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: none;”>
1. Take Your Stress Out On Your Characters
>
>
We’ve all got stress, but instead of yelling at
your family members try sticking it to one of your characters. Choose one of your fictional chums and make
that character’s life ten times harder in your story.
>
>
You’ll blow off some steam and improve the
conflict level in your script.
>
style=”mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;”>
2. Put Your Script On A Diet
>
>
Instead of dieting yourself put your latest
screenplay on a diet.
>
>
Vow to cut 3 to 5 pages of fat from your
story. Unless your screenplay is already
at the minimum suggested page count, I’m 99% certain you can cut that much
without losing any narrative muscle.
style=”mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;”>
style=”mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;”>
3. Watch More Movies
style=”mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;”>
style=”mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;”>
Resolutions don’t get much easier than this for
movie buffs, but the truth is we all need to watch more movies in order to improve
our writing and stay ahead of a constantly changing curve.
style=”mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;”>
style=”mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;”>
You’ll need some popcorn of course while doing
this mandatory work.
style=”mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;”>
style=”mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;”>
4. Consume Less Unconstructive Feedback
style=”mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;”>
>
Every writer gets some now and then – unsubstantiated
negative feedback. It’ll always be a
part of the screenwriting biz. Resolve not
to give it your time or energy.
>
>
Feedback is crucial. We all need to learn everything we can from
it. But it’s so important to tell the
good constructive feedback from the other kind.
>
style=”mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;”>
5. Take More Risks
style=”mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;”>
style=”mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;”>
Risky writing is much more fun than safe
writing. By risky writing I mean the more
original stuff – the stuff that’s more likely to fail.
style=”mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;”>
style=”mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;”>
Sometimes you need to go for that quirky
high-risk personal story. If you can
make it work, it’s actually got a much better chance of helping new writers
break in than more straightforward fare.
style=”mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;”>
style=”mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;”>
That’s it for now. All this resolution talk is making me hungry.
Many screenwriters have heard tales of Ron Bass. Bass, who wrote Rain Man and other well-known movies, was a huge screenwriting machine back in the nineties. At one point he had an insanely lucrative deal with Sony and was purported to make as much as a million dollars per screenplay for up to seven scripts…
One: It Matters How You Say It I flew into Los Angeles from New York one afternoon and headed immediately to the offices of a well known production company to practice a pitch we were taking out to several studios the next day. The President of the company, who had brought me in to do…
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…
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%…
In anticipation of Mockingjay Part 2, I recently took part in a Hunger Games marathon. Watching the first three films in a row made me realize there are many things to learn from this franchise. Here are a few of them: (Warning: There are spoilers below.) Protagonist Likeability Matters Big Time It’s hard to get…
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…