Metaphors For Screenwriters: Overcoming Resistance, Doubt and Motivational Droughts - Jessica HindsAs screenwriters, we all know the power of storytelling and metaphor. They will change more minds than all the data in the world. So...

Life is trying things to see if they work - Ray Bradbury.Creativity is a matter of both self-expression and problem solving. In both arenas, the ability to generate vast quantities of ideas is essential: “The only way to have a good idea is by...

So much of good storytelling is about cause and effect, set-ups and payoff, motives and consequences.Consider for a moment: if there are two separate story paths that exist in each script we write, then there is a story engine – a...

Steve Cuden’s love for movies is practically embedded in his D.N.A. “I have had film in my blood stream since I was a little boy,” he says. “I have been watching television and movies since I was a child. In fact, it used to...

Theme is an abstract concept by nature, and thus has always been difficult to define or comprehend. To put things most simply, the theme is what the story “believes in.” It contains the underlying values, principles, or beliefs the story...

At some point, all writers get writer’s block. And when you get stuck, it’s natural to reach for something you know has worked before: a cliché.Of course we all want to write the most original, unexpected, vivid version...

Sean Robins, Creative Executive & Producer from Broken Road Productions took some time out to chat about his career.Describe a good and bad day in the life of a creative executive.As a film and TV producer, you come to find that every day...

When Art Holcomb was eight years old, his maternal grandmother, a poet, gave him a blank book. It was to encourage him to write out his feelings. She also shared with him books by the greats, like Shakespeare and Cummings. By the time he...

Philip Ruddy is a depth psychotherapist with a masters degree in Counseling Psychology, who also happens to have fifteen years’ experience working as a writer and producer. As such, he is well-equipped to understand the creative mind, and he...

Billy Mernit knows a thing or two about romantic comedies. Actually, he knows seven things about romantic comedies. Those seven things being the essential plot beats of what makes a solid romantic comedy.Once a successful romance novelist who penned...

According to Steven Barnes, screenplays and stories are “like conversations with friends you have yet to meet,” which is a comforting thought to the lonely writer holed up in their apartment, banging out words.A screenwriter and sci-fi...

Growing up in Pewaukee, WI, Koepp initially pursued acting, but eventually studied screenwriting at UCLA Film School. His first screen credit was Apartment Zero, co-written with brother-in-law Martin Donovan. This Argentinean drama didn’t...

My sister is an actor. For decades she was best known for her femme fatal role in the first movie ever directed by Clint Eastwood: Play Misty for Me. That led to thirty years of bad girls: Women in Cages, Women in Chains, and...

Calculating Emotions: Elements of Screenwriting and Human Behavior:There is nothing like a film that jolts your emotions. Whether you are moved to tears, or nearly fall on the floor laughing, when your reactions to a story are vivid, you will...

FlashbacksNothing provokes a more knee-jerk “don’t do it” reaction from screenwriters than the decision to include one or more flashbacks in one’s screenplay. We can, of course, understand this compulsion to remain linear, and the gut...

How Do You Execute Your Screenwriting Voice And What Goes Into Creating A Style On The Page?In this article, Alexander Robb (Literary manager at Insignia Entertainment) discusses how your voice translates into your unique writing style.I get asked...

When I was invited to join the faculty of the UCLA film school it was technically the late ’70s. Spiritually, however, it was still the ’60s, with its hippie-dippy disregard for accomplishment and achievement.The third worst act a writer...

Brian Herskowitz, whose lecture Crafting the Outline for Your Feature Film is available to purchase, and who has recently released one of the most pragmatic books on the craft of screenwriting: Process to Product.Besides writing, producing...

It’s impossible to imagine Hollywood without a barrage of summer blockbusters, but in 1985 the action genre was defined when a bodybuilder-cum-actor starred in an explosion friendly flick titled Commando. Behind the creative death scenes...

Learn the rules like a pro, so you can break them like an artist - Pablo PicassoOne common problem I see in my practice is when aspiring screenwriters cannot separate the Creating Process from the Drafting Process.Many beginning...