First Draft: Sure, Story Structure Guides Are Useful. But When Should We Be Using Them, and How?
In partnership with Creative Screenwriting and ScreenCraft, “First Draft” is a series on everything to do with screenwriting. “It’s not where you take things from—it’s where you take...
First Draft: Understanding the Promise of the Premise Through Nocturnal Animals, Groundhog Day and Black Mirror
In partnership with Creative Screenwriting and ScreenCraft, “First Draft” is a series on everything to do with screenwriting. Save the Cat practitioners will be familiar with the phrase...
First Draft: Living In the Past With Flashbacks and Monologues
In partnership with Creative Screenwriting and ScreenCraft, “First Draft” is a series on everything to do with screenwriting. Flashbacks Nothing provokes a more knee-jerk “don’t do it” reaction...
First Draft: Knowing the Difference Between Fact and Truth When Adapting a True Story
In partnership with Creative Screenwriting and ScreenCraft, “First Draft” is a series on everything to do with screenwriting. Taking the 1994 film Quiz Show as a case study, let’s explore...
First Draft: Know Your Place, Write Better Single Locations
In partnership with Creative Screenwriting and ScreenCraft, “First Draft” is a series on everything to do with screenwriting. Every screenplay should be set somewhere. Forget that maybe you’ll...
First Draft: Hone Your Skills in Storytelling Efficiency With Groundhog Day
In partnership with Creative Screenwriting and ScreenCraft, “First Draft” is a series on everything to do with screenwriting. There are many screenplays available online, but one in particular...
First Draft: When Is It OK For Your Script to Use On-the-Nose Dialogue?
In partnership with Creative Screenwriting and ScreenCraft, we’re publishing “First Draft,” a series on everything to do with screenwriting. Near the end of Richard Wenk’s screenplay for 16 Blocks (which...
First Draft: Lessons in Screenplay Plants and Payoffs from Chinatown and The Orphanage
In partnership with Creative Screenwriting and ScreenCraft, “First Draft” is a series on everything to do with screenwriting. “Bad for glass,” says private eye Jake Gittes in Robert Towne’s...
First Draft: Is it Surprise, or is it Suspense?
In partnership with Creative Screenwriting and ScreenCraft, “First Draft” is a series on everything to do with screenwriting. I had an interesting experience while binge-watching the first two...
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Inside the Issue: Best Of
The Best Film Schools in the U.S. and Canada 2017: Film Programs to Shape You Into the Next Moviemaking All-Star
Perhaps you’re someone who dreams of a career in moviemaking, and has come to the realization that the discipline, experimentation and personal relationships that flourish in an academic setting are...
3Inside the Issue: Cinematography
What’s in Your Kit? The Underwater Gear Used in Jeff Orlowski’s Gorgeous Environmental Doc Chasing Coral
How do you show irrefutable proof that the world’s coral reefs are rapidly dying due to climate change? Director Jeff Orlowski’s feature Chasing Coral follows an impassioned team of...
Inside the Issue: Directing
Of Bad Apes and Twisted Revenge: Matt Reeves, Steve Zahn, Weta Digital and Others on War for the Planet of the Apes
Actor Steve Zahn—known for his roles in That Thing You Do, Riding in Cars With Boys, and Dallas Buyers Club—once stumbled onto an online post about his role in...