Advice — christopher keane

How Little Red Riding Hood Made Me a Writer

Posted by Christopher Keane on

A story that made a big impression on me was "Little Red Riding Hood." I was ten and my mother said to me, "Who's the main character in the story?" I thought for a moment, and said, "Red Riding Hood." "How so?" "The story is called that," I said. "Little Red Riding Hood." "You think so, do you?" my mother said. "I think it's misleading. She's not in the story very much. What about the Wolf? Why don't you take a look at the story from the Wolf's point of view? Ask yourself how the Wolf feels about all this?"...

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Hollywood's Best Kept Secret: The Expanded Scene Breakdown

Posted by Christopher Keane on

What is Hollywood's Best Kept Screenwriting Secret? Answer: The Expanded Scene Breakdown. What is the Expanded Scene Breakdown? It's the middle step between the story development stage and the script itself. Another step in the screenwriting process, you ask? The Expanded Scene Breakdown is a 20 to 40+ page point by point, step by step, scene by scene outline of the entire screenplay in prose form using dialogue, character development, action, etc. It's an essential way to see the entire movie before you reach the screenplay stage. It's also is the most difficult part of the process, the most necessary,...

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PASSION: Without It, Forget It

Posted by Christopher Keane on

For a new screenwriter, the only way to tear down the Hollywood barriers is to burn them down with your passion. Your passion for the story and for the characters who drive it. Without Passion, your script is no more than a tinker toy network of rules and regulations, plot points and pinwheels, bare architectural bones which no one wants to see, or make. My agent one time told me to hurry up to his office; he had the next great idea for a novel and I was going to write it. He sat me down and told me that...

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