A ton of useful information about screenwriting from screenwriter John August. Top 10 Screenwriting Tips Introduction to Screenwriting How to become a screenwriter. Over the last quarter century I’ve stumbled and lurched my way to some understanding of the screenwriter’s craft. As our AFTRS Graduate Certificate of Screenwriting students begin their journey, I thought I’d share the 10 things I wish I’d know when I started out. 1.
Why people go to the movies If you’re making films to be viewed by the cinema-going public, it would seem pretty obvious that you should seek to understand why people go the movies, wouldn’t it? Not to me. I scratched around for about 6 years and had already written several very poor drafts of my first screenplay without ever contemplating this fundamental question.
Fortunately, the inspirational UCLA English Professor, Lynn Batten, forced me to address the question – well, not so much about movies but about stories and myths in general. “What people are seeking is the feeling of being alive. They want to be moved, guys. Learn more about why people go to the movies 2. 3. McKee is treated like a screenwriting God. 4. 5. 6. 7. Top 10 Screenwriting Tips Introduction to Screenwriting How to become a screenwriter. Timeline Photos. - Logline It! Okay, interesting. There’s a huge, and largely untapped, market for heart-warming faith-based movies in the US, so this could actually be a strong commercial proposition. What’s the genre: comedy, drama? What are the stakes? Presumably he’s going to die whatever, so death isn’t the stakes; his immortal soul, perhaps, but that’s a bit esoteric for a mainstream movie, and will turn off non-religious audience members.
Can you find a real life goal or stakes that will play out in those six months? He wants to reconnect with the strict religious parents who disinherited him, in the hope they’ll pay for experimental cancer treatment? He wants to win over a girl he’s always liked, maybe get her to sleep with him despite her religious beliefs? If his real conversion is the end of Act Two – what’s Act Three?
(And I’m assuming “inherently” is a typo for “inadvertently” or similar.