process

  • First Draft

First Draft: Break Tired Screenwriting Conventions By Embracing the Heroine’s – Not Hero’s – Journey

In partnership with Creative Screenwriting and ScreenCraft, “First Draft” is a series on everything to do with screenwriting. Katniss. Moana. Rey. Jyn. Wonder…

7 years ago
  • First Draft

First Draft: Will You Give Your Audience a Guided Tour of Your Script’s World, Or Throw Them In Head First?

In partnership with Creative Screenwriting and ScreenCraft, “First Draft” is a series on everything to do with screenwriting. Who doesn’t love creating a…

7 years ago
  • First Draft

First Draft: Grab Viewers By the Eyeballs With Your Screenplay Title

In partnership with Creative Screenwriting and ScreenCraft, “First Draft” is a series on everything to do with screenwriting. One of the most underrated…

7 years ago
  • First Draft

First Draft: Five Ways to Craft the Midpoint of Your Screenplay

In partnership with Creative Screenwriting and ScreenCraft, “First Draft” is a series on everything to do with screenwriting. Great writing is a balancing…

7 years ago
  • First Draft

First Draft: Cover Your (Screenwriting) Ass With These Rules For Writing Valuable Script Coverage

In partnership with Creative Screenwriting and ScreenCraft, “First Draft” is a series on everything to do with screenwriting. Screenplays don’t exist in a…

7 years ago
  • First Draft

First Draft: Seeing Is Conceiving. Build a Blueprint to Work Visuals Into Your Screenplay

In partnership with Creative Screenwriting and ScreenCraft, “First Draft” is a series on everything to do with screenwriting. Writing visually is something a lot…

7 years ago
  • Moviemaking

First Draft: So You’ve Accepted a Script Assignment. Here Are Seven Ways to Rise to Its Challenges

In partnership with Creative Screenwriting and ScreenCraft, “First Draft” is a series on everything to do with screenwriting. Collaboration is often difficult for…

7 years ago
  • First Draft

First Draft: Rewrites Aren’t the Only Way to Improve Your Screenplay. Try Rearranging It Instead

In partnership with Creative Screenwriting and ScreenCraft, “First Draft” is a series on everything to do with screenwriting. We’ve all been there before.…

7 years ago
  • First Draft

First Draft: Allow Your Characters to Introduce Themselves With These Seven Ways to Reveal Their Names

In partnership with Creative Screenwriting and ScreenCraft, “First Draft” is a series on everything to do with screenwriting. The go-to screenwriting topics of…

7 years ago
  • First Draft

First Draft: Wield These Wordsmithing Weapons to Beat Down Screenwriting Clichés

In partnership with Creative Screenwriting and ScreenCraft, “First Draft” is a series on everything to do with screenwriting. Plot and character-related exposition in…

7 years ago
  • First Draft

First Draft: What Avatar’s Pandora Can Teach You About Screenwriting Structure

In partnership with Creative Screenwriting and ScreenCraft, “First Draft” is a series on everything to do with screenwriting. James Cameron’s screenplay Avatar is an outstanding…

7 years ago
  • Other

A Duel in a Different Form: Tips for Choreographing and Executing a Car Chase From the Director of The Chase

In the action world, one of the least expensive things to do, though not necessarily the easiest, is to create…

7 years ago
  • First Draft

First Draft: Stay True to Your First Idea to Avoid Killing Characters With Too Much Plot

In partnership with Creative Screenwriting and ScreenCraft, “First Draft” is a series on everything to do with screenwriting. Every story begins at your…

7 years ago
  • First Draft

First Draft: Make the World Stand Still Even As It’s Moving Fast By Using Logarithmic Time in Your Screenplay (Video)

In partnership with Creative Screenwriting and ScreenCraft, “First Draft” is a series on everything to do with screenwriting. In a new video series,…

7 years ago
  • First Draft

First Draft: Start and End With a Bang When Writing Your Screenplay’s First and Last Visuals

In partnership with Creative Screenwriting and ScreenCraft, “First Draft” is a series on everything to do with screenwriting. Why the First and Last…

7 years ago
  • First Draft

First Draft: Give Your Characters Well-Defined Paths and Choices and Your Audience Can Believe Anything

In partnership with Creative Screenwriting and ScreenCraft, “First Draft” is a series on everything to do with screenwriting. Ripples I recently read a…

7 years ago
  • First Draft

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…

7 years ago
  • First Draft

First Draft: Are Your Screenplay’s Characters Runners Toward a Finish Line, or Gladiators in an Arena?

In partnership with Creative Screenwriting and ScreenCraft, “First Draft” is a series on everything to do with screenwriting. Imagine a story about a…

7 years ago
  • First Draft

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…

7 years ago
  • First Draft

First Draft: Build Your Rewriting Chops With This Case Study From The Hateful Eight

In partnership with Creative Screenwriting and ScreenCraft, we’re publishing “First Draft,” a series on everything to do with screenwriting. Quentin Tarantino’s The Hateful…

8 years ago
  • First Draft

First Draft: Understand The Humility Arc To Allow Your Story’s Heroes To Succeed

In partnership with Creative Screenwriting and ScreenCraft, “First Draft” is a series on everything to do with screenwriting. What quality makes a hero?…

8 years ago
  • First Draft

First Draft: Crafting Supervillains by Pushing Your Antagonists Over the Edge

In partnership with the blog ScreenCraft, we’re publishing “First Draft,” a series on everything to do with screenwriting. The importance…

8 years ago
  • Directing

Three Trembling Cities, From Scene to Screen: The Process of Bringing a Scene To Life

In director heaven, every scene in the screenplay is clear and concise, the storyboards are perfectly composed, the shot list…

8 years ago
  • First Draft

First Draft: The Most Common Mistake in Spec Scripts (And Four Ways to Avoid Making It)

In partnership with Creative Screenwriting and ScreenCraft, "First Draft” is a series on everything to do with screenwriting. Finding the right concept to…

8 years ago