pivot away from their external goal (WANT) to trying to achieve their internal one (NEED). However, during this revelation they have not fully understood what it is that they are trying to do, and it is often an insincere attempt to deal with their overarching dilemma.

SING IT LOUD AND SING IT PROUD

This is the moment where you let the audience know is actually all about and give them an explicit indication of the themes of your piece. Your protagonist metaphorically (or literally if you are writing a musical) stands centre stage and belts out a Third Act Showstopper which makes us aware of the trajectory that we’re on with them when we come back after the curtain rises again.

I HOPE I PACKED A PARACHUTE

Whatever your protagonist does at this point in the narrative it is akin to them being thrown out of a plane. We move from discussing the “rising action” of the narrative to the “falling action”. They now have to spend the remainder of their time in their Adventure World deciding when they are going to pull the ripcord. Too early and it will not be a thrilling enough narrative. Too late and… well…

YOU CAN’T PUT IT BACK IN THE BOTTLE

This moment represents a finality for your protagonist and should be something which it is impossible for them to take back. They have to realise that their world has irrevocably changed, and they now need to clean up that spilt milk and work out how to get on with their lives.

Ted Wilkes is a writer and university lecturer from London, England. His areas of specialism are narrative design, Twenty-First Century visual cultures and the horror genre. You can find out more about his work over at tedwilkes.co.uk or watch his video essays on a variety of topics on his Youtube channel www.youtube.com/sightunsound

Related ScreenCraft articles: 

Ups and Downs: Five Ways to Approach the Midpoint Culmination

Oscar Winner Michael Arndt on Structure

The post Six Tips for Mastering the Midpoint of Your Screenplay appeared first on ScreenCraft.

I was lucky enough to hear Scott Myers from the Go Into The Story blog at the London Screenwriters’ Festival, and his advice made me entirely rethink how to write scene descriptions. Here are five simple tips you can do to stop writing scene descriptions and start writing dynamic scene action.

Good scenes are active

In a film, the audience is drawn to characters who are doing things—people who drive the narrative momentum forward capture our attention. The same is true for your script. Readers are drawn to verbs since verbs—especially "action" verbs—are the most active elements of most sentences. Pay attention to the verbs you use to tie your scene together. Because the right verb can transform an action sequence.

Pro tip: Search your script for "ly" words. If you find too many adverbs, it's usually a good indicator that you aren't choosing strong enough verbs to describe your action sequences.

Less is more when it comes to scene action

One of the first things that you learn when writing for the screen is "show don’t tell." And that's because it's important. Right alongside that is the maxim, less is more.

Great screenwriters are economical with their descriptions—especially for scene action. You need to be exact with the words you choose and make each and every one of them count. Don’t be cheap, nasty, and dirty (unless that’s called for), but if you can remove even one word and give a reader the same experience, get rid of that extra word.

The script for ALIEN is a trail of monosyllabic breadcrumbs and on the page. And it's just as terrifying as the film.

Cast the "character" of your scene action

At a table read it’s always someone’s job to read these lines, so draw up the dream person who should have that job. A sugary sweet kids movie might sit better with Tom Hank’s dulcet tones whereas a punchy action franchise with edge calls for a Samuel L. Jackson-type reading out those *expletive* lines.

Making this decision really will help you decide the tone of the piece and shape the vocabulary you want to use as part of your scene action. Try it. You'll like it.

Imagematic writing

Scott Myer’s tentpole lesson on how to craft better scene action is wrapped up in a word of his own creation—"imagematic."  In other words ensuring that your scene action:

“…conveys the mood and tone of the moment, making it become that much more alive and vivid in the imagination of the reader.”

Stop just describing what the reader will eventually see on the screen. Give them an idea of what it will feel like to watch it.

Break the convention

After Beck and Woods wrote A QUIET PLACE the formatting glue which held together our craft seemed to lose its stickiness. How you represent your scene action on the page has never been more open to interpretation. Play with hanging lines, bold/underscored/italicized passages, or even entire pages of just a lone word are all on the table.

Just make sure that the decisions you make are there in the service of the story rather than detracting from it.

Sign up for our newsletter for more screenwriting tips and advice from industry pros every single week to take your craft to the next level.

Ted Wilkes is a writer and university lecturer from London, England. His areas of specialism are narrative design, Twenty-First Century visual cultures, and the horror genre. You can find out more about his work over at tedwilkes.co.uk or watch his video essays on a variety of topics on his Youtube channel: www.youtube.com/sightunsound 

The post Stop Writing Scene Descriptions. Start Writing Scene Action appeared first on ScreenCraft.

What's the difference between a screenplay and a novel?

1. A screenplay should describe a movie about two hours long (120 – 140 pages). There are exceptions, like The Irishman, but they're rare. It's also worth pointing out that every page of a screenplay reflects roughly one minute of screen time. Novels, on the other hand, can be as long (or short!) as the writer wants, and each page can span a few moments or millennia.
2. Screenplays never have interior emotional reflections. Screenplays are a visual medium, which means the writing is external facing. You don’t describe details about what a person is thinking or try to explain complex feelings. Novelists however frequently explore the inner lives of characters with expository writing and omniscient narrators.
3. Screenplays are collaborative. Screenwriters write with the actors, director, cinematographer, set designers in mind because ultimately the screenplay is for other people. Novels, while they can be a team effort, are rarely written with more than a novelist and an editor.
4. A screenplay does not tell the director and cinematographer how to set up a shot. A screenwriter might make suggestions, such as “This is close on someone” or “This is a family at Thanksgiving dinner,” but the actual realizing of the scene is worked out by the director with his or her cameraman. Novelists make all the decisions when it comes to framing, point of view, and pacing.
5. A screenplay is constructed by a finite number of concise units. These units are a function of the length of the movie and the descriptions within a unit should be brief. While novels have their own conventions and norms, books are still more fluid and changing than screenplays. And they don't have all the same intricate formatting demands that a screenplay requires to be functional.

Have a book that would make a great adaptation? Enter the ScreenCraft Cinematic Book Contest here.

Should you write a novel or a screenplay?

This list of differences between scripts and novels can go on and on, but the point is that screenplays aren't just a different kind of novel. Screenplays exist for one purpose — to tell a story (or play) for the screen. And that means they have to follow a different (and stricter) set of rules so that actors, directors, and producers can make them into films. Formatting SFX and audio cues correctly matter in a screenplay. And while some screenwriters bend the rules, most screenwriting conventions — like page length — are rarely broken. That's one of the reasons why adapting a novel into a screenplay is such a niche writing field. It takes a working knowledge of both styles to create a great final product.

No matter what story you're writing, pay attention to the conventions and rules governing the format. Despite what you might think, the rules are there to guide your script, novel, or short story through the creative process to the medium — and the audience — that will best appreciate your story.

Learn how to write your screenplay in 60 days or sign up for the ScreenCraft newsletter to get more tips for adapting your novel for the silver screen.

Burt Weissbourd is a novelist and former screenwriter and producer of feature films. He was born in 1949 and graduated cum laude from Yale University, with honors in psychology. His earlier books include Inside Passage, Teaser, Minos, and In Velvet, all of which will be reissued in Fall 2020. His latest book, Danger in Plain Sight, will be published on May 15th and is the first book in his new Callie James thriller series.

The post The 5 Biggest Differences Between Screenplays and Novels appeared first on ScreenCraft.

Time passes.

Finally, the producer returns your call after a couple of months of you following up. They tell you they could not read past the first 10 pages of your script, and the edge in their voice indicates you have wasted their time.

What went wrong?

I am a writer-producer with substantial experience in this matter. I have received and read numerous scripts over the years (not presently accepting, but when I do ScreenCraft's audience will be the first to know). It is particularly disheartening to deliver bad news to a writer — not because we have such big hearts (though some of us do), but because many of us receive scripts that do not follow either formatting or submission guidelines and frankly it is a waste of our time to review them.

Remember, you have one chance to make a great impression.

If you fail the first time, especially due to carelessness, that producer will likely never read another script of yours again.

To up your game, here are seven general guidelines:

1. Tight Page Count. Most of us are well aware that a feature screenplay should not exceed 120 pages. There are a couple rare exceptions, such as epics, television miniseries, etc. And of course a TV pilot is anywhere from 27-70 pages depending on the format. Use your judgement, but once you surpass 120 your length must continue to service the story or you will lose the reader, and you risk alienating a producer. Also note: A producer will usually look at page count first, and they are easily swayed not to bother with something that looks overly long.
2. White space is good. Personally, if I peruse a script and see that you cheated on your margins to save space, I will not read that script as it shows a lack of discipline. Note: I learned the hard way. I used to do this constantly and was summarily rejected. Similarly, do not make your pages overly-dense. I want to see plenty of white space.
3. Keep action specific. Take special note of your action scenes when it comes to page count. One paragraph of action can take minutes of screen time. Define precisely what you are attempting to get across in your action. For example, saying “The Civil War ensues” and then going on with your script is insufficient. Your entire screenplay in that case can be based on that single event. Define your action, and keep page count in mind.
4. Keep dialogue lean. Refrain from overly-lengthy dialog passages, unless perhaps you are dramatizing Shakespeare word-for-word. This is an automatic turn-off to most producers from my experience. Sure, Quentin Tarantino and some others can be considered exceptions, but such filmmakers typically built their reputations on independent films and had already proven the worth of their content — which is something you can also do. On a related point: Do not be overly descriptive or expositional in your dialogue. Film is about showing the story, not telling it, unless doing so services that story.
5. Spell check and use proper punctuation please!
6. Don't direct on the page. Never incorporate camera angles into your script, unless you are directing it yourself. Once again, I learned this the hard way. When I received the same note from four different producers asking me to not do “the director’s job,” I learned my lesson.
7. Is your writing authentic to you? “BE SO GOOD AT SOMETHING YOU CAN’T BE IGNORED!” – Steve Martin. It all begins with story; characters and events support its telling. Is your dialog real and/or snappy? Are your story beats exciting or in service of your themes? Is the story itself something that others will want to read, or is your treatment of the story more self-indulgent than it should be? These are all questions you must ask yourself prior to any submission, until you are satisfied that the message in caps, above, is met to the best of your ability.

Some general notes and bonus tips: don't submit a hard copy of your script unless requested. And it's a good idea to register your script with the WGA or US Copyright Office before sharing. As a writer-producer, I spend plenty of time “in the room.” I meet (presently over Zoom) television network decision-makers and film execs on a regular basis. This article is based on my experience of over 30 years as a writer, and 15 as a writer-producer. I have made every mistake I have written about here, and have learned from them.

And one more thing, a nag: Many screenwriting books swear by the “three-act structure.” Now, I’m not advocating to break it. I am wholeheartedly advocating for originality. Don't be too predictable. I mentioned, for example, Tarantino earlier. “Reservoir Dogs” was immensely original in its presentation, and “Pulp Fiction” veritably destroyed any screenwriting “rules” and rewrote them. Keep that in mind, as his early work especially proved Steve Martin’s above dictum.

I wish you the best. Let me know how it goes …

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Joel Eisenberg is an award-winning writer and producer, and partner in Council Tree Productions, a television development company. He writes and edits a publication for Medium, “Writing For Your Life,” which you can follow here. 

Related post: 7 First Impressions Screenwriters Need to Make

The post 7 Ways Screenwriters Can Impress a Producer appeared first on ScreenCraft.

By nature, writers are as capable of being change agents as anyone. It is nonetheless a fact that our expressions of race relations and other social issues comes with certain degree of risk. The idea is to combat social ills while not inadvertently (or otherwise) spreading intolerance.

We have all seen recent examples of artists persecuted for their views. I am not writing to that here, though I will address it in a point below.

I am writing to the fact that we can fight the scourge of racism together.

A bit of a background is in order so you better understand my own views on the matter: I was born in Brooklyn, New York’s Sheepshead Bay Projects in 1964. My neighborhood was mixed. My friends were primarily black. I’m Jewish. I was raised to consider everyone an equal, regardless of skin color or sexuality, while respecting and appreciating their differences.

With that understanding, here are my 50 points …

1. Writers write. During breaks from your screenplay, write a blog or online article expressing your honest thoughts on racism, such as the one you're reading now … from a fellow screenwriter.
2. Share your thoughts on social media. Link to your articles.
3. Incorporate positive racial elements in your work.
4. Openly champion diversity in all facets.
5. You are Hollywood. You are indie film and television. Remember that. If you receive a gig or a writing job, write to the difference you want to make. If you attain financing for a film, ditto. When people say, "Hollywood should do more to fight racism," recognize that they are in effect speaking about you.
6. You're a writer. You're also a human being. IF you can get on the frontlines of a local protest, do so. Be clever writing your own sign. That's not sarcasm. Be noticed. Make your statement.
7. Literally use your voice. Noted, many writers are introverts … but so are many other artists and businesspeople. Speak, if either on Zoom or Skype now or in-person later. Present yourself as a screenwriter and send an email to various film-related organizations, including online conferences and festivals, asking if you could address some of said entity's membership as a guest speaker.
8. Your writing is, in part, your brand. Define your brand further by strategizing not only how you can combat racism, but also how to encourage others — including other writers —to pick up the fight as well.
9. a) Encourage diversity in your work, and b) Understand diversity is not the same as tokenism. It is our responsibility to create meaningful content in which the story is key. If your story encourages use of diverse characters — meaning persons of color, or persons of a gender or sexuality that you do not share, or another class not representative of you as the writer— then incorporate them. If, however, your work does not encourage diversity, the risk you take by such incorporation is your characters may read as if they are homogenous and incorporated for the sake of doing so. As an example, if you are white and straight, and your diverse characters read and sound like Caucasian heterosexuals, your may be employing tokenism, not diversity, in your work. Again, story is key, and your diverse characters must come across as honest.
10. In the same spirit, research is an absolute must for any writer. Case study: I recently wrote a television project. The lead producer wanted a transexual Hispanic character in the mix. I was happy about that for diversity's sake, and the fact that it posed a challenge for me as a writer. I spoke to several trans men and women, and I was referred in a few cases to their case workers or psychologists. I heavily researched, and returned with what I believed were the beginnings of a full-bodied and honest portrayal. I returned to the producer, and asked, "What is your idea to best showcase the character, and tell me again why you wanted to include a Hispanic trans character specifically." His response, frankly, was unacceptable to me: "Trans is the in-thing. Everyone needs a trans character in their work. We make her Mexican, we did our job." He said he appreciated the work I did, but just "put her in the story." After I sat with him and explained the issue, as elucidated in #9 above, he thanked me for staying on top of the issue. He understood; I asked him, "So why do you understand?" I was being bold, but it was necessary. For the record, he's a black man. He told me he realized that for contemporary dialogue from some of the black high school-aged characters in the project, I had met with black high school students which he loved. He did not at first make the connection. It's all about honesty of the portrayals.
11. Be consistent on your social media. Do not become another example of a writer who is fired from a television show or movie for past racist and/or sexist remarks on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. Be aware of your words. Do not self-censor, but realize your work, as said earlier, has repercussions. Those risks are yours.
12. Treat your written characters as you would want to be treated.
13. If you plan producing your own work, hone in on your responsibility for working with the casting department for diverse portrayals of diverse characters.
14. "Say Their Names." If your work reflects real life, say the names of those you portray. Your First Amendment rights allow portrayals or mentions of figures who have become public. If the figure is not public, or if press has not covered the individual, you must attain permission from the person or family for either a portrayal or a mention, in the event the individual is deceased.
15. For research purposes, watch films and television that have been acclaimed for their portrayals of diverse characters.
16. For research purposes, read books that have been acclaimed for their portrayals of diverse characters.
17. For research purposes, consume any media that has been acclaimed for its portrayals of diverse characters.
18. Study movements, such as Black Lives Matter.
19. Try to put yourself in the position of a discriminated class. This will aid immensely in the verisimilitude of your writing.
20. Promote your work. Many screenwriters, and writers in general, are loathe to self-promote. a) You should do it anyway to call attention to your work, and b) If you are combating racism and other social ills in your work, others need to be aware of your efforts.
21. Meet as many people as you can, of diverse cultures, religions, races (my personal consideration is we're all part of the human race, though ignoring what makes us different is a mistake for a writer). Speak to everyone. Learn from them.
22. Be sincere in your writing goals. Writing anything "for the hell of it" can certainly be meaningful to the practice of your craft, but likely not beyond that.
23. Appreciate the fact that if you are not a member of a minority or a discriminated class, you do not know all there is to know.
24. Discrimination, if you have not experienced it, is immensely painful. These words may sound like common sense, but I stand by them. An example is my own life as a Jew who experienced anti-Semitism when I was young. My last name told that tale. Imagine now if you are a young black man or woman who fears walking down the streets and encountering a police officer. Whether you agree that this is a valid fear or not, the recent death of George Floyd has certainly — once again — brought this reality into the open. Unless you have experienced such fears yourself, you don't know.
25. One's perspective is one's reality. Widen your reality by widening your perspective.
26. Life experience will aid immensely in your writing. Live and learn.
27. Escape from your comfort zone. Mingle. Talk. Experience.
28. Listen to the words of minority leaders. Do your level best to understand their voices, and their impact.
29. Metaphor is an immensely powerful tool. Create metaphors in your work to call attention to the destructive power of racism. As a perfect example of metaphorical work that commented on and criticized social issues, watch random episodes of "The Twilight Zone."
30. Satire is also a powerful tool if skillfully wielded. A selection of the work of Mel Brooks ("Blazing Saddles") or Stanley Kubrick ("Dr. Strangelove, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb") is a must to study.
31. Work on your open-mindedness.
32. Be introspective. Define your own prejudices, and work on them.
33. Read up on history, especially racially-provocative history.
34. Review some problematic (criticized) pop-culture for further understanding of the issues some take with controversial material.
35. Continuing #34, above, never shy away from controversy. A writer must be honest in their voice. We risk repercussions, but we need to continue to explore our own realities.
36. Continuing this string, appreciate the difference between shock and impact. Anyone can shock. If you want your work to resonate, consider your goals first and write towards them.
37. People are black. People are gay. People are Muslim. People are Jewish. People are trans. Punctuating an earlier point: Ignoring differences in your writing by brushing everyone homogeneously is a mistake.
38. When writing about the plight of a particular diverse character, write —which is general advice—in three dimensions. Consider the character's background and life goals as you compose your scripts. What brought them to where they are today, and who do they want to become?
39. Protest art is a major aspect of our culture right now. For a writer, the opportunity for such work to be read is greater than ever.
40. Ask yourself, "Why will my work resonate?"
41. Ask yourself, "Is my work relevant?" Once again, if you are dissatisfied with your answer, return to the well and amend as necessary.
42. Ask yourself, "How will my audience identify with the character in my work who is experiencing racism?
43. Do you believe your personal views of racism are provocative? If so, express them and explore them in your work through a character.
44. Challenge yourself in your writing. Combating racism can be highly effective with honest, challenging work.
45. Explore your own tolerances as you write. What makes you impatient? People, situations … anything? Again, learn from your responses.
46. Join online anti-racism groups, including pages on social media. Interact.
47. Become involved and active in your community. Once more, the entirety of your life experience will impact your writing.
48. Be committed to the fight. Do not lose sight of this goal.
49. Be aware of daily events, and stay current with societal shifts.
50. Finally, I've advised you to be honest. I will close this blog by saying, "Never lie." Disingenuous work will be seen as fake, or forced. You are still building a career. Adapting the words of Steve Martin for this purpose — "Be so good at something you can't be ignored" — making an impact with your work is very possible. Such is your potential. Realizing that potential is your gift.

It is always risky, to use a word I've used above, to openly discuss racial issues without being tagged part of the problem.

My thought is this: With passivity, we are part of the problem. Without honest dialogue, or art, we are part of the problem.

I'm one for solutions. Thanks for reading this long piece. I hope, in my own small way, I’ve touched some of you with this piece.

---

Image Courtesy of Clay Banks, Unsplash. George Floyd protests in Uptown Charlotte, 5/30/2020 (IG: @clay.banks)

The post 50 Ways For Writers to Combat Racism and Make a Difference appeared first on ScreenCraft.

2019 ScreenCraft Screenwriting Fellowship recipient, Lucy Luna, was hired by Warner Bros as a staff writer on The CW’s Two Sentence Horror Stories and will receive an episode credit. After winning, she signed with Brillstein Entertainment Partners through ScreenCraft’s introduction and later signed with the Agency for the Performing Arts. Here's her guest blog post for ScreenCraft: 

I recently finished my wonderful experience of writing for the second season of The CW's Two Sentence Horror Stories, and I thought I’d share a few lessons that I learned and will take with me always.

1. THE INTERVIEW: YOUR PERSONAL STORY MATTERS

It’s true what they say: be prepared to talk about you. Link your personal story to the type of show you’re interviewing for. Two Sentence Horror Stories is, of course, a horror show, so I would’ve been naive to go in and talk about my worst breakup. I brought in the story of how I grew up in a morgue. My mom was a medical examiner back in the day, and there were many nights where it was just me, my mom, and the dead (my mom worked the night shift and we couldn't afford a babysitter). I would sleep in a cot in a file room; however, there was a time when I never wanted to fall asleep out of fear of never waking up. This upbringing surrounded by introduction to death was unique and valuable to get staffed on a horror show.

2. THE ROOM: OBSERVE AND ABSORB

I was really scared about talking too much or being too quiet. It took me a second to find the balance. If this is your first job, and even if it isn’t, read the room! Two Sentence Horror Stories treated us all equally despite our titles. From staff writers to all levels of producers, all ideas and voices were equally welcome, however, every room is different, and it’s important to give yourself time to see how your showrunner runs the room.

3. LISTENING IS A SUPERPOWER

Sounds simple, right? Easier said than done. As creatives, we have ideas running in our heads and have the urge to put them out there. I would often get excited about a particular beat and found myself wanting to share my input before the thought disappeared. If this is you: grab a notepad, write down your input, and wait for your turn; don't interrupt people. When someone else is speaking, listen, truly listen. Our room was filled with silences at times while we were processing and really taking in what was just said. That was truly beautiful.

4. TAKE NOTES/FEEDBACK

This sounds easy and obvious, but you’d be surprised by how hard it is.
This is an effect of the previous point, truly listening allows us to understand the notes from showrunners, producers, network, etc. Many times, yes, there are major changes needed, but I noticed many notes came from lack of clarity, things that are just not coming across and therefore raised questions. Understanding the note allows you to come up with the best solution. Do I have to rewrite the whole first act or do I just have to clean it up? If you listen, you’ll know.
Please, do not be defensive. No one wants to work with someone who can’t take a note. Ask questions if you have any but getting defensive will help no one, remember, you’re all on the same team. I understand notes sometimes trigger insecurities, but you just need to remind yourself that you are an amazing writer, you are staffed on a TV show, and that this process is normal.

5. LET OTHERS SPEAK

Many writers love to give background on where an idea or a note is coming from; “when I was little, my dad took me to the zoo…” and now we are off on a ten-minute tangent on gorillas. Get to the point. Time is precious. There are deadlines to meet and other writers have ideas too.
I learned to give the note or idea straight away, and would only provide context if I had to back it up or if it wasn’t coming across.
Additionally, when someone gives you a note or pitch, let them finish. Again, our heads are constantly racing and oftentimes we’re ready to jump to address before we actually let people finish their full thoughts.

6. RUN THE MARATHON

TV is fast paced. I set up my interview on a Friday, on Monday I had the interview, Tuesday I was told I got the job, and the deal was closed by Wednesday. I walked in the writer's room 5 days later. This pace didn’t change, it was go-go all the time: coming up with ideas constantly, breaking story, writing your outline and your episode while at the same time reading everyone else’s work and providing feedback. You’ll get used to it, but please be kind to yourself and know it’s normal if the first weeks you want to go to bed at 7pm. You’ll be tired and exhausted but you’ll also love every minute of it because hey, you’re writing for a TV Show!

7.  TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF

You know that thing called weekends? Use them! Whatever breaks you have, please use them. Take care of yourself, recharge, reset, eat well, drink enough water, exercise or walk if you can, you know, all those healthy things truly can make a difference. It can improve your mindset and your creativity.

Related post: Letters from Past ScreenCraft Fellowship Winners: Lucy Luna

The post 7 Lessons from Staffing in a TV Writers Room appeared first on ScreenCraft.

There is a difference between “free writing” and “spec writing.”

Whether paying your dues or plying your trade as a more established screenwriter, I veer from the opinion of many and encourage a degree of free writing … but there are legitimate reasons behind that madness.

Read on.

***

Free Writing

My preferred definition of writing for free is the expenditure of writing time for another party with no written promise of compensation. You may be asked, for example, to develop a project for a production company, with only a verbal agreement that you will be attached if a sale occurs.

Such asks may appear to be “opportunities.” Most frequently, they are not. Verbal “agreements” do not legally hold. A written agreement is a must, and immediately turns your effort from “free” to “spec.”

Using this present example, can writing “for free” pay off? Let me ask you this: If Steven Spielberg asked you to develop a project for him at no cost, would you?

Would you?

I wouldn’t. And therein lies the temptation. Where is the guarantee of any compensation or credit down the road? There is none. No one may know you did anything at all for Spielberg. The bigger the fish does not necessarily equate to the bigger the opportunity. Earn your respect and politely demand a written agreement. I’d still require the written agreement that I will receive payment upon a sale, whether the party who approached me is Mr. Spielberg or Mr. Smith.

Remember, that party may ultimately be responsible for millions of dollars of investment into your work if they find a buyer, or if they purchase the project for themself. Has any entity ever invested so substantially into either you personally, or your work? Why would they or anyone do so if they do not respect you, or if you have no written agreement to back you? Further, the investing party may have decision-making powers to retain you or hire another writer to rewrite you. With a standard written agreement, though there will likely be no guarantee of future drafts, at the very least some of these variables would be addressed including a respectful compensation for your efforts.
This is but one example of the difference between writing for free and writing on spec.

***

Spec Writing

Writing on spec (“speculation”) is typically defined as writing for oneself with the hope of selling later, or writing for another party with a written agreement as to compensation based on a sale or a set-up with a financing entity.

When I was paying my dues, I wrote close to 20 spec scripts. The ideas were mine and no other entity was attached. By so writing on spec I improved my craft and created a wealth of content to attempt to sell later.

Here are the results of my own writing on spec, from starting to chase my dream in 1989, up through 2005 when I was finally able to sustain full-time as a writer: seven spec scripts optioned, two indie films produced, hired to write two television episodes. The most I earned was $35,000 for one of the two produced indie films, which was more money than I had seen in my lifetime.

Now, those results may sound promising, but here’s the proper perspective: That was a 16-year period. The money I earned did not sustain me, and I worked nearly 100 day jobs in-between, going from one to the next while maddeningly pursuing my passion.

Still, having so much material behind me earned me a degree of credibility. Ultimately, not giving up worked in my favor. As difficult as the journey may have been (and still is) at times, I’ve more than managed. You can too.

But please be smart. You are valued as a writer. Your work is valuable. You are not a mill; never allow anyone to devalue you, or you will develop a reputation as just another low-rent or free writer.

Write for yourself or with an entity on spec. Never give away your screenplays for free.

***

Exceptions to the Rule Against Free Writing

You may ask, “But at the beginning of this article you mentioned you encourage a degree of free writing. When is that appropriate?”

Therein lies the rub. It is not encouraged in screenwriting. It is encouraged in other writing.

If I am writing an article for a content site, my pay is based on an internal algorithm. I am an educator by nature; I enjoy sharing my experience in the arts to help others. I am not writing on such sites to earn an income, though doing so can certainly pay off. If, however, the articles hit, I get paid and further my visibility. It’s a win-win.

Consider this: How many writers reading the ScreenCraft blog maintain a presence on social media? My gut says most of you. As you engage your readers, you are also writing for free and potentially enhancing your presence. There is nothing wrong with that. Also, I encourage you to interact with celebrities, film executives and other public figures on your social media pages. Perhaps they will become fans of yours. Perhaps they will become future mentors. This has all happened to me. Message them when appropriate; you’ll need to use your judgement in doing so but such a reach-out can be effective.

I’ve had New York Times bestselling authors promote my novel series on their pages, and noted film producers publicly solicit my work on Facebook.

So in that sense I still write for free … to increase my own contact base and further the potential to sell more of my screenwriting.

Hence the reason behind my madness.

***

Summary, and More

Never devalue your screenwriting. Do not “ever” write your screenplays for free for others. Spec work is fine; if with another party, in a partnership or otherwise, always have an attorney write and/or review a written agreement. If you are intimidated asking a producer to sign a written agreement, thereby asking them to be professional and responsible, in the fear that you will kill your “deal” … you have no “deal” to begin with. You are crafting one via your written agreement.

Finally, write if so inclined on content pages (Medium, blogs, social media, etc) to increase your visibility and earn a passive income based on reads, and work diligently to improve your social media presence while regularly discussing the screenwriting trade. Follow ScreenCraft’s Facebook page for new articles on the craft and the business, and network with your fellow screenwriters.

You’re not getting paid for any social media writing, of course, but as a potential tool for visibility, such “free writing” can pay off handsomely.

Thank you for reading. I am looking forward to hearing about your success stories …

***

Joel Eisenberg is an award-winning writer and producer, and partner in Council Tree Productions, a television development company. He writes and edits a publication for Medium, “Writing For Your Life,” which you can follow here.

The post Should a Screenwriter Write For Free? appeared first on ScreenCraft.

While it's true that no paths to success are exactly the same, everyone at any level of writing can relate to the surprise with which they find themselves provided their first big opportunity. Whether it be a meeting, a chance to get represented or even the promise of getting a script optioned, these moments often present themselves when least expected.

Jim Capobianco, who in addition to being a prolific animated writer is also a judge for the 2020 ScreenCraft Animation Screenplay Competition, has a journey that is unique. In his conversation as part of ScreenCraft’s AMA series, Jim detailed his path that led him into the successful animation powerhouses of Disney and Pixar. This also revealed the intriguing truth that although nobody’s path is the same there are certain core tenets that connect them all. Here are our takeaways from our conversation with Jim: 

1. STAY OPEN

As Jim entered the world of animation, he noticed a distinction between the stories being told by animation and live action films. He realized that he could “apply these same ideas to animated movies...Disney Animation had a very limited scope of the stories you could tell. And I’m going, ‘I don’t see why we can’t tell the same stories we do in live action in animation.’” Sensing an opportunity, he became part of a recent push to tell “sophisticated” live action stories in the animated format. Being open to this opportunity helped provide Jim his path to career success.

2. KEEP MOVING

Jim says “It’s always good to keep moving. It’s like a shark. You don’t want to stop. Sharks die if they stop moving.” Staying still for too long could be deadly. The writers who find success are the ones who push forward and are always actively pursuing opportunities. It is crucial to maintain a consistent drive that allows up and coming writers to move past any potential obstacles.

3. PUT YOURSELF OUT THERE 

A very important piece of information that Jim revealed was how, after an idea is greenlit, Pixar “generally like[s] to find writers who are in the Lists ...or [who] haven’t quite hit it yet.” These writers are found because they took the chance to get their names out there in any way they could by submitting their work to placed like Coverfly, The Black List, writing competitions, fellowships and labs. Coverfly's The Red List or the Tracking Board's Young and Hungry list are great platforms for exposing emerging writers to the industry. And for writers interested in animation specifically a great outlet is the upcoming ScreenCraft Animation Screenplay Competition.

4. KILLING YOUR DARLINGS 

When opportunity finally presents itself for a writer, there may be one final roadblock in front of the path to career success. Anyone reading your work is guaranteed to have some kind of input. This more often than not means taking out a character or storyline that is particularly close to the writer’s heart. Jim admitted how difficult this is, saying “there’s stuff you don’t want to change, like ‘Oh I really love that moment.’ Usually that stuff you really love is going to change... I’ve done that many times. But you hope that eventually these things you’re really into will coalesce into the story you’re telling.”

The path to success is not straightforward but it is certainly doable. The hurdle in front of a writer’s final push to make writing a career can be one that seems insurmountable. Fortunately there are ways around this obstacle. Jim’s path may not have gone as he anticipated when he first started writing, but because he embraced the ideas above he has been able to develop a long lasting career in animation.

Watch the full interview with Oscar-nominated writer and artist, Jim Capobianco at our ScreenCraft AMA series via Facebook here:

For other content from ScreenCraft check out:

More Questions with Screenwriter and Animation Artist Jim Capobianco

From Contests to Staffing— 4 Tips on Finding Your Voice and Getting Read 

Anatomy of a ScreenCraft Screenplay Competition: How We Evaluate Scripts

The post Writing for Animation: Jim Capobianco Shares 4 Habits of Successful Screenwriters appeared first on ScreenCraft.

In over a decade of mentoring hundreds of talented writers, we know a few things about the screenwriting mentorship landscape. Here's our list of recommended programs:

1. ScreenCraft Screenwriting Fellowship and Writer Development Program - we put our two programs right at the top because we know how much work we put in to each and every writer who is awarded our programs. Our programs have already launched over one hundred Hollywood writing careers.
2. ScriptReader Pro Screenwriting Mentorship - one of the best screenwriting mentorship programs around. You can choose your dedicated mentor and choose a 3-month or 6-month mentorship program. This is the only mentorship of its kind—built by pro screenwriters for aspiring screenwriters. Learn week-by-week, step-by-step, how to dramatically improve your feature or TV script.
3. Launch Pad - run by the Tracking Board, Launch Pad is possibly the industry's most effective screenwriting competition, with hundreds of writers signed, dozens of projects optioned and sold, and even seven studio bidding wars for Launch Pad-winning screenplays and books! But did you know that Launch Pad also has a screenplay analysis service? Full disclosure, Launch Pad was recently acquired by ScreenCraft's parent company.
4. CineStory Feature Retreat and Fellowship - one of the longest-running and most prestigious screenwriting retreats in the industry. If you have the time and money to participate, it doesn't get better than this.
5. Humanitas NEW VOICES - This is more of an awards program, with a mentorship component. The Humanitas Prize is one of the industry's top writing prizes, and their NEW VOICES screenwriting competition is dedicated to matching winning writers with industry mentors. Highly recommended.
6. Rocaberti Writers Retreat - What could be more inspiring than writing your screenplay in a historic European castle, surrounded by celebrated mentors and instructors? If you have the money for this colorful program, we've heard it's a wonderful experience. They also offer one full scholarship to each retreat and several partial ones.
7. Stowe Story Labs - This program has quickly distinguished itself as a wonderful, effective screenwriting lab that has lead to multiple success stories and glowing reviews from past participants. Stowe has labs in multiple locations, as well as a writing retreat. And they have partial scholarships available for cash-strapped writers too.
8. WeScreenplay - While not exactly a mentorship program, WeScreenplay has taken the approach of making screenplay analysis extremely affordable and fast. Their claim to fame is 4 pages of detailed notes from a professional reader delivered within 72 hours for a lower price than you can find anywhere else. WeScreenplay also produces the Diverse Voices Screenwriting Lab which is dedicated to developing talented writers from backgrounds that have traditionally been under-represented in Hollywood. Full disclosure, WeScreenplay is owned by ScreenCraft's parent company.
9. The Writers Lab NYC - This prestigious program is backed by Meryl Streep and Nicole Kidman. It's open to female writers over 40 years of age.
10. Academy Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting - one of the industry's oldest and most prestigious screenwriting fellowships. This program is extremely competitive, so you should only apply when you've had lots of professional advice on your work and you feel your work is ready.
11. Studio Fellowships: NBCUniversal Writers on the Verge, Universal Writers Program, Disney Writers Program, Nickelodeon, WB TV Workshop, HBOAccess Writing Fellowship - these studio-backed fellowships and writing programs are free to apply to, and they get thousands of applications. Each one has custom criteria, so the key to success with these programs is to research them thoroughly and prepare your application carefully. Mark your calendar months ahead of the submission dates so you have time to prepare.

Additionally, there are lots of great instructors who offer mentorship and education programs, including Jen Grisanti, Pilar Alessandra, Jacob Krueger, and of course, the great Robert McKee.

All of the above programs are excellent. If you have any recommendations for programs that we may have missed, please let us know. We'd love to add to this page of resources. You can reach us at: info@screencraft.org

The post Best Screenwriting Mentorship Programs, Workshops and Fellowships appeared first on ScreenCraft.