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style=”font-family: Cambria; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;”> It’s Halloween season, time to turn to spooky stuff.  Going eerie won’t be hard for me at all because the screenplay biz can be downright bloodcurdling.  Here’s my top five countdown of screenwriting frights: style=”font-family: Cambria; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;”> style=”font-family: Cambria; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;”> 5. Screenwriters are constantly vanishing…

 Feeling out of creative steam?   It happens to every writer at every level.  There’s so much resistance, so much rewriting, so much everything – it’s easy for any writer to lose momentum. But momentum is everything.   All you really need, to eventually succeed, is to move forward.  All you really need is momentum.    If you…

style=”mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;”> It’s a new year!  Hope time! style=”mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;”> style=”mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;”> But this is the screenwriting biz, so it might be the case that things have happened in the past year to temporarily dash your hopes. style=”mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;”>…

style=”mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;”> In a prior blog (December 2015), I talked about avoiding coincidence in screenplays. I opined that 95% of the time, your story is better off if you take the coincidences out.  style=”mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;”> style=”mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;”> But what about the other 5%…

style=”mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;”> What is the one thing every script needs to be if it’s going to get produced? style=”mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;”> style=”mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;”> Unique? style=”mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;”> style=”mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;”> Hardly.  True originality often hurts more than it…

style=”mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;”> Writing natural-sounding dialogue – the kind that makes characters feel real – comes easily for a chosen few.  The rest of us have to work hard at it.  style=”mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;”> style=”mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;”> Like anything else, it’s a skill that can be…

style=”mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;”> We’ve already spent a few weeks in the New Year, and most of us have given up on our diets by now.  So here are five alternative resolutions, all of which should be easier than consuming less food. style=”mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;”> style=”mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace:…

 This month I’d like to talk about fear in our screenplays.   I’m not talking about the horror genre.  I’m talking about the writing process itself.     I’m talking about writing in a state of panic – fueled by the fear of failure.   This is a phenomenon I’ve seen fairly often.  It goes like this:   A…

Feeling out of creative steam?   It happens to every writer at every level.  There’s so much resistance, so much rewriting, so much everything – it’s easy for any writer to lose momentum. But momentum is everything.   All you really need, to eventually succeed, is to move forward.  All you really need is momentum.   If you find…

> > There are some scripting tricks you won’t find in the screenwriting books.  Here are three things I learned about setups and payoffs after years of writing and reading others’ work. > Expanding Your Setups > > Are readers not getting your big payoff?  That can be really frustrating.  I’ve seen it happen many…