You've got a great idea for a screenplay... how do you get started? Though
everyone has their own way of going from brain to page (I use that direct plug system - hook it
up to my brain and the pages just start shooting out of the printer) - here is a basic method for
organizing your thoughts into a simple step outline. The best thing to do is to find the method
that works best for you.
1) What's your story? You need to have a character in conflict. The character should have
an emotional conflict to overcome (character arc) and a physical conflict (something we can see - it's a movie)
to deal with (plot) and it's best if those two conflicts are connected.
Martell's Instant Story Creator
"My story is about a person (__________) who is forced to deal with their emotional problem (_______)
in order to deal with a physical problem (________). If they fail to deal with the physical problem,
(_______) will happen - destroying their life forever! (The stakes)"
That works for almost any story, whether it's an asteroid hurtling toward Earth or a shy girl
pursuing her one true love.
2) What's the big idea? Your story idea should be something interesting enough that
millions of people worldwide will want to spend $10.50 to see it. You need to start with a great
idea. Many writers finish a screenplay with a dull idea, then wonder why nobody wants to read it
after they tell a producer what it's about. It's better to come up with 100 ideas and select the
*best* idea, than to write the first idea you come up with. Even if you are writing for a niche
market or the indie/art house world, you need to have some sort of story hook that makes your
script idea *unique*. If there is another film with the same idea, you need a new idea!
3) Figure out the antagonist's plan or the main conflict of your script. Story is
conflict - and the antagonist is the character who brings the conflict. That means the
antagonist is usually the most important character in your screenplay. Who are they? What do
they want? How does this impact your protagonist? Make sure you understand the conflict and how
it works in your story - the conflict is the engine that runs your story.
4) Next thing I'd do is write a 75 word logline (synopsis) of my script. Put the idea
into words. This will help you focus on what you want your script to be. If you can't condense
your story down to about 75 words, you don't know what your story *is*. Every single movie will
be distilled down to even fewer words in that description in TV Guide Magazine - even indie films
and dramas. If some employee at TV Guide can distill *your* story to a couple of sentences, you'd
better be able to. This logline will be what you use to pitch your script to producers in a query
letter... but it will also be a guide when you are writing your script. I always tape my loglines
to my computer monitor so that I can stay on track while writing the script. Anything that isn't
covered by that 75 word description isn't part of my story - and belongs on the cutting room
floor.
5) Now brainstorm a bunch of scenes that illustrate your conflicts. Just come
up with as many scene ideas as you can... including bad ones. Later you'll
select the best for your outline. Sometimes you have to dig through bad ideas
to find good ones.
Let's say your script is about a ladies man who is framed for murdering a
woman... by someone with intimate knowledge of his bedroom practices. Now he
has to track down all of these women he's screwed and dumped because one of
them may be the killer. Outer Conflict: the police are chasing him (think
FUGITIVE). Emotional Conflict: he has to deal with all of these women he has
hurt... and realizes he's not a very nice guy.
So you'll need scenes that deal with the police chase and scenes that deal
with the ex-girlfriends. You'll need other scenes, too. Write down every scene
that pops into your mind.
A) Make a list of conflict scenes between hero & villain. You're probably going to
need 3-5 scenes or more... but brainstorm up as many as you can. You want to make sure this
aspect of your story is covered - and there aren't any missing steps.
B) Make a list of scenes that show the lead dealing with his emotional conflict.
Again, at least 3-5 scenes will probably be required to show the problem, the character struggling
with the problem, and then the character taking the steps to solve the problem, then the problem
being solved. Again, you want to come up with as many scenes as you can so that you can select the
*best* scenes.
C) Make a list of all of the ways the hero tries to solve the problem while avoiding
their emotional conflict. These are Act 2 scenes - and part of B. But if you brainstorm them
separately, you'll make sure you have enough scenes... and you can come up with some different
and inventive scenes. We always want to make sure our scripts are filled with scenes we haven't
seen before - so sometimes you have to work through a bunch of bad scene ideas to find the good
ones.
D) Makes a list of all of the stuff that could go wrong in your story. These are physical
conflict things that will probably go in Act 2. The physical struggle your protagonist deals with in
your story. Sort of part of A - you want to figure out the absolute worst things that can happen
to your hero in your story. Let your imagination run wild. New writers often try to protect their
heroes, and that's *wrong*. You want to have the absolute worst things you can come up with happen
to your hero - because that's conflict and that's interesting. It's obvious that you want things
to go wrong in a drama or thriller or action flick or horror movie - those are the exciting
scenes! But even if you are writing a comedy, the worst thing that can happen to your hero is fuel
for humor. Think of all of the things that go wrong to our heroes in SUPERBAD... and all of
those things are what is funny.
E) Make a list of all of the scenes you need to tell your plot. Though most of these
scenes are probably covered in your other lists, sometimes your hero will need to gather
information or do some other connect-the-dots stuff that may not be on your other lists.
You want this list to give you the step-by-step for your plot - so that you can make sure one
step leads logically to the next and you haven't left anything out.
Now you have a bunch of "menus" to work from. Just order off the menu. Come up with an outline
using these scenes, where the conflict escalates. Combine scenes (one scene might be both a hero/villain
conflict scene and a plot scene, plus have the hero try to solve the problem while avoiding their
inner conflict). The key to screenwriting is combining different things into one scene that does
the work of several scenes.
6) A step outline is easy - it's just putting the scenes in order. I take a lined sheet
of paper or two and pick the really great scenes, then put them in story order. Hey, you're
going to have a lot of arrows and cross-outs and stuff. That's okay. You're figuring out how the
story works, organizing your thoughts. One thing leads to the next and that leads to the next.
7) Now I keep playing around with my outline until I've got the story right. You can
write dozens of drafts of your screenplay trying to get the story right, or a dozen drafts of your
outline. The outline takes less time. Here's where you want to make sure that one things leads
logically to the next. You want to look for plot holes and characters who do things without
motivation - and *fix them*. You also want to twist your plot at this stage - if you've seen a story work this way
in some other movie, twist it! Find the unique road to your destination. The "playing around stage" is also where I try to find the best version of the scenes
I've come up with - sometimes I can come up with a more unique and exciting scene once I know
how the story comes together... and the details of the scene I always save for the first draft.
Though I'm flexible when I'm writing the first draft, I want to have my *story* figured out, so that
I can use my creative energy for all of the details. Solve your problems while you are still in outline - that is the
*purpose* of an outline. Solving problems here saves a bunch of rewriting later. You don't want
to waste time on rewrites for basic story issues, you want to spend rewrite time improving your
script. Eventually you do a "final" version of your step outline that is the very best way the
story can be told with all of the story, character motivation and logic problems solved.
8) I also try to figure out pacing in my outlines - get rid of slow spots and keep the
story flying along. You want to make sure you have an exciting genre scene about every 10 pages -
basically *within* those 10 pages. Make sure there are no slow spots in the story. There's a
script tip here about your screenplay's heartbeat - you want your script to have a regular
heartbeat with an exciting scene every 10 pages. If you are writing an action script, that will
be an action scene every 10 pages. If you are writing a rom-com, you want a scene where your
couple almost hooks up... then something goes wrong (that is funny) every 10 pages. If you are
writing a horror movie, you want a scray scene every 10 pages. If you are writing a drama,
you want a good meaty dramatic scene every 10 pages. You want your script to have that regular
heartbeat - not die for 30 pages where nothing interesting or exciting happens. This is basic
pacing - you want it built in, so that it is *organic to your screenplay* rather than have some
scene forced into a slow spot later. Built in is alway better than tacked on.
9) Around the same time as the outline, I do some other basic pre-writing... Sometimes
I try to figure out what my acts MEAN. Each act tells its own little story, so I try to figure
out what that story is, and how it ends. This will be tied into those two conflicts, with Act
2 being the character avoiding his emotional conflict and trying to find band-aid solutions to the
outer conflict...and it only gets worse!
10) I often will do a little character bio. Not how they look, but WHO THEY ARE.
You want to know their attitude, their personality, how they see the world and how the world
sees them. The more I know about my characters before I write, the better my screenplay. I
believe that stories are *about* characters, and the events (plot stuff) is there to bring their
character to the surface. One of the biggest problems I see in scripts by new writers is that
they didn't really know their characters. I usually hear the character's voices in my head before
I write the script... but sometimes I will put pet words & phrases, unique sentence structures
for this character, and other elements of speech in the character bio. You want every character
to sound different, and that begins with knowing what makes every character in your script
different.
11) One of the things I think about in the outline stage is how the audience is supposed
to react to each scene - what they are supposed to be feeling. We are in the *emotion* picture
business - you don't want the audience to just sit there, you want them to feel something. I
often write notes on my outline that deal with the emotions & reactions I'm looking for - this
helps to remind me when I write the scene. This isn't what your characters are feeling (though
that is also important) but what you want the audience to be feeling.
12) Sometimes I do a 10 page treatment (story version). I find this helps me find
hidden flaws in my outline, and really think about the characters. You might try this step or
ignore it - whatever works best for you.
13) Then I do that writing part - turning the outline into a screenplay. Though I try
to solve all of the story problems in the outline, the outline is just a guide. If I come up with
something better (that still fits the story I set out to tell) or find a more unique way to do
a scene - I'm free to do that. The outline is flexible. What you don't want to do is go to all
of the trouble to figure out how your story works with an outline, then throw it away and write
something that doesn't work. There is a reason why every pro screenwriter I know outlines - it's
a great way to solve problems and organize thoughts before you write 110 pages that don't work.
As Terry Rossio (PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN) once noted over on Wordplay, some people's first drafts
are part of their outline process. They write draft after draft until they find their story,
then they write a few drafts to focus the script on that story. If that's the method that works
best for you - go for it. But remember, once you figure out the story, you need to rewrite your
script until it conforms to that story.
On a really good day of writing, the characters talk to me and I just take dictation...
14) On a really bad day, I may outline every page before I write it. Many years ago I
wrote an article fro Script Magazine called THE JOB OF WRITING which explains my methods for
fighting through bad days and still getting pages written. As a professional, usually with a
deadline that can not be broken, I must write a certain number of pages every day, whether I
feel like it or not. I suggest you try to write regularly so that you get in the habit of
writing. As I've mentioned in other tips - if you write ONE PAGE every fay, you will have
THREE first drafts by the end of a single year. When I had my day job at the warehouse,
I averaged 3 scripts a year.
15) The more stuff I have figured out ahead of time, the more effort I can spend on
making sure the dialogue and actions and characters are exciting and entertaining. I want to
have plot problems solved before I start typing!
Good luck!
For even more on outlining your story or screenplay, including examples of how professional screenwriters outline, check out the OUTLINES & THEMATIC BLUE BOOK (below)!
New to screenwriting? You probably have questions! How do I get an Agent? How do I write a phone conversation? Do I need a Mentor? What’s does VO and OC and OS mean? What is proper screenplay format? Should I use a pen name? Do I need to movie to Hollywood? What’s the difference between a Producer and a Production Manager, and which should I sell my script to? How do I write a Text Message? Should I Copyright or WGA register my script? Can I Direct or Star? How do I write an Improvised scene? Overcoming Writer’s Block? How do I write a Sex Scene? And many many more! This book has the answers to the 101 Most Asked Questions from new screenwriters! Everything you need to know to begin writing your screenplay!
All of the answers you need to know, from a working professional screenwriter with 20 produced films and a new movie made for a major streaming service in 2023!
Thinking about writing a big Disaster Movie? An Historical Epic? An Epic Adventure Film? Or maybe you like Gladiator Movies? This book looks at writing Blockbusters and those Big Fat Beach Read novels - anything epic! Usng movies like JAWS, POSEIDON ADVENTURE, LAWRENCE OF ARABIA, THE GUNS OF NAVARONE, and those MARVEL and FAST & FURIOUS flicks as examples. What *is* a Blockbuster? 107 years of Blockbuster history! Blockbuster Characters. Blockbuster Story Types! Why modern Blockbusters are soap operas! Social Issues in Blcokbusters? Big Emotions! Keeping All Of Those Characters Distinctive! How to avoid the Big problems found in Big Movies and books! More! If you are writing a Big Event Movie or a Big Fat Novel, there are tips and techniques to help you!
"The Presidential Suite of the Hollywood Hoover Hotel looked like a bloody battlefield: bodies everywhere, furniture broken, red liquid dripping from the walls, dead soldiers littering the elegant Berber rug as clouds of smoke overhead bounced between two air conditioning vents.
Mitch Robertson stepped over the body of an ex-child star turned sex tape star turned pop star and entered the room, spotted a gun on the floor and picked it up... careful not to spill his coffee with three pumps of mocha syrup from Penny’s Coffee Shop. That coffee was gold, the only thing keeping him going in this dazed state of wakefulness. The gun felt light. Holding it, he saw the silhouette of an 80s action star sitting sideways on a tipped over chair. Motionless. Was he dead? Mitch was still hung over from the Awards Party the night before, and wondered whether this was all some sort of crazy nightmare that he would wake up from... but when he tripped over the brown legs of a bottomless Superhero, flaccid junk encased in a condom but still wearing his mask, and hit the edge of the sofa, gun skittering and coffee spilling, he realized that it was all very real. What the hell had happened here?"
When You Finish Your Screenplay Or Novel... The Rewrites Begin!
The end is just the beginning! You’ve finished your story, but now the rewriting begins! This 405 page book shows you how to rewrite your screenplay or novel to perfection. Everything from Character Consistency to Shoeboxing to How To Give And Receive Notes to 15 Solutions If Your Script’s Too Long! and 15 Solutions If Your Script’s Too Short! to Finding The Cause Of A Story Problem to Good Notes Vs. Bad Notes to Finding Beta Readers to Avoiding Predictability to Learning To Be Objective About Your Work to Script Killer Notes and Notes From Idiots to Production Rewrites and What The Page Colors Mean? and a Complete Rewrite Checklist! The complete book on Rewriting Your Story!
*** HITCHCOCK: MASTERING SUSPENSE *** - For Kindle!
Alfred Hitchcock, who directed 52 movies, was known as the *Master Of Suspense*; but what exactly is suspense and how can *we* master it? How does suspense work? How can *we* create “Hitchcockian” suspense scenes in our screenplays, novels, stories and films?
This book uses seventeen of Hitchcock’s films to show the difference between suspense and surprise, how to use “focus objects” to create suspense, the 20 iconic suspense scenes and situations, how plot twists work, using secrets for suspense, how to use Dread (the cousin of suspense) in horror stories, and dozens of other amazing storytelling lessons. From classics like “Strangers On A Train” and “The Birds” and “Vertigo” and “To Catch A Thief” to older films from the British period like “The 39 Steps” and “The Man Who Knew Too Much” to his hits from the silent era like “The Lodger” (about Jack The Ripper), we’ll look at all of the techniques to create suspense!
Contained Thrillers like "Buried"? Serial Protagonists like "Place Beyond The Pines"? Multiple Connecting Stories like "Pulp Fiction"? Same Story Multiple Times like "Run, Lola, Run"?
HITCHCOCK DID IT FIRST!
This book focuses on 18 of Hitchcock's 52 films with wild cinema and story experiments which paved the way for modern films. Almost one hundred different experiments that you may think are recent cinema or story inventions... but some date back to Hitchcock's *silent* films! We'll examine these experiments and how they work. Great for film makers, screenwriters, film fans, producers and directors.
Why pay $510 for a used version of the 240 page 2000 version that used to retail for $21.95? (check it out!) when
you can get the NEW EXPANDED VERSION - over 500 pages - for just $9.99? New chapters, New examples, New techniques!
"SECRETS OF ACTION SCREENWRITING is the
best book on the practical nuts-and-bolts mechanics of writing a screenplay I've ever read."
- Ted Elliott, co-writer of MASK OF ZORRO, SHREK, PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN and the sequels (with Terry Rossio). (ie; 4 of the top 20 Box Office Hits Of ALL TIME.)
All Six Movies analyzed! All of the mission tapes, all of the “that’s impossible!” set pieces and stunts, the cons and capers - and how these scenes work, the twists and double crosses, the tension and suspense (and how to generate it), the concept of each film as a stand alone with a different director calling the shots (broken in the sixth film), the gadgets, the masks, the stories, the co-stars and team members (one team member has been in every film), the stunts Tom Cruise actually did (and the ones he didn’t), and so much more! Over 120,000 words of fun info!
THE MISSION IMPOSSIBLE MOVIES - 347 Pages - Only $3.99 !
All five "Bourne" movies (including "Legacy" and it's potential sequels) - what are the techniques used to keep the characters and scenes exciting and involving? Reinventing the thriller genre...
or following the "formula"? Five films - each with an interesting experiment! A detailed analysis of each
of the films, the way these thrillers work... as well as a complete list of box office and critical
statistics for each film. This book is great for writers, directors, and just fans of the series.
He's back! The release of "Terminator: Dark Fate" is set to begin a new trilogy in
the Terminator story... 35 years after the first film was released. What draws us to these films about
a cybernetic organism from the future sent back in time? Why is there a new proposed trilogy every few
years? This book looks at all five Terminator movies from a story standpoint - what makes them work
(or not)? What are the techniques used to keep the characters and scenes exciting and involving? How
about those secret story details you may not have noticed? Containing a detailed analysis of each of
the five films so far, this book delves into the way these stories work... as well as a complete list of
box office and critical statistics for each film. This book is great for writers, directors, and just
fans of the series.
Screenwriting books have been around as long as films have. This series reprints vintage screenwriting books with a new introduction and history, plus new articles which look at how these lessons from almost 100 years ago apply to today’s screenplays. Anita Loos book is filled with information which still applies.
In addition to the full text of the original book, you get the full screenplay to Miss Loos' hit THE LOVE EXPERT, plus several new articles on the time period and women in Hollywood.
Expanded version with more ways to find great ideas! Your screenplay is going to begin with an idea. There are good ideas and bad ideas and commercial ideas and personal ideas. But where do you find ideas in the first place? This handbook explores different methods for finding or generating ideas, and combining those ideas into concepts that sell. The Idea Bank, Fifteen Places To Find Ideas, Good Ideas And Bad Ideas, Ideas From Locations And Elements, Keeping Track Of Your Ideas, Idea Theft - What Can You Do? Weird Ways To Connect Ideas, Combing Ideas To Create Concepts, High Concepts - What Are They? Creating The Killer Concept, Substitution - Lion Tamers & Hitmen, Creating Blockbuster Concepts, Magnification And The Matrix, Conflict Within Concept, Concepts With Visual Conflict, Avoiding Episodic Concepts, much more! Print version is 48 pages, Kindle version is over 175 pages!
ARE YOUR SCENES IN THE RIGHT ORDER? AND ARE THEY THE RIGHT SCENES?
Your story is like a road trip... but where are you going? What's the best route to get there? What are the best sights to see along the way? Just as you plan a vacation instead of just jump in the car and start driving, it's a good idea to plan your story. An artist does sketches before breaking out the oils, so why shouldn't a writer do the same? This Blue Book looks at various outlining methods used by professional screenwriters like Wesley Strick, Paul Schrader, John August, and others... as well as a guest chapter on novel outlines. Plus a whole section on the Thematic Method of generating scenes and characters and other elements that will be part of your outline. The three stages of writing are: Pre-writing, Writing, and Rewriting... this book looks at that first stage and how to use it to improve your screenplays and novels.
William Goldman says the most important single element of any screenplay is structure. It’s the skeleton under the flesh and blood of your story. Without it, you have a spineless, formless, mess... a slug! How do you make sure your structure is strong enough to support your story? How do you prevent your story from becoming a slug? This Blue Book explores different types of popular structures from the basic three act structure to more obscure methods like leap-frogging. We also look at structure as a verb as well as a noun, and techniques for structuring your story for maximum emotional impact. Most of the other books just look at *structure* and ignore the art of *structuring* your story. Techniques to make your story a page turner... instead of a slug!
This book takes you step-by-step through the construction of a story... and how to tell a story well, why Story always starts with character... but ISN'T character, Breaking Your Story, Irony, Planting Information, Evolving Story, Leaving No Dramatic Stone Unturned, The Three Greek Unities, The Importance Of Stakes, The Thematic Method, and how to create personal stories with blockbuster potential. Ready to tell a story?
Print version was 48 pages, Kindle version is over 85,000 words - 251 pages!
Your story doesn't get a second chance to make a great first impression, and this book shows you a
bunch of techniques on how to do that. From the 12 Basic Ways To Begin Your Story, to the 3 Stars Of
Your First Scene (at least one must be present) to World Building, Title Crawls, Backstory, Starting
Late, Teasers and Pre Title Sequences, Establishing Theme & Motifs (using GODFATHER PART 2), Five Critical
Elements, Setting Up The Rest Of The Story (with GODFATHER), and much more! With hundreds of examples
ranging from Oscar winners to classic films like CASABLANCA to some of my produced films (because
I know exactly why I wrote the scripts that way). Biggest Blue Book yet!
Print version was 48 pages, Kindle version is over 100,000 words - 312 pages!
Expanded version with more ways to create interesting protagonists! A step-by-step guide to creating "take charge" protagonists. Screenplays are about characters in conflict... characters in emotional turmoil... Strong three dimensional protagonists who can find solutions to their problems in 110 pages. But how do you create characters like this? How do you turn words into flesh and blood? Character issues, Knowing Who Is The Boss, Tapping into YOUR fears, The Naked Character, Pulp Friction, Man With A Plan, Character Arcs, Avoiding Cliche People, Deep Characterization, Problem Protagonists, 12 Ways To Create Likable Protagonists (even if they are criminals), Active vs. Reactive, The Third Dimension In Character, Relationships, Ensemble Scripts, and much, much more. Print version is 48 pages, Kindle version is once again around 205 pages!
Show Don't Tell - but *how* do you do that? Here are techniques to tell stories visually! Using Oscar Winning Films and Oscar Nominated Films as our primary examples: from the first Best Picture Winner "Sunrise" (1927) to the Oscar Nominated "The Artist" (which takes place in 1927) with stops along the way Pixar's "Up" and Best Original Screenplay Winner "Breaking Away" (a small indie style drama - told visually) as well as "Witness" and other Oscar Winners as examples... plus RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES. Print version is 48 pages, Kindle version is over 200 pages!
Most screenplays are about a 50/50 split between dialogue and description - which means your description is just as important as your dialogue. It just gets less press because the audience never sees it, the same reason why screenwriters get less press than movie stars. But your story will never get to the audience until readers and development executives read your script... so it is a very important factor. Until the movie is made the screenplay is the movie and must be just as exciting as the movie. So how do you make your screenplay exciting to read? Description is important in a novel as well, and the “audience” does read it... how do we write riveting description?
Expanded version with more ways to create interesting dialogue! How to remove bad dialogue (and what *is* bad dialogue), First Hand Dialogue, Awful Exposition, Realism, 50 Professional Dialogue Techniques you can use *today*, Subtext, Subtitles, Humor, Sizzling Banter, *Anti-Dialogue*, Speeches, and more. Tools you can use to make your dialogue sizzle! Special sections that use dialogue examples from movies as diverse as "Bringing Up Baby", "Psycho", "Double Indemnity", "Notorious", the Oscar nominated "You Can Count On Me", "His Girl Friday", and many more! Print version is 48 pages, Kindle version is over 175 pages!
What is a scene and how many you will need? The difference between scenes and sluglines. Put your scenes on trial for their lives! Using "Jaws" we'll look at beats within a scene. Scene DNA. Creating set pieces and high concept scenes. A famous director talks about creating memorable scenes. 12 ways to create new scenes. Creating unexpected scenes. Use dramatic tension to supercharge your scenes. Plants and payoffs in scenes. Plus transitions and buttons and the all important "flow"... and more! Over 65,000 words! Print version was 48 pages, Kindle version is around 210 pages!
Expanded version with more techniques to flesh out your Supporting Characters and make them individuals. Using the hit movie BRIDESMAIDS as well as other comedies like THE HANGOVER and TED and HIGH FIDELITY and
40 YEAR OLD VIRGIN and many other examples we look at ways to make your Supporting Characters come alive on the page.
Print version was 48 pages, Kindle version is around 170 pages!
Expanded version with more techniques to help you through the desert of Act Two! Subjects Include: What Is Act Two? Inside Moves, The 2 Ps: Purpose & Pacing, The 4Ds: Dilemma, Denial, Drama and Decision, Momentum, the Two Act Twos, Subplot Prisms, Deadlines, Drive, Levels Of Conflict, Escalation, When Act Two Begins and When Act Two Ends, Scene Order, Bite Sized Pieces, Common Act Two Issues, Plot Devices For Act Two, and dozens of others. Over 67,000 words (that’s well over 200 pages) of tools and techniques to get you through the desert of Act Two alive!
Print version was 48 pages, Kindle version is well over 200 pages!
The First Ten Pages Of Your Screenplay Are Critical, But What About The Last 10 Pages?
Creating the perfect ending to your story! This 100,000 word book shows you how to end your story with a bang, rather than a whimper. Everything from Resolution Order to Act Three Tools to Happy or Sad Endings? to How The Beginning Of Your Story Has Clues To The Ending (in case you were having trouble figuring out how the story should end) to Falling Action to How To Avoid Bad Endings to Writing The Perfect Twist Ending to Setting Up Sequels & Series to Emotional Resolutions to How To Write Post Credit Sequences to Avoiding Deus Ex Machinas, to 20 Different Types Of Ends (and how to write them) and much more! Everything about endings for your screenplay or novel!
Loglines, Treatments, Pitching, Look Books, Pitch Decks, One Pagers, Rip-O-Matics?
You have written a brilliant 110 page screenplay, but how do you get anyone to read it? You need to distill it down into some form of verbal moonshine or story rocket fuel that will ignite that bored development executive or manager or agent and get them to request your screenplay. But how do you shrink those 110 pages into a 25 word logline or a 2 minute elevator pitch or a one page synopsis or a short paragraph? This 100,000 word book shows you how! Everything you need to know! From common logline mistakes (and how to solve them) to how your pitch can reveal story problems to the 4 types of pitches!
Should really be called the BUSINESS BLUE BOOK because it covers almost everything you will need to
know for your screenwriting career: from thinking like a producer and learning to speak their language,
to query letters and finding a manager or agent, to making connections (at home and in Hollywood) and
networking, to the different kinds of meetings you are will have at Studios, to the difference between
a producer and a studio, to landing an assignment at that meeting and what is required of you when you
are working under contract, to contracts and options and lawyers and... when to run from a deal!
Information you can use *now* to move your career forward! It's all here in the Biggest Blue Book yet!
Print version was 48 pages, Kindle version is over 400 pages!
Use your creative energy to focus on the content; let Final Draft take care of the style. Final Draft is the number-one selling application specifically designed for writing movie scripts, television episodics and stage plays. Its ease-of-use and time-saving features have attracted writers for almost two decades positioning Final Draft as the Professional Screenwriters Choice. Final Draft power users include Academy, Emmy and BAFTA award winning writers like Oliver Stone, Tom Hanks, Alan Ball, J.J. Abrams, James Cameron and more.
* * * Buy It!
IT'S BACK! SECRETS OF ACTION SCREENWRITING
Over 460 pages packed with tips and techniques.
How to
write a plot twist,
the four kinds of suspense (and how to create it), reversals, ten ways to invent new action scenes, secrets and lies,
creating the ultimate
villain, five kinds of love interests, MORE!CLICK HERE!
CLASSES ON MP3
CLASSES ON MP3! Take a class on MP3! GUERRILLA MARKETING - NO AGENT? NO PROBLEM! and WRITING THRILLERS (2 MP3s). Full length classes on MP3. Now Available: IDEAS & CREATIVITY, WRITING HORROR, WRITING INDIE FILMS, more!
Take classes on MP3!
MY OTHER SITES
B MOVIE WORLD Cult Films, Exploitation, Bikers & Women In Prison, Monster Movies.
E BOOKS: New Blue Books and Novelettes!
I am expanding all of the Blue Books from around 44 pages of
text to around 200 pages! Some are over 250 pages! See what is availabale and what is coming soon!Also, I've been writing Novelletes and there
will soon be novels. E BOOKS: BLUE BOOKS & NOVELLETES
BOOKLETS & PRODUCTS
FIRST STRIKE BLUE BOOKS
Each Blue Book is 48
pages and focuses on a different aspect of screenwriting. Dialogue. Visual Storytelling. Your First Ten Pages. Act 2 Booster. Protagonists. Great Endings. Seventeen Blue Books now available!
