Another independent gem from last year was Captain Fantastic places absolute and unquestioned faith in its free-wheeling stance. The story has strong ideas backed up by an even stronger conviction in its wholly unique belief system. It doesn’t exactly stick the landing, but it has a refreshing sense of ambition. LOGLINE: Ben Cash, a single … More Structure Breakdowns: “Captain Fantastic”
Kenneth Lonergan’s first writing/directing outing since 2011, Manchester by the Sea is a universal tale grief in which being your brother’s keeper includes all of the big and little baggage that we leave behind for our loved ones to care for, to mend to, and ultimately to preserve. LOGLINE: A troubled janitor must return, permanently, to … More Structure Breakdowns: “Manchester by the Sea”
After Moonlight, the only movie we could look at next could be La La Land. When Director Damien Chazelle first pitched this idea around town, there wasn’t much excitement. The film initially started as a Sundance Film Festival short and later become the “almost Best Film” at last year’s Oscars. This movie is a lovely, … More Structure Breakdowns: “La La Land”
Hey everyone, Happy Cinco de Mayo! Sorry for being away the month of April, but sometimes life happens. We’ve spent a lot of time talking about movies, dissecting movies and analyzing film structure to understand what makes a story work so that we can apply that to our own writing. After a month away, I … More Let’s Break Down Some Recent Films
A Strong Spine In life a strong spine means a strong body, upright posture and the ability to move with agility and force. A plot is not all that different. A strong Story Spine ensures that your plot will move with a forcefulness that compels the reader to stay engaged. Elements of a Story Spine … More Spine Structure Checklist
Review and Reiteration Writing is an iterative exercise. A script is never nailed in one draft. A script is honed through repetition, sculpting away what’s not needed until all that remains is story we want to tell. We’ve discussed everything from Plot and Story to Dialogue, Narrative, Themes and Metaphors. With all that in mind, … More Translating Loglines into Story Spines
Timing is Everything A common mistake among writers is the location of information. When they put information into the narrative is just as important as what they include. If you want to create a mystery or a question for the audience to ponder, then you want to place visual information — a location, an object … More Timing Counts (No Pun Intended)
What is a Story Beat? In a nutshell, a story beat — as opposed to an acting beat or a parenthetical beat used in dialogue — is a single scene. In other words, a story beat is single unit of dramatic action. The dramatic action of every scene begins with a character who has a … More Scenes and Story Beats
What makes a Scene a Scene…? In my last blog, I defined a scene as a unit of story in which a character has a clear want that s/he either does or doesn’t get because of a conflict with another character, and the result of that conflict in some way advances the plot of your … More How to Write a Scene (Part 2)
What is a scene…? In screenwriting, there are many different ways to define a scene. Some will say that it is an event, something that happens or a “unit of story” that takes place in a specific location. As soon as the scene changes location, it becomes a new scene. I would disagree with … More How to Write a Scene
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