Advice — expert series

Q: I can “see” the movie in my head as I write it. Why can’t the director see it too?A: You’ve heard of “the director’s vision”? The director CAN see the film before a single frame is shot, but since he or she is a unique individual, as are you, there is no way that your vision can be the same. We each come to a project with a personal history and a point of view about the world that defines our ethics, our judgments, and our actions…and therefore, our choices. So you have to hope that a wonderful director...

How much thought do you think writers should invest in terms of tracking the broad strokes of the protagonist’s emotional journey when structuring the story?I think all screenwriters should know the emotional journey from beginning to end. If you have the character’s arc clearly in mind, you can then begin to build your story and character utilizing the emotional journey as one of the major leads into the physical journey. Action and character, those are the two things to follow during the unfolding of the script. Take a look at Avatar or The King’s Speech – it’s an emotional journey...

It used to be that summer was the season for blockbuster movies. Now it’s a year-round phenomenon. Hollywood is in the business of selling films to a worldwide audience, which means they are always looking for a script with blockbuster potential. Most screenwriters think a blockbuster is simply a film that does really well at the box office. Technically speaking, that’s true. But the reality is that a script with blockbuster potential is a very special kind of script, with a number of story elements that studio executives are looking for. I’d like to point out five of the most...

This is not an article revealing The Three Secrets To Financing Your Independent Film or How To Network With Hollywood Big-Shots or How To Write A Hit Movie In Four Hours. There are plenty of books, DVDs, and classes for that, and they have their place. I'm skipping all of it and speaking directly to The Artist in you.If you haven't noticed, there is an ancient and ongoing war between Art and Survival. And yes, I'm serious. It is a War -- and Art has been losing. Whether we are writers, painters, directors, actors, poets, dancers, or musicians, the artists...

(adapted in part from his book Byte-Sized Television: Create Your Own TV Series for the Internet)Let’s say your dream is to write the next Oscar-winning script like Up in the Air, or to create the next groundbreaking TV series like Modern Family or Mad Men. Suddenly, a Voice (maybe yours, maybe someone else’s) cuts in and says Hey, why don’t you write one of those web series thingies , then go out and shoot it? You snort derisively and tell the Voice “I’m a REAL writer. I don’t do that YouTube crap.”Big mistake. You just scoffed at one of the...