Archive for Structure
What’s NOT stopping you from writing your screenplay
Posted by: | CommentsI have a hunch these are NOT what’s stopping you from writing your screenplay:
* You don’t have any ideas
* You don’t understand the basics of screenwriting
* You have a fear of success
I think maybe one or more of these IS what’s stopping you:
* Procrastination
* Too many ideas
* Writing blocks
* Not enough time
* No support from family and friends
If I’m right, the WRITING BREAKTHROUGH STRATEGY program is what you need in order to write the screenplay you know is in you. Here’s a little (one minute) overview of what it gives you. If you want to find out more or sign up, go to: www.WritingBreakthroughStrategy.com. But hurry, because it starts on Monday, January 16!
The missing ingredient in the movie “Carnage”
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I saw a screening of Carnage the other day. Although the acting was good (especially Christoph Waltz, with a faultless American accent), there is one major ingredient missing.
Twelve Angry Men and Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf, two films to which it has been compared, had it.
It’s glue.
By that I mean a reason why these people have to stay together. In the case of Twelve Angry Men, the members of the jury couldn’t leave until they reached a verdict.
In the case of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf it was the codependency of George and Martha–as much as they hated each other they also counted on their partner’s hatred to energize them.
In the case of Carnage, what keeps the visiting couple from leaving a situation from which any sane person would flee? An offer of more tea.
What could have fixed this? Well, having recently stayed in a New York hotel where at least one of the elevators seemed to be perpetually breaking down, that might have been a suitable device. Yes, the audience would have recognized it as a device but that’s preferable to having them think at least three times that of course the visiting couple would now get the hell out of this situation.
Martin Scorsese on taking risks
Posted by: | CommentsThe other day I saw Martin Scorsese’s “Hugo,” which I think is a stunning achievement–shamelessly old-fashioned, lush, with superb performances from the two kids, and yes, a tad self-indulgent if you’re not into the history of film. Fortunately, I am.
Anyway, it made me more interested to read (and watch) Fast Company’s interview with him about some of the outstanding fictional and real characters in the cinema’s past. Here is what he says about Orson Welles and risk-taking:
By the way, a while back I spoke with a high school student who had recently seen “Citizen Kane.” He said, “I don’t get it. There’s nothing in there I haven’t seen in a dozen other movies.” I had to point out to him that they’d all been made after “Citizen Kane”. He pondered this for a split-second, then his face lit up. “Hey, I guess it’s pretty good after all.” Yep, pretty good.
(If you’d like 60 days of support for writing your screenplay or getting your other creative project going, you might want to enrol in the Writing Breakthrough Strategy Program that starts on Jan. 16, 2012 (and quarterly after that). Check out the details at : http://www.writingbreakthroughstrategy.com .)
