Barry Cutler’s Team Wins 4 Awards
We just received great news from writer Barry Cutler: On June 28th, our short film, “PRESUMPTION,” won awards for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Cinematography and Audience Favorite at the Detroit-Windsor International Film Festival. It was a 48-hour film challenge. We beat out the story using the Cat!...
Well-Rounded
Have you listened to Rick Dees’ Top Forty lately? What’s the latest trend in Art? Quick. Who’s Frank Gehry? If this sounds far afield from the subject of screenwriting, not so. The topic is: being well-rounded. And it’s a must for any writer attempting in his...
Mid-Year Review
RRRRRRrrrrrrrrr! That buzzer you hear signals the end of the first half of play here in 2009. This halftime update is sponsored in part by the movie industry, so make sure you, too, run not walk to see Transformers, The Hangover, The Proposal and Up....
The Shard of Glass
Lately, I have been talking a lot about the “death moment” of a script. In the script consultations I do, and in class talking with groups of writers, the “All Is Lost” moment on page 75 is becoming the most important part of the story....
Save the Cat! for Real
Readers of my books know well the moment in a movie when a hero does something nice — like save a cat — endears him to us and makes us root for him. But the act itself stands alone. The universal truth is that acts...
The Second STC! Contest of 2009!
FADE IN: THE WORST 250 WORDS Competitors are invited to submit the first 250 words of a fictional bad screenplay. It is an intro so dense, a set-up so ripe with purple prose, a start so teetering under the weight of over thinking — and...
New York, New York
As some of you may have heard, I will be coming to New York City August 15-16 to conduct the most spectacular and best Save the Cat! event yet! I am very excited about this return visit, and thrilled to see the overwhelming response we...
Title, Title, Who’s Got the Title?
What’s the most important single feature of a great screenplay? All of it! No part of a script is any more important than any other, nor will a single “silver bullet” save the day. My favorite saying of late is that a winning story isn’t...
How Do I Know My Script Is Done?
Another fantastic workshop this past weekend. And another great question from a writer in class: How do we know when our scripts are “done”? Is it the number of drafts? Is it adoring comments from readers? Is it how it “feels”? The answer is: All...
In the Air
Last fall something remarkable happened here in the Greater 310. In the same week, four top screenwriters went out with pitches they had come up with independently — and guess what? 4 pitches: All the exact same idea. I won’t reveal the pitch. But know...
