5 Tips to Keeping New Year’s Resolutions
Do you make New Year’s resolutions? Have you tried in the past and succeeded? Or failed? Given up? Or even forgotten what they were? Here are my 5 tips to keeping New Year’s resolutions. And…
7 steps that make a satisfying ending
In 2000 the movie What Lies Beneath opened to mixed reviews. Despite a strong opening, cast (Harrison Ford, Michelle Pfeiffer) and director (Robert Zemeckis), reviewers talked of its “decomposing script” and said it “ran off…
Six Things You Need To Know About Treatments
If you want to write for film or TV, then treatments, outlines, synopses (the terms are interchangeable in the industry) are something you have to get good at. And to write good treatments there are six things you’ll need to know.
Good movie? Where did it come from?
Cameron wants us to make blockbusters. David Cameron, that is, not James. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/9006675/Ken-Loach-pouring-lottery-money-into-blockbusters-is-a-travesty.html Speaking as a film director, and director of Euroscript, I’m sad that nobody I’ve heard or read so far has mentioned script.…
Writing successfully in a recession
I’m thinking a good deal about creativity at the moment, as I prepare for the launch of my next novel. In particular I’m aware that these are difficult times to let yourself go and be…
How to land a top star and the BBC with one treatment
Most people hate writing treatments. Not me, I love them. This is how I used a treatment to hook a top star comedian and the BBC in just five pages – and how you can too.
Want to succeed? Maybe do the opposite.
Have you heard of Kelly Marcel? If not yet, you soon will. You’ll probably, if you’re like me, be deeply and painfully jealous. And something she said recently might teach us something important.
Just one trick for screenwriting success
How can the most successful video on YouTube help you find screenwriting success?
How to become a better writer? You may be surprised by the answer.
They all say practice makes perfect. But does it help you become a better screenwriter? Maybe it doesn’t help as much as everyone thinks. Or maybe there’s another issue here that you need to address if you are going to succeed in movies or TV.
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…
Writers’ Resolutions
Have you made a New Year’s Resolution? To start that script? Or finish it? To start selling the novel you finished? To get proper feedback? To write more? Or less? Do you really think you’re…
Ways to be a Great Writer: #3
Today we have an attribute that I didn’t recognise for a long time. When great artists of all kinds are discussed we usually get a load of blah about originality and spontaneity as if great…
How to be a screenwriting success – Not just 10,000 hours part 2
All great artists – writers, film-makers, musicians, etc – think outside the box. They learn the rules, and then they learn to master them and break them. They break them so effectively that they make new rules for others to keep.
It’s not just about 10,000 hours!
Michael Gladwell’s book Outliers has made famous the psychological research into what can make you or me an outstanding success and the figure everyone remembers is 10,000 hours. Einstein to Bill Gates, Steve Jobs to…