Arguably the most important portion of your story is the opening. This is where you must seduce your readers and audiences as you draw them into the world you’ve created.… read more →
Have you ever been the last to arrive at a party and the host introduces you, one at a time, to everyone there? So how many of those names are… read more →
Your job as a storyteller is to create IMAGES. This is true not just for screenwriters, but for anyone presenting a story to a reader or an audience. Whenever we… read more →
Writing and storytelling are filled with rules and maxims that are presented as unbreakable commandments – but which should occasionally be challenged and violated for the sake of a greater… read more →
James Cameron’s screenplay Avatar is an outstanding example of using many structural tools and devices successfully in one script. In addition to the overall structure of your screenplay – the… read more →
Imagine a story about a soldier, wounded by past battles, who is sent to a hostile, unfamiliar place filled with danger and overwhelming obstacles. He’s a stranger in a strange… read more →
Hollywood movies are simple. Though writing a successful Hollywood movie is certainly not easy, the stories for mainstream Hollywood films are all built on only three basic components: character, desire… read more →
Structure is something that every agent, editor, publisher, Hollywood executive, public speaker, marketer and story teller talks about, to the point that it can seem complicated, intricate, mysterious and hard… read more →
In other articles I discuss everything from story structure and adaptation to pitching and marketing your story. But here I want to cover something much more basic – something that… read more →
The causes and effects of one’s identity are brilliantly illustrated in Matt Damon and Ben Affleck’s award-winning screenplay Good Will Hunting. It’s a wonderful example of a hero living an emotionally safe existence and how he gradually finds the courage to abandon that identity to achieve real fulfillment.
