Archive for the 'Genres' Category

• e  42 On the physics of space battles

  Joseph Shoer looks at some of the uncomfortable science behind these science-fiction mainstays:

• e  18 Seven writer’s rules for survival in animation

  Useful suggestions for screenwriters working on their first animated feature

• e  27 Zombie-class situations

  Zombies are more than the walking dead. They’re a useful paradigm for a range of common scenarios in many genres.

• e  23 Making Christian movies

  Is it a good idea to focus on making a movie for Christian audiences?

• e  56 “No signal” is the new air duct

  This compilation clip demonstrates what a hoary cliché it has become to explain why movie characters can’t use their cell phones.

• e  60 Groundhog Day and Unexplained Magic

  An observation made halfway through a five-hour meeting in Beijing: in the movie Groundhog Day, it is never explained why Bill Murray’s character is stuck in a time loop.

• e  25 Setting is not story

  An LA Times article about the island of Pagasa makes a great case study in the difference between an interesting setting and an actual movie idea.

• e  82 Challenge results

  We’ve got a winner and a slew of honorable mentions in the Superheroic Scene Challenge.

• e  22 Playing to the core

  Brian Lowry cautions against [taking Comic-Con buzz too seriously.

• e  67 Now that’s a gunfight

  I’m busy working on Preacher, and it’s no spoiler to say that it features a gunfight or two. Last night, I twittered to ask what people’s favorite gunfights were, Western or otherwise.

  I got a lot of replies, but one name that kept coming up was Michael Mann. He consistently finds ways to send thousands [...]

• e  18 How much does a short story earn in a magazine?

  I really had no idea what people were getting paid for short stories, so I asked Matt to dig up some numbers.

• e  35 What does “execution dependent” mean?

  What makes one high-concept idea more execution-dependent than another?

• e  38 You only have to destroy the Death Star

  Your hero doesn’t have to fix The Big World Problem by the time the end credits roll.

• e  30 Should I write a straight-to-DVD knockoff?

  Don’t turn up your nose to actual paid writing for a company that makes movies.

• e  14 Tony Gilroy in The New Yorker

  The New Yorker has a terrific piece about screenwriter-director Tony Gilroy.

• e  50 Pride and Predator

  Traditional period costume drama + alien crash landing = the definition of high concept.

• e  26 Are animated specs worth the time?

  Short answer: yes. But be realistic about the chance of it getting made.

• e  25 Scripting a short film

  A short film, like a short story, can’t waste any time. Here’s what to include, and what to leave out.

• e  14 The History Boys

  A writer can get away with quite a few things on stage that are tough to pull off in movies.

• e  75 Her least favorite mistake

  An episode of Grey’s Anatomy might have the same title as your spec. That’s not even close to being plagiarism.

• e  34 Should I write a novel or a script?

  If you’re looking to put your story out into the world, paper beats film, hands down.

• e  95 The perils of coincidence

  The big villain in Spider-Man 3 was a plague of coincidence. Here’s how they could have avoided it.

• e  2 The great big list of fictional diseases

  The Motaba virus sounds bad, but the cure — heavy doses of Dustin Hoffman — is arguably worse.

• e  15 Is the Slamdance script competition a bad idea?

  No. But getting a movie made is worth a lot more than any award.

• e  8 Chicago: The Musical. No, not that one.

  I spent a few days in Chicago to see the workshop of my friends’ new musical, Asphalt Beach. And then I wrote a play.

• e  28 Depression on film

  You rarely see clinical depression in movies and TV, despite being much more common in real life than, say, retrograde amnesia.

• e  16 What if my movie is too much like another?

  In all likelihood, it’s not — you just think it is.

• e  22 Can Dracula’s son get a book deal?

  The vast majority of memoirs are written by vain, delusional nutjobs, so there’s no reason you shouldn’t be entitled to your six-figure advance.

• e  35 Vampires are the imaginary numbers of modern literature

  You’ve never met an undead blood-sucker, and neither have I. Yet we can both agree on quite a few characteristics of these non-existent beings.

• e  17 Making the geek movie

  There is definitely room in the film universe for a uber-geek movie, be it a thriller, a drama, a comedy or whatever.

• e  14 How many drafts does it take?

  This “knowing when it’s done” sense only develops with experience.

• e  79 Inciting Incident: Koo Koo Roo edition

  I want to know that no one’s hurt, but even more, I want to know what the hell I saw.

• e  2 No, Mr. Bond. I expect you to die!

  A useful guide to super-villainy.

• e  9 To Do: Destroy the world

  It’s surprisingly difficult for any villain — even a powerful alien race — to actually destroy the planet.

• e  1 Blind man’s point of view

  Welcome to the world of experimental film, where you invite mocking simply based on hubris.

• e  Comments Off Getting stuck in a genre

  The right genre is the one that will actually get you to fire up your word processor, rather than surf the internet.

• e  Comments Off Genres and structures

  Nail down characters, tone and action come before plot and structure.

• e  2 Western’s out?

  Yes. So write one.