ScreenCraft got the chance to chat with Neer about his Oscar Qualifying short film, Perspectives, a story about an LGBTQ+ female soldier who is forced to choose between killing a potentially innocent man to save Israeli bus passengers when she suspects him of being a suicide bomber.

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ScreenCraft: Congratulations on writing and producing your Oscar-qualifying short! Can you tell us how that came about? 

Neer Musa Shelter: Thanks! This project took years to complete, I'd been working on it on and off for a decade by the time it was finished. Along the way, I rewrote the script many times, saved up money for the budget and location scouted in Israel years ahead of the shoot. Then, after the script won a few awards, including the Page Gold Award, I had enough money for production. So, in 2019, I worked with an Israeli line producer for six months over Zoom calls, and we shot later that year. Afterwards, we started post-production in Australia, and then Covid hit. Finally, in 2022, we finished the film and premiered it at the Bafta and Academy Awards qualifying Flickerfest. After that, it won the best screenplay and best film at the Academy Awards qualifying St Kilda Film Festival.

Perspectives (2023)

SC: What was the inspiration for the project and what did the writing + development process look like?

NMS: The film is based on a true story. It's best defined as semi-autobiographical, as it's something that happened to me. I had to change the characters to distance myself enough to retain objectivity. Also, some actions were added to help adapt it to the screen and give the main character a complete arc. Lastly, I gave the story an open ending to both inspire debate and encourage viewers to make up their own minds, while questioning how they reached their conclusions.

Perspectives debate social media's capacity to inform its users truthfully. This film isn't about politics, religion, or social conflicts; it's about how our individual perspectives on these topics are shaped. As it can sometimes be hard to tell truth from fiction online, I wanted to demonstrate how similar the two can look. That's why we blurred the line between fiction and reality by combining cinema and found-footage cameras.

With cinema cameras representing fiction and found-footage cameras representing fact, and with both looking alike, I hoped to show how similar fact and fiction can appear online. Most of that, hopefully, came through in the script before we started shooting.

Read More: Write Your Short Film in 7 Days

Perspectives (2023)

The script’s development was a roller coaster as I had to walk the fine line of neutrality to retain the integrity of the story’s themes. And the style in which it was written had a big impact on my other work. Earlier drafts of the script had a lot of dialogue, but I realized that wasn’t necessary. So, I stripped out the dialogue and focused on visuals and actions to tell the story. Inspired by scripts like Wall–E, Misery, and The Bourne Supremacy, I adopted a writing style/voice that helped the script read well without dialogue. This then became a defining characteristic in all my screenplays.  

Read More: How the Development Process Works

SC: How did the writing lead to the production and ultimate success in the festival? Is there anywhere someone could watch it right now?

NMS: I’d like to think that my voice on the page helped give the script a unique feel and pace. This, in part, then led to it winning some big awards. All of which made it easier for actors’ agents to read the script, and therefore helped secure a high-caliber cast. Had the script been written differently, it might not have gotten the attention it received and would likely not have been produced. And, yes, the film is available online at this private link. 

Perspectives (2023)

SC: We originally connected through ScreenCraft’s Action Adventure program— how did ScreenCraft impact your writing process?

NMS: ScreenCraft has a range of genre-specific screenwriting contests that help writers gauge their craft in specific types of stories. At first, I submitted early draft scripts to ScreenCraft’s action comps and didn’t get far at all, not even to a quarter-finalist stage. However, after asking for and actioning readers’ notes, I improved my screenplays and writing in general. My scripts began placing progressively higher over about five years until I reached the finals. This gave me a clear indication of an upward trajectory in the quality of my writing. 

Neer Musa Shelter

Read More: ScreenCraft Writing Competitions

SC: How has ScreenCraft impacted your career development? 

NMS: The result of submitting to ScreenCraft and other screenwriting competitions and receiving readers’ notes was a slate of award-winning scripts. Some of these were big awards such as Final Draft’s Big Break, The Page Awards and Emerging Screenwriters. Off the back of these and with the help of Roadmap Writers, I signed with literary management at The Cartel and am now preparing to take out several scripts next year.

SC: Other than the awards circuit for the short, what else are you working on? What’s next?

NMS: Currently, I’m working on a contained horror feature, and I’m about to finish a martial arts drama. 

SC: If you had a bit of writing craft advice for our audience inspired by the success you’ve seen, what would it be?

NMS: Develop a writing method. It took me a while to figure out how I write best, and once I did, I had a solid method to rely on. This made me realize that how you write is equally as important as what you write. You may be able to write a good script through many iterations, but if you can’t repeat the process, you won’t last long in a professional environment. So, figure out your method and hone it well. 

Read More: How Coverfly Helps Screenwriters Get Discovered

SC: If you had a bit of writing career advice for our audience inspired by the success you’ve seen, what would it be?

NMS: Painful as it may be, don’t rush it. I sent out scripts and treatments way before they were ready. Execs’ eyes are weary and experienced, which means they’re quick to pick up on the type of writer they’re reading and will drop the script just as fast. You want them to see you as a pro, even though you may not have been paid to write yet. Wait until you’ve figured out your method and have your voice down pat. Only then, get your pages out there.

Read More: How to Break Into Screenwriting: Paths to the Profession

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

The post How Filmmaker Neer Musa Shelter Got His Oscar-Qualifying Short Off the Ground appeared first on ScreenCraft.

After graduating from college and interning at every East Coast film studio that would have him, Glassgold was living in New York City and managed to get himself hired to work in the marketing department for Disney. After Disney, he went to New Line Cinema where he worked on films from beginning to end and considers his time at New Line his film school experience because he was able to see the entire process of filmmaking from start to finish. Glassgold then came out to Los Angeles to pursue making bigger films, including 2009’s Hurricane Season, starring Forest Whitaker. Ultimately, he wanted to create his path by focusing on short stories and films.

We had the pleasure of speaking with Glassgold, who is also a VIP juror in ScreenCraft's Cinematic Short Story Competition, about his career and his love of shorts. Check out the interview below and then continue on for three big takeaways. 

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The Magic and Malleability of Short Stories

You may be aware that short stories are having a moment in pop culture. From original short story threads on Reddit to film adaptations like Wes Anderson’s recent short film The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar (adapted from the short story by Roald Dahl on Netflix), there’s a reason why short stories are suddenly so popular. 

“Short stories are very malleable – on every level,” says Scott Glassgold. If you consider the limited scope of a short story, he says, “They are a lot easier to refine and to get absolutely right versus a [short] film where you’ve got three days and you pray you’ve got everything you need.”

Glassgold says it’s much easier for everyone, from producers to talent, to see the grand potential of a short story. “What I found in the early stage of developing a screenplay, is that getting people to commit to the blueprint of a screenplay can feel very binding. ‘If I’m saying yes to this, I’m committing to this precise thing and I find that can be daunting.’ It inhibits people from saying yes. Whereas a short story is a nice, intermediary level to come on board, both entrepreneurially and creatively where you can still shape it,” he says. 

He adds that you can also add and subtract story elements from a short story but it’s harder with a screenplay. “It sort of creates that Jenga element where if you pull something out it all falls apart.” 

But he’s definitely not discouraging people from writing a screenplay. “There’s nothing more glorious than a perfect spec script. There’s nothing better than an amazing short [film]. All these things are incredibly viable and I welcome them all with open arms.” Short stories are the medium where Glassgold feels most creative and likes to work in. 

Read More: 5 Reasons You Should Write a Short Story

The Benefits of Having Studio Experience  

Many people come to Hollywood with big dreams but it can take years to get that first big break. Any struggling writer will tell you to get a day job that pays the bills so you can write at night and on weekends. But for Scott Glassgold, working in multiple studios gave him an education he doesn’t think he could have gotten anywhere else. He believes those experiences have served him well.  

“I think those experiences [working for a film studio] are invaluable – working at a studio at any level,” he says. “First of all, from a global perspective, being in that system and seeing how it works. Even if you don’t end up there in your career, you’re ultimately going to be interfacing with them. Having exposure to that culture, the mindset, the group think – for better or for worse – it’s invaluable.” Especially helpful to Glassgold was working in Disney’s marketing department. “When you’re talking about making a film that’s going to be released by a studio, marketing is essential. Certainly when it comes to getting your movie bought and the release. I learned a lot about studio culture and decided it wasn’t for me.” 

If you decide to get your feet wet in the studio system, don’t expect to know if it’s the right fit on your first day interning. He says he’s come to his own observations in retrospect and believes you can’t be overly calculating at the start of your career. But he thinks there’s a lot of benefit to throwing yourself into the studio mix. “All my experiences were really defining, really informative and I still lean on them today,” he says. 

Creating a Productive Partnership Between Writer and Manager

Scott Glassgold says it was never his intention to manage writers but when he came across some incredibly talented short filmmakers, he could see they needed some direction and that was a niche he knew he could fill. He now has a curated arsenal of prose writers and filmmakers and takes those relationships very seriously - even comparing the bond to marriage. 

“I say this as someone who’s been married for a really long time, but it does become a relationship and a partnership… You learn to support and give and understand. I really thrive on the people that I work with, but also when you start to work with someone, you have to ask yourself, ‘Are you going to want to get a text from this person at 7 a.m.? Or a text from this person at 12 p.m.? You have to be excited about them as a person and as a creator. They’re sort of like your co-workers or collaborators in a way, so it’s got to be fun. If it’s not fun, I don’t think it’s the right partnership,” he says. 

Glassgold, like most literary managers, says choosing to represent a writer isn’t just about liking the work they present on the page, it’s also about how the writer presents themself when they’re in a room together. “The best work comes when you can remove ego from the equation. That’s in taking notes and giving notes - a creator receiving notes and not getting defensive. Someone giving notes as an idea, knowing it may not be the right idea, and creating the ecosystem where through that process, devoid of ego, hopefully, the best work presents itself.”

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The bottom line is that becoming a writer in Hollywood takes enormous energy and commitment and people need to like working with you, no matter how good your writing is. Cultivate all your relationships in the industry, take them seriously, and consider writing a short story as your next project. However, you choose to spend your time, make sure it’s your passion that’s driving you. 

“You have to surround yourself with people with the same mentality and work ethic. This isn’t the easiest profession. If you’re not all-in and doing everything you need to do to get that edge — there’s a good chance it’s not going to happen for you. You want the person who’s all-in. You can’t half-ass it,” says Scott Glassgold. Great advice. 

Read More: How to Write a Short Story

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

The post Ground Control Producer Scott Glassgold Explains the Magic of Short Stories appeared first on ScreenCraft.

Thinking about tackling your own Gothic horror and wondering how to pull off a story that can make you cry as well as leap in fear? Here are a few tips from Sergio that might help you. Listen to the full episode below for more…

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Can You Tell a Classic Tale From Another Perspective?

“I thought it would be interesting to tell the story of Peter Pan from the point of view of the mother who’s left alone while her kids go to Nevereverland,” says Sergio, explaining one of the main inspirations behind The Orphanage.

In J. M. Barrie’s children’s tale, there’s a sadness beneath the surface that the screenwriter saw an opportunity to explore, turning one of the best-loved stories of the last century upside down to create something new.

“You see Simon reading Peter Pan at the beginning of the story, asking why Wendy grew up. And we pick that up again later. In order to find out what happened to her child, she has to play like a kid again. There’s something in Peter Pan that attracts me, about the frontier between adulthood and childhood, reality and fantasy.”

The Orphanage (2007)

Don’t Be Afraid to Mix Genres in Ways That Haven’t Been Done Before

“A lot of producers weren’t sure how a horror movie could end in a big tearful, emotional scene,” laughs Sergio, recalling how the blurred line between horror and drama that makes The Orphanage so special initially made some movie industry financiers uncomfortable.

“There’s always something in horror playing on an elemental level that makes you care for the characters. But I thought, what if we take things one step further and make this a really powerful drama that talks about things that you don’t often hear about in horror movies? Raising the emotional stakes made the horror more effective – and the other way around.”

Read More: The Art of Constructing A Horror Scene

CHECK OUT MORE SCREENWRITING TAKEAWAYS FROM SCRIPT APART!

Have a great horror script? Get script notes from those who really know horror!

Al Horner is a London-based journalist, screenwriter and presenter. His work has appeared in The Guardian, Empire Magazine, GQ, BBC, Little White Lies, TIME Magazine and more.

The post How Sergio G. Sanchez Tackled Gothic Horror in 'The Orphanage' appeared first on ScreenCraft.

Based on the book The Antisocial Network by Ben Mezrich, Dumb Money is directed by Craig Gillespie (I, Tonya) and written by Lauren Schuker Blum & Rebecca Angelo. The film centers on regular guy Keith Gill (Paul Dano), who sinks his life savings into the GameStop stock, then posts about it on Reddit and makes YouTube videos as a cat-loving persona named Roaring Kitty. When his social posts start blowing up, so does his life and the lives of everyone following him. 

I spoke to screenwriters Schuker Blum and Angelo as they supported the film at the Toronto International Film Festival in their capacity as Executive Producers while standing in solidarity with the writers on strike. They talked about the similarities between the financial industry and the Hollywood system, the challenge of creating a “populist hero” on film and humanizing the super-rich characters. 

Read More: 5 Ways to Crack the Code of Writing Great Movie Adaptations

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Depicting a Broken System – IRL and on Film

Both Schuker Blum and Angelo wore T-shirts that said “WGA Strong” for our Zoom interview. The former Wall Street Journal reporters compared the Hollywood studio system to the financial industry.  

“This is a movie about recognizing that the system is broken and people coming together through collective action to achieve change,” said Angelo, “It’s what happened on Wall Street, and it’s the exact same story we are going through in Hollywood. People are justifiably angry because power, information and wealth are concentrated among an elite few and there’s no dignity to our labor anymore. The system is rigged and it’s unfair and the only path forward in our view is through transparency. That’s exactly what the crew who followed Keith Gill was fighting for and that’s what we’re fighting for, too.”  

Schuker Blum agreed, saying, “The biggest takeaway from writing this movie is that transparency is the only path back to fairness in our society.”

The pair of progressive, forward-thinking screenwriters met 11 years ago when they were working as hard-hitting journalists. But as their stories kept getting cut to shorter and shorter pieces, sometimes only 60-word “information packets” they knew they wanted to make a career change. Writing movies with a social message appealed to them and didn’t seem that far out of their wheelhouse.  

 “We’re storytellers first and foremost. As journalists, we used our research skills to get to the truth of human beings and depict their stories and create empathy. Now we’re trying to do that with cinema,” says Schuker Blum. 

Dumb Money (2023)

Using a “Populist Hero” Archetype for a Protagonist

The most engaging, dynamic character in the film is that of Keith Gill, aka Roaring Kitty, aka Deep Fucking Value, who led the GameStop stock movement. 

Schuker Blum said writing Keith Gill was a new experience for her because he is a reluctant hero. “While he led this movement, he wasn’t seeking out the spotlight. In fact, through his actions, we see he doesn’t really like the spotlight. He’s retreated into his private life. We had to respect his privacy in the writing of the movie, too.” 

The character of Keith Gill represents the little guy, an underdog – he’s David in a David and Goliath story or even a Robin Hood archetype who stole from the rich and gave to the poor. But for Angelo, creating Keith Gill on screen went even deeper.   

“There are obvious comparisons with this film to The Big Short or The Wolf of Wall Street and the classic finance and tech movies like The Social Network. When we were crafting this screenplay and building the character of Keith, we really looked to Frank Capra more than anybody else, movies like It’s a Wonderful Life, and to the populist heroes of a previous generation and what it takes for a regular guy to live a life of greatness to do something so spectacular,” said Angelo.

For Schuker Blum, it was Keith Gill’s strong values and convictions that made the biggest impact. “I think that’s why his message resonated with so many people when he was talking about this stock for GameStop, a store at the mall. But what he’s really saying is, ‘Who’s to say this company has no value anymore? Should it be the 1%? Or should it be the customers who love it?’ It’s also why he’s such an independent thinker. He’s not swayed by Wall Street or the crowd. He had conviction, he was able to hold on when most people couldn’t hold on to a stock when they were losing $15 million a day – for him, that’s not something that swayed him one way or another,” she said. 

Angelo agreed, adding, “[Keith Gill’s] other name is Deep Fucking Value – and that’s what this movie is really it’s about it’s about who determines value in our society – whether that’s the 1% - because they have all the money and the power and the information or if there’s a way to take that back and say, no we determine the value.”

Dumb Money (2023)

Not Going Too Arch With Villains – Even Super Rich Ones

In the film, Seth Rogan plays Gabe Plotkin, the real-life hedge fund manager at Melvin Capital – who’s reportedly worth $400 million currently. But it was important to the writers to make him seem like a real person, not some supervillain. They said they had to show his humanity in the small details.  

“Yes,” says Angelo, “it’s true that Gabe Plotkin bought two side-by-side mansions in Miami Beach and tore one of them down to build a tennis court. Everyone knows those details and that’s why he can be seen as a mustache-twirling villain.”

But in one scene, Rogan doubles over to catch his breath as he tries to comprehend what’s actually happening with the GameStop stock. In those little moments, those characters show their humanity, says Angelo. There are also scenes where Plotkin and his wife discuss their finances in the bedroom of their home - something relatable to most people. 

Read More: What Hollywood Wants (and How to Give It to Them): Intellectual Property Adaptations

Dumb Money (2023)

Advice for Writing Movies About True Stories

Angelo’s advice to writers comes from her strong journalism background: “Start with the truth, know the full truth and only then do you begin to invent,” she said.

Schuker Blum agreed, saying, “We don’t make things up unless we have to. We haven’t been in the bedroom with Gabe Plotkin (Seth Rogan) and his wife, so you have to invent the dialogue of that, but the truth is often stranger than fiction as they say. But making it fun and entertaining is our North Star.” 

“It’s not a plate of steamed broccoli,” says Angelo, “People want to be entertained and to be lifted up!”

“One of the reasons we were drawn to cinema,” says Schuker Blum, “is because you really can access empathy through film. Especially with real people, you have a duty to capture them with all your empathy and see them as a whole person.” 

Dumb Money opens in theaters in moderate release on Sept. 22 and wide release on Sept. 29. 

Read More: How Filmmaker Matt Smulker Told a Touching True Story with Wildflower

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

The post Dumb Money Writers Channel Frank Capra for Stock Market Film appeared first on ScreenCraft.

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Conner Looks for a Strong Point of View

Conner reads a lot of writing samples in his search to find writers to adapt Ubisoft video games into film and TV properties. First and foremost, he says the main thing he’s looking for is a strong point of view. “We have never been interested in a one-for-one adaptation of any of our games. We’ve always wanted to use the games as a jumping-off point for you to tell the story you want to tell,” says Connor. 

He says the more different or cool the writing sample is, the better. “Even a pilot script – you don’t have to think about the whole series, people will ask you about the whole series, but if you have a dynamite pilot sample, people will say, ‘Oh, this is awesome! She knows how to set up a world.’ It can be as big as you want.” To find out more about how to write for video games, click here.  

So if a writer presents a sample with a strong voice and clear vision, Conner knows they will be more likely to take one of their videogame properties and develop it into something fresh and exciting. “As long as it feels within the world and tone of the game, anything is fair game,” he says. 

Read More: How to Develop Your Voice as a Screenwriter

Opportunities for Female and Non-Binary Genre Writers 

One of Ubisoft’s goals is to develop diverse voices through a fellowship that includes mentorship and access to Ubisoft’s library of IP. “It’s a non-exclusive, paid fellowship where we pick one woman for film and one woman for TV and basically give them access to our entire back catalog of games – as well as implore them to come up with an original idea should they want to,” he says. 

Having female and diverse writers is important to create bold, exciting content, Conner says, but finding them can be difficult – even in Hollywood. “Every time we were looking for a female genre writer, we’d get the same five names. Why are only these people doing this? There’s more people out there!” says Connor who’s more than willing to go the extra mile to find them. In the first year of the program, they selected Mishna Wolff for the fellowship based on her writing sample. For IFC, Wolff went on to develop their first independent feature, Werewolves Within (based on the Ubisoft game of the same name). 

Read More: Play Mechanics: Adapting Video Games For the Screen

Conner’s Advice to Writers 

Conner says to keep these three words in mind when writing a sample: smart, commercial and unexpected. Whatever you write, a feature spec, a TV pilot, a podcast or a short story, it should absolutely tick off these three boxes. 

On the more practical side of things, Conner encourages writers to, “Write all the time!” and get as much help from industry professionals – like the folks at Coverfly – as possible. “Try to get someone on your side – a manager, an agent, even if it’s just a friend who’s a manager.” He says this is important because it’s hard to go it alone and get access to development execs without someone who can get past the gatekeepers. Most companies, including Ubisoft, won’t accept unsolicited submissions for legal reasons.  

His last bit of advice has to do with getting notes. “Through the development process, you will get notes, upon notes, upon notes,” he says. Learning how to navigate through that process of listening to and incorporating notes in your work is a skill that is imperative to have. “It’s a tough process, it can really beat you down. But it will help you and your script will only get better.”

Learn about Ubisoft’s TV and Film Fellowship for Women and read about past fellows.

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

The post What Hollywood Looks for in Adapted Screenplays: A Q&A with Kurt Conner appeared first on ScreenCraft.

David recently came on my podcast Script Apart (sponsored by ScreenCraft) to revisit his 1996 espionage classic Mission: Impossible and reveal a bit about his creative process. Here are some of the major lessons I learned about screenwriting from our chat – listen to the full episode below for more…

Sometimes, Prose is the Place to Start

When you have a new idea for a story, sometimes you want your creativity to flow uninterrupted, without the distraction of things like formatting and page counts. This is why David often starts his screenplays in Word doc form, writing as if he were writing a novel rather than a blockbuster.

“I have what I think might be a movie idea, and start writing prose to try to understand my character,” he explains. “That’s just the quickest way to get things down initially.” Occasionally, he’ll continue in prose format – which is how his most recent page-turner Aurora was born. Other times, he’ll allow his early ideas for character and plot to marinate and bloom in novelistic paragraph after paragraph, before transposing into screenplay format at a later date. 

More info coming soon  |  Remind Me

Write Fast and Get to the End

Momentum is important when writing. David believes you shouldn’t stop to worry about what’s working and instead endeavor to get to the end of your draft as swiftly as possible. “I move through each draft pretty quickly because I feel like you get into this state of concentration,” reveals the 59-year-old, who insists that the best way to see what is and isn’t firing in your screenplay is to power through to the end and evaluate it in the context of a finished draft.

“You want to just execute it and have it done, so you can then go back and read it to see what's lacking. Some days you'll write seven or eight pages that you just cut the next day because you're finding the story. It’s part of the process.”

Read More: Screenwriting Insights from Jurassic Park Screenwriter David Koepp

Emmanuelle Beart and Tom Cruise in 'Mission: Impossible' (1995)

Don’t Be Scared If Your Middle Act is Murder

“The second act is always awful,” laughs David Koepp. “Anyone who's writing a screenplay can tell you: it's terrible. There's nothing worse than pages 48-60. Who doesn't like the beginning of the story? When you can set up that there’s this guy and all his friends are killed. That’s exciting. People are leaning forward already. You know that you like good to prevail and evil to be punished so you may already have an ending in your head – a way to resolve.

But the middle — keeping the flow right, stopping it from becoming boring or repetitive — that's all very difficult.” If you’re struggling with your middle act, you’re not alone – write the nuts and bolts of what needs to happen to connect your beginning and end, then patiently work at this section in draft after draft till you have a version that feels right.

CHECK OUT MORE SCREENWRITING TAKEAWAYS FROM SCRIPT APART!

Have a great action script? Enter it into the ScreenCraft Action & Adventure Screenplay Competition!

Al Horner is a London-based journalist, screenwriter and presenter. His work has appeared in The Guardian, Empire Magazine, GQ, BBC, Little White Lies, TIME Magazine and more.

The post Script Apart: 'Mission Impossible' Screenwriter David Koepp Shares Keys to Success appeared first on ScreenCraft.

Tze Chun’s been the showrunner for the recent MAX animated series Gremlins: Secrets of the Mogwai. He’s also written for such shows as Prime’s I’m a Virgo, Apple TV+’s Little America, Fox’s Gotham and ABC’s Once Upon a Time.  He spoke with ScreenCraft about his creative process, setting realistic expectations, and developing an awareness about oneself as a writer. 

Got a great TV pilot? Enter it into the TV Pilot Screenplay Competition!

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Passion – Combined with Persistence ­– Pays Off 

As a teen, Chun’s first love was comic books. After attempting to tell stories on the flat page, he says he was able to borrow a video camera from the AV department at his high school and borrow their editing deck. He transferred his love of drawing images to filming them, making a series of low-budget short films. When his short Windowbreaker got into Sundance in 2007, his career was off and running.   

Read More: 10 Elements of a Great Family TV Series

Knowing When an Idea Has Legs

We’ve all had that genius, creative spark of an idea only to sit down, begin writing and realize, maybe this isn’t a movie after all. Sometimes we may not have any ideas at all and feel like we’ll never have a great idea again – that’s when panic can set in. Chun knows both feelings all too well, but he has a solution. 

“What I do when that happens,” says Chun, “is I give myself permission to come up with bad ideas. I will sit down for a week, maybe two weeks and write out 10 ideas a day. It doesn’t matter if I get good or bad ideas and sometimes, I’ll only get 5.” 

'Gremlins: Secrets of the Mogwai'

He says the process of letting yourself come up with bad ideas can actually be fun and inform other good ideas by getting the bad ones out of your system. He keeps all his ideas – good and bad - in a Google doc that he can revisit and reassess at a later date. “It sounds clinical. But it’s better than sitting around not knowing what I’m going to write,” says Chun. 

Read More: 5 Pieces of TV Writing Advice to Live By

Dealing With Procrastination 

We’ve all been there. We finally have an idea we love but somehow, it’s easier to let it live in our head than on the page. This is when our apartment or closet gets super clean and organized because anything seems better than actually writing. But Chun has a method of dealing with the self-imposed delay.   

“When I started writing,” says Chun, “there was a procrastination element. But I knew I wanted to finish these projects. What I told myself was: of all the things that can happen today, the only way a script is not going to get done is if I don’t jump into it. Anything I do with the computer open is going to be moving me towards that goal.”

'Gremlins: Secrets of the Mogwai'

So just typing in a doc, brainstorming, coming up with character names – these are all ways to focus your mind on your story. 

Read More: How to Find Discipline, Beat Procrastination and Take Hold of Your Writing Career

Break Large Tasks Down Into Small Tasks 

Chun says sometimes you just have to take baby steps because writing an entire script can be really daunting. His advice is to break it into small tasks. 

“When I come up with a movie idea or even a TV idea, I give myself permission to write 3 pages of just nonsense. Nothing that has to end up in the script – thoughts about character, theme, why am I interested in this story. What are some cool things you haven’t seen before that maybe could go into the script? I allow myself to just write a huge amount. I’m not going to write 120 pages, I’m going to write one page that tells the story – very generally. Then I’ll break that into a four-pager. If it’s a movie, every page is Act I, Act II a, Act II b and Act III. If it’s a TV show, then maybe I’ll split it up so that every ¾ of a page is an act. At that point it’s less daunting already.” 

Long Outlines Pay Off 

Most writers hate outlining but it’s a necessary evil if you don’t want to get lost in your second act – or anywhere else! Chun thinks spending time on a lengthy outline will help writers in the long run. 

'Gremlins: Secrets of the Mogwai'

“If it’s a movie, maybe I’ll write a 40-page outline. I know that’s overkill, but at the same time, I know that when I jump into writing the script - turning a 40-page outline into a script [will take] a week. But it might take 2 or 3 weeks to do a 40-page outline. TV is the same. I’ll probably do a 19-page outline for a 60-page script or a 10-page outline for a 30-page script,” Chun says. 

Putting everything into an outline will help structure the story and allow the writer to see the repercussions of each action more clearly. Story can be like Newton’s Laws of Motion – for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction, so putting each action and reaction into the outline can be really helpful. 

Read More: To Outline, Or Not - That is the Screenwriting Question

Develop Your Own Writing Process

By now, says Chun, he’s very aware of the ups and downs of his own writing process. He’s developed a self-awareness around it so that he can trust it will lead to something great – even when it seems like nothing productive is happening. He explains:   

“Sometimes I have intense anxiety about whether I’m on the right track, but at the end of that anxiety, I have a good idea. So now I know that when I’m going through a really tough time, I know there’s something that’s going to happen. I have to allow that to happen, to feel all that anxiety and at the end of it, I’ll just be walking around and think, ‘Oh, that’s something I want to write.’ That was a hard lesson, because you’re in [the middle of] it,” he says.

'Gremlins: Secrets of the Mogwai'

Develop Self-Reliance 

So much of the film and TV industry is out of the writer’s control. The WGA strike is a good example. So, the more a writer can rely on themselves, the better off they will be. 

“Projects are short-term,” says Chun, “but you as a writer are a long-term project. You are somebody who is going to have to know themselves in a certain way because there’s a lot of stuff you can’t necessarily control about this industry. But if you can control an understanding of who you are and what you need in order to be productive, that’s a really important goal to set for yourself. It’s also just taking care of yourself because there’s a lot of stuff that can happen in the industry that can be really hard. You have to know yourself and the way that you deal with it so you can be healthy and productive.”

Read More: 6 Reasons Screenwriters Should Consider Writing for Animation

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The post Showrunner Tze Chun on the Benefits of Bad Ideas and Nonsense appeared first on ScreenCraft.

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Bringing Authenticity to the Characters

John and Kat became a writing team in 2003, a couple of years after they were married. Together, they started off with TV comedies like Hope and Faith, and later My Name is Earl. But Kat says she never intended to partner professionally with her husband.

“I had my writing career first,” says Kat, “I was writing animation and I did a lot of Nickelodeon stuff and some Disney stuff. When John and I got together, all of our friends and family went, ‘Oh, that's so cute! You guys are going to be partners!’ I was like, ‘No way, man, I have my own career.’ And then within two years, we teamed up,” she says with a smile.

As a team, John and Kat balance each other in very important ways. John admits he’s incredibly logical in his approach to story while Kat is very emotional. “In the best way, Kat writes from her gut,” says John, adding, “If she's sick with a 102 fever, if it's not true to what a character would do, she's not going to like to give in on that.”

Elemental (2023)

It turns out their dynamic was perfect for writing the two protagonists in Elemental: Ember (Leah Lewis), a feisty, temper-prone gal made of fire and Wade (Mamoudou Athie), a young man made entirely of water who prefers to go with the flow. Director Peter Sohn set up a lunch with Kat and John and discussed the ways in which the two characters could grow.

“Pete was really trying to figure out how to deepen Ember and Wade – the characters weren't quite there yet. I think he saw that in us,” says John. Though the two characters have cultural [and elemental] differences, it’s the love that makes it all work and John and Kat were able to bring that to the writing.

Read More: Learn the Pixar "Art of Storytelling"

An Immigrant Story

The character Ember is the only child of immigrant parents and understands that her parents have sacrificed greatly to leave their hometown, Fireland, in hopes of giving her a better life in Element City. Ember’s father Bernie (Ronnie del Carmen) expects her to take over the family shop when he retires, but Ember discovers she may have her own dreams.

Elemental (2023)

Kat says she related to Ember since her own parents are second-generation immigrants. Kat says she was expected to go to college and get a good job, but nothing too highbrow or fancy. “It was like, ‘Think about your family and think about the economics and think about the support of your family before you think about your own self want.’ That was a real struggle we had in my family. I was kind of the weird creative one, although both my mom and dad have little tiny creative sparks, they both went in completely different directions,” says Kat.

The filmmakers also listened to over 100 Pixar employees share their personal first- and second-generation immigrant stories that culminated in both tears and laughs. Working from shared immigrant experiences and their own understanding of familial obligations, Kat, John, and the entire story team had to decide on Ember’s main objective. This objective would not only define Ember’s journey but also the movie.

Read More: Script Apart: Screenwriting Lessons From Pixar's Turning Red Co-Writer Julia Cho

Discovering the Character Objective

When the Pixar story team develops a story, they explore a lot of different avenues until they find the perfect storyline. “One of the big tricks with Ember,” says John, “was in an early version of the movie, she kind of knew she wanted to get out of Firetown at the beginning. It had kind of a Disney Princess vibe, right? Where you go on the roof and sing about what you really want. But it didn't feel right. And also, it made her feel really young,” he says.

Elemental (2023)

There was a lot of discussion about what specifically Ember wanted. “The key to the whole character, I think, is when we landed on Ember's prime directive of what she wants: to be a good daughter. And to be a good daughter means to take over the shop and do what her parents want. And she thinks the problem is she's got this temper,” says John. But Ember ­– with the help of Wade – discovers that underneath that temper is her true desire to express herself creatively and follow her own path, not her father’s. John says that getting past the shame of not being what your family wants, is something he and everyone else involved could relate to. Though painful at first, it’s the path to finding true happiness in life.

Read More: What's It Like to Visit Pixar Animation Studios

Story Advice

Stories should always be personal to the writer, but it can be hard to really open yourself up emotionally and be vulnerable. But it’s what is necessary if you want that story to resonate with an audience, says Kat. “As a new writer, don't be afraid to look deeply inward for your story because every story starts with that hidden space inside of you that you don't want people to see. That's where your good story is. It's not just the mechanics of ­– I've got this plot thing, that plot thing, that big car chase. If you don't have the emotion behind those things, your story will always fall flat. So, start with the emotion first and then build your story from there,” she says.

Read More: The Secret Screenwriting Themes Behind All Pixar Movies

Elemental (2023)

Advice from Meg LeFauve

John said that they worked for a bit with Meg LeFauve, who’s best known for the Pixar film Inside Out and, as a bonus, shared the advice she gave them.

“Meg said this key thing about Inside Out that I thought was incredible and so insightful. She said the opening 12 minutes of that movie, what we had to do is get you, the viewer, to buy into Joy's worldview that sad things are bad, and life should be happy,” says John. Once the audience agrees with Joy and is onboard for her happy journey, the audience will go through the same self-discovery Joy does. “So, you emotionally go through the same change she does when you discover that actually, you need sadness in your life, too. I think that’s at the core of [Elemental], too. … When you meet a character, they've got all these status quo defense mechanisms up to hide that one vulnerability. And I think your job as a writer is to take those away through the story until you reveal this truth about them that they didn't even want to face.”

Elemental is currently playing in theaters.

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The post [INTERVIEW] Pixar Storytelling Works: 'Elemental' Writers Use All the Rules appeared first on ScreenCraft.

So, how did Beck and Woods make it from an Iowa suburb to the bright lights of Hollywood to pen one of the most unique and risky horror films of the last decade? Well, we were lucky enough to sit down with them and ask!

Check out our full interview with Bryan Woods and Scott Beck below!

[Editor's Note: This interview took place before the 2023 WGA strike.]

The Benefits of Collaboration

Collaboration is crucial in writing because it helps deepen one's imagination, refine their taste, and ensure the quality of their work. As Woods suggests, writing involves imagining things and expressing them on the page, which requires continuous development of one's creative abilities. (And they should know... they collaborated on A Quiet Place for years!)

"...having a collaborator, and having someone you can share your work with, and have them look at it objectively and go, ‘This ain’t it! This is not working!’ Somebody who can go, ‘What were you trying to do here?’ Having someone who can constantly check in with you who loves movies as much as you do, and you trust their taste, is so helpful in those formative years.”

Beck & Woods Are Both Grand Jurors of the ScreenCraft Sci-Fi & Fantasy Screenwriting Competition!

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Getting Outside Feedback is Important

Getting feedback from an outside perspective on your writing is essential because it offers a fresh and unbiased assessment of your work. Beck explains that maintaining a close circle of readers who are not directly involved in the film industry is highly beneficial.

“We still keep a close circle of readers — readers that don’t work in the film industry, to be honest. One of our best friends from when we were younger, we still give him every single draft of our script, and that feedback is so imperative. He’s reading it like he just bought a ticket to a movie on a Friday night, not like he’s a development executive, so his notes will be very instinctual and not surgical like a screenwriting book breaking down structure and anything like that.” 

These readers, such as a trusted friend or family member, usually approach the script from the perspective (but you have to ask nicely) of an audience member, rather than a development executive or a professional with technical knowledge. This allows them to provide instinctual feedback based on their genuine experience as a reader or viewer.

Read More: How to Write a Hollywood Horror with A Quiet Place Screenwriters Scott Beck and Bryan Woods

'A Quiet Place' (2018)

Less Dialogue Means More Visuals

Being deliberate with dialogue in a script is crucial because it allows for the power of visual storytelling and nonverbal communication to take center stage. Beck and Woods’ films A Quiet Place and 65 do just this. Woods explains their philosophy:

“A Quiet Place was absolutely a modern-day silent film. We tried to distill that down into having as little dialogue as possible. And 65, our movie with Adam Driver, was the same thing. We wanted to paint in really broad cinematic strokes, and remove exposition and dialogue, and let it be as visual as possible. I think that comes from learning about nonverbal communication.”

By distilling the dialogue and removing unnecessary exposition, Woods and Beck sought to paint a cinematic experience that transcends language barriers and connects with audiences universally. This approach stems from an understanding of the expressive potential of nonverbal communication, which can convey emotions, tension, and narrative elements through visuals alone.

Read More: Screenwriting Plants and Payoffs: A Quiet Place

'65' (2023)

What Should Up-and-Coming Writers Look for in Representation?

When seeking representation in the film industry, it is important to consider several factors. As Beck explains, finding the right fit involves evaluating the representative's compatibility in terms of tone and personal qualities. It is crucial to seek someone who not only understands your artistic vision but also aligns with your values and approaches their work with kindness and integrity.

“When we were trying to make that decision, we were like, ‘Who is the best fit for who we are from a tone standpoint, just from a human standpoint, like who do we think goes out into the world and is actually like a nice person that also does their job really well?’ One thing that we take to heart, no matter who the collaboration is, is talking about what movies got them into the business. What do they love seeing?”

This compatibility is vital for a successful partnership, as it ensures that the representative will genuinely champion your work and have a genuine enthusiasm for the stories you want to tell. By considering both the professional and personal aspects of a potential representative, filmmakers can form relationships that are not only effective but also nurturing, fostering an environment of mutual respect, shared values, and a genuine love for the craft of filmmaking.

Read More: Exclusive Interview with A Quiet Place Screenwriters Scott Beck & Bryan Woods

How do you inject your own personal experience into your work?

Using personal experience ("writing what you know" as we always hear) as a source of raw influence in your work can bring depth and authenticity into your storytelling — true nuance. Beck explains how the duo's films draw from the perspective of childhood, from their own experiences, and tap into the innate and universal fears of children everywhere.

“With Boogie Man, A Quiet Place, and even 65 — those movies are written from the lens of being a child and tapping into what those innate fears are. But you also write it from an adult perspective too, and having that two-hand approach is useful. I’m a parent, so a lot of the elements in any of these projects we’re talking about certainly feeds in. And that’s where you have personal investment in it — us encountering loss. Loss of friends. Loss of parents. Loss of family members. It feeds into all these scripts in a way that you do really inject your gut into what the script is doing.”

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

The post 'A Quiet Place' Writers Beck & Woods Share 5 Screenwriting Lessons appeared first on ScreenCraft.

When screenwriter Jana Savage saw early footage of the documentary, she recognized that there was a feature-length narrative within it to be told, shared, and celebrated.

The film follows Bea Johnson from birth to graduation as she navigates life with two intellectually disabled parents and an extended family who can’t quite agree on the best way to help.

The touching feature film Wildflower made its way to theaters today. I was able to sit down with Smulker to discuss how the story evolved from real events to a documentary and finally to a feature film with a loveable cast that includes Kiernan Shipka (Mad Men, Chilling Adventures of Sabrina), Emmy Award winner Jean Smart (Hacks), and Oscar nominee Jacki Weaver (Silver Linings Playbook, Animal Kingdom).

Finding the Heart of the Story

“I was hesitant [when screenwriter Jana Savage] said we should pivot and do a narrative of your documentary. I didn’t want to recreate the documentary but when we started talking more and more about a different way in and that was through comedy,” shared Smulker.

The balance of love, tenderness, heartbreak at times, and comedy was what kept Smulker up at night. “I was terrified of not getting it right. I wanted to make sure people were laughing with the characters and not at them,” he confessed. Having seen the film, it’s clear that Smulker and Savage were expertly mindful of this process — had they failed, the film could be painful and tone-deaf. Instead, it absolutely sings with its humanity.

“In every family, there’s some dysfunction, but it was very important to me to highlight their profound love for one another,” Smulker reflected.

Want to tell your own true story? Enter the ScreenCraft True Story & Public Domain Competition!

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Building a Team

Wildflower was Matt Smulker’s narrative feature film directorial debut — a feat accomplished as a result of years of experience in commercials, music videos, short films, and his documentary. From there, he recruited the screenwriting expertise of Savage. The two were collaborating on another project when she pointed out the story’s narrative potential.

“I’d been living with this story for six years but Jana was able to have an objective eye on it to say that the blueprint was there,” explained Smulker. “So then the lightbulb went off. I knew this was such an extraordinary family dynamic and by making this into a feature, I felt we could make it more accessible to more people and that it could inspire people.”

Read More: Alejandro González Iñárritu's Tips for a Successful Collaboration

Examining Structure

The feature film opens with the character of Bea (Shipka) lying comatose in a hospital bed — a departure from the documentary, where Matt Smulker’s niece isn’t hospitalized until almost three-quarters of the way through the film. This allowed the filmmakers to demonstrate the real dangers of Bea’s upbringing before journeying with Bea through her narrated flashbacks that show how her parents met and fell in love, Bea’s early childhood, and her unconventional life.

Bea’s voiceover keeps the tone light-hearted, even when the characters struggle. It’s a compassionate balance and one that makes Wildflower such a feel-good film.

[L-R] Kannon Omachi as “Nia Tanaka” and Kiernan Shipka as “Bea” in the comedy, drama film, WILDFLOWER, a Momentum Pictures release. Photo courtesy of Momentum Pictures.

Finding Purpose

Matt Smulker also wanted to use Wildflower as a means to show a different side to a story centered on a family with disabilities. “We all have our own preconceived notions about what disability looks like,” Smulker stated. “So when you hear the story of a woman with a 59 IQ who wanted to have a family, who wanted to work and wanted to live on her own — without knowing this woman and without seeing the struggles she had to get there, you can’t really imagine it.”

Smulker and Savage found a way to depict the challenges, the triumphs, and the humor the characters experienced. Sometimes, there isn’t much we can do in a situation other than to laugh without judgment or resentment — something the characters in Wildflower exemplify.

Kiernan Shipka as “Bea” in the comedy, drama film, WILDFLOWER, a Momentum Pictures release. Photo courtesy of Momentum Pictures.

Samantha Hyde, who plays the character of Sharon, Bea’s mother, studied the real-life inspiration for her character: Sheila. “From the moment I saw her,” shared Hyde, “I knew who she was. She’s Cinderella and no one else can see it.” This specificity in a character, particularly a neurodivergent character, brings her to life in a way that isn’t often seen on-screen. Hyde is on the autism spectrum herself, so she expressed a lot of joy and relief at being able to convey nuances of disabilities and help create opportunities for other disabled people to work.

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Writers will have a hard time escaping the “why you why now” questions about their stories — but in many ways, those questions are excellent guidelines for story inception and trajectory. Why Matt Smulker? Because he saw something unconventional and yet completely human in his family. Why now? Because the world is awakening to the strengths of diversity and the nuances of disabilities, which have been punished for far too long. His tender film might open minds just as it warms hearts.

When adapting true events, there must be more than just a cool story. As writers and artists, we have a sacred calling to also offer lessons and themes that bring clarity to human experiences and, hopefully, make our world just a little bit better.

Good luck finding your stories and, as always, happy writing!

Read More: 5 Reasons to Have True Story Screenplays in Your Spec Portfolio

Thanks for sitting down with us, Matt!

WILDFLOWER is now in Theaters, and available On Demand and Digital on March 21st!

Shannon Corbeil is a writer, actor, and U.S. Air Force veteran in Los Angeles with recent appearances on SEAL Team and The Rookie. She was also a 2023 DGE TV Writing Program Finalist, and her screenplays have placed in various contests. You can read more about her on her website or come play on Instagram and Twitter!

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

The post How Filmmaker Matt Smulker Told a Touching True Story with 'Wildflower' appeared first on ScreenCraft.

Wohl began writing the screenplay for Baby Ruby as an attempt to dig into some of these mysteries when she was pregnant with her third child. “I think I felt like this was the last time I was going to do this and I really wanted to somehow capture some of these feelings,” she says.  

In the film, we meet Jo (Noémie Merlant), a social media influencer, who’s expecting her first child with her husband Spencer (Kit Harington). Though she’s excited to become a mother, it soon becomes clear she has no idea what she’s in for.

Bess Wohl (Photo Credit Walter McBride)

Jo struggles to care for her newborn and soon begins to question the motives of everyone around her – her husband, her mother-in-law (Jayne Atkinson), and the local moms in the neighborhood.

Could they all be conspiring behind Jo’s back? Worst of all, it seems that baby Ruby (played by twins, Gabriella and Lucas Thompson) is angry at her mother and is trying to undermine her in all sorts of malicious ways. Could Jo be losing her mind? Or is all this perfectly normal? Baby Ruby is about one woman’s psychological descent into the madness of motherhood where she can only rely on one person to get her out: herself.

Managing Tone Through Emotional Connection

The film stretches across several genres, at times delving into body horror and toying with supernatural tropes; other times it dips its toe into comedy and fantasy. Even though it contains all these different elements, the film keeps one foot firmly rooted in reality – something incredibly difficult to do. I asked her how she managed to keep the tone so grounded. 

“It was a very tricky balancing act tonally throughout the script, throughout the shooting, and through the edit. It’s true the tone was very hard to nail because the movie doesn’t live in one particular tone. It’s flirting with different tones all the time – which to me, reflected the experience of motherhood – am I in a horror movie, or a drama, or a comedy? Am I in the deepest love story of my life? I felt like the movie had to have a tone that was complicated and nuanced as the experience itself,” she says. 

To make the story believable, Wohl says the movie had to maintain a strong emotional connection to the main character, Jo. “I think that connection grounded everything in a psychological reality – even though some incredibly crazy things happen in the film.”  

More info coming soon  |  Remind Me

Play vs. Movie

When I asked Wohl why she chose to make this story a movie, not a play as she’s used to writing, she had two answers. The first is the challenge of a baby being a main character. 

Wohl says the sheer logistical needs of working with a real-live baby made doing a stage play impossible. “You can’t have a baby in a play – well, The Ferryman [written by Jez Butterworth] did have a baby on stage for about 15 seconds and then it goes away. It can only be a tiny little stunt in the middle of a play,” she says.

Because Ruby is the antagonist in the story, we need to see her quite a bit. In the film, Ruby is played by twins due to the limited amount of hours a baby can work. And then there’s the question of cooperation.

“[A baby] is completely unpredictable on set. One thing I learned quickly is that if you plan to have the baby happy, it comes in crying that day. Or if there’s a scene where the baby is crying, it’s happy as a clam. You have to really adjust on the fly.” After all, the baby doesn’t know it’s acting!

The second reason Wohl knew Baby Ruby had to be a film and not a play was she wanted to create, “An internal, psychological space and film captures that really beautifully. Theatre to me feels more communal and social in some way. I felt the camera could really do things I didn’t know how to do on stage in terms of putting us in [Jo’s] world and allowing us to see her world through her eyes.” 

'Baby Ruby'

The Transition From Playwriting to Screenwriting

It’s no secret there are many differences between writing plays and screenplays. When I asked Wohl if it was difficult for her to go from one medium to the other, she said that writing a movie is always hard but her plays often deal with the unreliability of words making the transition a bit easier.

“Plays and screenplays are so deeply different,” says Wohl, “One, you’re telling a story with language vs. telling a story with images. In both mediums, I’m very interested in what the limitations of language are. One of my early plays is called Small Mouth Sounds and it happens mostly in silence, so I was already experimenting with peeling away dialogue and what you can do with images, discovering how economical I can be with what’s said. For me, that provided a really seamless transition to screenwriting because screenwriting is about what you can do with images. Figuring out what you need words for and balancing that. That’s why I was also so excited to have the opportunity to direct because I could be making these decisions in three dimensions with the actors.” 

The Difficulty of Dialogue in Plays and Screenplays

For being such a successful playwright, it may seem surprising that Wohl is so suspicious of words. But it’s her dubious relationship with words that makes her work so relatable. 

“So much of life happens without words. Many of the most important parts of life we don’t have words for. My plays are always in conflict with language in some way – characters barely say what they mean, often language is a smokescreen in my plays, so I’m always interested in how words fail us. That interrogation [of words] really fueled my interest in working more with images in film,” she says.  

'Baby Ruby'

Clearly, Wohl has thought deeply about both the power and failings of language. “We all have these feelings inside of us and often, language feels so insufficient. When you start playing with words you know you’re playing with a broken set of tools that will fail you. Because the feelings we have as people are just too complicated to fit into language a lot of the time. Words are these beautiful but flawed instruments that try to convey what’s inside of us. When people put up a smokescreen, sometimes it’s intentional but sometimes, and I often say this to actors when I’m working in theatre, ‘Your whole process of talking right now is it try to figure out what you’re trying to say.” It’s not like you know what you need to say and you say it like a chatbot would. You are searching for the thing as the words are coming out of your mouth in real-time.”

But Don’t Pare Down the Words Too Much in a Screenplay

Wohl also learned through the filmmaking process there are times when very little needs to be said and, how sometimes, saying something out loud is essential. “You can also overdo the paring down of words when transitioning from playwriting to screenwriting, so it was really about learning what the camera can do or what a close-up can do that makes language unnecessary. Also, learning where the words can explode off the screen and make a huge, huge difference,” she says. 

Wohl’s Advice for Playwrights Transitioning to Screenwriting

Wohl says it’s very important to understand how screenplay structure works. “My experience has been that even the most seemingly avant-garde films adhere to a three-act structure which is really just a beginning, middle, and end. There are people who’ve expressed it in much more fancy ways, but it feels to me like screenplays have certain structural expectations – not really expectations of people in the industry but of people who go to the movies and want to be fulfilled. In plays, there’s much more structural freedom in terms of how you can arc your story. It's a little bit less rigorous in that particular way. So, I would learn screenplay structure even if you decide to veer away from it or make your first act only three pages long – you can do anything once you know it.” 

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

Her second piece of advice comes from personal experience. “I always thought that doing something for TV or film, I had to take out that messy, idiosyncratic thing that only belonged in my plays. That I had to do something more commercial. What I keep learning, time and time again, is that messy, idiosyncratic thing can live in the screenplay, in an episode of television ­– it’s not a thing you can abandon because you’re writing a movie now. The thing people want is that vulnerable, scary part of yourself.”  

Baby Ruby is now playing in theaters and available on VOD.  

The post Playwright Bess Wohl Explores Postpartum Psycho Horror in Film Debut 'Baby Ruby' appeared first on ScreenCraft.

Take the Driver, Ryan Gosling’s character from Drive, for example. Far from a knight in shining armor, he’s a morally complex enigma capable of both tenderness and violence. “The idea of complicated characters has always appealed to me because I do feel that's the human condition,” he says.

Hossein stopped by my podcast Script Apart recently to break down one of his early drafts of the movie, directed by Nicolas Winding Refn. Here are a few of the screenwriting tips and tricks I gleaned from an hour in his company – listen to the full episode below to discover many more, and to find out fascinating stories behind one of the biggest cult thrillers of the century so far…

Archetypal Characters Are Archetypal For A Reason

Stuck for an idea for a new script? Try taking a protagonist from a movie you love and airlifting them into an entirely new genre. The result might be similar to Drive, which took an archetype familiar in fairy tales and samurai movies — “the stranger who comes from nowhere, rescues a family and then rides out into the sunset,” Hossein explains – and parachuted them into a dark, grimy Los Angeles. “I think there are some characters that just resonate with audiences. If your core character isn't working, it doesn't matter how well a script is written, [your story] won't capture the imagination in the same way.”

All the more reason to return to the sort of timeless character types outlined by American writer Joseph Campbell in his influential book, The Hero With A Thousand Faces, suggests Hossein.

More info coming soon  |  Remind Me

Less Really Can be More When it Comes to Romance

Hossein Amini encountered an obstacle in writing Drive. How do you make a strong silent type like the Driver who’s not accustomed to verbalizing his emotions strike up meaningful relationships with the characters around him? How do you convey to the audience how he’s feeling and what he desires? For Hossein, the trick was to be inventive, channeling emotions into visual actions rather than dialogue. “There's a school of dialogue, whether it's Sorkin or Tarantino, where the dialogue is the art. For me, the writing I love is where what's not said is really [important],” he explains.

In the film, the Driver falls for his neighbor Irene (Carey Mulligan) and vows to protect her and her son. The fact that she’s married means that neither character wants to admit their attraction in words. Instead, it’s communicated by glances between the pair and revealing pieces of behavior written into the script. “You feel that longing and desire but they can't express it or acknowledge it,” says Hossein. “I love that type of silent storytelling.”

What else did you learn from the episode with Hossein Amini? Let us know in the comments below.

Check out more screenwriting takeaways from Script Apart!

Al Horner is a London-based journalist, screenwriter and presenter. His work has appeared in The Guardian, Empire Magazine, GQ, BBC, Little White Lies, TIME Magazine and more.

The post Script Apart: The Stylishly Silent Storytelling of 'Drive' Writer Hossein Amini appeared first on ScreenCraft.

Starting her writing career as a journalist, she wrote her novels at night after working long days at the office. She now makes her living as a screenwriter and is the Official Industry Expert for this year's ScreenCraft Cinematic Cinematic Book Writing Competition.

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We sat down with her to find out a little bit more about her career and explore what’s important to her as a writer. You can watch the full interview below, but continue on to check out our favorite takeaways from the discussion.

Story is King

Most writers will tell you that having an amazing character that leaps off the page is crucial – but it’s just a start. It’s what happens to that character – and how they change – that will make them unforgettable. With a mother who taught literature and a father who taught theater, Gillian Flynn was constantly surrounded by stories. She views that as a very good thing. 

“I grew up in a household that really valued story so I feel really lucky about that. [Story] wasn’t considered a trivial thing, it was a very valuable and important thing. It was an important way to understand each other and talk about different issues,” said Flynn. 

Flynn is an expert at crafting edge-of-your-seat stories that take turns when you least expect it. Understanding the fundamentals of story by reading books and watching movies (even ones she may not have appreciated, like watching David Lynch’s Eraserhead with her dad at the tender age of 7), helped her create an encyclopedic knowledge of plot, stakes, consequences, and resolutions.

Write for Yourself, Not the Marketplace

“Never, ever write what you think the market wants,” said Flynn, adding, “The market doesn’t know what it wants!” She said that if she had considered the market, none of her books would have ever come to fruition. “When I wrote Sharp Objects, I wrote it because I was frustrated there weren't enough layered female protagonists who were antiheroes. The antihero is a very dominant form in any fiction genre, it's a very big theme. I was like, ‘Where are the fucked up women here?’ I had to push that.  

She said it was a difficult journey because there weren’t a lot of publishers who wanted to buy Sharp Objects. Instead, she was constantly told, "Men don’t want to read women authors and women don't want to read narrators they can't aspire to be. Women want uplifting stories." I don't believe that's true. I've been at Random House ever since because they believed in the book.” 

Amy Adams as Camille Preaker in 'Sharp Objects' 

Writing Takes Discipline

Gillian Flynn has been writing since she was a child, starting with short stories. But it was working as a professional journalist for Entertainment Weekly and being forced to turn in her stories on deadline each week that helped her develop her work ethic. 

“As a journalist, you learn that the muse is not going to come down and present you with the words. You learn that you can't waste time puttering around and pretending to do work. You have to sit and write and that’s how writing gets done. I say over and over, it’s part skill but 50% is stubbornness and discipline. I’m going to stay in the seat, not pretend to do research, I’m going to sit and write.” Once you create that discipline, anything is possible.

Indulge in Naming Your Characters

Gillian Flynn says naming her characters is the one area where she really takes her time.

“I go down the rabbit hole naming characters, which I love doing! I spend so much time going to the Social Security baby name website – it’s fascinating, you can look by decade and popularity, and I highly recommend it if you’re trying to waste time naming a character,” says Flynn. 

Sometimes it’s the small things, like finding the perfect name for your villain, like Adora Crellin in Sharp Objects, that can really help you get to know who they are and solidify them in your writer’s brain. 

Patricia Clarkson as Adora Crellin in 'Sharp Objects'

Remember You’re Writing Fiction

Though we’ve all heard the adage, “Write what you know,” Flynn says not to adhere to it too much. “If you write too close to what you know, you're basically journaling and that can really get in the way of the fiction part of your story – at least for me. You can get hung up on over-explaining things. Or tying yourself to the truth when it's supposed to be fiction. If I feel like I'm getting too close to who I am, I pull myself away. If I start basing any character too much on someone I know, I immediately pull away because that means the character isn't working,” said Flynn.

There’s a freedom in writing a fictional character. If they only live in your head, you have complete permission to let them do anything – no matter how good or bad. 

Sometimes, You Have to Start Over

After writing Sharp Objects, Gillian Flynn says she didn’t want to become the “dark female narrator lady,” so in trying to avoid that stereotype, the story she was working on didn't make a lot of sense. It was when her husband read an early draft of Gone Girl and opened a bottle of bourbon to discuss it that she knew she was in big trouble. He asked if she liked the character of Libby. “I hated the character,” said Flynn, and knew she had to start over.  

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When it Comes to Taking Notes, Pick Your Battles 

One thing both novelists and screenwriters have in common is that it seems like they are inundated with notes. But Gillian Flynn warns us to choose how we respond carefully. “Some notes just aren't worth pushing back on. Some just aren't going to affect the overall vision,” said Flynn. “But then there are certain things worth fighting for. I’m not a big, ‘Oh I’m the ARTIST!’ But you have to respect your producer.” 

Her advice is to talk things through with the person who wants the changes and finds that sometimes, once you start articulating your reason for not making a change, you discover that it really doesn’t matter after all.  

“But sometimes,” she said, “the scene is just really cool, and I’m going to keep it! Just let me keep this one!” and they often let her. 

Be Proud of Your Work, No Matter What

Any film or TV show can miss the mark when it comes to critics, but Flynn says the only thing that matters is if you are proud of the project.  

“A lot of things can happen to a movie or TV series on the way to getting released to the world. It could get released at the wrong time or it could be a great thing and not do well, so I make sure to prepare myself to not worry too much about the outcome once it’s out there. I tell myself, ‘Gil, is this a thing you wanted to make? Are you proud of it?’ And that’s all that matters. So many strange things can happen and other people may not like what you like. If you’re able to look back on it and go, ‘It’s still solid!’ that’s what’s going to protect you as a writer.” 

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If you're inspired by Gillian Flynn — first of all, get writing — second, take a look at the ScreenCraft Cinematic Book Writing Competition where she is an Official Industry Expert.

The post 8 Takeaways From Our Interview with 'Gone Girl' Writer Gillian Flynn appeared first on ScreenCraft.

Directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood (Love and Basketball), the screenplay is by Dana Stevens (Safe Haven, City of Angels) with story credit shared with producer Maria Bello. I spoke with Stevens after the film’s premiere at the Toronto Film Festival to find out more about bringing historical epics to life for a modern audience.

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Writing for Your Dream Actor

Stevens says she became aware of the project after working on a screen adaptation of the book The Nightingale with Nicole Brown, who’s now president of TriStar. Wanting to do another project together, Brown sent Stevens a pitch deck for The Woman King that had Viola Davis on board to play a lead role. Davis’ involvement was a dream come true for Stevens. In fact, she’s such a huge fan of Davis that when she cast her Oscar ballot for Davis’s bid for Best Supporting Actress a few years ago, she personally drove the paper ballot to the Academy for fear it might get lost in the mail or arrive late! 

“As a writer,” says Stevens, “I am inspired by actors and was very excited that I would get to write for someone I admired as much as Davis. It was a dream to think about Viola and imagine her saying the words I was writing.”

Viola Davis as Nanisca in 'The Woman King' (2022)

The pitch deck (also called a lookbook) included historical photos and story ideas to serve as a springboard for the script. Stevens says her only previous knowledge of the Agojie women was that they inspired the female characters in Black Panther, but she quickly became intrigued. “I became totally fascinated with the history and the whole region. So much of Western culture doesn't know anything about Africa. I got really excited about doing a story set in a world that most movie audiences had never seen.” 

Building the World of The Woman King

Worldbuilding is an art. To create a successful female-led action film set in the distant past, Stevens knew the world had to really capture the interest of the audience. Everything, from the costumes to the weaponry, needed to entice the viewers, but it would be the characters that had to really stand out. “There's a great fandom right now for worldbuilding. I love Game of Thrones. The reason we love Game of Thrones is because of the characters: what drives them and who they are. Yes, we love the dragons, too, but we love the characters and we love the fantasy of being in a completely different world.” 

Writer Dana Stevens and Producer Cathy Schulman on the set of 'The Woman King' (2022)

Because the world of the Agojie is based in history, not fantasy like Game of Thrones, Stevens says she and the other filmmakers, “Worked really hard to ground it in what we felt would be the reality of this history.” This is where The Woman King diverges from a film like Black Panther. In this movie, the real-life past is coming to light. Sometimes this past is a harsh, brutal reality, but it’s also empowering and filled with hope for the future. 

The Woman King's Dark but True Story

From the beginning, Stevens wanted the story to feel like a “Greek Tragedy” or be “Shakespearean” in scope and deal with larger, universal issues facing humanity. While the pitch deck had been set in 1890, Stevens chose to set the story in 1823 for one particular reason. 

“I wanted to help the audience understand the difficulty of the transatlantic slave trade in the story. Over the 150 years the Agojie women were in existence, the women did capture Africans and sell them into the slave trade. I wanted to address that." says Stevens.

"Use your imagination as you would in any story that wasn't historic then go back and marry your imagination to the history. Regarding the history, don't ever lie and say something didn't happen.”

"I wanted people to understand that we weren't going to ignore that the Dahomey had done these things but we were picking a time where Ghezo [the King, played by John Boyega] was a young ruler and things were changing out in the world. Maybe this woman [Nanisca] could have some influence over him.”

Could a society made rich from the slave trade really transition into something as innocuous as the palm oil trade? Yes, if it’s up to a warrior like Nanisca who wants a better future for her people.  

Read More: 20 Best Movies to Watch During Women's History Month

Crafting Dual Protagonists

In addition to telling the battle-worn story of Nanisca, the film also tells the story of Nawi (Thuso Mbedu), a teen girl whose father hands her over to the king when she proves too obstinate to marry off. Nawi, named for one of the real last-known Agojie warriors who died in 1979, must train under the fierce demands of Nanisca and transform into a soldier. Both storylines run in parallel, allowing the audience to see two different points of view from two women at different stages in their lives. I asked Stevens about the best way to write a story with double protagonists, considering it’s often difficult enough to keep track of one. Her suggestion is to think of it like a love story. 

Thuso Mbedu as Nawi in 'The Woman King' (2022)

“I have always been drawn to love. I get hired a lot to do love stories and those are usually two-handers. It comes very natural to me and I’m able to move back and forth between the two characters,” she says, adding that she allows herself to “feel” her way through a first draft. Once she has her first draft, she looks carefully to determine where the characters may be separated for too long. She’ll use note cards or put the story up on a whiteboard to strategically map out the story. 

“I don't want you to ever forget the emotional truth for each of them and if you go too long before you get into the head of one or the other, you do have to balance that. You do have move scenes.” 

She says it’s not just about seeing the character on screen, it’s about, “Their emotional life and their emotional arc. What's wonderful is when they touch, when they are together having a scene and again, that is strategic, how often do they intersect? It is like a love story. One of the things you learn when you do a love story is to keep them apart so when they come together, it’s so delicious. That is operating in The Woman King,” says Stevens. 

Give the Characters Secrets

There is a reveal in the story that connects the two main characters more deeply but we don’t want to give it away! Just know that it is a beautiful piece of storytelling that makes the characters even more relatable. Just like in Game of Thrones, secrets add texture to your characters in the most delicious ways.  

Lashana Lynch as Izogie in 'The Woman King' (2022)

Doing Research is Half the Job

Any time a writer tackles a historical subject, deep research is necessary. But that’s only one of the tools a writer needs to craft a great story. You must fully engage your imagination, says Stevens. 

“Do a lot of research, but don't get too bogged down in it. It's easy to do the research but hard to write the script. There has to be a moment where you say, ‘Okay, I'm done researching. Now I’m going to create a story.’ And I can always go back to the research – I constantly went back to the various Wikipedia pages and even found new stuff that was being added during the time I was writing and I could say, ‘Oh, this is an adjustment to what I created.’ Give yourself a finite amount of time to do the research then give yourself a finite amount of time to really imagine."

She also touches on taking creative liberties in true story screenplays:

Use your imagination as you would in any story that wasn't historic then go back and marry your imagination to the history. Regarding the history, don't ever lie and say something didn't happen. First, do no harm, try to keep within the lines of the truth but also allow yourself to fictionalize things that will allow for an entertaining, dramatically-told movie.”  

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The Woman King opens exclusively in theaters today, September 16th. 

The post 'The Woman King' Writer Dana Stevens Explains How to Bring History to Life appeared first on ScreenCraft.

Writer/director Adamma Ebo makes her feature debut with the help of her twin-sister Adanne who serves as producer on Honk for Jesus. I chatted with the sisters over Zoom to find out more about their filmmaking process, from turning their short into a proof of concept feature to putting a spin on the mockumentary subgenre.

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Using a Short Film as a Proof of Concept

According to Adanne, the inspiration for the film comes from the sisters’ own lived experiences growing up in the church in the early 2000s which were admittedly complicated. “We kind of felt both disillusioned with it and critical of it while also having love and reverence for different aspects of it,” she says. 

Adamma agrees, saying, “We experienced things that needed to be called out and needed to be critiqued and oftentimes weren’t. It was really born out of our frustration with that as a whole.”  

While Adamma first wrote the story as a feature-length screenplay, she knew a film about a religious scandal set in a Black Southern megachurch would be a hard sell in Hollywood. When she got to UCLA Film School, she retooled the story as a short film that would not only become her thesis film, but also a proof of concept that the feature version would be viable.

“The strategy,” says Adamma, “was to have something to show people that perfectly encapsulated the tone and also the way I wanted to approach shooting it. It’s a very specific tone and has a lot going on in terms of the type of style and cinematography. It was hard to succinctly pitch that to people, so I wanted to have something to show them instead of just telling them about it.”     

Adamma and Adanne Ebo behind the scenes of 'Honk for Jesus. Save Your Soul.'

The effort paid off, particularly after the short film’s success allowed Adamma to develop the feature script at the Sundance Screenwriter’s Intensive Program where she met producers Amandla Crichlow, Daniel Kaluuya, and Rowan Riley. Soon Regina Hall and Sterling K. Brown joined the cast and the film began shooting over five weeks in Atlanta in 2021. 

The Thin Line Between Comedy and Drama

The dichotomy between Christ-like behavior and human behavior was successfully mixed with Adamma’s sharp wit to provide the basis for a story that could only be told through a comedic lens. But a marriage in crisis, like the one the Childs are going through, isn’t always funny. It’s often incredibly painful, especially when it seems like pastor Lee-Curtis may have sexually preyed on young male congregants. Like with many stories, pain and humor are the opposite sides of the same coin.

"Balancing the tone wasn’t tough because it’s innate in so many ways, it’s just the truth.”

“Personally,” says Adamma, “I think that balancing extreme comedy and extreme pain is something that culturally, Black folks do to a T. It’s a coping mechanism that we passed down and inherited since folks brought us over here for a necessary reason. You have to find the joy and the comedy in life – especially under such awful and tragic circumstances. But it’s also the tone of Black church culture as well. So much of the culture is boisterous and hilarious and super engaging. But at the same time, it’s also very serious and meaningful and dark in a lot of ways. Balancing the tone wasn’t tough because it’s innate in so many ways, it’s just the truth.” 

It's a "Faux-Documentary", Not a Mockumentary

Another way to balance the humor with painful moments in the story in Honk for Jesus was to use the pretense that Trinitie and Lee-Curtis Childs were the subjects of a documentary. At times, we see the lead characters explaining their situation to the documentary film crew when the cameras are rolling and then reveal their less guarded selves once the cameras have cut. It allows the audience to see layers of the characters.  

“We’re calling it faux-documentary. It’s not mockumentary because with a mockumentary the camera tends to be in on the joke, kind of winking at the audience. We wanted this to feel as much like a real documentary as possible whenever we were in that style. So the camera is mostly observational,” says Adamma.  

Writing the script, Adamma was very clear about which parts of the story were documentary style and which were not.  

Sterling K. Brown in 'Honk for Jesus. Save Your Soul.'

“Every slug line had a style attached to it. So it would be, ‘INT. SUCH AND SUCH – DOCUMENTARY.’ Or ‘INT. SUCH AND SUCH – CINEMATIC,’ or not in the documentary style, and there was a bit of archival footage in there so whenever that arose, it was INT. SUCH AND SUCH – ARCHIVAL. It was all very mapped out, all very intentional,” she says. 

Adamma says she stopped with the documentary style every time it seemed like the characters might “break” emotionally. “I wanted to build this momentum and this tension because eventually, someone is going to have a breakdown on camera. I wanted it to feel like [the characters] continuously pulled it together just in time for the documentary crew to shut the cameras off,” she says.

Adamma adds that going into the “cinematic” style is when you’d get to see, “What’s real, the pain, the emotion – what they don’t want the world to see.” By putting it right into the slug lines, the actors get clarity on exactly where they are in the story.        

A Unique Writer’s Voice

A lot is said about writers developing their voice or that a good screenplay should encapsulate a writer’s voice. But for Adamma, she seems to have developed her voice that uses equal parts comedy and drama very early on. 

“In the last year or two, my dad was cleaning out our garage and he found this creative nonfiction essay I wrote to Osama bin Laden in elementary school. I was reading it and the tone of it was exactly the tone of this movie. It had a lot of comedy in it but also a, ‘Look man, this is serious’ tone. So I think I’ve always had this voice,” she says.

Adamma and Adanne Ebo on the set of 'Honk For Jesus. Save Your Soul.'

Adamma adds that clearly writing about your feelings is an important part of your voice, too. “A lot of times, what people feel isn’t what they communicate or dictate to the world. Your deepest feelings, your true feelings – that is your voice. So go ahead and put it on the page. Who cares what other people think?”  

If you happen to like the Ebo sisters’ voice, you’re in luck considering they’ve just signed a deal with 20th Century Television Animation to develop a show called SupaShawty Girls, Funkamatic BangBang. The synopsis from IMDb Pro says the show, “Follows twin college students and a laboratory accident turns them into superheroes, and they must learn to manage their brand new super-powered lives with the growing pains of adulthood.” We can’t wait!

Honk for Jesus. Save Your Soul opens in theaters and streams on Peacock on September 2nd.

The post INTERVIEW: The Ebo Twins Share Their Filmmaking Process for 'Honk for Jesus. Save Your Soul.' appeared first on ScreenCraft.

That a sci-fi drama involving mind-controlling raccoons and action scenes involving butt plugs would become one of the year’s biggest box office successes?

No one, that’s who.

The epic drama from writer-director duo the Daniels was a bolt out of the blue that defied all Hollywood logic to win over critics and audiences everywhere – leading many aspiring screenwriters to wonder: “How do you even begin to write a movie like that?” How did they manage to get the "multiverse movie" right?

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The Daniels came on my podcast, Script Apart, to answer that very question. Each week on the show, acclaimed screenwriters revisit their first drafts of what became beloved movies. Breaking down an early draft of Everything Everywhere All at Once that involved a professional football-helmet tester in 1912 Pennsylvania, and many other strange twists that didn’t make the final movie, they told me all about their storytelling inspirations, and how key scenes and characters came to be on the page. Here are a few things I learned speaking to the pair – listen to the episode in full below to discover other powerful pieces of screenwriting advice.

Everything Comes Down to Character – Even in the Multiverse

In the original opening to the film, a professional football-helmet tester named W.T Warren suffers a “quantum accident” and decides that God wants him to become a vigilante crime-fighter. So, he confronts three armed robbers, who promptly stab him to death. "It was very pretentious!” laughs Daniel Kwan. “Part of [the reason for that scene] was because, at the time, there were no other multiverse films – this was before Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse.” The pair felt they needed a dedicated scene to explain to viewers the concept of the multiverse, in which infinite parallel worlds exist that are subtly and seismically different from our own.

Gradually, however, the Daniels realized that the scene delayed us getting to meet the movie’s protagonist, Evelyn. Even in a story as far out as this one, it was imperative that the film zeroed in on the character whose emotional journey was going to make all the sci-fi hijinks matter. “We realized we had to get to Evelyn quicker,” says Daniel Scheinert. “After all, it’s her movie.”

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Ground Your Outlandish Ideas in Real-Life Feelings

Audiences could relate to Everything Everywhere not because they’ve ever had hot dogs for fingers or been transformed into a sentient rock with googly eyes (one of the best scenes in recent movie history, in my opinion). They related because the movie feels like life in 2022, capturing the frenetic feel of our internet age, in which life is moving so fast and everyone exists in their own bubbles, that connecting with people (even the ones you loved most) becomes difficult. “We wanted it to feel chaotic, before the sci-fi [element],” says Daniel Kwan. “Everyone is in their own worlds. All the characters are speaking past each other. They're talking different languages. The whole thing felt like an opportunity to show everyone that we already live in the multiverse.”

“Basically, [in the opening act] we were setting up the problem for our character – this idea that in a chaotic world pulling your attention between different things, it becomes impossible to just look at the people you love and see eye to eye with them. And that accidentally hurts people,” adds Kwan. By channeling the 100mph pace of recent years, in which the internet and political news cycle have accelerated life to breakneck speeds, the Daniels crafted a movie that was simultaneously out-of-this-world and utterly cathartic. 

Their advice — don’t lose sight of the human emotion and relatable emotion behind your ambitious sci-fi concept. What other gems of wisdom did you learn from the episode? Let us know in the comments below.

Check out more screenwriting takeaways from Script Apart!

Al Horner is a London-based journalist, screenwriter and presenter. His work has appeared in The Guardian, Empire Magazine, GQ, BBC, Little White Lies, TIME Magazine and more.

The post Script Apart: The Daniels Unpack 'Everything Everywhere All At Once' appeared first on ScreenCraft.

If you haven't watched Turning Red yet, check out the trailer below, and stream it immediately.

Appearing on my podcast Script Apart, in which great screenwriters break down their early drafts of acclaimed movies, Julia Cho told me all about how the film came together – sharing some useful screenwriting tips and tricks along the way.

Here are just a few of the main takeaways that I’ve since applied to my work – listen to the episode in full below to learn more.

Write the Thing That's Missing from Your Cultural Landscape

One of the many things that made Turning Red so unique was how unapologetic and forthright it was about discussing female puberty on screen. Yes, the red panda that Mae turns into is itself a metaphor for puberty – feeling like you have a monster within, waiting to erupt whenever you get emotional, is a feeling most people who can remember their teenage years can relate to. But Julia and Domee didn’t want to just hide behind that metaphor. They wanted to openly discuss female puberty on screen because historically, pop culture has shied away from depicting it.

Read More: Pixar Storytelling Works: 'Elemental' Writers Use All the Rules

“One of my great joys was writing that scene where Mae turns into a panda for the first time and there's a pyramid of menstrual products behind her,” says Julia. “The joy of being able to put that on screen and have her mother ask: "What do you need? Liners? Pads?" Every single woman knows those products. It’s such a human, natural part of our everyday experience. Why's that not been up there [on screen] before? Once we started finding those moments and realizing how fun it was to write in those moments that we hadn't seen before, we tried to do as many as we could.”

If you’re frustrated by parts of your experience you don’t often see represented on-screen, writing them into your next screenplay might help you deliver something as fresh and vitally needed as Turning Red.

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An Antagonist Can Be a “What” Instead of a “Who”

Does Turning Red have an antagonist? Julia isn’t sure it does. At various points in the film’s first act, the movie teases the possibility of a mean classmate from Mae’s school developing into its bad guy. Instead, that plot thread turns out to be a red herring and Turning Red moves forward without a clear villain – historically an essential part of any screenplay, especially in the realm of kids’ animation.

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While developing Turning Red, Julia Cho and Domee Shi realized it was more compelling (and true to life) to use a concept as the movie’s antagonistic force, rather than engineering a villain for the sake of it. “There's no real antagonist because it was clear early on that Mae's biggest obstacle was going to be her mom and all the things her mom embodies. But you can't make a villain out of a parent because at the end of the day she loves Mae, right?” explains Julia. “So what really became the villain was the cultural expectation that not just Mae but her mom were saddled with. Unknowingly, they're both fighting the same thing and not really knowing it.” 

The lesson? Don’t just drop a mustache-twirling bad guy into your story because screenwriting convention demands it. Sometimes, a societal force like generational trauma can be just as, if not more, powerful. 

Check out more screenwriting takeaways from Script Apart!

Al Horner is a London-based journalist, screenwriter and presenter. His work has appeared in The Guardian, Empire Magazine, GQ, BBC, Little White Lies, TIME Magazine and more.

The post Script Apart: Screenwriting Lessons from Pixar's 'Turning Red' Co-Writer Julia Cho appeared first on ScreenCraft.

Here are a few golden pieces of advice from Jon that I learned while interviewing him for my podcast Script Apart, in which, each week, an acclaimed screenwriter revisits their first draft of a beloved movie. Check out a few pearls of wisdom from the episode below, or listen to the hour-long spoiler special deep-dive in full above…

Identify the Demands of Your Genre

The first task for Jon while working on Prometheus was thinking about what was “fundamental to the premise” of an Alien movie. “Going back to the well in the Alien universe, there is some furniture in that universe. First of all, you want to feel some malevolent corporate presence and the pressure of corrupted human morality seeking power and wealth.” He also recognized that it was in the lifeblood of the Alien series to have a Ripley-esque heroine battling a “very male alien trying to impregnate it,” he adds. “It felt like a female protagonist was strongly built into the furniture of that universe.” Jon recognized those were requirements of his genre, and expected by the audience, so built them into his screenplay. The same principle applies to any type of screenwriting. Making a road trip buddy comedy or a haunted house horror? Work out what people come to those movies for and start with those elements. Then, once that’s done…

Work Out What the Genre Hasn’t Seen Before

How are you going to differentiate your script by adding fresh elements not seen in that genre before? That was the question Jon asked himself as he worked on Prometheus. “There was one thing I felt we'd never seen in an Alien film – a couple, an active romance. People who loved each other. In these films, you often get military configurations of people, shoved together by circumstance without strong emotional bonds. so I thought it'd be interesting to put them in the way of this menace,” he says. Finding new terrain, Jon explains, is crucial – otherwise what reason does your film have to exist?

For more tips and secrets from the making of Prometheus, listen to the episode in full above, supported by ScreenCraft.

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Al Horner is a London-based journalist, screenwriter and presenter. His work has appeared in The Guardian, Empire Magazine, GQ, BBC, Little White Lies, TIME Magazine and more.

The post Script Apart: How 'Prometheus' Writer Jon Spaiths Unlocked 'Alien' Mythology appeared first on ScreenCraft.

Coppola is the granddaughter of Francis Ford and is the newest iteration of the filmmaking dynasty. The soft-spoken, intellectual 34-year-old strives for authenticity in her work and mostly gets it in Mainstream, which stars Andrew Garfield and Maya Hawke, even if that can look ugly, annoying, and nightmarish at times.

I spoke to her over Zoom about Mainstream and writing in general. Here are her five pieces of advice for screenwriters.

Borrow and Steal

Aaron Sorkin once said, “Good writers borrow from other writers. Great writers steal from them outright.” Sorkin even stole that phrase from writer T.S. Eliot, reiterating the point. Sometimes, great stories already exist and just need an update – your update. That’s what happened when Coppola was watching Elia Kazan’s A Face in the Crowd where country singer, Lonesome Rhodes (Andy Griffith), rises to stardom and wealth despite being the voice for the working class. She wondered what that kind of story would look like today.

“I was really inspired by Lonesome Rhodes and in general, I just really like a wild and crazy character that has a crack up. Nicholas Cage is one of my favorite actors and I like that kind of performance. Andrew [Garfield] is obviously so talented, one of the great talents of our time, so being able to collaborate with someone like that was really exciting.”

The takeaway: It’s perfectly fine to take an old story with a universal theme and put your own spin on it. As our culture changes, many familiar themes will resonate with today’s audience through a modern or genre lens. Aren’t movies like Star Wars and Avatar just retellings of David and Goliath? Aren’t movies like The Wizard of Oz and Soul just newer versions of Alice in Wonderland? Great story ideas are already there, you just need to look for them.

Make Your Antagonist Memorable

Yes, your antagonist! In Mainstream, Garfield plays No One Special with boundless energy, but the twisted details of his character are all on the page. Dressing up as a cockroach and going all-in for shock value are the tools Coppola and Stuart gave him to express himself. Garfield dazzles in the role. But to play the outrageous character, Coppola says they also needed to keep the character real and grounded.

“Andrew has a goodness about him that and when you create a deranged character, how do you make sure you want to watch him and stay engaged? You need to have that undertone of that person that’s very alluring.”

The takeaway: Go big with your antagonist but give them at least one redeeming quality or likable trait such as an underlying goodness or captivating charisma. Most villains are charming as hell (think Hannibal Lector or The Joker). This is how you make a memorable antagonist.

'Mainstream'

Let Your Curiosity Drive You ‘Full-Throttle’

Coppola says she’s been wanting to explore the world of social media and YouTube influencers for some time mostly because she was curious as to why they are so incredibly popular.

“I was fascinated by it. I couldn’t wrap my head around why this is such an engaging thing to people. When I feel confused, I need to go in full throttle and relieve that question for myself. It was an itch that really needed to be scratched.”

The takeaway: If you’re not curious to a fault about the subject matter in your screenplay, your audience won’t be either. Say you want to write a script about cryptocurrency, you need to explore details of the world and get specific about the people who inhabit that world. Let yourself be obsessed and become an expert.

Five Questions to Ask Yourself When Writing Characters

Coppola says it’s important to do a deep dive into a character’s motivation when writing them. Questions she asks herself are, “Who are these people? How did they get here? Why are they making the choices that they’re making? How did we as a culture get here and where are we going?” She adds that when you can answer these questions with confidence, “that’s when you learn so much about yourself and life. I feel that creates authenticity – does it feel real when I go into it? Does each moment feel true?”

The takeaway: If you can’t give detailed answers for each of these questions, your characters or story aren’t fully fleshed out – yet. Write your answers down on paper and keep revisiting, revising your answers each day. Another tip from Aaron Sorkin is to think about your character at the pearly gates, trying to get into heaven. What is their argument for being let in? Their answer may surprise you.

'Mainstream'

Keep it Personal

Coppola says to always write what’s deeply personal, even if it makes you feel vulnerable.

“Always go into telling your story with something that’s unique to you. We’re all such unique individuals, so why not share that? It’s what makes us expand as a community. It’s about trying to express yourself."

In Mainstream, Frankie, the protagonist, is grieving her father’s death. The fact Coppola never knew her own dad due to his untimely death before she was born, shows how powerful giving your protagonist just one painful, personal detail can be.

The takeaway: Your characters shouldn’t be carbon copies of you, but they should reflect your own personal pain and hardships. It can be scary to go that deep and dredge up your personal history, but that’s how you get to great, three-dimensional characters.

Mainstream is available on streaming platforms and in theaters May 7th. 

More info coming soon  |  Remind Me

The post 5 Lessons 'Mainstream' Writer/Director Gia Coppola Can Teach You About Storytelling appeared first on ScreenCraft.

The film, from a screenplay by Jesse Chatham and Erin Dignam, is a beautiful story of loss, forgiveness, and survival. The dialogue and exposition are powerfully sparce -- an excellent lesson in how less is often more.

On behalf of ScreenCraft, I was able to chat with Chatham about the movie and find out more about his screenwriting adventure that didn’t start until he was 40. 

Chatham has tried his hand at all different kinds of writing. From writing song lyrics when he was the frontman in a band to working on novels, the 47-year-old had been supporting his wife and two kids doing web design and SEO consulting. In 2000, he attempted to write a screenplay in an MS Word doc. “I probably got 30 pages into it and then abandoned it,” says Chatham. We’ve all been there. 

But actually completing a screenplay became more urgent for Chatham when he turned 40. “I had this sense or mortality, that time is slipping,” he says. We’ve all been there, too. He began to ask himself existential questions like, “Have I really done the things I want to pursue in life? When I’m 65, will I be really proud of what I did, or will I look back and think I was kind of cowardly?”

He cites the quote, “I’d rather die a failure than a coward.” Chatham says it really resonated with him. “I wanted to not be a coward, I wanted to go for it so that’s what I did.”

He purchased Final Draft and read books on screenwriting, like the ones by Syd Field. He tried to read Save the Cat by Blake Snyder but didn’t connect with the book. “It was too formulaic,” he says. He even traveled with his family from Denver to Los Angeles to attend a Robert McKee seminar only to bail half-way through. “I was overwhelmed by his approach to teaching screenwriting. It was too theory-centric for me. I like to jump in and make my own mistakes. I’m a very intuitive writer.” 

The final deadline for the 8th Annual ScreenCraft Fellowship is February 28th. Enter now!

Chatham says he was inspired to write Land after he learned about a real-life mass shooting. Though he’s never experienced such devastating loss in his own life, he couldn’t help but start wondering about the survivors of such a tragic event and how they were coping. Like any true writer, his imagination ran wild. 

“You don’t have to experience things to write about them. You don’t have to live in space to write about aliens. You need to research things, for sure, and I researched a lot about living out in the wild, but I don’t have any personal experience with it,” he says. 

Chatham eschewed dialogue to explain what his protagonist Edee (Wright) is thinking and feeling. Instead, he focused on the drudgery and danger of living without the luxuries like indoor plumbing to which we’re all accustomed. 

“I wanted to immerse the viewer in what it’s like to live in such a challenging way, where most of every day is spent gathering food, cutting wood, hunting, checking traps, and skinning things. It’s just this labor-intensive life that our ancestors experienced, but that’s the choice she made,” says Chatham. 

The choice to live off the land, away from society, could be interpreted in different ways. With so much work to be done, Edee won’t have time to focus on her tragedy. Or, perhaps it’s about self-punishment, or maybe she’s even hoping to die out there. There’s an element of mystery in the story, which feels fresh in a world of movies that want to spoon-feed the audience backstory.   

“It was a lean script in terms of, well, we’re not showing a lot of stuff. We’re concealing things or just not addressing them at all,” he says. The emotion, the pain, the redemption all play out on Wright’s face.  

After completing Land, he did what many screenwriters without representation do, he entered it in a screenplay competition. Land ended up placing in the top 50 scripts in the 2016 Nicholl Screenwriting Fellowship. Fortunately for Chatham, Lora Kennedy, then the V.P. of casting at Warner Bros., was a reader that year. She was really moved by the script and wanted to produce. She contacted Chatham and they started to work together. 

Eventually, Robin Wright was brought in to just direct at first. Writer Erin Dignam came on board and things started to take shape.      

Chatham has this advice for screenwriters. “If you want to write, nothing can stop you. We’re all kind of out in the desert as writers. There’s a lot of silence when you write. Agents and managers don’t care, no one is calling you back. My wife has been amazing, she’s always been on board with this path and has always believed in me, even when I haven’t. I’m very fortunate to have someone like her on this journey.” 

He also says he’s feeling better about his mortality now. “I’m 47 and I’ve already accomplished something I’m really proud of. I hope more success will follow, but you never know, right? This is a game, and you don’t control most of the variables. But I feel good, I feel like I did what I was supposed to do – pursue the art, pursue the dream – and I got some success here.”

Land is now in theaters. 

Shanee 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 'Land' Screenwriter on His Magical Hollywood Journey at Age 47 appeared first on ScreenCraft.

The new rom-com The Right One, written and directed by Ken Mok, is a charming addition to the genre that uses one character’s painful past to create tension between the two main characters, Sara (Cleopatra Coleman), a novelist struggling with writer’s block, and Godfrey (Nick Thune), an oddball showman who reinvents himself day to day, sometimes hour to hour. It's Godfrey’s fear of revealing his true self that keeps the sweethearts apart until the end of the movie. 

But The Right One didn’t start out as a rom-com. Here’s the story of how one man’s unique skill set allowed him to successfully change film genres while shooting. 

Writer/director Ken Mok, who’s had a long, successful career producing unscripted television shows (aka reality TV) like America’s Next Top Model, decided that he really wanted to challenge himself creatively by writing a feature film. After writing five or six specs, he wrote a dark drama about the Godfrey and Sara characters mentioned above. After trying to find his voice as a writer for about 18 years, he was finally able to find producers interested in bringing his screenplay to the big screen.     

But according to Mok, something really interesting happened when he started shooting. 

“The woman who plays Sara, Cleopatra Coleman, really surprised me with her ability at comedy,” he says. “There’s a scene in the movie where she runs into her ex-boyfriend in the park and he introduces her to his new wife. That was the third day I was shooting with Cleo and she was so funny in that scene. It’s one of the funniest scenes in the movie! She so shocked me with what she was able to bring to that scene, that I told her, ‘You are literally changing the tone of the movie because I didn’t know you could do this!”

Mok made a big, bold decision to rewrite the role of Sara during production to best take advantage of Coleman’s comedic ability. Luckily, the new take on the character only complemented the quirky comedy brought by leading man Nick Thune, the comic relief from Iliza Shlesinger, who plays Sara’s literary agent, and the deadpan deliveries from David Koechner, who plays Godfrey’s boss. By tweaking one character, voila! Mok now found himself the proud new director of a rom-com. 

“The darker aspects of the film,” says Mok, “kind of went away and got buried. You now had this fun, sweet romantic comedy.” Though Mok was really under the gun doing a rewrite while shooting, he says, “It was a fun, exhilarating challenge because I didn’t really have to change the structure of the film, I just had to tweak Sara’s character.”

Writer/director Ken Mok and Cleopatra Coleman behind the scenes of "The Right One" (Credit: Lionsgate)

After watching the film, I can wholly agree that moving toward comedy was the right choice to make for this movie. I have to commend Mok for recognizing that going in this bold new direction would better serve the film. Not many first-time writer/directors would have the instinct (or the chutzpah) to move forward with such a big change on the fly. But that’s the kind of confidence that 20 years of producing unscripted television can give you. 

“You would think there’s no overlap between the unscripted world and the scripted world, but there is a remarkable overlap,” Mok says, mostly because when you’re directing a film, you’re not just working with the camera and the actors, you’re also running the production. “When you’re shooting in the unscripted world, you never know what’s going to happen. You end up putting out a lot of fires. Your cast may drop out. You may get kicked out of your location. Crazy things can happen, you just never know because you’re shooting reality. Over the years, I was trained not to panic when I had to put out fires. So when anything unexpected happens on set, you roll with it,” he says.

Mok’s skills also came into play by trusting the actors to go off-script. 

“In the unscripted world, you’re always improvising if things aren’t working out. Let’s try plan B, let’s try plan C. So that translated directly to the film when I was improvising with the actors.” Mok says he never felt threatened if the actors didn’t stick to the script, it was something that he welcomed. “You get the best work that way. Your actors feel empowered and they know you’re listening to them and that you appreciate their input. It made for a really great dynamic,” he says.      

Mok’s advice for up-and-coming screenwriters is very practical: keep writing.

“If you have really good content and you bang on enough doors to get people to read it, it will be found. Everybody wants content. Everybody wants good content. And right now is the best time in the history of entertainment because everybody’s a filmmaker now. You can take your iPhone and take a screenplay that you’ve written, if it’s a very personal, intimate thing, you can go shoot it and edit it yourself for nothing and enter it in film festivals and get seen that way.”

Mok says that in some ways, he wishes he was coming up in the film business now because, “The opportunities to get your stuff made and the outlets that want content are exploding.”

The Right One opens in theaters on Feb. 5 and will be available On Demand and on digital Feb. 9

The post The Right One’s Surprising Journey from Dark Drama to Charming Rom-Com 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.

Nick won the ScreenCraft 2020 Film Fund with Riccardo Servini for A Space in Time, a feature documentary response to the diagnosis of his two sons, Theo and Oskar, with Duchenne muscular dystrophy, a fatal muscle-wasting disease. It will be released by Bohemia Media in February 2021.

Nick was kind enough to share some of his experiences as a producer and screenwriter as well as advice on how he approaches sharing such a personal story. Here's how to approach personal projects and get the funding you need to get your next project off the ground.

https://vimeo.com/461863588/3afde3842f

What advice do you have for screenwriters that want to tell a deeply personal story in their screenplay?

The key is to ensure that if you do write something deeply personal, you think of the audience also. It’s very easy for such work to come off as either emotional catharsis or self-indulgence, so it’s about harnessing your unique and heartfelt experience into something that will nevertheless resonate with audiences. 'Why would someone else, who does not know me, want to sit through this?' Keep on asking this question as you write.

How much of yourself and your experiences do you put into your writing?

Quite a bit, as such material often possesses a far greater authenticity: write what you know.

Are there any other writers or screenwriters that you look to for inspiration?

There’s a wonderful book about creative writing called “The Gift: Creativity and the Artist in the Modern World" by Lewis Hyde, which I often refer to. It helps a lot when you’re writing for a reason or purpose, beyond simply making a living. You need something bigger than yourself and your immediate needs to be driving you.

What's the first thing you do when you "finish" a screenplay?

Start picking holes in it, as it’s never finished, and will then become something else when a director, heads of department and actors get hold of it.

How has the filmmaking and screenwriting industry changed over the past 5 or 10 years? Do you see any interesting or exciting trends emerging for new and indie writers and creators?

Curiously, it seems that short-form is/was a false dawn, as shown by the recent demise of Quibi, and the explosion of long-form streaming series, both scripted and non-scripted. I’m deeply relieved about this, as good storytelling does need space and time — an important antidote to the fast-paced world we live in.

How has your experience as a producer affected your writing? Do you write with production in mind or does that come later?

Yes, as I spent many years writing for myself first and foremost, only to find that what I had worked on did not have a meaningful audience. It also helps to know how much things cost, to write with budget in mind, which need not hamper creativity but rather the opposite, force you to be even more creative.

What's the best way to secure funding for emerging screenwriters without representation?

Keep on writing, hone your craft. If you stick at it, you’ll get there.

Do you have a personal story you want to tell on the big screen? Enter your screenplay into the ScreenCraft Film Fund Competition in partnership with BondIt Media Capital for a chance to win up t0 $30,000 for your film project.

The post How to Approach Passion Projects & Personal Screenplays: Advice from a BAFTA Nominated Producer 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.

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.

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.

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.

The ScreenCraft audience posed questions to Oscar-nominated screenwriter and animator, Jim Capobianco.  These are questions from our ScreenCraft Facebook audience that Jim answered after our 1-hour live interview.  This is a follow-up to our popular piece with Jim here: Writing for Animation: Jim Capobianco Shares 4 Habits of Successful Screenwriters

Jim is a screenwriter and story artist who has worked for both Disney and Pixar on projects such as The Lion King, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, A Bug's Life, Toy Story 2, Monsters, Inc., Finding Nemo, and Ratatouille.

Jim Capobianco is also a judge for the 2020 ScreenCraft Animation Screenplay Competition

 

Stephanie asked: "Do writers spec animation screenplays have a chance, or is it just a good "calling card" for them... Or are Animation screenplays typically always a director's concept, then writers are approached as you mentioned.”

Jim Capobianco: At Pixar, the writers they consider have generally not written for animation. I am not sure how that works in the world outside of Pixar. I would think Disney would be the same. ( it all being the same company and Disney having adopted much of Pixar’s methodology when the merger happened)  But I don’t know for Dreamworks, Sony  or Netflix.  What I would say is write a good story. If you see it as animation that’s fine but don’t worry about that. It may be obvious because it is about a family of space unicorns or something but mainly create compelling characters getting into and then out of a tough situation.

Tess asked: "In your opinion, what are the key ingredients for a successful animated kids movie? What do all the good ones (like Ratatouille!) have in common?”

Jim Capobianco: It is the same as any movie really. You have to get out of your head kid’s movie or animated kid’s movie. I mean some great live-action films for kids could have been wonderful in animation. Like Babe or even something like Harry Potter could have been done in animation. In the right hands - could be pretty amazing. I get asked all the time why make this or that in animation? Well that question really doesn’t hold water. Because I, the creator, see it as animation. That’s really it. Think of it this way - a picture of a boat.  You can have a  photo of a boat, a realistic painting of a boat, an abstract painting of a boat made of cubes and line, a cartoony version of a boat, a child's drawing of a boat. They are all essentially a picture of a boat. Same with stories. Look at Disney taking everything that they have ever made in animation ( and at one time fully believed that they were making these films in animation because that was the way they should be made! ) and now they are turning them into Live-action. Even the Lion King. Although that is actually just it being reanimated in a realistic way - nothing “Live-action” about it.  So what makes a good film for kids animated or otherwise - the same thing that makes a good film for adults. Compelling, flawed characters in unusual or difficult situations, trying to muddle through and figure out and overcome the obstacles thrown in their way on their journey toward a goal to right their world again only to find they are someplace better or that they failed ( though that last part is rarely in a kids film or a Hollywood film )  and often kids as protagonists are many times the agents of change in a world of flawed adults.

Marsden asked: "Do you, yourself still feel for the characters & get emotional during the movies you work on or do you just "get used to it" since you work on it for so long?”

Jim Capobianco: It is hard to. You have to put yourself in a mental place to just enjoy the film and try to watch it with fresh eyes. Good to get fresh opinions throughout the process. Don’t show your script or film to all of your pals at once. Hold some in reserve for later on down the line to get their fresh feedback later in the game.  When the film is done you can never really enjoy it like other people do.  There are usually too many memories associated with the making of the film. But I enjoy them in a different way, as a life experience, you find a certain satisfaction that the film was finished and well received and hopefully a real joy to work on and work with the people who made it together. So it is emotional in a different sense.

Liz asked: "What tips can you offer to make animated films just as entertaining for adults as children, ie. friendly for the whole family?”

Jim Capobianco: Again make it for yourself. Make films you would have wanted to see when you were a kid or for that kid still in you. It will invariably turn out enjoyable for adults too. Don’t be afraid to put in stuff that kids won’t readily understand,  as long as it isn’t integral to the plot or the understanding of the film as a whole experience, kids like not being talked down to and feeling like they are treated with respect, so something above their comprehension is okay - since frankly a lot in their world is out of there comprehension. They then can discover these stories all over again when they are older and get more out of them. But of course you have to give them stuff that will entertain them and make them want to see the film. Space unicorns or something.

Pratima asked: "How do you handle situations when a collaborator (at any part of the filmmaking process) interprets or realizes parts of that story in a way that you're not totally on board with?”

Jim Capobianco: This all depends on what roll you have in the process and what role your collaborator has. If you are a writer you probably don’t have much you can say if  an executive or the producer takes things in a different direction. Depending on your relationship with the director you can explain your thought process, your intent of what you were going for. This incidentally is why Billy Wilder, who started out as a writer, eventually went into directing and producing. He got fed up with directors screwing up his stories.  If you can influence the situation you should try. If you really can’t then let it go and move on. You have to realize you are hopefully more of an artist, writer , then this one script or film. You will create more and hopefully on the next one you’ll have more say.

Kavika asked: "For writing action and description, how much is too much? Should we avoid writing facial expressions and elaborate action sequences?”

Jim Capobianco: Just enough to keep the narrative flow moving. Only a facial expression if it is essential to the story being told, otherwise that is what the actors will bring to it.  The best way to learn this is to read a god awful number of scripts that are by writers of films you like. See what they did to describe that scene, that action etc. Try to get the production script and not the published book form script - since that may have been compiled by someone watching the finished film.

Leyla: "Do you typically juggle multiple projects or do you like to focus on one project at a time? Additionally, how is the creative process like when the director has a different opinion from you?”

Jim Capobianco: Yes oh yes. But that is me.  I do believe you have to bore into your main project and really focus in on it but I have to have a release valve and go exploring on another island for a bit,  if anything clear my head. Usually the other projects are in other stages. Like an outline, or research or treatment or for me doodling stuff. I think it helps the other projects frankly.

As for the second question - The director is the boss but depending on your relationship with him or her you can try to present your case and see if they’ll see it your way. It is always good to present a solution and to try to figure out why they have an issue with what you initially presented. But don’t get stuck on it. Be flexible and adjust. Oftentimes, I have found their idea makes you think in a new way and you come up with a solution that is even better.

John Sayles used to say sometimes you are a carpenter and sometimes you are the architect. When you are a carpenter you help to create something really beautiful, you use your craft to see someone else's plan through and that is a job well done and satisfying. And you go home at night knowing this. When you are the architect all the responsibility is on your shoulders but it is your vision that will be crafted by the carpenters. You can take satisfaction in orchestrating all of this talent toward a goal. But if the building falls down or critics or the public think it is ugly, well that is all on you. And the praise of course too. So just keep that in mind working with directors, being a director or being a carpenter.

Colleen asked: "How many drafts of the script on average do you see between the start of production and the final product?”

Jim Capobianco: As many as it takes. It is never one or two for sure.

Nancy asked: "Can you recommend a script to read along with a film to see the execution of it on screen?”

Jim Capobianco: Any really that appeal to you and is in your wheelhouse of what you want to write. I personally like William Goldman’s work, Billy Wilder, Robert Towne . If you haven’t you should read - own -  William Goldman’s two books on screenwriting. "Adventures in the Screen Trade" and "What Lie Did I tell You?"

Omneya asked: "Hi, I have written an adventure fantasy to be live action, but many people who read it said it could also be an animation. How should I decide what best serves my story, especially with seeing many animations being remade into live action nowadays?”

Jim Capobianco: I don’t know. Do you get to decide this? Unless you are the producer, currently what your script is, is a bunch of words assembled in a way that tell a story in a movie format. Whether it is animation or live-action is irrelevant. If you are looking to get an agent or sell it, you might want to put on the title page “an adventure fantasy” and leave it at that. Let whomever becomes interested in it decide how to produce it. Then you have expanded your potential customer base.

The post More Questions with Screenwriter and Animation Artist Jim Capobianco 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.

ScreenCraft: Where are you originally from and where are you currently based?

I am from the North East England. I first studied a degree in mathematics in the Scottish Highlands before moving into the creative arts and making my way to New York City.

ScreenCraft: What is the most recent or exciting accomplishment in your writing career?

I am awarded a full scholarship to work on my stage play “Beach Break” as a screen adaptation with Kelly Edwards, Vice President of HBO's talent development and programming. I sent my work to Rocaberti Writers, and I was selected by CEO, Claire Elizabeth Terry, who has been nurturing the career of new Hollywood writers since 2016.

ScreenCraft: How long have you been writing and how did you get into writing/decide to pursue it as a career?

I have been writing all my life, the last few years professionally. It started with the classic note book in cafes, and endless dialogue in my head. Writing has been my processing tool. I have written my way out of everything including myself. Academic life was great for disciplines and deadlines, but as an artist, I needed to rinse it out. I trained as an actress. I travelled the world. I was taking photographs and heavily into visuals, essential for story telling for film. Different cultures heightened my senses and inspiration. I wrote short stories and memoirs—all great inroads to screenplay ideas—and I got feedback saying, "Okay, you can really write." I published socio-political essays on gender issues and my creative writing. I wrote for stage with Primitive Grace Theater Ensemble for two years. I was awarded scholarships and fellowships. I have no formal writing education, but I found in really living, if you don’t compromise the essence of truth, the choices you make in life situations and all the characters you meet, hold up to the needs of dramatic conflict. I was first offered a novel deal, but I was creating all these different universes—ideas for period dramas, or pockets of life I had experienced. These became the TV series bibles that I pitched to 3 Arts. My manager encouraged me to write for screen as well as stage. My first screenplay “Nanking Road” is set in 1930s Shanghai. I created a TV series called "The Subordinates." I’m new as a screenwriter, but when I create writing it gets some form of recognition immediately. Compared to the disappointment endured by actors, I only have rewarding experiences as a writer. That makes it a worthy pursuit career wise.

ScreenCraft: Before you began submitting work to competitions, what were your goals as a writer and what obstacles were standing in your way?

The goal of every writer is to create something into existence, to get financed, and produced. And so, the seemingly impossible task of attracting agents and managers. It's too big a step to think of at once. You need to break it down and stay close to the writing. Focus on its development and needs as a piece. The rest will come. It’s also difficult to get people to read anything as a new writer. Writing for stage helped me because you’re thrown into the action with your actors. You get the work up on its feet and people hear it. You can establish yourself quicker. It also helped me develop a stronger ear for rewriting. Often, it’s not until I hear the actors read, do I get hold of my scene's structure. I often remove repetition I didn’t hear writing. I cannot recommend enough getting your work read in a weekly workshop. I recently got to workshop with playwright Michele Lowe at the Dramatist Institute on The Art of Rewriting—fantastic experience for a debut writer.

ScreenCraft: How did submitting to and placing in writing competitions help your career?

Writing competitions are a great way to make deadlines for yourself. Having a submission deadline helps you focus to finish or move onto the next draft. You also get helpful feedback on the work before sending it to agents and managers. I was delighted to be selected for the ScreenCraft Development Program. Placing as a finalist or festival selection stamps the work with approval. It makes the industry want to read it. My short play was a finalist at Catalyst Content festival and quarter-finalist for ScreenCraft. It was then a recipient of The Rohm Literary Agency scholarship where I worked with the luminous Wendy Goldman, and Margaret Atwood’s agent, Phoebe Lamore. NY Web Fest award nominated my debut screenplay twice. Small steps, but one leads to another, and that encouraged me to keep writing. I wrote my full play. It is now workshopping at The Actors Gym with Academy writer, director, producer Bobby Moresco and director Amanda Moresco, among some incredibly gifted writers.

ScreenCraft: What was the biggest turning point in your career?

Going from a mathematician to the dramatic arts and ending under the umbrella of 3 Arts. I create lots of turning points for myself. I am a multi-talented artist and I don’t like to pin my skills into one fixed career branch. I am not afraid to rip it up, and start again, or re-invent myself, or jump on unexpected opportunities. I am intuitive to my passions, but I have strong business acumen. That combination is part of being a successful artist. If you aren’t prepared to kick the doors down and do the business, why should anyone else? In an industry that has many closing doors, it is good to be flexible--even rejection is a turning point. It is exciting. My life is filled with turning points.

ScreenCraft: What is the best advice you have ever gotten or something you wish you learned sooner?

"You only need yourself to survive" adapted as "You only need yourself to write." Having already come through a gender battle in STEM where a math degree has the highest failure rate of any subject--by the end it was myself and ten boys--to then land in the entertainment industry has been tough. I wish I had known how many times I would use my time on male driven projects at the expense of my own. I might have spoken up sooner to say, “Sorry, my work is more important.” Male driven projects or narratives have this way to ingrain on our psyche as more viable. However, it’s all part of my journey. I write good power dynamics. It’s what I am becoming regarded for. I write what I never got to read in others work.

ScreenCraft: What is next for you and your career?

My play is in development but now via zoom. It’s a hard medium. I am gearing up to start my collaborations with 3 Arts. I’ve got a new job teaching playwriting with Roadmap Writers. I am also mentoring at Nostos Screenwriting retreats starting September. I always want to learn too. I dig Socrates on that front. I am headed to LA at the end of the year as a Robert Mckee screenwriting fellow. I am on an intensive directing course granted to me by TV director Rachel Feldman (Blue Bloods). Rachel is a true force. Meryl Streep is backing her latest movie on Lily Ledbetter's equal pay. She’s also one of your past ScreenCraft TV pilot finalists—see, we all love ScreenCraft! I’m not suggesting I’ll go straight into directing after lockdown, although you never know, but she helped me write my script as a director. I think all screenwriters should experience classes in directing and acting.

ScreenCraft: How have you found focus in these times?

I am not listening to the pressure we must create more in lockdown. We are flooded with intense drama and emotions. We are undergoing a cataclysmic change. Writers need to absorb their environment and process life. You have to survive first. Be easy on yourself. I am still writing every day, but without expectations. I had a short story published last week. I’ve been taking time writing letters to friends and family. I wrote a short screenplay about lockdown which was awarded the Coverfly Fee Waiver Program for 2020—thank you so much. When you take the pressure away and do little bits of writing, the big work happens next.

ScreenCraft: Any last bits of advice for aspiring writers out there?

Stop reading this, make yourself a pot of coffee, move your desk to a window, and start writing. You only need to write one line…then the next……[laughs].

Thank you for this interview!

---

You can find Joanna Pickering online at: www.joannapickering.com, and on Instagram and Twitter: @joannapickering

The post Interview with Writer Joanna Pickering appeared first on ScreenCraft.

Cargill recently posted an eight tip crash course on how to write a horror movie. And he spoke with ScreenCraft’s Tom Dever in a ScreenCraft AMA via Facebook Live, in which he revealed enlightening pointers and anecdotes.

Before we dive in, a fair disclaimer from Cargill himself: “As with all writing advice, your mileage will vary.”

1. If you want to scare, make us care.

The characters are the most important part. If we care about them, we’ll get scared for them. Write interesting and likable characters; preferably both.
Another way of looking at this comes straight from Cargill: “Give us unlikable characters and a cool monster and the audience will root for the killer instead. And it won't be scary - which is often why some of those films lean into realistic gore to affect the audience. If you want to scare, make us care.”

“The key to writing horror is empathy. The more we care about and like our protagonists, the more scared we will be for both them and ourselves. The more we dislike a character, the more cathartic the horror will feel, as if it is a well deserved karmic punishment.”

2. Write what scares YOU.

If clowns freak you out, write clowns. If losing your child scares you, write about that. What scares you, scares others. Use that.
This shouldn’t come as a surprise that if you’re writing a horror film, you should write what scares the hell out of you. Whether it’s spiders, cults, dolls, or cosmic terrors, if something genuinely scares you, your fear will bleed onto the page. Your authentic fear feels genuine to an audience.

Cargill describes his inspiration for writing Sinister based on a nightmare:

3. Make sure something scary happens every ten pages or so.

Any longer and the audience forgets they’re in a horror film.
Every scare beat needs to feel genuine. A “cat jump scare” is startling and only effective upon first viewing, so your horror needs to be authentic and memorable and not simply jump scares.

While Cargill gives leeway to the first act while we’re establishing characters, a horror film needs to have scares or the audience gets bored.

4. Be funny if and when you can.

Not so much that it is a comedy, but used as a tension release, the audience will reset and be ready to be scared again. Character humor often works best here.
Comedy doesn’t necessarily mean slapstick, unless it’s done really well like in EVIL DEAD II (1987) or ARMY OF DARKNESS (1992). Horror and comedy are close cousins. Both are all about set up and payoff. It’s simply the payoff that’s different (Comedy: “Haha!” Horror: “AAAAH!” )

Cargill describes how using humor between characters in SINISTER is a great buffer for scares:

5. Your main character should evolve.

If the characters aren’t changed by their exposure to scary shit, that should be the whole point of the character. We are told that characters are meant to arc or change. And horror films introduce a deadly or supernatural element to the characters, so their very survival depends on them changing their status quo. But what happens when a character DOESN’T change to the horrific force? Quite the misdirection in character.

Another bit of misdirection advice from Cargill: “The key to narrative surprise is misdirection. Not lying, misleading. Use your knowledge of how stories unfold against the audience. Make them think they are watching something familiar, THEN bring in the changeup. The audience will try to be ahead of you; use that against them.”

6. Know your audience's expectations.

If it’s science fiction, the audience will expect everything to make logical sense. If the horror is magical in origin, they will give you much more leeway.

Audiences are more picky when it comes to sci-fi movies like ALIEN (1979), THE FLY (1986), or CLOVERFIELD (2008) because their horrors are based in science fiction. The science element makes us crave a logical, sometimes manmade explanation for the creature(s) haunting us.

Yet magical horrors have unfathomable powers. Magic could mean many terror elements like ghosts, cosmic creatures, or the powers of hell. Just look at how many things the powers of hell has possessed over the years: people, dolls, vehicles, videotapes, beds, and Ash’s hand. The world of magic is unexplainable and not based in science, meaning the writer can get away with a more open-ended (or no) explanation.

And sometimes you get both worlds, like when the powers of hell take over a spaceship like in EVENT HORIZON (1997) (We’re still waiting on that unrated director's cut, PAUL.)

7. Character's choices should make sense.

Imagine all the possible ways your character could escape any deadly situation, because the audience most assuredly will. The characters should make the most logical choice.
This has a lot to do with making your protagonist interesting and likable. We like smart people. We like survivors. So our survivors should make smart decisions. The dead meat teenagers that Freddy and Jason hack to bits make bad, immoral, or illogical decisions.

Ellen Ripley in ALIEN (1979) is a smart character. Not that her crewmates aren’t smart; they’re space truckers. But Ripley showed concern upon bringing a xenomorph-infected body aboard her ship. She made a very smart decision vetoed by her crew. We know Ripley is smart, so we identify with her and want to see her live. ALIEN could very easily been a simple slasher in space, but it’s more memorable because we have Ripley to root for. We are scared with Ripley and we survive with Ripley.

8. Horror tends to be brief.

Unless you have a lot of deep character work, aim for about 100 pages. The “one page is one minute of screen time” rule doesn’t really apply in horror because the suspenseful action tends to take longer in horror. And if you’re Ari Aster (HEREDITARY, MIDSOMMAR), you probably don’t care about page count anyway. But if you want to break in to the industry with a horror screenplay, keep it short. Not only does a modern audience expect a tight runtime on horror (and comedy), but less pages mean less scenes. And that means a lower budget. And a lower budget is attractive to studios.

Cargill says horror screenplays should be written around 90-100 pages, because the final run time is always longer than the page count. He also gives pointers on how to build tension on the page:

And those are eight tips from screenwriter C. Robert Cargill. And you can always find great advice by combing through his Twitter or listening to his podcast.

___

About the author:

Tom Radovich loves creating popcorn entertainment that Sam Raimi, Chris Columbus, and James Gunn were known for in their early days. He’s worked at Blumhouse Productions and graduated Loyola Marymount University with an MFA in Writing for the Screen in 2018. He’s also a producer and made a proof of concept short with his creative partner titled “The Graveyard Shift.” Tom was a finalist in the ScreenCraft Screenwriting Fellowship and subsequently signed with a manager at Zero Gravity.

The post 8 Horror Screenwriting Tips from the Writer of THE BLACK PHONE and SINISTER appeared first on ScreenCraft.

As you develop stories, you always need to be looking for opportunities to shake things up, inject more conflict for characters to deal with, and surprise the reader and audience. These are the elements that you need to ensure that your stories are compelling and engaging.

Things need to happen. Routine storylines do nothing more than bore the reader or audience. And because of this truth, you're going to have to find story points and plot devices to make your story and characters more interesting and impactful.

And there's no more compelling and engaging plot device than killing off a major lead or supporting character.

Here we share ten simple and straightforward reasons you should consider killing someone off within your story.

Beware of spoilers!

1. To Add Stakes to Your Story

The best screenplays and novels showcase genuine stakes that your characters must face. Stakes inject more conflict into the story — and conflict is everything when it comes to an engaging and compelling screenplay or novel.

If the reader or audience doesn't feel like any of your major characters are going to be in harm's way (stakes), their investment within the ongoing drama isn't going to be that strong. And when they're not invested, you're not doing your job as a writer.

Killing off a major character can show that the villain, antagonist, or threat means business. They or it isn't going to let anyone off the hook. When you create that tension by killing off a character that the reader or audience has grown to love or empathize with, you're creating an atmosphere of uncertainty that drives the narrative and raises the stakes of your story.

2.  To Inject Empathy

Empathy is a vital part of storytelling. You want to affect the people that are experiencing your stories. And the easiest way to accomplish that is by having them live vicariously through your protagonists. One of the strongest emotions is sorrow. When someone loses somebody close, the sorrow they feel is deep. And that is something that everyone can relate to.

When you kill off a parent, grandparent, sibling, mentor, best friend, or peer, people empathize with the loss of that character, as well as with those that mourn them.

3. To Create Catharsis

Catharsis is the feeling we feel after the resolution of the story and the protagonist’s overall journey. It is what we feel when we leave that theater, finish that episode, or close that book.

How are you going to affect the reader or audience enough for your story and your characters to stick with them when the story is finished?

Killing off a character can create a memorable cathartic experience.

Look no further than the surprise death at the end of Seven.

That revelation shocked audiences and left an unsettling feeling. We feel remorse. We feel the protagonist's loss. And that cathartic experience stays with us.

4. To Add Tragedy and Despair to Your Story

Maybe your story is too light? Maybe it lacks in stakes? Maybe things are coming to your protagonist too easily?

Tragedy and despair are powerful story elements. If you feel that your story needs a little more oomph, those two elements may just be the answer. And what is more tragic than the death of a beloved character?

5. To Add a Twist

Audiences love twists. And what better way to shock the reader or audience than to kill off one of your main characters?

Plot twists allow the writer to change the trajectory of the story. It is less of a reset or redirection than a shakeup and wakeup call to make sure that everyone is awake, engaged, and invested.

For film and television, audiences crave surprises. They love what lurks in the shadows. They love the unknown. And when you kill off a major character unexpectedly, it's a twist that forces them to experience the unknown consequences and repercussions of what has just happened. And that is a thrill.

6. To Avoid Complacency as a Writer

You may very well have a solid plot with interesting characters, but complacency is the writer's worst trap to fall within.

Any good writer can plot a story together, taking a character or group of characters from Point A to Point Z. But the best writers know how to challenge themselves.

Take a look at your screenplay or novel and challenge yourself by asking, "What would happen if I killed X character?" 

This type of question should create several branches of story possibilities within your imagination as you consider the many different story trajectories that could come about as a result of a character being killed off.

And those different branches and trajectories are what allow you to grow as a writer. You'll analyze. You'll imagine. You'll problem-solve. All because you got out of your plot comfort zone by killing off a character.

7. To Increase Emotion

Yes, empathy is an emotion that you want the reader or audience to experience within your story. But the emotions of your characters are the doors that they can take to experience that empathy.

When you kill a character off, you open yourself up to the opportunity of showcasing the emotions of the other characters dealing with that loss.

And those emotions they feel can be very telling.

Characters could be glad, mad, or sad. The death could rock their world or challenge them in different ways.

The easiest way to create emotion within a character is to present them with something immediate and tragic. The death of a family member, friend, or foe will present the best opportunity to inject a lot of emotion within your story.

8. To Create, Turn, or Complete an Arc

Where would Carl's character arc be without the death of his soulmate?

Where would Luke Skywalker's character arc turn without the death of his mentor?

Where would Frodo's character arc be completed without the death of Sauron?

Character deaths can create, turn, or complete the character arc of your protagonists.

9. To Offer a Sense of Justice

Remember, readers and audiences live vicariously through the experiences of your protagonists. That's one of the primary purposes of reading or watching a story unfold.

They empathize with your characters. And because many characters in stories are dealing with a conflict that involves an antagonist, villain, or threat that threatens their ordinary world, by the end of the story, people want to feel that justice is served.

The death of an antagonist, villain, or threat offers them that, which also leads to that cathartic ending you want them to experience and take home with them.

Studios and production companies read so many screenplays that make the mistake of keeping those bad guys alive at the end — either to create a sense that a sequel could be born or to leave the audience theoretically wanting more. Don't make that same mistake.

Give your characters, your readers, and your audience the justice they deserve.

10. To Give Closure

Sometimes a character needs to die. And sometimes, the story needs to move on.

If you have a character that has served their purpose within the story, killing them off can be a natural — but strong — way to offer closure to their story.

If you have a protagonist that has made major sacrifices for the greater good, sometimes the best closure to their story is the ultimate sacrifice.

And, yes, justice is always the best form of closure in the end when you're dealing with the death of the threat or bad guy.

These ten reasons you should kill a character off should teach you how to develop, evolve, and enhance your storytelling skills.

Kill your darlings.

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 10 Reasons to Consider Killing Your Main Character appeared first on ScreenCraft.

Where were you as a writer before entering?

Before entering, I was 3,000 miles away from anyone in Los Angeles who could help me get my foot in the door. I had no access and no affirmation that what I was writing was good, let alone good enough to get me representation. At that point, I was living in Richmond, Virginia. I was a journalism professor at Virginia Commonwealth University, and did some freelancing for the NBC affiliate in town, as well. I'd write pilot scripts in my spare time in the back of news vans and in my office at VCU.

How did you feel about competitions BEFORE placing?

Truth be told, I didn’t have any opinion of them whatsoever. I viewed them as a possible avenue to get some traction in an industry I knew next to nothing about. After doing some research, I found a few competitions that seemed to be reputable.

What changed for you after getting some wins?

So much changed! I can say, with 100% honesty, that my entire life changed after winning. Before winning, I was in Richmond, Virginia. Next thing I knew, I was taking generals at all these companies I would’ve never dreamed of stepping foot into – Bad Robot, Scott Free, Appian Way. None of that would’ve happened without winning.Now that I've signed with 3Arts, I can safely say that wouldn't have happened without screenwriting contests.

What would you say to somebody on the fence about using competitions as a mechanism to break in?

I’d say as with anything in life, you need to do some research, get educated, and proceed with both caution and moderation. There’s a sense from some that the contest route is a cottage industry, a gimmick to get as much money from you as possible. I’d say that’s partially true – there are a whole gaggle of insincere and wasteful contests who only exist to stroke your ego and deprive you of your hard-earned money. However, there are a select few who strive to get you access to the mechanisms, managers, agents and execs who can help you achieve your goals. Those are the ones you need to focus on.

Any words of inspiration or advice you wish someone had given you?

Write the thing you wish already existed! I’ve always tried to write things I think haven’t been done, or with plots that would get me excited if I heard about it.

In addition to that, always take your time when making big decisions – about moving to a new town, about who to sign with, about which projects to tackle next. There’s always a palpable sense of excitement when an opportunity arises, and it’s almost immediately followed by a palpable sense of fear. Fear that maybe you aren’t ready, or that if you take too much time to think about it, the opportunity will pass you by. But I’ll tell you this: if someone is considering you for something, there is never any harm in waiting an extra day or two.

And, finally, find your group of trusted writer/reader friends who you seek feedback from on a daily basis. They can be a variety. I have 10-12 people I trust to read my work before I officially submit it to anyone, and they run the gamut: some are in the industry, some aren't. Some have never written a script in their lives. Two are novelists. One works in marketing on the east coast. Another was an editor on an Oscar-nominated film. Find - your - group!

Check out more ScreenCraft success stories here! 

The post Interview with ScreenCraft Winner Sean Collins-Smith appeared first on ScreenCraft.

Showrunner Tze Chun spent years in the trenches as an ultra-low-budget filmmaker and constantly shares inspiring filmmaking lessons on Twitter.

Before becoming the showrunner of Gremlins (WarnerMedia) and a writer/producer/director on shows including Gotham (FOX) and Once Upon A Time (ABC), Tze made short films on a shoestring and received more than his fair share of rejection before finally finding success at Sundance. 

Enjoy these snippets from Tze’s inspiring journey, and remember: don’t ever give up!

Don’t be afraid to start small. 

“15 years ago, I directed a short film called Windowbreaker. The budget was $600, I shot it in my childhood home, and the crew consisted of 3 people, including my producer who also acted in the movie. My mom acted in the movie. I rented the $70 lighting kit from the rental place where I rented lights for my high school senior project.” 

Don’t let lack of money keep you from chasing your dream.

“After graduating from college, I made a schedule for myself to write and direct a no-budget short film every six months and write a feature film every nine months in lieu of going to grad school, which was too expensive. At the time, I painted portraits and authored DVDs as a main source of income… In the years since graduating, I made ten short films [before Windowbreaker]. That’s ten films that I’d begged my friends to crew on for no pay.” 

Rejection is part of the game. 

“…I went through the arduous process of writing, casting, shooting, editing, and submitting to festivals. And not one of them was accepted to a single film festival. Not one. Meaning, I had nothing to show for all this work. Every waking day was filled with anxiety. I woke up every night torturing myself about whether I was doing the right thing and feeling that I had failed at my intended profession.

…You get a lot of rejections and there is no one career path, so you never know if you’re doing the right thing. There’s a lot of confusion and dejection that you’ll experience along the way. But I’m thankful for the years where I was so worried, dejected, and disheartened. Because it makes me appreciate the career that I have now.”

It’s often darkest before the dawn. 

“When we started submitting Windowbreaker to festivals, it seemed like the same thing that happened to my previous shorts would happen with this one. Over the first six months, we received over 25 rejections. There were days where I’d open my mailbox and find two or even three rejections sitting there on top of each other. At this point, this was business as usual, and so I just started working on my next short. 

But then, we were accepted to the Woods Hole and Woodstock Film Festival, and in November of 2006 I got a call from Sundance programmer Kim Yutani and found out we had been accepted to the 2007 Sundance Film Festival.” 

Take advantage of your opportunities when they come. 

“This short was the first thing that opened doors and helped me meet people in the film industry. I got my first manager at Sundance, and he got me my first television job. A year later I made a feature film based on this short called Children of Invention, which played at Sundance in 2009. On the festival circuit with Windowbreaker I met my longtime producer Mynette Louie, who produced Children of Invention and my second feature Cold Comes the Night. Looking back, every opportunity that I’ve had in film and television happened because of this little $600 short film.” 

Be sure you're ready when opportunity knocks!  Check out our free eBook:

Don’t give up. 

“I know a lot of people who are trying to make headway in the film industry…and I know firsthand that this career path is at times a terrible, lonely, hard thing to try to accomplish. There are a lot of people out there who are struggling to carve out a place in the film industry as a writer or director. And for those people I want to say—it doesn’t matter how many times you’ve been turned down or rejected. It doesn’t matter if you’ve been grinding away for years with nothing tangible to show for it. 

You’re only ever one piece of material away from getting your foot in the door. 

So don’t give up.” 

Rebecca Norris is a producer, writer, and filmmaker with her production company, Freebird Entertainment. Her recent award-winning feature film, Cloudy With a Chance of Sunshine, has been distributed on Amazon Streaming and DVD. Rebecca is also a script analyst and consultant who has read for many companies, including Sundance, ScreenCraft, Bluecat, and the International Emmys, as well as her own script consultancy, Script Authority. Rebecca blogs for ScreenCraft, The Script Lab, WeScreenplay and Script Magazine, exploring the film writing and production process and encouraging writers to produce their own work. Follow Rebecca’s posts on Twitter at @beckaroohoo!

Tze Chun Photo Credit: Gabriela Herman

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The post 6 Inspiring Filmmaking Lessons from Tze Chun appeared first on ScreenCraft.

Animation allows the writer a broad creative canvas to paint with words. With less tension on budget, not only can you make a Rick and Morty-inspired psychedelic trip through alternate dimensions, but you can also include locations and scenarios that most producers would scoff at. 

Two characters fighting over a single parachute while a burning plane is plummeting to the ground is much easier to pull off with a visual artist, for everyone except that visual artist. Every description that makes the page requires hours of labor by their hands. 

It’s important to keep that in mind before giving in to the need to write out every detail. Just as it’s important to not overdue acting and camera directions in your descriptions, you should also leave some white space for the visual artist to work their magic as well. 

As exciting and tempting as it may be to go wild with mind-blowing, visually abstract explosions, a writer’s first job is to stick to the story — and stories have structure.  

More info coming soon  |  Remind Me

Format and Structure of an Animated Sitcom

If you read an animated script, you might be a little confused. After all, how is a 51-page script reduced to thirty minutes or less of screen time? Shouldn’t half-hour sitcoms be around 22-25 pages if one page = one minute?

The answer is double-spaced dialogue. The practice comes from the era of radio and makes it easier for voice actors to perform as they read, as well as to provide room for additional notes. Most screenwriting software has templates that can utilize this formatting.

The animated sitcom isn’t as rigid as its live-action counterpart when it comes to sticking with a set structure. With the rising popularity of streaming content, where the rules aren’t as stringent on a writer, we see more deviation from the norm. 

Regardless of differing structures, every sitcom generally adheres to the same principles. Some use a cold open and tag, some don’t. The writer is granted more creative license when it comes to animation structuring.

Take a look at the structures of these animated sitcoms.

Family Guy:

Cold Open: 3 pages

Act One: 18 pages

Act Two: 15.5 pages

Act Three: 15.5 pages

BoJack Horseman:

Cold Open: 3.5 pages

Act One: 11.5 pages

Act Two: 7.5 pages

Act Three: 12 pages

King of the Hill:

Act One: 19 pages

Act Two: 15 pages

Act Three: 11.5 pages

Even though the structure of these sitcoms varies, most episodes are made up of the same formula. The show generally adheres to this formula throughout the series. Like the structure, the formula depends on the show — but in episodic shows where each episode provides a new adventure, we often find the same characters getting sucked into the same situations.

For a more in-depth look at how to structure television scripts, check out Ken Miyamoto’s article The Screenwriter’s Simple Guide to Formatting Television Scripts.

'King of the Hill'

Sticking to the Formula

Every show has its own formula.  

If you look at Rick and Morty, you’ll see the same formula play out in most episodes. The writers don’t separate the cold open like Family Guy or BoJack Horseman, but the episodes usually start out with a sequence that acts as one. There will usually be a quick quip between Jerry and Rick or the episode might even start during the climax of a prior adventure. After the brief introduction, Rick usually drags Morty to the garage where they set off the episode’s next adventures. 

There is often a central location where the characters come together to start the episode. In South Park, it’s typically the bus stop or school. In Bob’s Burgers, it’s the restaurant or kitchen table. The characters are central to the story, as opposed to the story being central to the characters like in serial animation.

Serial animation is different in that they don’t always stick to a formula. They are still structured similarly though. Shows such as Castlevania, Attack on Titan, and Death Note are still 20-25 minute episodes with beginnings, middles, and ends — but the story always moves forward from one episode to the next like any live-action series.

Read More: 5 Screenwriting Tips from 'Family Guy' Showrunners

Characterization

Characters in animated sitcoms often exhibit the same traits throughout the series without deviating much from their central role. They are archetypes that embody certain dominant character traits.  

Homer Simpson will always be clumsy, underachieving, and simple. Eric Cartman will always be mean-spirited and manipulative. Viewers come to expect Quagmire to be overtly sexual because sitcoms rely on familiarity. We return for new episodes because we love the antics of our favorite characters, maybe because they aren’t afraid to flaunt their flaws on their sleeves.

Even in individual episode arcs where characters fight against their flaws, they often fail miserably after a brief period of positive change. After the brief redemption, they resume their former role — accepting their true self. Bart Simpson might do something good and heartfelt for Lisa, but in the end, he’s still the same Bart Simpson. 

'The Simpsons'

The Heart of the Story

The biggest key to strong adult animation is that, well, it centers around adult themes. In more grounded sitcoms such as F Is For Family, the humor is found in the very real universal struggles of adulthood. A writer should always try and strike upon a wide range of emotional triggers when navigating harsh realities. The sweetest laughter often comes when tears are still wet on your cheeks. 

Animation geared toward children is also becoming more mature. Inside Out deals with the mental fragility of a child going through adolescence. Zootopia explores themes of social injustice and discrimination. Up strikes a chord with all audiences as it deals with the loss of a loved one and how to embrace the remaining time we’re blessed with. 

Even if your script is kid-centric, it’s important to bridge the gap between audiences of all ages. Don’t be afraid to tackle complex issues.

Animated Shorts

As with live-action, the animated short is a stepping stone for filmmakers to reach the next level: the feature. The category has been revered since Pixar burst onto the scene and digital animation made its way to the forefront. 

Now, even Disney+ has rolled out a large selection of critically-acclaimed shorts. Other streaming services are bound to follow. YouTube and Vimeo offer platforms for filmmakers to showcase their work to the world. The accessibility of self-promotion has never been wider.

'Bao'

The beauty here is that you can really let your imagination run wild because you don’t have to keep your viewer’s attention for an entire hour and a half. With a shorter run-time, you can tell a story through metaphors and still make a considerable emotional impact with a viewer. The characters don’t even need to speak. 

I never really bought into the old adage, “It’s not about what you know, it’s about who you know.” 

I’ve always thought that it’s not only about what AND who you know — it’s about what you’ve done. Teaming up with an up-and-coming visual artist to create an animated short could be a worthwhile investment of time and resources for any aspiring filmmaker hoping to make waves in the world of animation. 

Animated Features

Features also provide the writer with greater license to let their imagination fly. Spiderman: Into the Spiderverse is unique in that it combines several different artistic styles through the lens of a layered collage, which really reflects the feel of a moving comic book. Pop art meets pulp and the result is a dizzyingly brilliant array of visuals that breaks film-making conventions. Despite the amazing visuals, the story was still key.

Spirited Away, A Scanner Darkly, and Waltz with Bashir are also features that not only expand the imagination but also tackle tough adult themes of loss, war, and drug addiction. In documentaries, animation is often used to depict an event the filmmakers don’t have access to. Like in Searching for Sugarman, we see an animated scene of the protagonist walking through the snow instead of trying to reenact it with live-action actors. 

You can also blend live-action and animation, either in a Who Framed Roger Rabbit or Space Jam capacity where cartoons are interacting with humans, or in a more nuanced way like Terence Nance’s 2012 feature An Oversimplification of Her Beauty, which uses animation to reflect the mental state of the protagonist after being stood up for a date. By utilizing animation, Nance was able to personify feelings with symbolic illustration through the use of different animation techniques including claymation, stop-action, and digital graphics.

'Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse'

Past, Present, & Future

Present-day animation owes much of its success to the late-night programming of the early to mid-’90s, which brought shows such as Aeon Flux, Daria, and South Park to an unsuspecting public. The paradigm shifted.

These late-night shows ushered in a new way of telling stories that young adults flocked to, proving that animation isn’t reserved for children. 

Animation will continue to dominate our consciousness. We’ve advanced far beyond the walls of caves. Now, technology has made animation more accessible than ever. The tools are there — use them. 

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

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The post The Screenwriter's Approach to Adult Animation appeared first on ScreenCraft.

Not only is it an impressive streak of acclaimed hits, but they all focus on biography, to which McCarten acknowledges a bit tongue-in-cheek: “It’s turning into a very strange Mount Rushmore -- Freddy [Mercury] and the Pope and Stephen Hawking and Churchill.”

McCarten recently stopped by The Filmmakers Podcast where he talked about his process, his recent success, and the way he approaches writing about real-life people. Below are a few insightful tips taken from the conversation.

ScreenCraft is proud to sponsor this episode of The Filmmakers Podcast, which you can listen to below.

1. Don’t take inspiration for granted.

Inspiration can arise in the unlikeliest of moments as McCarten found during one vacation day in Rome. One thought led to another and McCarten knew he had to jump on his idea, which led to the writing of The Two Popes. “Winding back the clock about four years ago, I happened to be in Rome on a vacation, found myself in St. Peter’s Square,” he remembers. “And as fate should have it… Pope Francis was giving an open-air Mass… and having been raised Catholic in quite an intensely Catholic family, I knew about the other Pope, as well, the German Pope, the Shadow Pope, who had done the unthinkable and resigned in 2013. And the question sprang into my mind: 'when was the last time a Pope resigned?'... So I Googled it... And it was one of those … 'holy shit' moments, where you go, 'okay there must be a story here because the number that came up was 700 years. 700 years since a Pope resigned.' And I thought, 'why would the most traditional Pope of the modern era… have done the most untraditional thing imaginable and resigned?'”

2. Turning real life into drama with a capital D.

When McCarten first sat down to tackle The Two Popes, he zeroed in on differences, the parallels, and what unites us -- finding drama within something that, on first glance, may seem somewhat mundane.

“I started to see … a debate between these two [Pope Benedict and Pope Francis]. One a conservative, Cardinal Ratzinger who became Pope Benedict, and Cardinal Bergoglio from Argentina who took the name Pope Francis -- a true reformist... I thought it might even speak to the broader conversation in society between Progressives and Conservatives. We seem to be increasingly polarized, entrenched in positions, and can a middle ground be found?”

Learn how to write great movie dialogue with this free guide.

3. Research, of course. And after that, some more research.

McCarten enjoys the research process -- and a good thing, too, as it’s a must for any respectable script about an actual person’s life. “There was a lot of research,” he says. “With all these things, you’re always walking on sacred ground when you’re doing anything about historical characters but [The Two Popes] was especially sacred -- literally sacred ground… so you have to get it right. And the way you try to get it right is to absorb all the information you can -- the broad picture stuff, the political attitudes, the statements, but also then the eccentricities, the personal foibles which… give you a real insight into their deeper character.”

McCarten adds, “I’ll do more research when I’m done just to check that I have strayed too off piece.”

4. Meeting your script’s subject -- if you can.

McCarten acknowledges the great privilege he had in being able to set up meetings with some of the people he was writing about. Not the Popes, for sure, and obviously not Winston Churchill. But McCarten was able to sit down with Stephen Hawking and some members of Queen.

With Bohemian Rhapsody, McCarten says, “My first thing was I said I want to meet the band. And they said, oh they’ll be very happy to hear that because none of the other writers… at that point had spent time with the band. They had, it seemed to me, gone off on their own take without going to the horse’s mouth. I had a wonderful experience of sitting with Brian May over several days… Brian would play songs and just tell me how he put the songs together, play a few chords and then say, Freddy would suggest this…” It was a very beneficial opportunity for McCarten to learn about and gain insight on a band that he admits he wasn’t a massive fan of to start with.

But meeting your subject doesn’t always have to be because of research. Sometimes it just provides relief. “It was only a month before shooting [The Theory of Everything] that Stephen asked for a copy of the script,” McCarten recalls. “I was summoned to Cambridge and I was very nervous. [Hawking] could well have typed into his computer the words: ‘Lawyer up, dude.’ But actually he said, the ending of your film is too sweet…. And I said, ‘Well that’s Hollywood, Professor,’ and his face broke into this huge beatific smile. And so that was the blessing that we needed.”

Travis Maiuro is a screenwriter and freelance film writer whose work has appeared in Cineaste Magazine, among other publications.

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The post 4 Tips on Writing About Actual People w/ THE TWO POPES Screenwriter Anthony McCarten appeared first on ScreenCraft.

We're looking for our next recipients of the ScreenCraft Fellowship!

We had a chance to catch up with Elie and ask him about his career after winning the ScreenCraft Screenwriting Fellowship. His answers are below.

ScreenCraft: Where were you as a writer before entering the ScreenCraft Fellowship?

Elie El Choufany: I’ve always believed that preparation is the key to success. So did Alexander Graham Bell, but what does he know. Before entering the ScreenCraft Fellowship, I was in full preparation mode for the past few years. Everyone talks about developing an impressive body of work and finessing your writing skills before knocking on industry professionals’ doors, and everyone is absolutely right about that. But that’s only one part of the skill set that a screenwriter should be developing. Let’s smash cut to a montage sequence of Bruce Wayne learning the stealth ways of the ninja with the mysterious League of Shadows in Batman Begins. Classic. In between the sword sparring sequences with Ra’s al Ghul, Mr. Wayne is encouraged, if not pushed, to find his inner bat and is bestowed with wisdom while simultaneously trying to avoid having his head chopped off. I was doing that... metaphorically speaking of course.

Between constantly writing screenplays and reading scripts, books, comics, etc... and developing a growing network of support filled with fantastic filmmakers of all sorts, I was also on a different kind of journey trying to find my own inner bat: my identity as a person and as a writer in relation to my community and the film & TV industry. I believe that being a good writer gets the door opened for you, but finding your inner bat gets you the conversation.

See what past fellowship winners have to say about their experience here.

SC: How did you feel before placing in the competition?

EEC: For quite a bit of my adult life, placing in a prestigious screenwriting competition such as ScreenCraft’s Screenwriting Fellowship was the goal. In that sense, one of the main things that have changed after becoming a fellow is the goal itself.

During the spectacular whirlwind that is the ScreenCraft Fellowship, the ScreenCraft team introduced me to my manager Tom Drumm from Think Tank Management, as well as setting the fellows up with meetings with some of the biggest studios and the most influential people in the film and television industry.

This experience has genuinely filled me with so much gratitude and humility, and I am now more driven than ever to keep pushing forward. What hasn’t changed however is my passion for storytelling and my crippling addiction to coffee.

Read: Interview with ScreenCraft Fellowship Winner Staffed on QUEEN OF THE SOUTH

SC: What would you say to somebody on the fence of entering?

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The post Interview with ScreenCraft Fellowship Winner Elie El Choufany appeared first on ScreenCraft.

Kylie's feature screenplay Kinetic was a finalist in the 2019 ScreenCraft Sci-Fi and Fantasy Screenplay Contest. Her narrative short film debut, 43 Quintillion premiered in 2018 at MidWest Weird Fest, and went on to collect several accolades, including best drama short at the 2018 Sioux Empire Festival. Her latest short film, Dispel, stars Eris Baker from This Is Us and features Gina Torres of Suits and Firefly fame. The fantasy short film won best fantasy short at Comicpalooza 2019, and recently premiered in Los Angeles at the LA Shorts International Film Festival in July, with additional screenings at Indy Shorts and Bronze Lens Film Festival in August. Kylie is also a member of the Alliance of Women Directors.

We had a chance to catch up with Kylie and ask her about some of her recent success. Her answers are below.

ScreenCraft: Congrats on your recent premiere! When did you know this was a short you wanted to make and how did the team come together?  

Kylie Eaton: Dispel came to life when two ideas collided to make one greater idea. I wanted to tell a story about a young girl dealing with difficulties at home, as well as honor the impact that sci-fi and fantasy films had in my childhood. 

After writing the script, I sent it out to potential collaborators, along with some beautiful concept art created by Karla Ortiz. I looked for women at the top of their respective fields and was lucky enough to build a team of strong female filmmakers – from Producer Julia Kennelly to Composer Jesi Nelson, from Costume Designer Bree Perry to Cinematographer Natalie Kingston… and many more talented women. They each brought their own talent and ideas into Dispel.

The first two actors I approached regarding Dispel were very enthusiastic about coming on board. Eris Baker (This Is Us) plays the main role of Lizzie. She brought so much life to the character. Her dedication to the process and the ideas she came up with for Lizzie were an absolute inspiration. Meanwhile, I had Gina Torres (Pearson, Suits, Firefly) in mind from the start when writing the role of Celeste Skygood. I was honored that she agreed to bring Celeste to life. My job was pretty easy from there – since Gina is my real life superhero!

Are you looking for financing for your next project? Apply for the ScreenCraft Film Fund backed by BondIt Media Capital here.

SC: What was your writing and rewriting process like? How many drafts did it take you to get to the final draft? 

KE: I love the rewriting process on a short film – mostly because it’s so much more contained than a feature length script. We only went through about four drafts.

As a writer and director, I am able to shape the script during the pre-production process. I love to see what actors come up with in auditions and rehearsals, so that often re-shapes the dialogue. Once I find a location, I’m usually inspired by something in the space that will jog a new story idea. 

I find it helpful for myself and my team to put together a final shooting draft usually a day or two before production starts. I believe my stories are stronger if I integrate the input of my creative team, my actors, and the inspiration I find in locations down onto paper.

SC: Have screenwriting competitions helped your writing career in any way? If so, how? 

KE: ScreenCraft has been an amazing experience in particular. The feedback from readers is incredibly useful. I live by the rule that if two or more people make the same note, I should take a look at whatever story point they’re commenting on. I love that ScreenCraft offers feedback at each level of the competition you make it to. There’s also nothing like the confidence boost of being a competition finalist!

Learn everything you need to know about screenwriting contests, competitions and fellowships with this free guide.

SC: What are some pieces of advice that you've learned along the way that you wish someone would have told you sooner? 

KE: First, put yourself out there and don’t be afraid to ask for help. If you’ve got a story idea or a script, start showing it to people. Ask collaborators to come on board. Find actors who are passionate about the story you want to tell. Even if you’re not ready to go into production, having a table read with talented actors can be hugely beneficial for a rewrite. It’s amazing how many people just want to be involved with a story that speaks to them… but you’ll never know until you start sharing your work.

Secondly, listen to your own voice. It’s your most valuable asset. There are thousands of other screenwriters with just as much talent and dedication, but the one thing no one else in the world has is your unique voice. All of your life experiences have added up into who you are today, and are the best thing you can bring into your script. It’s basically a different take on “write what you know”… Instead, “write what you feel.”

SC: What's your next project?

KE: I’m finishing up rewrites on the sci-fi feature that landed me as a finalist in the ScreenCraft competition, and I’m in post-production on a new short. I’ve got some feature ideas bubbling away in me as well. Once things have calmed down around the Dispel premiere, I’ve got new worlds to explore and bring to life. 

Watch Dispel below.

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The post Interview with ScreenCraft Finalist Kylie Eaton appeared first on ScreenCraft.

Read: 6 Filmmaking Lessons from THUNDER ROAD Writer/Director/Star Jim Cummings

Cummings also cultivates an active social media following—he has nearly 70,000 followers on Twitter who benefit from his daily inspiration and encouragement. Here are 5 Jim Cummings tweets with his signature advice—indie filmmakers, take note!

Your film heroes would have been thrilled to have the filmmaking technology in your phone.

— Jim Cummings (@jimmycthatsme) June 20, 2019

There are no excuses anymore for not making films. Look no further than your smartphone for all of the equipment you’ll need to get started as a filmmaker. If you’re feeling like you’re in a creative rut, write a two-page script, gather some friends to act, and shoot a film in a day. Just be creative and see what comes out of it. Remember that the Duplass Brothers launched their careers with a short they shot in their kitchen in a few hours. 

Don't let your script die as a PDF on your desktop. Record it as a podcast. We're in the golden age of audio, people are far more likely to listen to 100 pages of screenplay format than read them.

— Jim Cummings (@jimmycthatsme) June 17, 2019

As a screenwriter, it can be disheartening to write something you love and not be able to find a home for it.  So why not produce it yourself? If you have the ability to shoot the script, great, but if not, you can easily write and record it as a podcast and get your story out to the masses. 

Reputable podcast script competitions are also springing up, such as the Austin Film Festival’s Fiction Podcast Script Competition. So dust off that script that hasn’t yet sold and see if you can give it new life.

Learn the best way to structure your screenplay with this free guide.

If you learn how to shoot, edit, and distribute, you have become a studio. Don’t wait to be taken seriously, take yourself seriously.

— Jim Cummings (@jimmycthatsme) May 9, 2019

Everyone knows how hard it is to break into the business. These days, shooting your scripts yourself is the best (and quickest) way to become a produced screenwriter and build your credits. 

If you take yourself and your writing seriously enough to put your own money, time, and sweat into it, others will too.    

It’s not who you know, it’s who knows you. Make things, don’t wait for someone to pay you to.

— Jim Cummings (@jimmycthatsme) April 2, 2019

The old adage “it’s who you know” simply isn’t true.  People in positions of power want to know people who are making things happen.  Make your work worth their attention, and people will want to know you. Doors will open without your constantly having to force it.  

It can start with something like waking up at 5 AM to write that script in your PJ’s, and then shooting it on weekends around your full-time job. Just don’t wait around for someone to pay you at the start—pay yourself first by investing in your own work, and the dividends will come later.

There is great happiness and fulfillment in making things, even if they turn out worse or different than you imagined, remember that many people spend their whole lives just talking about making things. Go make! pic.twitter.com/TQixE7xOSi

— Jim Cummings (@jimmycthatsme) June 24, 2019

If you’re out there writing and making films, you’re ahead of 100% of people who talk about writing things and filming things, but never do. 

Just the act of creating a piece of art is joyful and satisfying in and of itself. So what are you waiting for?

Rebecca Norris is a producer, writer, and filmmaker with her production company, Freebird Entertainment. Her recent award-winning feature film, Cloudy With a Chance of Sunshine, has been distributed on Amazon Streaming and DVD. Rebecca is also a script analyst and consultant who has read for many companies, including Sundance, ScreenCraft, Bluecat, and the International Emmys, as well as her own script consultancy, Script Authority. Rebecca blogs for ScreenCraft, The Script Lab, WeScreenplay and Script Magazine, exploring the film writing and production process and encouraging writers to produce their own work. Follow Rebecca’s posts on Twitter at @beckaroohoo!

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

The post 5 Jim Cummings Tweets That Will Make You Go Shoot a Movie on Your Smartphone Tomorrow appeared first on ScreenCraft.

We had the opportunity to ask Guy a few questions about Writer Duet and his journey to get to where he is today. His answers are below.

ScreenCraft: What's this new free version of WriterDuet screenwriting software that we've been hearing about? 

Guy Goldstein: FreeScreenwriting.com and the WriterSolo desktop app are a cloud-free version of WriterDuet Pro. All the same professional formatting and tools, but offline (or stored to your personal Google, Dropbox, or iCloud storage).

And we're launching these new options under a pay-what-you-want model! For as little as $0, writers can now have professional screenwriting software with no script limits, watermarks, or feature restrictions.

SC: Since you wrote the first line of code for your screenwriting software several years ago, how has WriterDuet evolved over the years? How have you approached the development process and how have you chosen the features to focus on? 

GG: WriterDuet started as the solution to a major need of screenwriters, which other software didn't address: real-time collaboration. But as soon as we launched WriterDuet, we started getting feedback from writers of all levels, and based our development on other unaddressed needs: great outlining tools, a screenplay time machine, ability to filter to specific storylines or characters' dialogue, etc.

Almost every feature we've added has been suggested by a writer, and as writers ourselves, we're able to translate what may seem like a minor feature request into an extremely valuable tool.

SC: What are some of your biggest mistakes and learning moments over the years as you've grown this software business and large community of users? 

GG: We are devoted to iterating the product at a breakneck pace, and unfortunately that has led to some necks being broken. Growing from a team of 1 to 10+ employees, we've had to put systems in place that allow us to sprint much more elegantly. 

Pricing has been another area where we learned a lot. Not every writer can or should pay for expensive software. With FreeScreenwriting.com, our goal is to provide professional tools to as many writers as possible. And we'll use all the feedback we receive to continue elevating the industry.

I'd say the biggest lesson is that writers (including us personally!) have a really good idea what they want, and by understanding the daily challenges encountered within the creative process, we can improve everyone's writing experience.

SC: What are some of your proudest moments as you've grown WriterDuet over the past several years?

GG: Seeing (many) movies and TV shows written on our software has been pretty thrilling, but honestly, writing great content isn't dependent on what software you use so we can't take much credit. What I'm actually most proud of is when we hear from writers of all levels, saying WriterDuet helped them enjoy the writing process more and focus on their craft instead of fighting with software.

Learn the best way to structure your screenplay with this free guide.

SC: Some people might say that screenwriting software is just a tool to help make conventional script formatting easier, and that it doesn't matter what software you use. What makes WriterDuet uniquely valuable for writers? 

GG: Those people are right! It doesn’t matter what software you use, as long as your personal needs are addressed. WriterDuet's unique value has always been to put writing first, and focus on a creative experience that isn't distracting but has everything available when you need it. I believe WriterDuet has far and away the most advanced technology of any screenwriting software, but is also the simplest and most intuitive.

SC: What can we expect from WriterDuet over the next year? 

GG: Simpler, faster, more user-friendly. Everything we're working on is designed with actual writers in mind, not a lot of "fluff" features to fill out marketing material. In the near term, we're focused on improving practical tools like time machine, outlining, and sharing.

Looking farther ahead is tough because we move so quickly, based on what writers tell us that they need. I think you'll see a lot of focus on early phases of the creative process (e.g. mind-mapping), as well as late (e.g. collecting feedback and rewriting).

We hope that everyone will try FreeScreenwriting.com and keep letting us know how we can make their lives better!

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The post Interview with WriterDuet Founder Guy Goldstein appeared first on ScreenCraft.

Mills was a finalist in the 2017 ScreenCraft Sci-Fi & Fantasy Screenplay Competition and is currently a semifinalist in the 2019 ScreenCraft Sci-Fi & Fantasy Screenplay Competition. We had a chance to catch up with him since his placement to talk about his career and the craft of screenwriting.

ScreenCraft: Congrats on your early career momentum. What’s your writing journey been like so far?

Jonathan Mills: Slow! In my experience, there are two types of writers. Those who break early and young and those who are in it for the long-haul. I'm clearly in the latter category at this point, which is fine. I've been writing steadily for many years and the best advice I got when I first started was from Carmi Zlotnik (now President of Starz) who I was working for as an assistant. I had optioned something to Maverick Films, which was Madonna's production company and it was my first notice in Variety. Carmi saw it the next day at the office and he came out and said, 'is this you?' I nodded and he smiled and said, 'Don't quit your day job." I heeded his advice and have passed it on, writing is a grind... Hollywood too and you have to put food on your table so no writer should be ashamed of having a second career or job. Period. As far as the journey as a whole? Everything I wanted has happened, I've been produced, I'm in the union, I've been repped and paid... it just took way longer than I ever thought it would.

SC: Have screenwriting competitions helped your writing career so far?

JM: I was never focused on competitions, but it wasn't for any other reason except they weren't on my radar. But in the last five years, I've seen contests turn into a real and tangible means to breaking into the business and that is really exciting. In my case, the first contest I entered was ScreenCraft's 2017 Sci-Fi & Fantasy Screenplay Competition. I was lucky and my project AUTOMATIC became a finalist. Getting that far (Top 10?) boosted interest in subsequent reads and as of today, April 2019 it's been set with an amazing director and ICM is taking it to market. I don't know what will happen, but have to give credit to ScreenCraft; being a finalist definitely gave me some early momentum.

Learn everything you need to know about screenwriting contests, competitions and fellowships with this free guide.

SC: What are some pieces of advice that you think writers should heed, and what are some pieces of advice that writers should ignore?

JM: I'm not big on advice, I've been proven wrong too many times. That said, I'll offer a few thoughts... I believe writers should write, a lot. I've written around twenty-three scripts and countless drafts, that's thousands of pages! It adds up. I believe writers should try and get their material read as often as they can by other writers, and take the feedback to heart. I believe writers should probably get a proofreader. I am terrible about punctuation and there are executives who really, really care about it. I may hate them, but they are the gatekeepers!

Finally, in my opinion, paid coverage isn't bad if you can afford it, but you have to understand what you're getting. There are strong opinions on this, but the fact is .01% of all screenplays are produced so why wouldn't you put yourself into the best possible position to help yours stand-out? Oh, and you don't need representation, you need perseverance and willingness to network. Reps help, but they are no substitute for your own hard work.

SC: What’s one thing you wish you had understood better 10 years ago?

JM: Do not be ashamed of making a living. Living poor is just that, living poor. In my opinion, suffering doesn't somehow make you a better writer, I don't care what anyone says to the contrary.

SC: What are you currently writing and what was your inspiration for it?

JM: I just finished a new spec called RUSALKA, which I'm really proud of. It was inspired by Dvořák's opera of the same name and my own experiences growing up in Alaska and I think it's the most beautiful thing I've written to date. Which is nice.

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The post Interview with ScreenCraft Finalist Jonathan Mills appeared first on ScreenCraft.

We recently had the chance to ask John a few questions about his process, the craft of screenwriting and what led him to develop the screenwriting software Highland.

ScreenCraft: You’ve written so many things in so many formats – from screenplays to songs to books to blogs to software to games to podcasts -- your creative output has been prolific and diverse. Tell us a bit about your daily habits that allow such prolific creativity. What’s an average day like in the life of John August? Are there any habits that you can credit to helping you cultivate such diverse and prolific writing and creativity?

John August: Monday through Friday, I’m up by 6:45 AM to get my daughter to school. I try to be at my desk writing by 9:00 AM every day. But try and succeed aren’t the same thing. I get pulled away a lot.

There are probably two to three hours a day where I’m at the keyboard writing. One thing that’s helped me most is sprints. Full credit to Jane Espenson on this. You announce on Twitter that you’re starting a #writesprint at the top of the hour. And then you just write for 60 minutes, no stopping. We even created a tool in Highland 2 called Sprint that allows you to set a timer in your document and tracks your word count for that run. I’d estimate that I wrote at least 70 percent of the second Arlo Finch in sprint mode.

When I’m really writing — that is, buckling down on a specific draft of a specific movie — I try to write five pages a day. Page counts tend to be a better measure of effort than time spent in front of the computer. For books, I try to get 1,000 words per day.

You know when you’re done. The brain just can’t make the words fit together. That’s a good time to go do something else.

SC: Of the various media you’ve written for, which kind of writing do you find most difficult and why?

JA: Books are harder to get through the first draft. Screenplays are harder to get through the overall process.

When you’re writing a screenplay you’re ultimately writing a plan for making a movie. So you are picking every word incredibly carefully, but ultimately you know that no one is going to see your plan necessarily in the finished product.

Screenplays end up being a very collaborative process. You’re working with executives and producers, actors, and especially a director, to figure out what that plan is going to be for that movie you hope to make.

Writing a book, the book is the book. It’s a remarkable experience because you’re working on the finished thing. I could really obsess about whether that comma should be there, and it mattered in a way that doesn’t matter in screenwriting.

As a novelist I have so many extra powers because I can describe the texture of sheets, I can describe how they smell, I can travel back and forth in time within the course of a paragraph. But because you have so many more choices, it’s a lot more work. Because a sentence can go anywhere in a book, you have to really work to figure out what you need to have happen next. It’s a very different experience building up a whole universe.

Coming to prose fiction after so many years writing screenplays, the hardest thing to get feeling natural was how we do dialogue in English prose. The “he saids” can get so clunky that you keep having to find ways around them, or let them disappear the way INT. and EXT. do. The second biggest challenge was learning how to write in the past tense without everything feeling “finished.”

To cover the same amount of story, you end up doing vastly more work in a book. But it’s rewarding in that you really are making The Thing and not a plan for making The Thing.

SC: Your undergraduate studies were journalism, and then you pursued an MFA in the Peter Stark Producing Program at USC. What did you learn about producing that informed your career and craft as a screenwriter? Is it important for emerging screenwriters to learn about the creative and business aspects of producing?

JA: I would say a career in screenwriting is like a career in journalism in that you are being paid to write for other people, and there’s a very specific form you have to follow, which can be great, but can also be frustrating at times. You’re boxed in.

The producing program ended up being a perfect degree for me, because it covered all aspects of making film and television, from physical production to marketing to story development. Most importantly, it let me understand what people who would be hiring me were really looking for.

SC: How do you think building a career as a professional screenwriter is different today than it was 20 years ago? What are some of the major changes you’ve seen in the industry over your career so far?

JA: For about a year, Steven Spielberg was attached to direct Big Fish, and I got to work on a few projects for him. I think the thing that was simultaneously depressing and exciting was realizing “Oh, he’s working really hard. It’s not like everything is easy for him.” When you see these extraordinarily talented folks are working really hard at being good at their thing, you realize, “Oh, I could work really hard, too.”

None of that has changed. If anything, the people I see succeeding are working much harder and much smarter than I did at the start of my career. They’ve grown up expecting that the world will shift dramatically, and quickly, so they’re not particularly interested in the last generation’s ideas of success.

Obviously, the last five years have seen a huge change with the rise of the streamers. We’re at a point of convergence where the distinction between film and television is largely erased. It’s probably the most exciting time of my career, but also the most uncertain.

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

SC: How did you meet Craig Mazin, and what was the impetus to start Scriptnotes, your podcast about screenwriting?

JA: Craig and I each had blogs about screenwriting. He let his go after the writer’s strike, but I really missed his perspective on issues. So I emailed to ask if he’d be up for starting a podcast. That was 2011, and he hadn’t really heard of podcasts. But he was a natural for the medium.

Four hundred episodes in, we’re constantly finding new things to talk about. I think it keeps us both sharp.

SC: What led you to create Highland screenwriting software? How has it evolved?

JA: When we announced Highland in 2012, we billed it as a “screenplay utility” for converting between formats. I had a PDF of a screenplay that I needed to edit, and the only way to do it was to retype it. Which felt crazy. It was already a digital file. So I asked my genius coder friend Nima Yousefi if he could “melt” it down to editable text. He built an app that extracted the text, saving me hours of work.

But as I looked at that raw text, I realized that there was no reason I needed to mess with Final Draft again. That text had all the information we needed to build a proper screenplay. We started to embrace the fact that we were really a screenwriting app. We started to add tools that we’d been waiting for, like the Gender Analysis report.

With Highland 2, I wanted to extend the tools we’d built for screenplays for all kinds of writing. I’ve written all three Arlo Finch novels in it. I’m writing these answers in it. It’s pretty much the only thing I use for putting words together.

The most important factor why Highland works the way it does is that I use Highland every day for actual paid work. I rely on it, so major and minor annoyances get addressed. We’ve also grown a strong community of writers and we take their feedback seriously. Highland 2 is just a better way to write, because it was built by writers. It’s fast and flexible. You never have to tell it how to format something. It just intuits which elements are which.

I’m particularly proud of the user interface we’ve developed for Highland 2. It feels like a 2019 app, not something dragged up from the 90s. The new features in Highland 2.5, which releases June 12th at 9:00 PM PST, let you stay in the app even through revisions.

SC: Along with Scriptnotes, which is an incredible resource for emerging screenwriters, what are some other resources you’d recommend for up-and-coming screenwriters to learn more about the craft and business of screenwriting?

JA: My own site, johnaugust.com. I also run screenwriting.io for really basic questions and answers.

I’m a big fan of Sundance’s new co//ab community.

The best resource for any aspiring screenwriters is to simply read as many screenplays as you can. The wonder of the internet is that nearly everything is available as a PDF. I’d encourage people to check out the Weekend Read app to read these on their phones as well.

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The post Interview with Screenwriter John August appeared first on ScreenCraft.

Cummings recently sat down for an interview with The Filmmakers Podcast, hosted by Giles Alderson and Christian James, during which he discussed a number of topics and the making of his film (both short version and feature). Below are some stand-out moments.

ScreenCraft is proud to sponsor this episode of The Filmmakers Podcast, which you can listen to, subscribe and learn more about here.

1. Collaboration can spark your career.

Film, of course, is a collaborative art form. But most artists can be insular by nature. But it’s worth stepping outside your comfort zone and not just meeting other filmmakers but putting your heads together and creating — as Cummings found after college.

“I had taken directing classes at a college in Boston for four years and graduated and realized that no one was going to hire a 21-year-old to direct anything,” Cummings remembers. “And so I started producing for friends of mine who were doing hand-drawn animation and sketch comedy that was doing well on Vimeo or YouTube… and I was doing stuff for very terrible rates, very small budgets but we ended up making a kind of studio. I was able to jump between different productions and we were making music videos for this rapper named Lil Dicky in Los Angeles and then making animations that would do the festival circuit. We were very lucky; we ended up betting on ourselves, focusing on the craft, doing cool stuff. And in doing so, we met filmmakers all around the world who were making bigger stuff like feature films and giant commercial campaigns and so I was able to make ends meet that way.”

2. Casting the best person for the role — even if it’s you.

“I was planning on just directing it,” Cummings says of the short and feature that he stars in. “There was another actor who I was buddies with who looks a lot more like a police officer than I do… and I workshopped with him for a bit and when he was doing it I realized it just wasn’t funny. It was just really tragic. And I was like… I think it could be kind of funny, kind of Alan Partridge-style, interrupting himself and non-sequiturs and being able to see how the cogs work inside this character’s brain. And so I filmed myself on an iPhone and was like I’ll just show you kind of what I’m thinking and I sent it to the cinematographer and the producer for the short and they cut out the actor from the email and were like, no dude, you have to do it, this is great… and I started to grow my mustache out the next day.”

3. Navigating the challenges of acting-directing.

Cummings is hardly the first director who also has stepped in front of the camera and he won’t be the last. It was only last year that Bradley Cooper was wowing us as a multi-hyphenate. For Cummings, the challenge of balancing multiple gigs wasn’t that daunting. In a way, it was almost natural.

“I just feel like acting is self-directing anyway,” he explains. “It’s like anytime I’m in the frame, I’m thinking about how much I should turn so the camera can see me and if somebody’s walking in front of me how much they’re gonna block… and you know, I really trusted people behind the camera and so that’s really helpful… I can trust them to make it great so when I come back behind the monitor and I’m like, I think I got it, I think that was the best performance I’ll do, and they go, 'I think we got it', then I’m like 'cool, we can move on, we don’t have to watch playback, that’s good.' It’s taken years to do that, but it’s nice to have that now.”

Learn how to write great movie dialogue with this free guide.

4. Using Pixar as inspiration for tone.

Cummings’ film walks a fine line between tragic and comic and manages to weave seamlessly between the two — kind of like real life, in a way. The filmmaker credits Pixar movies, particularly Inside Out, for teaching him that art of tonal balance.

“I write it out loud and the goal is to make the audience laugh and cry at the same time or like weave between the two of them,” says Cummings. “That’s like getting the full breadth of the brain. It’s like tapping different lobes of the brain and engaging audiences completely… Pixar movies do that really well. There’s this great scene in Inside Out that I won’t ruin for most people but there’s a really wonderful scene of self-sacrifice and it’s a set-up and a payoff like a punchline, except it’s incredibly emotional and then it ends with one of the characters saying, ‘Good-bye, Bing Bong!’ And it’s the dumbest name ever, so you’re like crying your eyes out and then… this line… and you’re laughing again… That’s so difficult to craft… And you see that in Pixar movies. So I was like, cool, I’m gonna make little live-action Pixar movies.”

5. A Populist financing.

“Winning Sundance with the short film it didn’t qualify us in Hollywood at all,” Cummings admits. It wasn’t the big break he was hoping for. At least not in the way we’ve read about since the ’90s when ultra-low budget films were making splashes and catapulting directors into stardom and success.

“People didn’t take us seriously,” Cummings goes on to say. “We knocked on doors… trying to get financing to make the feature for very little money… $200,000 that we were trying to raise. And people said, well, make it a six million dollar movie and come back to us — for whatever reason… I guess when we were no longer their subordinate, nobody wanted to help us. But it really qualified us as creators with the public… We had put the short film on Vimeo and it had gotten a decent amount of viewership and so like the public really loved it and so we were able to raise what we were asking for on Kickstarter in the first 24 hours… Because of the success of the Kickstarter, we had strangers reach out to buy percentages on the back-end… and so we sold off percentages of the movie for twelve grand a piece… and that’s how we gap financed the movie.”

6. The blessing of Bruce — the film’s ultimate inspiration.

Not only was the film (both short and feature) named after one of Bruce Springsteen’s more well-known songs, but the song itself features heavily, as the main character does a sort-of eulogy karaoke to it. Cummings initially went the “ask for forgiveness later” route, using the song and then contacting the necessary people later.

“It was mainly social censorship,” he explains. “It was mainly friends and family and the public being like 'this is the dumbest thing that you could do, you didn’t get permission… you should’ve gotten permission beforehand, this is what they teach you in film school, you’re an idiot.' I was like, 'okay, yeah, I get it, I’m an idiot, but I’ve made the thing and it’s doing well at this film festival and I don’t know what to do.' All I wanted was this thing to be online for free… And so I called [Bruce’s] lawyer and talked to her. And she wasn’t upset at all, she got it. And she was just kind of like, ‘Oh, I see. Yeah, I wish you had reached out beforehand.’ And I was like, nobody would talk to me beforehand… and then he eventually saw it and was fine with it. And I wrote an open letter and they said yeah, you can put it online, just give us a $1,000 and just put it on Vimeo and you can only have it on Vimeo… It’s a love letter to the guy’s music."

Listen to the podcast below.

Travis Maiuro is a screenwriter and freelance film writer whose work has appeared in Cineaste Magazine, among other publications.

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The post 6 Filmmaking Lessons from THUNDER ROAD Writer/Director/Star Jim Cummings appeared first on ScreenCraft.

Do you have a script based on work from the public domain? Enter the ScreenCraft Public Domain Competition here.

Zara has previously worked with the BBC, Warp Films, Sky Arts and the BFI across television, film, and festivals, and found her way to writing by way of a teenage career in the music industry, a stint in the art world, and masters degrees at Cambridge University and UCL. In 2017 she was a Producers Guild of America Diversity Fellow, as well as Black List x Women In Film Episodic Lab Fellow. She was a 2018 Sheffield Doc Fest Future Producer, and a 2018 ATX Television Festival & Black List TV Writing Program Fellow. She is also a co-founder of Women on Docs LA and regularly hosts panels at documentary screenings and festivals.

Additionally, she serves on screening committees and juries for film festivals, fellowships and screenwriting competitions, including True/False, Camden International, Open City Doc Fest, Women in Film LA, and BAFTA.

We had the opportunity to follow up with Zara after her win and ask a few questions. Her answers are below.

What’s your background and how did you get into writing? 

My background is a bit all over the place... I had a teenage career in the music industry running independent record labels and working in music journalism and PR, then swiftly dropped in and out of a bunch of universities before spending five years in academia studying Art History. I then headed to work for the BBC in documentary development and production. I always had an active interest in journalism which wove through all of these parts of my life in a freelance capacity, but generally, I had the perception that screenwriting was something that was much more inaccessible so didn’t consider it as an option to explore.

Then I had the fortune of being accepted onto a fully-funded screenwriting course at the BFI, the tail end of which coincided with my only Drama development job, which was at Warp Films. Both of these environments totally dispelled my belief that screenwriting was something I couldn’t do, or that it couldn’t cross over with a career and the skills I had developed in documentary. What I learned was that a journalistic approach could very much inform dramatic writing, while also seeing that the vice versa could also be true. It was during this time that I wrote my first pilot Yellow which then hijacked my life in the best possible way.

Can you walk us through the process of how you relocated and eventually signed with your manager?

After I finished the pilot and bible for Yellow for the second round of the Sundance Episodic Lab, I did a lot of research into the other places I could submit it. I applied to as many reputable competitions and fellowships as I could, and two would go on to be instrumental in the process of getting signed and moving here. One was the Producers Guild Diversity Fellowship which was what initially brought me to LA that spring. Within a week or so of being in town for that my script went up on the Black List website and began getting good scores.

Very soon after a few managers started reaching out. Somewhere between dealing with that surreal situation and flying home to vote in the snap election, I met my manager Jeff, who then set me up on a series of meetings with companies and studios who all really encouraged me to try and make the move full time, mostly as the bulk my ideas were based on American subject matter both in the documentary and drama space. I then went back and forth between LA and London for meetings and other fellowships while I applied for my visa, which was long, daunting, expensive and about a million other things, but thankfully worked out. Shortly before I made the move last summer, I was hired to adapt an article from The Intercept into a series and have since been working on that and a few other projects since!

How did you find screenwriting contests such as ScreenCraft’s to be a valuable resource in your approach to the industry?

I really believe that without the support of ScreenCraft and the other institutions who have given me fellowships and awards I would be in a very different place. The profile that these opportunities have afforded me has gotten me into many rooms, and they’ve connected me to several people I otherwise would not have met or had access to.

One of the mentors of the ScreenCraft Public Domain Competition gave me some of the most valuable advice of my career, and on another of my fellowships, I received my first meetings with Netflix, HBO, and Fox, just months after writing my first pilot. These are relationships that are ongoing and are so valuable to my career and my support system being new to the scripted world and LA in general. What I was really surprised to find was how much ongoing support places like ScreenCraft and the Black List give their writers going forward, you really feel like you’re privy to impartial mentors and a very warm, giving community.

Learn everything you need to know about screenwriting contests, competitions and fellowships with this free guide.

Most writers juggle a professional life, personal life, and writing. How do you approach your writing schedule? Do you have a regimen that works for you?

I think like many writers my approach is pure self-sabotage. I need the heat of a deadline to do my best work, and often when you find yourself working on spec deadlines float off as you’re only accountable to yourself. My way of dealing with that is scheduling myself so heavily with other work and meetings that I have to force myself to write in bursts during the gaps. When I can, and it’s rare, I also try to find residencies or a change in environment (even if it’s just house swapping with a friend for a bit) which I find are really incredible for really nailing a piece you’re struggling to finish.

While many writers want to sell the final draft of their first project, it often takes a long time. How many years have you been writing and how many scripts have you written? 

I’ve been writing screenplays for about two and a bit years. I’ve written three scripts that I’d consider fully fleshed out and have a few in more nascent stages. I usually write very in-depth treatment/bibles before I start getting down to a script, so have far more of those further down the line!

From a craft standpoint, what do you feel is the hardest part about getting a screenplay where it needs to be?

I find the most challenging thing is keeping the momentum and enthusiasm going through rewrites. You have to really want to and need to fight for your characters and get to know them beyond what you initially imagined, and as a naturally shy person this part of development can be tough to carry back to the page after notes, but it does seem to get a bit easier with experience!

Do you have any advice for writers dealing with the discouragement that comes with rejection?

Don't give up if you really believe in the work. Take rejection as a catalyst where you can. I think you have to have as many ideas on the go as possible, as it’s just important to be able to adapt, take criticism and keep writing to remind yourself why you love what you do. I try my best to respond to rejection with a reaction that’s productive (that doesn’t mean it doesn’t make me cry/need a lot of ice cream sometimes), but with every set back I try to apply for something new or start a new project.

Congratulations on your early career momentum. What’s next for you?

Thank you! I’m currently out pitching my latest series Crisis Games Society and am developing a TV series about the beginnings of Cambridge Analytica based on a brilliant Mother Jones article. I’m also about to partner with two magazines/websites on developing TV series based on articles of theirs, and I’m working on my first feature, a dark comedy murder mystery called Motion Picture Murder, about the death of an aging scream queen at a retirement home for members of the Academy.

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The post Interview with ScreenCraft Winner Zara Meerza appeared first on ScreenCraft.

Work ethic, writing what you know, and the importance of naps are among the writing tips Winter discusses during his visit to Yale Podcast Network’s To Live a Dialogue in LA. In honor of The Sopranos 20th anniversary, here are some excerpts from that episode.

1. Appreciate Acting in Order to Write Better Characters

“When I started writing, someone had recommended that I take an acting class,” Winter remembers. “Not because I wanted to be an actor but they said it’s really helpful for a writer to walk in an actor’s shoes to sort of understand what you’re asking of an actor.” Winter goes on, throwing in a joke, “I learned a lot -- mostly that I can’t act…” But the experience, nonetheless, informed his writing. It also gave him fodder for future creative ideas: “[David Chase and I] talked about Christopher [from The Sopranos] taking an acting class,” Winter says, “And that became part of the first episode I ever wrote.”

2. Let Your Background Inform Your Writing

Winter can appreciate his luck in landing his job at The Sopranos. But it also took a lot of hard work, as he mentions above in his thoughts on work ethic. What helped was his background -- he knew that Sopranos world. He grew up with those type of people. He could relate. “Part of the job of any TV writer is to mimic the show that you’re writing. That’s a really important skill… I kind of grew up in and around an area that had people like the characters on The Sopranos… kind of by osmosis I understood that psychology and understood what these people sounded like and how they thought.” Before The Sopranos, Winter wrote on a TV series for Flipper and it was a different experience, to say the least. As Winter remembers, “I can’t say the same about writing for Flipper -- I have no idea what a marine biologist might say to somebody and it was really, really challenging to write a show like that.”

3. Train Yourself to Write Anywhere

Winter admits that his writing environment “generally has to be quiet,” he says. “I can’t listen to music, can’t really have any distractions.” At the same time, though, his ability to write anywhere wins out -- “I don’t have to [write] in the same place. I trained myself early on to be able to write anywhere because I knew… I may very well be writing on a staircase, on location… on a set… so I’ve written anywhere. If I’m on a deadline, I’ll drop my son off at tennis and sit in the parking lot and write in my car.”

Learn how to master the art of the rewrite with this free guide.

4. Believe in the Power of Napping

“If I’m tired, I can’t write,” Winter states simply. Of course, there’s a remedy for this: naps. Winter’s aware that being able to write for a living affords him this opportunity -- the opportunity to take a midday, kindergarten-like nap while at work. But it’s crucial for him. “Around 2:30, 3 o’clock I would literally say [to the Writer’s Room], ‘naptime’ and I’d say we’ll take a break, I need 30 minutes to lay down, you guys can do whatever you want.” It didn’t matter what the other staff did -- food break, coffee break, cigarette break -- Winter just needed that nap. For him, there was no sense in forcing words that wouldn’t come. A 30-minute power nap would be just what the doctor ordered.

5. Openness and Vulnerability: the Secrets to Writing Success?

While working on The Sopranos, Winter saw first hand the people David Chase would hire: “Those really willing to share, really willing to open up their veins, so to speak, psychologically and really be comfortable in a room where they could share intimate details of their lives and tell stories about things that happened to them,” he says. He says he owes so much to Chase and all that he learned from him. This -- hiring those willing to share, as well as yourself being open and willing -- is the key takeaway for Winter. As he says, “That’s the stuff we make TV episodes about and if you’re not willing to share, you’re not helping me.” But Winter knows he has to meet halfway when it comes to this. He admits, “[I] have to make it a safe place where people can say, hey, I’m gonna tell you the worst thing I ever did to somebody or the most horrible thing I ever thought or meanest thing I ever did and that’s all that we write about.”

Listen to the podcast on iTunes here.

Travis Maiuro is a screenwriter and freelance film writer whose work has appeared in Cineaste Magazine, among other publications.

Photo credit: variety.com

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The post 5 Writing Tips with SOPRANOS Writer and BOARDWALK EMPIRE Creator Terence Winter appeared first on ScreenCraft.

Launer discusses this and other topics in his insightful chat with the podcast. Below are some snippets from the conversation.

Don’t Fear Writer’s Block -- It’s Only You

“What writer’s block is, is a form of depression and anxiety,” Launer says of the dilemma every writer faces on (probably) every project. But for Launer, diagnosing it as such means it’s conquerable. It’s a roadblock that’s all in the writer’s head.

“You have ideas, but for some reason, your inner critic is stopping it,” Launer continues. “That’s what writer’s block is. You’re sitting looking at a blank page or you’re looking at a scene, you don’t like it, you’re just stopping yourself.” Launer’s advice is simple: stop stopping yourself. Easier said than done, perhaps? For Launer, acknowledging that it’s something you can control is the first step. Often, we may give up, thinking there’s no way this script can be finished -- it’s a waste of time. But that’s the easy way out. Keep pushing. Find the part of the process that made you happy, that made you want to do this from the start.

Take the Leash Off

Piggy-backing off of the idea of finding the part of the writing process that made you happy, Launer delves deeper. It’s not just acknowledging your writer’s block is a form of depression -- the key is to also find your inner child, adult critic balance.

“I used to say a writer has two sides to them,” Launer explains. “One, the creative side is like the child that’s finger painting and just has fun. And then the other side is the critic, it’s the adult. And usually, your adult gets stronger before your child side gets stronger as a beginning screenwriter. I see it all the time with kids in their early 20’s -- they’re critical, very, very critical… that’s part of the process, I think, part of the evolution of a writer. At least it was for me. My ‘critic’ was like Arnold Schwarzenegger. It was strong, it was powerful. I had to learn to tell that side of me to back off and then get more and more creative.”

“Allow yourself to cut loose,” Launer simply says. Take the leash off -- just write.

Learn how to master the art of the rewrite with this free guide.

Be a Stand-Up Comic (Of Sorts)

Part of Launer’s process, especially for the comedy scripts he’s known for, is to cultivate and refine the jokes and story beats in front of an audience, sort of like a stand-up comic does before the big Netflix special.

“I often will do pitches to people and I’ll act out all the scenes so I know how they sound,” Launer details. “And if I act out a scene, I’ll get a response from people in the room. It could be like one person, it could be a few people. I can see how it plays… something I learned way back early in my career. That if I pitch a story, you can see where the laughs go. You perform it. It’s fun to do and it’s fun to get the feedback and you end up coming up with new material.”

The Benefits of Research

My Cousin Vinny is taught in some law schools. Many lawyers cite the film as the most realistic Hollywood portrayal of courtroom dynamics. Not The Verdict or A Few Good Men. No. My Cousin Vinny. It’s a testament to Launer’s research ethic.

“When I sat do to write [My Cousin Vinny], I sat down with my friend who was a lawyer, a litigator. And so we would meet for lunch and I’d ask him questions and he would often say things like, ‘Yeah but it’s a movie, you don’t have to…” and I’d go, ‘No, no, no, don’t tell me that. Don’t excuse it because it’s a movie… what would really happen?’” Launer remembers. But sticking to real-life creates benefits in his opinion. As Launer says, “When he tells me what really happens, that becomes fodder for the story.” As they say, you can’t make this stuff up.

Listen to the podcast on iTunes here.

Travis Maiuro is a screenwriter and freelance film writer whose work has appeared in Cineaste Magazine, among other publications.

Photo credit: dalelauner.com

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The post Tackling Writer's Block with MY COUSIN VINNY Screenwriter Dale Launer appeared first on ScreenCraft.

Read about more ScreenCraft success stories here.

We recently had a chance to chat with Jeff about his ongoing success. His answers are below.

1. Congratulations on signing with your manager! Can you tell us how that came to be and what that process was like? 

Thanks so much. I’m ecstatic. I’ve been repped by Abrams Artist Agency for a couple of years and I wanted to add a manager my team to have another set of eyes to help develop my work. So I reached out to a few people (my agents, Cameron at ScreenCraft) and asked if they would pass along my material to managers they thought would be a great fit. I met with a few people and then Tom Dever at ScreenCraft introduced me to Alex Creasia at Pathfinder Media. The meeting was a blast and we connected on shows we love and why they speak to us. After that, Alex read my most recent pilot, gave me notes, and asked me to do a re-write. I nailed the re-write for him and I thought his notes improved the script immensely. So it was a no brainer that we should start working together.

2. How did you get your start and how did you get your first break in the industry to draw the attention of reps?

When I first arrived in LA, my primary focus was comedy. I finished the improv program at UCB and was on a mainstage sketch and improv team at iO West for over two years. I garnered some interest with my comedy pilots (a general meeting at Amazon based solely on a cold submission) and had done well in several competitions. Then, inspired by my years of running active shooter drills as a teacher, I wrote an hour-long drama about a town recovering from a school shooting, Halcyon Falls. Everything changed. The script placed in several contests and I won the ScreenCraft TV Pilot Launch Competition. After repeatedly seeing my name on the competition lists, I was approached by several agencies and eventually signed with Abrams.

3. How did you find contests such as ScreenCraft to be a valuable resource in the process?

When you ask most people in the industry how they got their careers started they can’t give you a simple, concrete answer. I can. It’s because of contests like ScreenCraft's. When I moved to LA I had ZERO contacts in the industry. I used the competitions to gain confidence, get reps to read my scripts, and find my way into rooms. It’s why I have representation.  It’s why I have a career. ScreenCraft has always been especially kind to me as I’ve have had about a half a dozen different scripts make the semifinals or beyond. Halcyon Falls had advanced in a few other ScreenCraft competitions before winning.

4. How many years have you been writing and how many scripts have your written? 

Before I moved to LA, I was a playwright and artistic director of a theatre company (along with teaching). So, I had been writing plays for about five years and had one of my works published by Samuel French. I’ve been writing television scripts for the last six years. I’ve written seven comedy pilots and eight hour-long dramas I’d be willing to share with people. Then I’ve got a whole bunch of first drafts, false starts, and semi-completed material I horde away like J.D. Salinger. I wrote two screenplays last year that not even my wife has read. I like to get my stories out and onto the page, even if it is only for me.

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

5. From a craft standpoint, what do you feel is the hardest part about getting a screenplay ready to share with industry professionals?

I am not sure if I ever feel like something is ready to share. It’s the scariest part. I write it, read it, edit it, rinse and repeat, think it’s done and give it to my wife. After she reads it I’ll end up editing it a ton more. I’ll think it’s absolute garbage one minute and the best thing I’ve ever written an hour later. At some point, you have to let go and tell yourself (and more importantly your reps) that you’ll send what you’ve been working on by such and such date. Luckily, I trust Paul and Manal at Abrams and Alex at Pathfinder and they always have outstanding notes and ideas to share with me. So I probably shouldn’t let it stress me out as much as it does. But I think it always will.

6. From a career standpoint, were there any challenges that were much harder than you anticipated? Anything that was easier?

The most difficult thing is the waiting. It will drive you insane if you let it. You wait to hear what people think of the script. You wait to hear if you’re getting staffed. You wait, wait, wait, wait… and you can’t control it. The only thing you can control is what you do during that waiting time period. I fill it with writing other things and spending time with my wife. It’s the only thing you can do. But it still drives me a little nutso.

The thing I find easier than I expected was performing well in meetings/pitches. I love going to my first general meeting at a production company. I love trying to impress them and using my improv training to handle any and all questions thrown my way. I always try and find a natural moment in the conversation to drop the info that I have a Bachelor’s in Mathematics and an MFA in Theatre because it’s such a weird part of who I am as an artist. Meetings are a fun little dance, one that’s nearly impossible to replicate and practice. You just have to do it and luckily, I love it.

7. What do you think you were you doing around 10 years ago today, and if you could give your past self one piece of career or craft advice, what would it be? 

Ten years ago I was teaching high school theatre, working to make other people’s dreams come true. And although I did enjoy my time as a teacher, I’d tell myself to get the hell out of that classroom ASAP and start writing all the time. Accumulate scripts and hours spent writing like it’s currency, because it truly is. Honestly, I think all writers would tell themselves to start writing more at a younger age. But you can’t get too mad at yourself. After all, what’s the best time to plant a tree? 20 years ago. What’s the second-best time? Today.

8. What are you currently working on that you're excited about?

Well, I’m really excited that my pilot Fix, a grounded sci-fi I pitch as Dexter meets Quantum Leap, just finished in the Top 3 at the Cinequest Film Festival. I’ve got a kick-ass show bible and script and we’re looking for the right partner to make it happen. I am over the moon excited about my current pilot The Line. The script is a blue-collar Mad Men set in the 80’s, inspired by my father and uncle who worked 30 years on an auto assembly line so that their children wouldn’t have to. I worked two summers on the line myself and it was brutally destructive to your mental and physical health. It’s an investigation into a world of middle-class jobs that no longer exist in this country and the greed and incompetence that saw them destroyed. We’re going to be sending it out to production companies soon and I can’t wait to get into rooms and pitch it.

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The post ScreenCraft TV Pilot Launch Contest Winner Jeff Bower Signs With Pathfinder Entertainment appeared first on ScreenCraft.

Rauch has been around the industry block, having written for the successful Royal Pains and most recently creating Instinct, based on a James Patterson novel. He took time out of his hectic writing schedule to talk with Aaron Tracy in front of a live audience on the campus of Yale University. Below are some snippets from the insightful conversation.

1. Taking Advantage of Constructive Criticism

The first season of Royal Pains had ended and Rauch and the rest of the writer’s room were feeling pretty good about themselves. But they were hit with a reality check: a key character was pretty much universally despised. (Really no other way to put it, as Rauch admits.)

“After season one… everyone hated a character. And it was a very important character. Men, women, old, young, you name it, no one liked this guy,” Rauch remembers. “And so, it was very important to kind of get smacked in the face with that because what we did was spent the first week or two in the writer’s room in season two just working on dimensionalizing that character, making him a real person. Clearly, we hadn’t done our job in season one and it wasn’t the actor’s fault, it was our fault.”

2. Adapting (and Reshaping) the Work of a Very Successful Author

James Patterson is arguably more machine than author. The man publishes multiple books a year for both adults and children and has sold over 300 million of them to boot. He has a gigantic fanbase that eagerly awaits the next read. To say that this was intimidating to Rauch as he embarked on adapting Patterson’s work for TV (for the show Instinct) would be an understatement.

“I felt a very strong responsibility [to James Patterson’s massive fanbase] in the pilot because they were using his name to sell the show… I didn’t want to completely corrupt it with hacky-ness,” Rauch says. But he also didn’t want to feel bound and tied down. He wasn’t afraid to take risks and to make the show his own. Rauch explains, “At this point, now, the show is the show… there are characters that came out of his books so clearly, he’s still a part of it but people are going to watch the show based on the stories we’re telling not based on whether it’s going to be Patterson-esque or not.”

3. All That Matters is the Quality

Rauch was asked his thoughts on writing for the season versus writing for the episode -- basically an argument that has turned into writing for streaming versus writing for a network (in a way). Rauch finds merits in both outlooks, but at the end of the day, all that matters is if it’s good. Which may seem obvious but… harder than you think.

“On CBS, every episode has to be close-ended and one of the reasons why is because it’s much easier to sell shows like that internationally because they can run out of order,” Rauch explains. “But at the same time, when we start the writer’s room each year, we have our overarching story for each character and our big story we want to tell throughout the season.”

Rauch elaborates, “To me, if the episode of the show is funny and captivating and draws me in, I couldn’t care less if it’s one unit or part of a much bigger piece. Whether it’s The Crown or Mindhunter or really anything that is good, to me, I want to watch it.”

4. What You Can Control: Your Work Ethic

Rauch’s advice for anyone aspiring to a similar job as his (or any job, really, he says, whether it’s acting or you name it), is to simply work for it. As Rauch puts it, “The things that you can control are how hard you work, how much you care, your attitude and being on time.”

He goes on to say, “No matter how much time you have to practice your craft or how little time because you’re paying student loans and you’re waiting tables, and you’ve got six kids at home… everyone has different things we have to manage… Some people are born with a ton of talent and they waste it, and some with little talent and they figure out a way to nurture it… but those are things that are out of our control. But the things that we can control are the things I mentioned.”

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

5. To Film School or Not To Film School? That is the Question.

Film school’s expensive. No doubt about it. Expensive enough for some people to give up on a dream -- or, rather, find their own way to do it. But if one is willing to take out loans (or has the money to pay for it), is it still worth it? Rauch, a Columbia film school alum, says the answer to that question is subjective. But he definitely doesn’t regret his own experiences in film school. It was there he had experiences he never would have gotten anywhere else.

“I found film school incredibly helpful,” he admits. “You had to take an acting class. So, you know, I’m a horrible actor but it taught me how difficult acting is, it taught me how to approach words from an actor’s point of view, and it taught me how to communicate with actors. As a showrunner and as a director, that’s invaluable…”

“You can act with friends for free and you can write for free -- it’s really hard to direct for free… so to have the opportunities to make movies, whether they’re thirty-second movies or a thesis for fifteen minutes, it’s very hard to get that experience anywhere [other than film school],” he says. But Rauch is also realistic. He’s not promising film school is the golden ticket into the industry. “I don’t think it’s going to make a difference in terms of getting a job -- no one’s going to say, you went to film school, I’ll hire you.” But to Rauch, that shouldn’t be the main reason a person goes to film school. It’s about the experience. “It might make you better at what you’re doing, you’ll definitely meet people there. I went to film school with people who have been very successful in the film industry and I know them and we’re friends because we went through that together.”

Listen to the podcast on iTunes here.

Travis Maiuro is a screenwriter and freelance film writer whose work has appeared in Cineaste Magazine, among other publications.

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

The post 5 Writing Tidbits from TV Showrunner Michael Rauch appeared first on ScreenCraft.

Wilder's advice is timeless. He gave writer-director Cameron Crowe several interviews over the years and from those interviews, comes the following advice, which was featured on a past issue of NPR, which you can listen to here:

Billy Wilder's 10 rules of Good Filmmaking

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Got a problem with your third act? Download our FREE guide on screenwriting structures.

Learn how to write great movie dialogue with our FREE guide.

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