fabiochiu/medium-articles huggingface dataset:
Page 1 Script Analysis For ‘Take Back’ with Screenwriter Zach Zerries
Tags: Creative Writing, Writing, Writer, Writing Tips, Screenwriting

Film Courage: Zach you’ve been generous to send your script for TAKE BACK.

Zach Zerries, Screenwriter/Author: My pleasure.

Film Courage: We’d love to do a page 1 analysis. For page 1 of TAKE BACK can you talk about the world you were trying to create?

Zach: Absolutely. Again we go back to that opening image and really wanting to get a grasp of what this film is about right off the bat essentially hitting the audience in the head so they know what kind of film this is going to be. We’re in the dark, in a van, we’re not sure where. We are not sure with who. But we can guess pretty quickly that it’s a young woman and she’s…(Watch the video interview on Youtube here).

Related videos:

Mistakes That Screenwriters Make On Page 1 — Shannan E. Johnson

What Screenwriters Get Wrong On Page 1

What Must Happen In The First 10 Pages Of Every Screenplay by Michael Hauge & Mark W. Travis
Dumb Little Writing Tricks That Work: Plot Backward
By: Scott Myers
Tags: Creative Writing, Writing, Screenplay, Fiction, Screenwriting

You’re doing prep work, breaking the story. Problem is, the story is breaking YOU! The plot is a mess, you can’t figure it out, bits and pieces here and there, no flow, no coherent structure, just a bunch of scenes.

Quick question: Do you know your ending? Not the Denouement, but the Final Struggle, the climax of the story?

You do, you say? Well, good news, my friend, ‘coz I’ve got a dumb idea that just might work for you.

Start at the end and work your way backward.

Again, you KNOW the ending. So what scene comes BEFORE that?

And what scene comes BEFORE that?

And what scene comes…

You get the picture.

It’s a way of reverse engineering your story, switching cause-and-effect, so it’s effect, then cause… effect, then cause.

So if you’re stuck in the plotting process and aren’t moving forward…

Go BACKWARD!

Start at the end… and end at the beginning!

This has been another edition of Dumb Little Writing Tricks That Work.

For more articles in the series, go here.
Senaryo Doktorluğu / Danışmanlığı / Okuyuculuğu ve Analistler
Tags: Senaryo, Screenwriting, Script Doctoring, Script, Scriptwriting

in Go Into The Story
-Thank You (2021)
By: Dylan Quintero
Tags: Screenwriting, Screenplay, Poetry

Thank you for the moments

when life felt unreal.

Moments when things felt

okay, normal, sane.

Moments when the air was still

and the world around us

stopped spinning so quickly.
Screenwriting 101: George Axelrod
By: Scott Myers
Tags: Creative Writing, Writing, Screenplay, Fiction, Screenwriting

“What’s amazing to me is that nowadays everybody in the world is writing a screenplay. A screenplay is the hardest single form there is. You can’t make any mistakes. Because it’s not like a book where you can turn back the pages and say, ‘Oh, that’s what he said!’ It’s continuous, razor-edge-of-now action. You aren’t allowed any mistakes, because the audience is a fantastic entity. You can have 1,100 morons sitting in the audience, but when they come together in the darkness, an almost mystical thing happens, a kind of mass unconscious that is smarter than you are. They can spot a phony a mile off.

The first part of a movie has got to be not only engaging their attention in some way but building their trust. If you lose their trust, you can never get it back. They’ve got to feel that they’re in good hands, that the guy who’s telling the story knows what he is doing.”

—George Axelrod

For a How They Write a Script article on George Axelrod, go here.

For 100s more Screenwriting 101 posts, go here.

Twitter: @GoIntoTheStory
How Daydreaming Makes You A Better Writer — Van Ditthavong
Tags: Creative Writing, Writing, Writer, Writing Tips, Screenwriting

Film Courage: Van, can we talk about your life as a daydreamer? I understand that daydreaming is very important to your creative process. What was daydreaming like for you when you were a kid? What is it like for you now?

Van Ditthavong, Filmmaker/Photographer: I don’t know, I always thought you grow up and get in trouble for daydreaming and things like that. But sometimes you just can’t help but stare outside the window and let your mind go. I remember as a kid, you just do it. Everyone daydreams until they are told not to I think. I wish we could nourish that more and I think it could be harnessed…(Watch the video interview on Youtube here).
Page One: ‘The Florida Project’ (2017)
By: Scott Myers
Tags: Screenplay, Screenwriting, Film, Movies, Cinema

Written by Sean Baker, Chris Bergoch

The Florida Project was my favorite movie of 2017. The story explores the subculture of the nearly homeless putting a human face on individuals and families living on the fringes of society. Given the subject matter, it is also a beautiful film to watch as this video depicts:

We were fortunate to host a screening of the movie for our DePaul University film school students followed by an interview with writer-director Sean Baker. Here is that interview:

Page One is a daily Go Into The Story series featuring the first page of notable movie scripts from the classic era to contemporary times. Comparing them is an excellent way to study a variety of writing styles and see how professional writers start a story.

For more Page One posts, go here.

You may follow the daily conversation on Twitter as I cross-post there: @GoIntoTheStory.
On Writing
By: Scott Myers
Tags: Creative Writing, Writing, Fiction, Screenwriting, Creativity

“Creativity is paradoxical. To create, a person must have knowledge but forget the knowledge, must see unexpected connections in things but not have a mental disorder, must work hard but spend time doing nothing as information incubates, must create many ideas yet most of them are useless, must look at the same thing as everyone else yet see something different, must desire success but embrace failure, must be persistent but not stubborn, and must listen to experts but know how to disregard them.”

— Michael Michalko

Via AdviceToWriters

For 100s more On Writing posts, go here.
60 Second Screenwriter: Finding Your Voice
By: Scott Myers
Tags: Creative Writing, Writing, Writing Tips, Fiction, Screenwriting

A video series addressing key screenwriting concerns in sixty seconds.

Some time ago, I proposed an idea to my DePaul University School of Cinematic Arts colleagues: What if we produced a lively, informative series of videos called 60 Second Screenwriter? The concept was simple: Aggregate questions relevant to anyone interested in the craft of screenwriting, then use DePaul students and faculty to produce the series?

And we did it! There are 15 videos, each about one minute long and we are rolling them out biweekly at our YouTube channel.

Today: How does a writer go about finding their voice?

Some solid tips both from the film school students and faculty with this being key: Experience life. The more you embrace opportunities to expand your knowledge and who you are as a person, the more you will feed your voice.

I had a great time producing the 60 Second Screenwriter series working with my fellow faculty members and a terrific group of undergraduate and graduate students. Here is the production team:

Director: Penny Penniston

Cinematography: Shannon Kuncé

Production Audio Mixer: Eagle Liao

Editor & Colorist: Ana Christian

Post Audio: JoeyDeFabio

To see more videos in the series, go here.
Dumb Little Writing Tricks That Work: Name That Tune!
By: Scott Myers
Tags: Creative Writing, Writing, Screenplay, Fiction, Screenwriting

Pick songs which speak to the core essence of specific characters.

So I posted a DLWTTW the other day suggesting the value of ‘star-casting’:

…that reminded me of “star-casting,” where a writer imagines ‘casts’ certain actors to ‘play’ the roles of various characters in the screenplay they are writing.

In comments, Désirée said:

Stupid advice, I would say. Then I just see the actor in roles she or he already played, and make my character as an already existing one.

As I’m prone to say, “There’s no right way to write.” Some writers may benefit from star-casting. Others… not so much.

So allow me to provide an alternate approach that won’t attach you to a specific actor: Figure out what song the character is.

I read this years ago, where a director on a film project approached all of the main actors and gave them each a song to consider in relation to their search to find their character’s essence.

I was reminded of this recently when I watched The Social Network. I won’t give away the plot, but there is a moment in the movie where the soundtrack kicks in with The Beatles’ song “Baby, You’re A Rich Man.”

The song’s lyrics:

How does it feel to be

One of the beautiful people?

Now that you know who you are

What do you want to be?

And have you travelled very far?

Far as the eye can see.

How does it feel to be

One of the beautiful people?

How often have you been there?

Often enough to know.

What did you see, when you were there?

Nothing that doesn’t show.

Baby you’re a rich man,

Baby you’re a rich man,

Baby you’re a rich man too.

You keep all your money in a big brown bag inside a zoo.

What a thing to do.

Baby you’re a rich man,

Baby you’re a rich man,

Baby you’re a rich man too.

How does it feel to be

One of the beautiful people?

Tuned to A natural E

Happy to be that way.

Now that you’ve found another key

What are you going to play?

Baby you’re a rich man,

Baby you’re a rich man,

Baby you’re a rich man too.

You keep all your money in a big brown bag inside a zoo.

What a thing to do.

Baby you’re a rich man…

I won’t tell you which character this song refers to in The Social Network, but his name rhymes with Smark Smuckerberg. And coming when it does, the song describes the character — and the moment — perfectly.

As you work on your story and develop your characters, consider what song best describes the emotional truth of who they are. Perhaps they’re “Viva Las Vegas.” Or “Like a Rolling Stone.” Or “Beautiful, Rich, Dirty.” It’s a great way to differentiate your characters and keep in focus their distinctive persona.

This has been another installment of Dumb Little Writing Tricks That Work.

Comment Archive

[Reprinted from October 25, 2010]

For more Dumb Little Writing Tricks That Work articles, go here.
Writing Goals: 2021 [Part 9] — The Only Way Out Is Through
By: Scott Myers
Tags: Writing, Productivity, Fiction, Screenwriting, Creativity

10 part series for writers to consider what we did in 2020 and will do in 2021.

We pick up from last week with our year-end attempt to help Go Into The Story readers set and achieve their writing goals for 2021. To revisit the process of self-reflection from last week, here are the links:

Part 1: Looking Back

Part 2: Assessing Where You Are

Part 3: Where Do You Want To Go As A Writer?

Part 4: Practical Matters

Part 5: Going Public

This week we shift the focus to a more pragmatic part of the discussion, considering a variety of tips about how to manage time and projects more efficiently. Here is what we have thus far:

Part 6: Schedule

Part 7: Time Management

Part 8: First Draft

Today: The Only Way Out Is Through

Imagine the process of writing a story as being a journey. Perhaps as you embark on your adventure, you have a map — an outline or beat sheet. Or maybe you don’t, plunging into your story in order to find it along the way. In either case, it’s almost certain that you will reach points in the writing process where you will feel lost. The plot isn’t working like you thought it would. Your characters feel remote and confusing. Your scenes don’t seem to be working. Your map or instincts become a labyrinth. Basically you are left to ponder, “What the hell was I thinking?”

That’s when you are tempted to give up.

Don’t. Giving up doesn’t get you out, rather it only allows you to avoid story — or so you think. It still exists. And by quitting, you create a shadow, your story as unfulfilled potential looming over you like a ghost.

No, the only way out is through.

You have to push yourself through your feelings of doubt. Push yourself through the ambiguities of your plot. Push yourself through the hard work of pounding out pages.

Rather than quitting, take the opposite approach: Go deeper into your story. To paraphrase “The X-Files,” the truth is in there!

If you go through the process, you will find your way out.

Every journey has its twists and turns. You may not be able to see where you’re heading around the next turn, but the fact is there is a path.

And the only way out is through.

This is one of the two most profound and powerful writing mantras I know. The other one I will reveal tomorrow in the final post in this series.

Tomorrow: Trust the Process.
Page One: ‘The Big Sick’ (2017)
By: Scott Myers
Tags: Screenplay, Screenwriting, Film, Movies, Cinema

Written by Emily V. Gordon, Kumail Nanjiani

A 2017 THR screenwriter roundtable where The Big Sick co-writer Emily V. Gordon talks about the unique challenge of adapting your own life story.

Page One is a daily Go Into The Story series featuring the first page of notable movie scripts from the classic era to contemporary times. Comparing them is an excellent way to study a variety of writing styles and see how professional writers start a story.

For more Page One posts, go here.

You may follow the daily conversation on Twitter as I cross-post there: @GoIntoTheStory.
Writing Goals: 2021 [Part 8] — First Draft
By: Scott Myers
Tags: Writing, Productivity, Fiction, Screenwriting, Creativity

10 part series for writers to consider what we did in 2020 and will do in 2021.

Outline for ‘The World’s End’ by Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright

We pick up from last week with our year-end attempt to help Go Into The Story readers set and achieve their writing goals for 2021. To revisit the process of self-reflection from last week, here are the links:

Part 1: Looking Back

Part 2: Assessing Where You Are

Part 3: Where Do You Want To Go As A Writer?

Part 4: Practical Matters

Part 5: Going Public

This week we shift the focus to a more pragmatic part of the discussion, considering a variety of tips about how to manage time and projects more efficiently. Here is what we have thus far:

Part 6: Schedule

Part 7: Time Management

Today: First Draft

This is short, but sweet. When you write a first draft, there is only one thing that matters:

GET THE DAMN THING DONE!!!

More script projects crash and burn because somewhere along the line after typing FADE IN, writers get frazzled and frustrated, disgusted and depressed, peeved and pessimistic, and simply stop writing and never finish the first draft.

If you start a script…

And you’re just not feeling it…

The plot is a major struggle…

The characters seem off…

The dialogue isn’t flowing…

The whole script conjures up the odor of zoo dust…

It doesn’t matter. None of that matters. The only thing that does is to finish the first draft! Just get the damn thing done!

I guarantee you no matter how awful you think it is, the actual process of getting to the end of the first draft will do the following:

Help you understand your story better.

Surface story problems enabling you to address them.

Put you that much closer to finishing the script.

Get you past a huge psychological obstacle of finishing the first draft.

Perhaps the most important thing: After you finish a first draft, you are no longer writing, you are rewriting. You are editing. There’s not a writer I know about or have interviewed who doesn’t prefer editing to writing.

So if there is one writing mantra above all others I implore you to take to heart in 2021, it’s this one. No matter how hard it is for you to drag what you think may be a wretched assemblage of stinking scenes and putrid pages across the finish line known as FADE OUT… do it!

Everything looks different once you have a first draft in hand.

Everything is different once you have a first draft in hand.

Just get the damn thing done!

By the way, cracking the story before typing FADE IN is often directly connected to the writer finishing a first draft or not. If you know the story before you commence the page-writing part of the process, you exponentially increase the chances of you getting the damn thing [first draft] done. If not, you reduce the odds in your favor. Moreover, by doing the hard work of figuring out the story in prep, there’s an awfully good chance you will turn a future Rewrite [R] into a rewrite [r], and speed your way into the editing process.

Tomorrow: The only way out is through.
Christmas 2020
By: Scott Myers
Tags: Animation, Comedy, Humor, Screenwriting, Movies

An animated short by screenwriters Alisha Brophy & Scott Miles.

In the sh*tshow which is the year 2020, we could all use some laughs. Thankfully, Alisha Brophy and screenwriting partner Scott Miles are happy to oblige with their 7th annual Christmas animation. This year’s may be the best one yet.

You can see the other six holiday animations here.

Alisha and Scott are very funny, but that has been apparent since their script “The United States of Fuckin’ Awesome” won the writing duo a Nicholl Fellowship in Screenwriting in 2014. You can read my subsequent interview with them here.

Thanks, Alisha and Scott, for bringing us some holiday humor!

Here’s to a much better 2021!
Page One: ‘The Big Short’ (2015)
By: Scott Myers
Tags: Screenplay, Screenwriting, Film, Movies, Cinema

Screenplay by Charles Randolph and Adam McKay, based on a book by Michael Lewis

The movie version of the opening:

This movie is a marvel. It takes boring economics and not only makes it entertaining, it also educates the viewer. It helps when you have Margo Robbie conveying the exposition while drinking champagne in a bubble bath.

Page One is a daily Go Into The Story series featuring the first page of notable movie scripts from the classic era to contemporary times. Comparing them is an excellent way to study a variety of writing styles and see how professional writers start a story.

For more Page One posts, go here.

You may follow the daily conversation on Twitter as I cross-post there: @GoIntoTheStory.
Screenwriting 101: Jay Presson Allen
By: Scott Myers
Tags: Creative Writing, Writing, Screenplay, Fiction, Screenwriting

“I’ve always been interested in the why of human behavior. I think most dramatic writers are natural psychologists.”

— Jay Presson Allen

For 100s more Screenwriting 101 posts, go here.

For a How They Write a Script article on Jay Presson Allen, go here.

Twitter: @GoIntoTheStory
Page One: ‘The Big Lebowski’ (1998)
By: Scott Myers
Tags: Screenplay, Screenwriting, Film, Movies, Cinema

Written by Ethan Coen, Joel Coen

The movie version of the opening scene:

This is how the Coen brothers describe THE DUDE when he is introduced in the script: “His rumpled look and relaxed manner suggest a man in whom casualness runs deep.” What is YOUR favorite one-line description of a character when introduced in a movie or TV script?

Page One is a daily Go Into The Story series featuring the first page of notable movie scripts from the classic era to contemporary times. Comparing them is an excellent way to study a variety of writing styles and see how professional writers start a story.

For more Page One posts, go here.

You may follow the daily conversation on Twitter as I cross-post there: @GoIntoTheStory.
How To Write The Best Dialogue — Shane Stanley
Tags: Creative Writing, Writing, Writer, Writing Tips, Screenwriting

Film Courage: How do you write good dialogue?

Shane Stanley, Filmmaker/Author/Instructor: I think the best dialogue comes from the best listeners. I had an absolute crash course in writing dialogue. Years ago I used to write with Charlie Sheen. I don’t care if they don’t credit him on the sitcom’s he’s been in as a writer, I know who has been writing the dialogue. I worked with him for three years. I never read or heard better dialogue from anybody other than that which came from him that he wrote and I asked him one day. I used to be really good at writing scene direction and my dialogue was flat. It wasn’t interesting, it wasn’t engaging, it wasn’t edge of your seat. I asked him one day when we were writing. The way we worked is we’d set it up, I would write the scene direction, he would do the dialogue unless you know it was basic stuff (it was easy). I finally said to him Where do you get this encyclopedia of incredible dialogue, I’ve never heard anybody with it before? and he said You just listen. He said…(Watch the video interview on Youtube here).

Related videos:

10 Tips On Writing Better Dialogue

Biggest Mistake Screenwriters Make With Dialogue by Karl Iglesias

How Screenwriters Can Create Authentic Dialogue by William C. Martell
След сблъсъка (2020) Пълен Филми Онлайн БГ аудио HD Видео
Tags: Writing, Movie Review, Screenwriting

in Go Into The Story
How Does A Writer Find The Emotional Core Of Their Story? — Naomi Beaty
Tags: Creative Writing, Writing, Writer, Writing Tips, Screenwriting

Film Courage: How does a writer create an emotional core for their story where the audience will relate and go on the journey and feel the ups-and-downs?

Naomi Beaty, Writer, Screenwriting Teacher and Consultant: I usually talk about the emotional core as being sort of a combination of four components — actually five — so there’s another fifth stealth element here. The four that I think are involved are the things that basically the character has to prioritize over the course of the story and the way they prioritize those things (sort of the change in their priorities) shows us the effect that the plot events have had on them if that makes sense. They start out in a status quo, so they have (we’re going to just get real technical with it) so they start out with an inner drive, some sort of inner motivation that’s motivating…(Watch the video on Youtube here).

Related videos:

The Audience Wants To Feel An Emotional Connection With Your Movie by Michael Hauge & Mark W. Travis

Why Emotional Response Is So Important In Building Story by Jen Grisanti

How To Write A Character’s Emotional Truth — Dui Jarrod

Emotional Beats Of The Hero’s Journey — Barbara Seymour Giordano

Emotional Core Of Pixar Movies by Karl Iglesias

Creating Emotion In A Screenplay Can Be An Organic Process by Cecilia Najar
Page One: ‘The Apartment’ (1960)
By: Scott Myers
Tags: Screenplay, Screenwriting, Film, Movies, Cinema

Written by Billy Wilder, I.A.L. Diamond

The movie version of the opening scene:

The Apartment is my favorite movie of all time as Billy Wilder is my favorite filmmaker. You can read the screenplay here. Check out this great article on Cinephilia & Beyond about the movie’s background. Released in 1960, it was a cutting edge film: a dark comedy about sexual politics in the workplace. The tone is absolutely pitch perfect. If you’ve never seen the movie, do yourself a favor and watch it. Great holiday movie, too!

Page One is a daily Go Into The Story series featuring the first page of notable movie scripts from the classic era to contemporary times. Comparing them is an excellent way to study a variety of writing styles and see how professional writers start a story.

For more Page One posts, go here.

You may follow the daily conversation on Twitter as I cross-post there: @GoIntoTheStory.
Falling In Love With The Journey, Not The Destination
By: Jenna Laurenzo
Tags: Writing, Self Improvement, Writing Tips, Screenwriting, Writing Prompts

Falling In Love With The Journey, Not The Destination

Photo by Thomas Martinsen on Unsplash

For me, writing has always served as a means to get closer to the truth. The truth of what? Hard to say. But the process usually starts with a burning question that prompts a quest in search for its answer.

What does the quest look like? Usually it entails rolling out of bed, meditating, making coffee, and then sitting at my desk.

As a screenwriter, it’s important to go on the same journey as the protagonist. The protagonist doesn’t know how the story ends. If they knew, why would they need to go on the journey? Same with the writer. So, there’s no need to show up with all the answers. Knowing this was a sigh of relief. It gave me permission to start writing, knowing nothing. Sometimes we get stuck in the vicious cycle of not starting, because we don’t feel prepared. But the art of writing invites us to start at any moment. All that’s required is curiosity, and discipline to sit at the desk long enough to follow that curiosity down a path. Once a path comes into focus, it’s all about chasing the character’s wants.

Humans have wants. They try to get those wants. Then things get in the way. These things are called obstacles. And overcoming obstacles is what people pay to watch. As a writer, I find myself grappling with my personal obstacles, through my writing. I hit a wall in real life, and try to work my way through it on the page. It relieves a lot of life’s stress, and simultaneously, relieves a lot of pressure around ‘writing.’ I treat the writing process as an exploration. Instead of showing up a ‘writer,’ I show up a ‘seeker,’ looking for an answer.

As the writer, you must go on your own adventure to report back, describe, delight, terrify, and intrigue your audience with a story that unfolds through your unique experience. That requires process and time. Don’t be in such a rush to get to the end. By going through it, you venture on a journey of self-discovery. The more surprising to you, the more surprising to the audience.

Life’s short. Scripts are even shorter. Don’t miss the opportunity to ask questions and go through the ups and downs on a personal quest towards the answer and one’s own truth. We’re all in such a rush to get to the destination. But if we were already there, we’d miss the lessons along the way and we’d never grow. Also, we’d miss the damn adventure. We’re so willing to pay to watch other people’s adventure’s we forget we have the choice, power, and courage to go on our own.

Take the time to ask yourself questions and recognize patterns in your life that most interest, frustrate, scare you. These are breadcrumbs that can lead you towards your next journey. And by journey I mean process. Which will lead you to a destination, maybe a script, and hopefully an answer, bringing you one step closer to your Self.
Update: 2020 Award Season Screenplay Downloads — 3 New Scripts, 11 Total
By: Scott Myers
Tags: Writing, Screenplay, Screenwriting, Film, Movies

It’s that time of year again when studios and production companies make available PDFs of movie scripts for award season.

As in years past, I will be tracking the year’s movie scripts as links become available.

Current total of 2020 scripts for download: 11. Newly added scripts (3): Antebellum, Tenet, The Trial of the Chicago 7.

Antebellum (Lionsgate)

Borat: Subsequent Movie Film (Amazon Studios)

Da 5 Bloods (via Deadline Hollywood)

Herself (Amazon Studios)

I’m Your Woman (Amazon Studios)

Never Rarely Sometimes Always (Focus Features)

One Night In Miami (Amazon Studios)

The Personal History of David Copperfield (Fox Searchlight)

Sound of Metal (Amazon Studios)

Tenet (Warner Bros.)

The Trial Of The Chicago 7 (DreamWorks Pictures)

You should download the scripts ASAP because these links have a way of disappearing.

To access 100+ movie scripts made available by studios and production companies since 2009, go here.

Reading movie screenplays is absolutely critical to your development as a screenwriter. Along with watching movies and writing pages, it is a fundamental practice you should put into place. Make it a goal to read at least one movie script per week.

Where can you go to get access to many of the top movie scripts from 2020? Right here!

THESE SCRIPTS ARE FOR EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY!

NOTE: Our annual Go Into The Story Script Read and Analysis series will begin in January 2021. If a 2020 movie script becomes available and you would like to read it and provide a scene-by-scene breakdown, let me know. This is a great tradition and provides a major benefit to the online screenwriting community.

Go Into The Story Script Reading & Analysis Series

Movie Script Scene-By-Scene Breakdowns

Here is the current slate of volunteers:

I’m Your Woman / Priya Gopal

Thanks to everyone who participates in this annual project! Please email me your scene-by-scene breakdowns: GITSblog@gmail.com.
Page One: ‘Straight Outta Compton’ (2015)
By: Scott Myers
Tags: Screenplay, Screenwriting, Film, Movies, Cinema

Screenplay by Jonathan Herman and Andrea Berloff, story by S. Leigh Savidge & Alan Wenkus and Andrea Berloff

The movie version of the scene:

The numbered scenes indicate this is a production draft which is why there is a title/credit sequence included in the script. The scene description — the first two paragraphs — suggest the screenwriters worked in concert with the director on the very beginning of the movie. Watch the clip and check out all the V.O. dialogue, how the screenplay doesn’t specifically include those lines, but does suggest both the flow of the introduction and some of the names associated with the voice-over narration.

In a spec script, typically we do not include an opening credit sequence. That’s not a rule. I’ve seen scripts which sell that have done this. The reason why the convention is to exclude such a sequence is because this is the director’s domain in concert with the production team.

You can read the screenplay here.

Page One is a daily Go Into The Story series featuring the first page of notable movie scripts from the classic era to contemporary times. Comparing them is an excellent way to study a variety of writing styles and see how professional writers start a story.

For more Page One posts, go here.

You may follow the daily conversation on Twitter as I cross-post there: @GoIntoTheStory.
On Writing
By: Scott Myers
Tags: Creative Writing, Writing, Fiction, Screenwriting, Creativity

“Build pockets of stillness into your life. Meditate. Go for walks. Ride your bike going nowhere in particular. There is a creative purpose to daydreaming, even to boredom. The best ideas come to us when we stop actively trying to coax the muse into manifesting and let the fragments of experience float around our unconscious mind in order to click into new combinations. Without this essential stage of unconscious processing, the entire flow of the creative process is broken.”

— Maria Popova

Via AdviceToWriters

For 100s more On Writing posts, go here.
How Emma Watson & Ezra Miller bonded over Dancing
By: Indie Film Club
Tags: Art, Directors, Screenwriting, Movies, Indie Film

And so we’ve reached our last discussion post about the beautiful movie The Perks of Being a Wallflower.

One of the most interesting aspects of this movie, is that it was written and directed by the author who also wrote the book, which this movie is based on. Stephen Chbosky released the book in 1999, creating a large audience who came to love the story of Charlie, Sam and Patrick.

It wasn’t until 2012, thirteen years after the book’s release, that the movie premiered in cinemas. Even though the movie became a huge hit, Stephen Chbosky was hesitant at first to bring his beloved story onto the big screen. He only agreed to do so, if he could write the screenplay, as well as direct the movie…and so he did.

A Promise

After writing the screenplay, he went on to finding the perfect actors to portray the characters, which is when he found Logan Lerman, Emma Watson and Ezra Miller.

To this day, Emma remembers Stephen’s pitch he gave during their first meeting at a hotel in New York City:

“Not only will people remember you as this girl forever, but you’ll also have the summer of your life and meet some of your best friends”

Quite a statement, don’t you think?

However, he did not promise too much, as Emma later on said that he was completely right.

The Actors Meet

When it came to developing the relationships between the actors/characters, the actors were quite concerned, wanting to do the book justice. Funnily enough, the actors ended up bonding over very different things.

Emma and Logan had met prior to shooting this movie, however, they bonded over the fact that they really wanted to make this movie happen, putting all their enthusiasm in the pre-production, ensuring the movie would be produced.

Emma and Ezra, on the other hand, bonded over dancing. Yes, dancing. When they first met, the director made them choreograph a dance routine for the homecoming scene. While it seems odd to start with this part of the movie, both Ezra and Emma said that it was the perfect start to their friendship.

They say that it is impossible not to like each other, when you have to dance and show off your most ridiculous dance moves. Furthermore, they said that you can get a pretty good feel for someone’s personality, based on their dance moves.

________________________

And this concludes this week’s discussion. I hope you all enjoyed it!

Let me know in the comments what your favourite moment of this movie was.

Don’t forget to stop by our Instagram (indie.film.club), to find out which movie we will be discussing next.

I wish you all a lovely day!
Page One: ‘Star Wars: Episode VII — The Force Awakens’ (2015)
By: Scott Myers
Tags: Screenplay, Screenwriting, Film, Movies, Cinema

Written by Lawrence Kasdan & J.J. Abrams and Michael Arndt, based on characters created by George Lucas

This is interesting. A fellow named Tim Gray did the following:

THE ORIGINAL CONCEPT FOR THE FORCE AWAKENS OPENING WAS VERY DIFFERENT TO WHAT FINALLY MADE IT TO THE SCREEN. USING THE ORIGINAL STORYBOARDS BY J.J. ABRAMS, I HAVE ATTEMPTED TO CAPTURE WHAT THIS WOULD LOOK LIKE…

That’s an impressive piece of work by Mr. Gray!

You may read The Force Awakens screenplay here.

Page One is a daily Go Into The Story series featuring the first page of notable movie scripts from the classic era to contemporary times. Comparing them is an excellent way to study a variety of writing styles and see how professional writers start a story.

For more Page One posts, go here.

You may follow the daily conversation on Twitter as I cross-post there: @GoIntoTheStory.
Dumb Little Writing Tricks That Work: Make a Collage
By: Scott Myers
Tags: Creative Writing, Writing, Writing Tips, Fiction, Screenwriting

Remember your first day in third grade? And your teacher… you know, the new one fresh out of college with boundless enthusiasm and alternative ideas about education… announced that instead of writing the same old dreary “What I Did Last Summer” paper, your homework assignment would be to do a collage. You had no idea what a collage was, so you ventured over to the big ass dictionary she had placed on that desk in the back of the room. There you read this definition:

a technique of composing a work of art by pasting on a single surface various materials not normally associated with one another, as newspaper clippings, parts of photographs, theater tickets, and fragments of an envelope.

And you came up with something like this:

Well, while your collage may have faded into history, I’m resurrecting the idea for you in terms of your writing. Because if you’re feeling disconnected from your story and especially can’t get a vibrant sense of who your core characters are, having a hard time making them come ‘alive’ in your imagination, doing a collage could be just the trick to jump start your creativity.

The process is pretty simple. You scoop up all your magazines, newspapers, and catalogues into a big pile, then while keeping your story and/or characters in mind, you flip through the pages. You can approach it systematically page by page. You can go about it instinctively, jumping from this source to that. Hell, you can close your eyes, fling open a magazine, jam your finger down onto a page, and who knows… maybe the Muses will steer you to some sort of magical image that unlocks your entire story.

You cut out all the images that resonate with you, even if only a little. Don’t be logical here. Sometimes an image about which you ‘feel’ something, but don’t know why at the time can become hugely important later on when pulled together with all the other visuals.

Then you get a big piece of construction paper, the bigger the better. And yes, it’s time to bust out the paste (this is the point where you will feel like this is a really dumb idea). Then create a collage. Maybe it’s something like this:

Or this:

Or this:

What to do with the collage? You can tack it up at your writing station as a sort of talisman with which you can keep in touch with your story. Or the entire thing could be a total Zen experience for you, where you burn the collage, and refer to it only in your memories of creating it.

The point is to engage your right brain, a direct download from the more chaotic and impressionistic aspect of your creativity.

For more Dumb Little Writing Tricks That Work articles, go here.
Page One: ‘Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse’ (2018)
By: Scott Myers
Tags: Screenplay, Screenwriting, Film, Movies, Cinema

Screenplay by Phil Lord and Rodney Rothman, story by Phil Lord

The movie version of the opening scene:

This is a fantastic screenplay and — obviously — fantastic movie. You can read the screenplay here.

Page One is a daily Go Into The Story series featuring the first page of notable movie scripts from the classic era to contemporary times. Comparing them is an excellent way to study a variety of writing styles and see how professional writers start a story.

For more Page One posts, go here.

You may follow the daily conversation on Twitter as I cross-post there: @GoIntoTheStory.
Your pages need way more claps. 🙏🙏🙏🙏
By: Lennie Varvarides
Tags: Writing Tips, Productivity, Screenwriting, Goals, Focus

Your pages need way more claps. 🙏🙏🙏🙏
Definition: Call to Adventure
By: Miquiel Banks
Tags: Writing Tips, Novel Writing, Screenwriting, Heros Journey, Miquiel Banks

Introduction

Every story needs, hold on, that’s a strong word.

Let’s cleanse it a little, every story (usually) requires an external event to get it going.

NOTE: This is not always true because the Protagonist’s Call can be Internal as well. Keep this in mind when working on your Story Design.

It’s called by many names:

Call to Adventure (Mythology)

Catalyst (Screenwriting)

Inciting Incident (Screenwriting)

Trigger

You’re going to be overwhelmed by this term, who knows what other ones loom out there in the forest of humanity?

Just know this, the term is an external event that forces, begins, or shapes the protagonist to question and/or debate the journey.

How Myth works

In Mythology, most Journeys begin with the Hero (it’s safe to use this term here), who is called to an adventure (Journey).

The Call to Adventure is an event rich with possibilities and an incredible amount of metaphoric power.

Most stories begin with the Call, but very few writers consider how the call comes.

How the call comes is just as important as how it affects the Hero.

Translating Myth to the Modern Era

Understanding the Call, you can now analyze and browse all those wonderful Myths that you enjoy over and over again.

Take some time, go back through the Myths and look deeper again.

What started the chain of events for the Hero’s Journey?

When you understand this is a simple process, you’re ready to wield the same power in your Story Design.

How it works in Story

Regardless of everything else, you have two options when designing your Call to Adventure.

You can start outside the Protagonist or inside the Protagonist.

Outside (External)

If you prefer outside, then your call is a Want.

As a WANT, this is a public burden the Protagonist deals with and must change in the same manner, outside of herself.

When you work on Story Design, remember that your Protagonist’s WANT is external and is solved through the PLOT (A Story, Spine, etc.).

NOTE: The problem with your Protagonist is her NEED, not her WANT. After resolving her need, she can easily resolve her want.

Inside (Internal)

If you prefer inside, your call is a Need.

As a NEED, this is either a personal or private burden the Protagonist deals with and must change in the same manner, within herself.

When you work on Story Design, remember that your Protagonist’s NEED is internal and is solved through the SUB-PLOT (B Story, Love Story, Heart Story, etc.).

NOTE: The problems with your Protagonist is her NEED, not her WANT. When she solves her need, she can easily resolve her want.

Conclusion

Want

A Protagonist’s Journey is shown to your audience in the Want Storyline, usually called the A Story or the Spine.

This is what people usually describe when they’ve seen a movie.

Need

A Protagonist’s Transformation is shown to your audience in the Need Storyline, usually called the B Story or the Sub-Plot.

This is what people usually describe when they talk about Theme or the Moral Premise or what the movie is “really about.”
Page One: ‘Sideways’ (2004)
By: Scott Myers
Tags: Screenplay, Screenwriting, Film, Movies, Cinema

Screenplay by Alexander Payne & Jim Taylor, novel by Rex Pickett

Such a great script which you can read here.

Here’s a blooper, outtakes, and gag reel from Sideways.

Page One is a daily Go Into The Story series featuring the first page of notable movie scripts from the classic era to contemporary times. Comparing them is an excellent way to study a variety of writing styles and see how professional writers start a story.

For more Page One posts, go here.

You may follow the daily conversation on Twitter as I cross-post there: @GoIntoTheStory.
Writing A True Crime Screenplay — Stanley M. Brooks
Tags: Creative Writing, Writing, True Crime, Screenwriting, Crime

Film Courage: Many of your projects have been in the True Crime genre. What attracts you to this?

Stanley M. Brooks, Writer/Director/Producer: My original attraction to True Crime was it going to pay the bills because it was the appetite, the meal that television networks wanted for a long time. I would say half to maybe more than half of what was on CBS or NBC was True Crime. When Lifetime became the preeminent supplier they wanted True Crime. So I think at the start that was just the world that I was in and I had to learn and then eventually I learned that I could become a storyteller in that world and I didn’t have to do it the way everyone else was doing it which was kind of a straightforward police narrative. That there were other ways to tell True Crime. I tried to find the emotional hook in a True Crime movie and so I would make stories that weren’t as much about the crime but as much about the effect it had on the people who were either the victims or were the police or were the criminals and how did their lives change and what were the emotions they were going through. We did The Capture Of The Green River Killer which Thomas Cavanagh was nominated for awards and won the DGC for outstanding miniseries. That movie is about a man’s crisis of conscience of giving up on God because for 25 years he would constantly be finding these murdered young women in between 15 and 25 in Seattle and he couldn’t find this guy and for 25 years he chased this guy and he was a deeply…(Watch the video interview on Youtube here).

Related videos:

How I Became A Better Crime Writer by Christine Conradt

Optioning A Screenplay by Mark Heidelberger

A Story About Actor Jealousy (Biggest Regret In My Acting Career) by Robin Riker

Writing Character Secrets Leads To More Story — Joe Wilson
Happy to get you to 100 claps today. The basic advice of finishing the first draft, is priceless. But getting started take hours of mental preparation. Or a lifetime for some of us. 😭😭😭😭😝😝😝😝
By: Lennie Varvarides
Tags: Writing, Writing Tips, Procrastination, Screenwriting, Advice

Happy to get you to 100 claps today. The basic advice of finishing the first draft, is priceless. But getting started take hours of mental preparation. Or a lifetime for some of us. 😭😭😭😭😝😝😝😝
How I Research for Screenplays
By: Arun Croll
Tags: Writing, Research, Screenwriting, Writing Tips

TL;DR

Read books and take notes.

Watch YouTube videos and listen to podcasts by people who are doing / who believe in / who have lived through the subject.

Write an outline. When I realize I don’t know what I’m talking about, I write down targeted questions.

Dedicate time to getting answers to questions, rather than chasing down the answer to every single question as it comes up.

For targeted questions, I search the web and ask people (Reddit)

The Long Story

Three types of research usually going on at the same time: background research, immersion, and targeted questions.

Background Research

Background research is usually ongoing throughout a project. It’s occurring in the background of my writing and is also research into the background of my subject. This involves reading at least one substantial book on my subject, listening to lots of podcasts, and watching things…

Continue reading the full post on www.aruncroll.com
Breaking The Scene (Children of Men — Opener)
By: Jason Turk
Tags: Children Of Men, Scene Structure, Scene Analysis, Screenwriting, Alfonso Cuaron

Today I felt like looking into one of the best scenes of Children of Men, which coincidentally is one of the best film openers ever made. Without further introduction, let’s get into it.

Scene Comes From: Children of Men

Where to Watch: For purchase/rent on streaming services

Scene Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSdL1zeOfdk

Scene Context

Humans have become infertile and the world has been ravaged by military government.

Scene Conflicts

The world is in shock based on the day’s news

Theo wants to get on with his day

Scene Outline

A crowd of people watch reports of the murder of “Baby Diego”.

Theo wades through the crowd and orders his coffee.

Theo watches the report, which reveals Diego was the youngest person in the world, at 18 years old.

Theo gets his coffee and leaves as news-watchers cry.

Theo, outside in industrial London, starts to pour alcohol into his coffee as the coffee shop he just left explodes.

Why It Works

Definition by Juxtaposition: While everyone else is frozen in place, Theo moves. Without a line of spoken dialogue, we are given an exemplary rundown of our protagonist. This is someone who doesn’t feel like everyone else. He’s not concerned with the world anymore and, made evident by his alcoholism, would rather forget the harsh reality he’s stuck in.

Thematic Foreshadowing: Because Theo leaves the coffee shop and refuses to watch and pity his world, he survives. No spoilers for the film here, but this is a key theme to the entirety of the story world. Those who are stuck in self-pity will lose out to those who find ways to move forward.

Surprise over Suspense. 90 percent of the time, you should go for suspense. There’s a ton of people way more qualified than me which can explain this. But, in this specific instance, it’s the shock inherent in the explosion that grabs us. We need to be in the same mindstate as our protagonist in the opening, and so to go for the lack of explanation in the explosion was a sincerely wise decision.

Hard Exit: Right after the explosion, the scene’s over. There’s no explanation given as to the cause of the explosion, and no need to see the aftermath. All we need to know is Theo’s alive. You should never spend more time in a scene than you need, and right when we see that Theo isn’t killed by the bomb, the scene’s over and we can move onto the next piece of the story.

Summary

In two minutes, without a single line of dialogue, we have a strikingly concise idea of who Theo is and the world he’s unwillingly apart of. As far as openings go, it’s harder to find a more efficient and impactful opening than this one.
Page One: ‘Shakespeare in Love’ (1998)
By: Scott Myers
Tags: Screenplay, Screenwriting, Film, Movies, Cinema

Written by Marc Norman, Tom Stoppard

The movie version of the scene:

The movie won 7 Academy Awards including Best Original Screenplay. It is well worth the read which you may do here.

Page One is a daily Go Into The Story series featuring the first page of notable movie scripts from the classic era to contemporary times. Comparing them is an excellent way to study a variety of writing styles and see how professional writers start a story.

For more Page One posts, go here.

You may follow the daily conversation on Twitter as I cross-post there: @GoIntoTheStory.