Story & Structure · 1 min
Video: Plot Device
I can't believe I had not posted this video yet. I love it, have used it in some of my classes and I think it is…
The Journal
Vol. 20 · 1,240 entries
25 October 2026
Pitching & Selling · 3 min
What Do (Australian) Producers Want?
"If a girl wants a kiss, she won’t ask for a Latte." That’s what my uncle Raul used to say. May he rest in peace. This…
Best of the Web · 1 min
Best o/t web 5 Feb
Story & Structure :: How to Write Groundhog Day :: Screenplay To Screen: The Grey :: "A Bad Mystery is When Your Characters Keep Asking The…
Movie Reviews · 1 min
Mini-Review – Man On A Ledge
Man On A Ledge Mercifully Short Review by Jonathan Empson Weathered, chiselled, stony, of pleasing proportions but getting trampled all over… No, I’m not talking…
Logline It! · 3 min
The Judges – Circalit Loglines (6)
In this section we are publishing the loglines from the participants of the Circalit / Story Department "First Draft Script Contest". Our judges have reviewed the…
Best of the Web · 1 min
Best o/t Web 29 Jan
Every week I make an attempt to plough through 1,000+ headlines of blogs and entertainment web sites. What I think could be interesting or useful to…
Movie Reviews · 2 min
Mini-Review – The Artist
The Artist Mercifully Short Review by Jonathan Empson George Valentin (think Gary Cooper+Rudolph Valentino+pencil moustache) is a megastar of silent films when he meets wannabe…
Logline It! · 3 min
The Judges – Circalit Loglines (5)
In this section we are publishing the loglines from the participants of the Circalit / Story Department "First Draft Script Contest". Our judges have reviewed the…
News · 2 min
Video: The Battle of Long Tan
It's Australia Day and I have been working on my favorite project for the moment: the feature screenplay for LONG TAN, the feature based on the…
Story & Structure · 8 min
Structure: Boy
Kiwis get film. Even apart from PJ's blockbuster machine at Weta, they've had a good decade, with Whale Rider, The World's Fastest Indian and more recently,…
Best of the Web · 1 min
Best o/t Web – 22 Jan
Story & Structure :: So what is a Sequence, really? :: Romantic Comedy: Rethinking the Happy Ending :: the "mirror moment" as the key to understanding story arc. :: 'The…
Story & Structure · 4 min
The Story Plan (3)
Outside of the system, there is very little room for any writing career in China. But in the US or even the less Bible thumping worlds…
Logline It! · 3 min
The Judges – Circalit Loglines (4)
In this section we are publishing the loglines from the participants of the Circalit / Story Department "First Draft Script Contest". Our judges have reviewed the…
Story & Structure · 2 min
Video: Steven Derosa
If you have tried financing a genre film or get development funding for your script in Australia over the past ten years, chances are at some…
Story & Structure · 4 min
The story plan (2)
The theatre, and now the Cinema and TV and Internet, all play a propagandist role in any society. If you are going to write a war…