Why does some screenplay dialogue sizzle while other lines end up like cold toast? Here’s one tip I picked up many years ago: check that you haven’t started to play ping-pong! The problem is the “di”…
Aiming to get a little writing done now that the holidays are over – or even a lot of writing – here’s a tip that will immediately improve your productivity: Count what you do. It’s…
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.
There are a thousand myths about flashbacks in scripts. Some people say you shouldn’t ever write them. Some people say you must – that fractured narrative is the only way forward in screenwriting (or should…
Writing a good, compelling, readable treatment is tough. It’s difficult enough to write a script – but then to boil the whole thing down from 90+ pages to one or two…! However it’s a crucial part of a screenwriter’s job. Here are three of my top tips.
Few books on writing ever deal with the mental game of writing, but getting your mental game right is crucial. Today’s post gives you one of the most powerful and far-reaching tools I’ve discovered for getting better at anything.
Cannes is the biggie: a week at Cannes is worth a year at film school. And there’s things you’ll learn there that you’ll never learn at school. But if you’re going this year, you need to start preparing now. My biggest tip is this. Don’t underestimate the value of the work you do during this time.
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…
Many writers put aside time to write over the holidays. It can be a great idea, and it can also be a quick way to get writers block! The problem is that squeezing all your…
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…
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…