Story & Structure · 11 min

Structure: Raising Arizona

While True Grit has become the biggest hit ever for the Coen brothers, let's go back and look at their breakthrough hit. Raising Arizona was released…

Best of the Web · 1 min

Best o/t Web 6 Feb

Story & Structure :: 10 things you can learn from Die Hard :: Black Swan vs Never Let Me Go :: Raiders of the Lost Ark: Act II breakdown…

Script Perfection · 4 min

10 Red Flags of The Amateur Script (2)

When you read a ton of scripts, patterns start emerging. Little things occur here and there that indicate you’re dealing with an amateur. This article is…

Logline It! · 5 min

The Judges: Week 4

In 2011, each week 10 judges will review two short synopses from films that are currently in development. The objective is to all (that includes us…

Story & Structure · 1 min

Video: Scorsese on Story vs. Plot

Jon Favreau interviewing Martin Scorsese for the third season of Dinner for Five. In this excerpt Jon asks him about story versus plot in filmmaking. A…

Story & Structure · 5 min

Technology Making Better Television

You may think I'm talking about HD channels and the advent of 3D television, but I don't mean increased picture quality when I say better television,…

Best of the Web · 1 min

Best o/t Web 30 Jan

Story & Structure :: Point of view :: Raiders of the Lost Ark: Act I breakdown Script Perfection :: Screenwriting Tips: Product placement | Character descriptions | Obfuscating characters :: Throw that…

Script Perfection · 5 min

10 Red Flags of The Amateur Script (1)

When you read a ton of scripts, patterns start emerging. Little things occur here and there that indicate you’re dealing with an amateur. This article is…

Logline It! · 5 min

The Judges: Week 3

In 2011, each week 10 judges will review two short synopses from films that are currently in development. The objective is to all (that includes us…

Video · 1 min

Video: Swan Lake Themes

Black Swan is not my favorite movie of the year and it's not my favorite Aranovsky either but he knows his 'metier' and the movie looks…

Story & Structure · 9 min

Interview: Sydney Field (3)

Syd Field was the first true screenwriting guru and his book Screenplay is still a standard, more than thirty years after its initial publication. During his…

Structure Analysis · 12 min

Structure: District 9

I have huge respect for filmmakers who make a statement about the world - or even want to change the world - by using metaphors. District…

Best of the Web · 1 min

Best o/t Web 23 Jan

Story & Structure :: Robert Towne's reflections on screenwriting :: The Truman Show: Peter Weir retrospective :: Story about a tire that comes to life Script Perfection :: Screenwriting…

Story & Structure · 11 min

Interview: Kaplan on Comedy (3)

Most of Steve Kaplan's comedy examples are timeless. Groundhog Day is a couple of decades old, Seinfeld ran for nine years. What does Steve think is…

Logline It! · 4 min

The Judges: Week 2

In 2011, each week 10 judges will review two short synopses from films that are currently in development. Today: a socio-political drama and a children's movie.…