A Clever, Sneaky Way To Hide Exposition
The ability to handle exposition really sorts the professionals from the wannabes, and I’m going to share one of my top exposition techniques with you here.
Write as a Professional
I’m busy planning the Euroscript Professional Screenwriting Mini-Summer School (June 24-26), which is devoted to helping TV and cinema screenwriters develop their skills to a higher professional level – and I’ve been asking myself: what is it that makes the difference between a professional script and one that isn’t?
Canaletto, Gaugin, Cezanne, Dickens and Screenwriting
I managed to get to three of the biggest exhibitions in town this January – Canaletto, Gaugin, Cezanne – and took time off to read a great novel. It wasn’t easy. There’s always a reason…
How not to sell your script
Last night I got a call from a company who I’d bought from before. The previous time, I spent good money with them – this time I put the phone down after a minute. What…
Wave Your Wooden Leg
Here’s a screenwriting tip that will make your life so much easier. And before I get to it, just a word about difficulty. Many screenwriting books seem to want to make screenwriting hard – and…
The secret of telling a gripping true story
A true story can be a massive elephant trap. I know, I’ve fallen in more than once. Like pebbles straight out of the sea, true stories seem so gleaming and fresh and full of potential…
Tips from Linda Aronson
It was great seeing so many people last night at Euroscript for the conversation I had with Linda Aronson (writer and guru!) – she was in good form and full of useful advice on all…
The 21st Century Screenplay
One of my all-time favourite screenwriting books has been Linda Aronson’s Screenwriting Updated – and now she’s updated it! The 21st Century Screenplay adds 50% more. The breadth is enormous – from the psychology of…
A Sure-Fire Way Not To Sell Your First Script
I see loads of well-written scripts (and a fair load of badly written scripts too) and I’ve seen just about every fault that writers have ever invented. But there’s one flaw that stands out as being the real killer.
How to make a drama out of a story
Having a problem writing a drama script? Do you find it’s full of wonderful character development but somehow it just doesn’t come together? Or you like it but your story isn’t getting across to the people who read it?
Writing Tip For Creating Rich and Surprising Characters
I’ve got many ways that I use when I’m stuck, some wonderful tools for character development that I’ve picked up over the years. Here’s a very simple method which can have very profound and surprising results.
A surprising way to become a Great Writer
What is it that makes a great writer great? What can we learn from them and hope to emulate? OK, it’s that time of year and maybe the heat’s got to me, but I’m starting a list – my Top Ten Attributes displayed by the greatest writers – those I admire and honour. I don’t mean that they use or don’t use adverbs or three act structure. This is much more personal. And like every list it is totally fallible and biased and mainly intended to annoy, irritate and make people foam at the mouth.
Recycling Oscars is a CROC
Let’s all join CROC, the Challenge to Recycle the Oscar Campaign by Paul Bassett Davies. The plan is to limit the number of Oscars in circulation. If a previous award-winner makes a really atrocious film, they have to give their Oscar back.
Money, Money, Money…
I want to talk about a small strategy that may seem simple and yet if you use it has the power to push the sales of your scripts/films/novels/etc through the roof. It’s one that’s so easy it almost feels like cheating and yet when it’s done well it’s highly artistic and connects very directly with your audience.
Writing Treatments – Get Out Of First Gear
Treatments are essential both for developing and for marketing your scripts – and yet many good screenwriters fail to write good treatments.
It took me a long time to realise why.
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