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Words on the page

8 Common Mistakes Made by New Screenwriters

May 29, 2015 Adaptation, QandA, So-Called Experts, Story and Plot, Words on the page, Writing Process

B.J. Novak is all about lists. He asked me to write this one about issues I frequently see in scripts written by beginning screenwriters. 1. Starting with a concept rather than a character We don’t want a movie about a lost relic. We want a movie about Indiana Jones. 2. Being too nice to the […]

The long and short of it

Episode - 196

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May 5, 2015 Film Industry, Follow Up, One Hit Kill, Producers, QandA, Scriptnotes, Television, Transcribed, WGA, Words on the page

John and Craig dig into the listener mailbag and take questions on TV producer credits, jealousy over other writers’ success, writing tight vs writing long and plenty of other follow up.

You can’t train a cobra to do that

April 7, 2015 Directors, Follow Up, Formatting, News, QandA, Scriptnotes, Words on the page, Writer Emergency, Writer Emergency Pack

Craig and John discuss backup plans, camera directions, and becoming so good they can’t ignore you. Plus we answer two listener questions about specificity in scene headers and how to indicate that a script is intended for animation.

This Is Working

March 31, 2015 Film Industry, Follow Up, Scriptnotes, Story and Plot, Three Page Challenge, Transcribed, Words on the page

For the first time ever, John and Craig spend an entire episode on a full-length original screenplay, K.C. Scott’s THIS IS WORKING.

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