Five B-Movies for Screenwriters to Learn From Budget limitations, genre constraints, and creative freedom: here’s how low-budget cult classics made the most of limited resources. Screenwriters often think they need a big budget to tell a big story. But the truth is, great writing thrives under constraints. Whether it’s time, money, or production value, B-movies … Read more
How to Create an Unlikeable Protagonist “I just felt like the protagonist wasn’t likeable.” Shoot me now. For those of us who have been writing for more than five minutes, it’s pretty fucking obvious that any of the most iconic protagonists in film and television are not likeable at all. Alcoholics. Drug fiends. Criminals. Narcissists. … Read more
Screenwriting as a Tool for Critical Thinking It’s no secret that we’re in an age where critical thinking takes a back seat to hot takes, the overweening bullshit of narcissist blowhards on both extremes of the political spectrum, and the stupid-making rectangles in all our pockets. What’s worse, the things that used to make a … Read more
Conclusions vs. Sustainable Narratives: Are Screenwriters Ready to Live Without Endings? Conclusions are for young people. They’re bedtime stories so you can get to sleep. Adults need sustainable narratives: ongoing stories that don’t end. – Douglas Rushkoff Advice on how to write a good drama stretches back (at least) to Aristotle. Interestingly, however, is how … Read more
Seinfeld for Screenwriters: 3 Exercises to Build Your Irony Muscle “A show about nothing.” The show’s elevator pitch echoes decades later. Yet Seinfeld is about something: it is about irony. Every episode of Seinfeld is an irony engine firing on all cylinders. What separates Seinfeld from most crap sitcoms is that the show was never … Read more
3 Tips to Avoid a Second-Act Slump in Your Screenplay Nothing kills a script for a reader than a… dragging… second… act. Your Act II is long and messy and feels like a slog even though the story shows a lot of promise. Think of Act I as setup and Act III as payoff. These … Read more
How to Align Your Character Flaw With Your Premise Starting With Character: The Flawed Foundation Great characters start out wrong. Selfishness. Cowardice. Arrogance. Codependency. Denial. Emotional distance. Your protagonist carries a flaw that compromises how they interact with the world. Without a flaw, there’s no arc, no reason to care. Step 1: Define the Flaw … Read more
A Minimal Hollywood Classic: Beetlejuice and its Streamlined Narrative Beetlejuice (1988) is an unforgettable film: a rollercoaster of anarchic excess that somehow has a stunningly simple, but brilliantly written plot. Clocking in at only 92 minutes, the real magic of Tim Burton’s classic film is not only the outrageous visuals or the manic energy of … Read more
How to Promote Yourself as a Screenwriter—Without Social Media “If you’re judging a yogi on their number of Instagram followers, it’s probably much more about what their ass looks like in a pair of Lululemons than their dedication to an eight-limbed path.” –Jamie Wheal The Algorithm Won’t Save You The social media storm isn’t sustainable. … Read more
3 Tips to Deal with Bad Feedback on Your Screenplay You send off your screenplay with a mixture of hope and dread—and what comes back feels like a punch to the gut. The notes are uninspiring, off-base, or just plain wrong. some are just insulting. Perhaps the reader simply didn’t get it. Perhaps s/he did. … Read more
