One of the podcasts on my rotation is The Screenwriting Life, hosted by Meg LeFauve and Lorien McKenna and produced by Jeff Graham. In Episode 117, screenwriter Eirene Tran Donohue talks about how to write
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Scene-us Interruptus; or Why to Withdraw Early
I was working on a scene last night. It’s a scene where the protagonist meets with his ex and the police about his daughter’s kidnapping. Following this, he kicks into action to get her back.
Continue ReadingFrom Script to Screen: The Expanse
This week’s Scriptnotes episode is a rebroadcast of Episode 224, in which John and Craig discussed several scenes from Damien Chazelle’s Whiplash. They discuss the family dinner scene and Miles’ and Fletcher’s meeting in the
Continue ReadingStakes and Structure…
I’m sure I’m not alone in learning about movie structure through the lens of Blake Snyder’s
Continue ReadingPick a Line, Any Line…
So I just watched a YouTube clip of a Brad Pitt interview in which the interviewer asked him about which lines have stuck with him from throughout his career. Pitt made an interesting observation that
Continue ReadingScenes: A Culmination? Or the Process?
The Process. It hasn’t worked out yet for the Philadelphia 76ers and their attempts to build a championship team through high draft picks, but are there lessons for us as screenwriters in the idea of
Continue ReadingQuick Tips: Million Dollar Baby and Double Duty
I’ve had Million Dollar Babyon DVD for a while now, but only found the time to watch it a few nights ago. It’s certainly not an ‘up’ sort of ending, but it is a powerful
Continue ReadingDouble Trouble
I’m doing a rewrite on a script of mine that did fairly well in a couple of screenwriting competitions. To that end, I read through my judge’s feedback from the PAGE International Screenwriting Competition a few years ago.
Continue ReadingCeltx Quirks
I use Celtx for my screenwriting projects. I like having various sub-documents for keeping track of notes, characters, index cards and scribblings. I’m sure other programs do all that, maybe even better, but Celtx is what I used
Continue ReadingNew Year’s Resolutions
The end of another year. This has been the year I have least worked on what I have wanted, which is why I am making employment changes (per an earlier post)… For 2012, I resolve to
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