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What Makes High School Movies Work? (Part 2)

ArchetypesParents (good and bad), teachers (good and bad), friends, teammates, and classmates (good and bad), and siblings all form the basis of an archetypal character set.In The Edge of Seventeen:Nadine’s mother: a bit unraveled and trying to cope with her own life as well as her two children. Nadine’s father is dead and that’...
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What Makes High School Movies Work? (Part 1)

High school movies span decades. There are thousands covering most of film and TV history. This is mainly for one reason: the themes in them are universal.The stories of high school are the stories of life. Of joy, sadness, yearning, accomplishment, and all things in-between.On The Edge of Seventeen is a prime example of the com...
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11 Ways You Never Imagined da Vinci Influences Screenwriting Today (Part 2)

This entry is part 2 of 2 in the series "Da Vinci."7) Rise Above The NoiseDa Vinci’s stunning visions led him to conceptualize inventions far ahead of his time, from flying machines to armored tanks. He identified information about the human heart that is used today. The Mona Lisa has been inspiring humanity since it was painted...
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11 Ways You Never Imagined da Vinci Influences Screenwriting Today (Part 1)

This entry is part 1 of 2 in the series "Da Vinci."Genius is a word that is terribly overused. Until someone proves themselves over a period of time or in their chosen profession, we should all probably dial it back a bit. In the case of the man from Vinci named Leonardo, I’m not sure we can say enough about his genius.What does...
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Which Screenplay Should You Write Next? (Part 2)

This entry is part 2 of 2 in the series What To Write.Based On Something Else3 Body Problem was based on an award-winning book series by Chinese sci-fi writer Cixin Liu. It took the science fiction market by storm and had a lot of people scrambling for the TV rights.Netflix won the most recent rights battle and released a succes...
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Which Screenplay Should You Write Next? (Part 1)

This entry is part 1 of 2 in the series What To Write.Perhaps the most important decision any writer makes is what to write. There’s a lot to consider including the market, trends, your strengths, etc. When I started my career I had in mind to create good sci-fi material. It was what I read and loved and I couldn’t think of anyt...
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Writing Exposition To Make Your Script Pop (Part 2)

VoiceoverDespite being overused and used to shortcut actual writing voiceovers can be a powerful tool used properly. I ask my students to not use these, to work harder to get across their ideas, and invariably someone will bring up Casino or Goodfellows and my argument goes right out the window.I will say that these movies are b...
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Writing Exposition To Make Your Script Pop (Part 1)

Exposition is the beating heart of any story be it script, novel, song, article or poem. Building to a solid ending requires layering and delivering information in specific ways to make that ending work.But exposition isn’t just telling the audience something. It involves many aspects of a script – or any story for that matter. ...
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Writing Effective Found Family Films: Part 2

This entry is part 2 of 2 in the series "Found Family."It’s A DisasterNothing forces people to form a family faster than a disaster – a plane crash, shipwreck, or a natural disaster such as an earthquake, tidal wave, or tornado. Yellowjackets tells the story of a girls soccer team whose plane crashes in the wilderness during a f...
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Writing Effective Found Family Films: Part 1

This entry is part 1 of 2 in the series "Found Family."Found Family films are not new, but you may not have explicitly heard the term before. It simply means a film featuring groups of people who are not genetically or legally related and joined by circumstances to try and accomplish a common story goal by the end. These movies ...
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11 Writing Quotes You Should Take Notice Of (Part 2)

This entry is part 2 of 2 in a series on Writing Quotes.6) A story should have a beginning, a middle, and an end, but not necessarily in that order. ~ Jean-Luc GodardNon-linear storytelling is a difficult technique to pull off and it varies greatly. From Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol which starts at an event and the rolls f...
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11 Writing Quotes You Should Take Notice Of (Part 1)

This entry is part 1 of 2 in a series on Writing Quotes.By the time any writer becomes successful, they’ve typically gathered a war chest worth of things not to do. If one is doing it right, you’re writing, reading, listening, and learning a ton of how to and not to write.Let’s see what lessons successful writers have learned.1)...
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Writing Morally Gray Characters, Part 2

This article is a continuation of Writing Morally Gray Characters, Part 1. Politics Is A Dirty Gray“Politics is a dirty business, but if you do not do politics, politics will be done to you.” So states novelist Will Shetterly.Many movies and TV series about politics shows the absolute compromising nature of politics. Gray charac...
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Writing Morally Gray Characters, Part 1

When you speak of gray in life, you’re normally talking about a mainly colorless tapestry. But morally gray characters, those considered not good nor bad, neither heroes not villains, are some of the more complex characters you can write. Even more interesting, is a psychological phenomenon that allows our audiences to embrace a...
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Creating Effective Pitch Decks (Part 2)

This entry is part of 2 in the series Pitch Deck:QUOTES/EXCERPTS: One page.Some dialog or narrative selections to give the reader a sense of the writing style works really well especially if the dialogue is superb. Comedies especially benefit from this because funny is funny in context or isolated.If I was pitching the TV show W...
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Creating Effective Pitch Decks (Part 1)

This entry is part 1 of 2 in the series Pitch Deck:Pitch Decks (Pitch Documents) are one of those marketing tools that although viable have limited use for writers. But they are an important part of the total marketing package every writer should put together along with a logline and synopsis.So what are they exactly and why do ...
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There Will Always Be A Market For A Script We Can’t Put Down

“There Will Always Be A Market For A Script We Can’t Put Down” Says Seth Renshaw. He worked in PR, media sales and then with CAA’s Marketing department before transitioning to film and television with David Dobkin’s Big Kid Pictures at Warner Bros.  He is currently the Head of Development at Benaroya Pictures, a writer of variou...
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Revenge Movies Are A Dish Best Served Bold (Part 2)

This entry is part 2 of 2 in the series Revenge:CATHARSISThe psychological underpinnings of revenge, around for generations of storytelling, involve identification with a character’s situation (empathetic response) which then leads to catharsis. Once we bond with the main character, identify strongly with their plight, satisfyin...
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Revenge Movies Are A Dish Best Served Bold (Part 1)

This entry is part 1 of 2 in the series Revenge:Few themes are as relatable as revenge. We’ve all been wronged and considered various responses to that wrong. Not many of us use violence or extremes toward the wrongdoers, but there is a place we all go to where those remedies are at least internally considered. That’s what makes...
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What Make Gangster Films & TV Shows Work? (Part 2)

This entry is part 2 of 2 in the series Gangster Films:Characters: The CriminalsThe Godfather, perhaps the traditional gangster film most people know, features a family involved in organized crime. They were our focal points, our POV characters. Michael Corleone (Al Pacino) was outside of this world – almost. Their daily lives i...
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