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…
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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…
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…
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…
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…
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,…
Cheltenham Fun and Danger
Cheltenham Screenwriters Festival – Give me some good solid iconoclasm, more incendiary offensiveness. Stop telling people that all you need is to believe in yourself and tell them to get off their arses and break…