Archive for the 'Story and Plot' Category

• e  83 Kurtzman and Orci on Trek and writing together

  Story lessons from Star Trek, from the mouths and minds of the writers.

• e  43 Take away the questions

  You shouldn’t just answer questions. Get rid of them before they’re asked.

• e  33 Inner struggle is not plot

  Many great movies feature characters struggling against their demons, or attempting to find themselves. But that’s not plot.

• e  14 Tony Gilroy in The New Yorker

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

• e  20 Things We Think About Games

  On storytelling in games.

• e  45 The purpose of drama, and its relationship to Cameron Diaz’s ass

  David Mamet argues that even high-minded goals like social commentary ultimately become Cameron Diaz’s swirling ass — attractive distractions that ultimately lessen a movie. And he’s got a point.

• e  15 Characters for an epic tale

  A useful visual reference for that adventure tale you can’t work out.

• e  18 Question sprint

  Killing backstories, writing out lyrics and why you will always want to be writing something else (amongst other topics), explored.

• e  16 Does a working writer keep improving?

  Dedicate one day a week to disassembling good movies.

• 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  17 Linear writing for non-linear films

  How to outline and structure a non-linear story.

• 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  26 Cut-scenes do not a videogame make

  Videogame-makers need to stop trying to ape Hollywood blockbusters, and instead focus on creating playable stories. A link to an article detailing the differences between the storytelling needs and styles.

• e  34 What’s the difference between Hero, Main Character and Protagonist?

  Mostly the main character is all three. But the terms apply to separate functions in the story.

• e  1 Theory #1

  Predictability in structure does not necessarily doom the story to boredom or sameness.

• e  4 The difference between homage and rip-off

  An “idea” is essentially unprotectable. What is protectable is the execution: the plot, the characters and all of the details.

• e  1 Elephant and Columbine’s actual events

  A question of fair use in the treatment of tragic events.

• e  4 Similar plotlines

  Be happy you also thought of a great, marketable idea and move on.

• e  3 Story first, then characters

  Taking the “character driven story” idea too literally can derail your story.

• e  4 Themes

  Theme defined. Its function explored.

• e  3 Original films

  Hollywood is making a lot of bad movies, but Hollywood has always made bad movies.

• e  9 Choosing character names

  Matching the right name to the character while keeping them distinct from one another.

• e  2 Theory #2

  Why do movies suck?

• e  Comments Off My idea’s been stolen

  Paramount has just bought a project that sounds horribly similar to yours? Remember that there’s a vast chasm in scriptland between being bought and being made.