Internal Stakes

Internal Stakes

The main character in a movie generally has a big problem that it takes the whole movie to solve. And this is what a professional reader of a script is generally focused on understanding first.  What is that problem?  Why will it be so difficult to solve that it takes...
Audiences are sadists

Audiences are sadists

If I could sum up the number one most common overall weakness in screenplays I read, it would be that the main character does not have a big enough overall problem, and a high enough level of difficulty and complications as they try to solve it. When you get the...
The Problem with Flashbacks

The Problem with Flashbacks

Jumping around in time with flashbacks can be confusing in a script, and can make it hard for a reader to get oriented and settle into one particular story, in a specific time frame. And this is what tends to really grab readers — a discrete challenge for a main...
UCLA class taking students

UCLA class taking students

My UCLA Extension class on “Finding the Story in True Stories” is now taking students for Summer Quarter starting July 1. It’s an all online class that can be taken from anywhere.  The 15 slots have historically filled up very quickly, so if...
Unlikable Main Characters

Unlikable Main Characters

With the rise of somewhat unlikable main characters in cable dramas like The Sopranos, Breaking Bad, and True Detective, anti-heroes are everywhere.  We don’t need to “sympathize” or even “root for” the main character(s) in a story anymore, it seems — as long as...
In defense of formula

In defense of formula

Script Magazine has just published my new article where I discuss the issue of “formulaic” writing, and the use of story structure paradigms to help guide the process of crafting a screenplay. It begins thusly: Writers often rebel against the idea that a...
Sellable Screenplay Concepts

Sellable Screenplay Concepts

My March 12 webinar on “Creating a Sellable Screenplay Concept” is now available from The Writers Store. In it, I analyzed the loglines of some spec scripts that sold in 2013 — and discussed the common elements. It’s a 90-minute...
Award Season Genres

Award Season Genres

SCRIPT MAGAZINE has published my online article where I break down the SAVE THE CAT “genres”, as I see them, of most of the big movies vying for Awards this season.  Check it out!
Live Genre Webinar 8/7

Live Genre Webinar 8/7

On Wednesday August 7 at 1 PM PDT, I’ll be teaching my fifth webinar for The Writers Store — on one of my favorite topics: Blake Snyder’s Save the Cat “genres.”  Blake believed pretty much every great and successful movie falls into one...
Specs that sold in 2012

Specs that sold in 2012

SCRIPT Magazine has published my article analyzing the common elements of screenplays that sold in 2012.  One of the key things that I noticed was the pretty obvious SAVE THE CAT genres of each.  Here’s how the article begins:   We screenwriters want to...