tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-79342875820913695642011-10-04T14:47:04.264-07:00Writing about screenwriting, and also other stuff.Nicknoreply@blogger.comBlogger501100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7934287582091369564.post-25861588381173125942011-03-01T15:04:00.000-08:002011-03-02T11:20:08.565-08:00

I have neither an agent nor a manager, so I don't have any firsthand experience working with either one, but I believe I have a pretty decent grasp of the difference between the two roles. An agent finds you work that's as frequent and lucrative as possible, while a manager is more focused on steering you toward the projects that are right for you and your career. These days I find myself

Nicknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7934287582091369564.post-90077136265460893352011-02-25T13:41:00.000-08:002011-02-25T14:40:07.053-08:00

Here's a sample scene. INT. BAR - NIGHTDim lighting from four overhead incandescent bulbs. Another six are burned out. The walls are brick and concrete; three crooked nails are hammered into the far side, about five feet up. Nine metal and vinyl stools are positioned against the bar, and thirteen tall, faded oak tables with three barstools each are staggered around the rest of the interior.

Nicknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7934287582091369564.post-27805871047334918682011-01-06T09:51:00.000-08:002011-01-06T10:54:12.997-08:00

The start of a new year is a natural time to make some changes, so I'm going to do that. I've been writing this blog since early 2008, and it's been a great opportunity to put down in print a lot of principles that have crystallized for me in the course of my development as a writer. (That was my mission statement, after all.) But as time goes by, I find I'm devoting less energy to learning

Nicknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7934287582091369564.post-12354443553875354192011-01-05T09:14:00.000-08:002011-01-06T10:51:31.019-08:00

The end of the year (and beginning of the next) is a great time to make lists, isn't it? Everyone else seems to think so, and since I'd be hard pressed to come up with a list of the ten alt-punk albums with the best allusions to midcentury Bauhaus architecture, I think I'll just spout off a list of random things I've learned about screenwriting in the last ten or so years that I've been doing

Nicknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7934287582091369564.post-16394456571395193112010-11-30T11:42:00.000-08:002010-12-01T16:38:25.421-08:00

The second half of 2010 has been kind of all over the place, writing-wise. In May I got married and went on my honeymoon having just completed the best script I ever wrote -- the first one that I could honestly say showcased my strengths as a writer. It earned a high score from ScriptShark, which meant it would be scouted to a variety of management and production companies. In the grand scheme

Nicknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7934287582091369564.post-78568051999677976672010-11-16T10:23:00.000-08:002010-11-17T14:29:20.419-08:00

I'm a pretty big fan of Mission: Impossible 3, though I acknowledge that my opinion is colored by my overall enthusiasm for the work of J.J. Abrams in general, and the TV show Alias in particular.* Some people have criticized MI3 by saying that it's just a big-screen version of Alias, but to me that's what makes it great, and Tom Cruise clearly thought that the sensibilities of the two

Nicknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7934287582091369564.post-20084166033729375812010-08-26T14:42:00.000-07:002010-08-26T15:55:02.132-07:00

I was talking with my writing partner last night about what makes a script a fun, easy read. Having a good writing style (prose/dialogue/layout) helps greatly, of course, but equally crucial is the way in which the story unfolds. In the course of our discussion, I realized that two principles in particular are key:1. Almost any reversal/twist that hurts the protagonist will be welcomed by the

Nicknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7934287582091369564.post-87108903421617412772010-08-10T11:23:00.000-07:002010-08-10T13:36:27.706-07:00

I've been hearing about the Pomodoro system for several months now, and finally gave it a try yesterday. Upon reflection, I'd say it's easily one of the best tomato-based productivity enhancers I've come across, certainly more effective than downing a Bloody Mary before launching Final Draft, but maybe not quite as motivating as having a friend stand by with a jar of pasta sauce that he

Nicknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7934287582091369564.post-62190735992046597192010-07-06T15:17:00.000-07:002010-07-06T16:27:35.289-07:00

In real life, people don't change easily. Even small adjustments in behavior or attitude often take years or more. In a movie, a character needs to change pretty dramatically in two hours. Getting him or her there in a believable, compelling way is one of the greatest challenges of being a writer, and by "greatest challenges" I mean, of course, "hugest pains in the ass."One thing is for

Nicknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7934287582091369564.post-47053558032414359692010-06-29T11:06:00.000-07:002010-06-29T16:17:37.788-07:00

Sometimes great story ideas just pop into my head. Other times, I have to struggle to come up with one. (This is often because that great idea that came to me turned out to be impossible to, you know, execute.) During that struggle, I'll mine a variety of sources, including but not limited to:1. My own life and people I know.2. Things in the world that interest me.3. Other movies.That third

Nicknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7934287582091369564.post-50553561518116088392010-02-26T15:50:00.000-08:002010-03-03T14:38:24.018-08:00

To be a good screenwriter, you must be a master of misdirection. Yes, just like a magician. (The Prestige is a great movie precisely because it recognizes the inherent link between magic and filmmaking and embraces it.) Fortunately, learning this skill as a writer is not as difficult (I don't think) as learning it as a magician. It merely requires us to envision a larger story than the one

Nicknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7934287582091369564.post-68118215044282203482009-10-26T09:46:00.000-07:002009-10-27T15:43:28.516-07:00

I don't know if this will become a regular feature or not, but I find myself wanting to say a few things about Four Weddings and a Funeral, one of my favorite movies/screenplays of all time. Paradoxically, Richard Curtis's script breaks many conventions of cinematic storytelling while, at the same time, exemplifying a story that could only be told as a movie. (It was beaten at the Oscars by a

Nicknoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7934287582091369564.post-50302968698031767632009-10-22T11:40:00.000-07:002009-10-22T16:35:07.627-07:00

When I started learning screenwriting in the late 90s, copies of screenplays weren't easy to find. There was the bookstore (for mostly older scripts in that annoying book-sized format), there were movie memorabilia stores and conventions, and there was the Internet, but the online pickings were slim (especially since PDFs weren't widely used yet). In 2009, however, screenplays are all over the

Nicknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7934287582091369564.post-48630676429914537312009-10-19T13:28:00.000-07:002009-10-20T11:42:53.383-07:00

When I was starting out as a screenwriter, I tended to write movies as if they were plays: a scene would begin when two characters entered a room, continue through their entire conversation, and then end when they were finished. I wrote them that way because I wasn't thinking like an editor.Generally speaking, editors try to use the minimum amount of footage possible to tell the story. They're

Nicknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7934287582091369564.post-54452994341043872912009-10-13T10:43:00.000-07:002009-10-15T10:18:03.163-07:00

We hear the same basic principle about screenwriting all the time -- the protagonist needs to want something and it needs to be hard for him or her to get. If you're not sick to death of this axiom, you probably haven't been writing for long. (And yet it's never a bad thing to hear, because it really is true and a script that ignores it can go off the rails very quickly.)But that's not the

Nicknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7934287582091369564.post-50792190076363544872009-10-06T16:22:00.000-07:002009-10-06T16:42:31.550-07:00

This month I've been doing my second page-one rewrite of a script that I started over a year ago. I had considered just giving it up, but the concept and characters still intrigue me enough to take another crack at it. Am I beating a dead horse? Maybe. But it's also a chance to experiment... with the plot, with my writing style, even with my approach to screenwriting in general.Ordinarily,

Nicknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7934287582091369564.post-25782020236421366452009-09-21T16:12:00.000-07:002009-09-23T16:13:33.232-07:00

Usually, the premise of a movie will dictate -- in broad terms -- what its timeline should be.CIA gunslinger tracks down nuclear terrorist. Probably not a ten-year saga.Sweatshop toiler pursues an education and becomes a captain of industry. I don't see that one happening in real time.But within that general framework, there's practically no limit to the freedom we have to fine-tune the

Nicknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7934287582091369564.post-10890710184640695832009-09-16T09:58:00.000-07:002009-09-18T16:12:08.020-07:00

There tends to be an assumption among both filmgoers and filmmakers that different genres of film are held to different standards of believability. If we were to put them in descending order, from most realistic to least, I imagine the results would look roughly like this:1. Drama2. Romantic comedy3. Comedy4. Thriller/Suspense5. Horror6. Action/Adventure7. Sci-fi/FantasySound about right? We're

Nicknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7934287582091369564.post-58190280616489768932009-09-09T16:48:00.000-07:002009-09-14T17:04:16.798-07:00

Earlier this year I wrote a lot about what not to do in the first ten pages of a script. Now I want to lend some balance to that by talking about what to do. That's more difficult to sum up, of course, since there are so many elements that need to fall into place very quickly -- and, seemingly, with little effort. But I think there's one concept that can guide us pretty well through that

Nicknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7934287582091369564.post-80976359705779245902009-08-20T15:34:00.000-07:002009-09-14T17:07:33.835-07:00

Learning screenwriting for me has been kind of like learning to think like a machine. You take this free-flowing stream of thoughts and images and turn them into a highly specific document that is logical, precise, and organized -- in 12 point Courier, no exceptions. Everything about screenplay craft has a terse, businesslike, unemotional classification. Act I, Act II, Act III. Plot points.

Nicknoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7934287582091369564.post-36731053677868653542009-08-17T15:39:00.001-07:002009-08-18T16:28:41.327-07:00

So, a little less than a year ago I had what I considered a pretty brilliant idea for a movie. A globe-trotting action/adventure ensemble flick with kidnapping, hidden treasures, puzzles, booby-traps, mythical creatures, perhaps even a dirigible or two. The summer movie to end all summer movies. I was in the middle of writing another script at the time, so I put it on the back burner until I

Nicknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7934287582091369564.post-54461107027136625512009-07-06T15:27:00.000-07:002009-07-07T15:53:38.316-07:00

I always enjoy looking back at my notes from old writing classes. There's the nostalgia factor, of course, but it can also be quite useful because many of the ideas that I was merely transcribing at the time have much greater meaning to me now. One of the pages to which I often flip my notebook open begins with the line, "Have to earn big scenes." It's an extremely brief way of saying that the

Nicknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7934287582091369564.post-60112685502602796912009-06-04T14:46:00.000-07:002009-06-09T14:02:53.101-07:00

I still struggle with the issue of how much -- and what kind of -- pre-writing I need to do before firing up the screenwriting software and producing script pages. Certainly I'm doing more of it at this stage in my development than I ever have before. On the script I'm working on now, I did several pages of preliminary idea scribbles and research notes; three one-page character essays for the

Nicknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7934287582091369564.post-87166697154527854702009-05-20T15:47:00.000-07:002009-05-21T16:12:37.952-07:00

Ira Glass did an interview shortly after the TV version of "This American Life" debuted in which he talked about the difficulties of translating his hugely popular radio show to television. (I wish I could find it online, but I can't; at least, not this specific one.) He said that there were a lot of things he wanted to do with the show that his producers and director assured him couldn't be

Nicknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7934287582091369564.post-827885109062805712009-05-07T11:47:00.000-07:002009-05-12T17:05:32.311-07:00

I'm a child of the digital age. I've lived with at least one personal computer in the house for most of my life. Although I learned proper handwriting in elementary school, I started typing my assignments as soon as I was allowed (probably around seventh grade -- back then, it was WordPerfect 5.1 on a bright blue MS-DOS screen). From then on, my proficiency with writing on computer increased

Nicknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7934287582091369564.post-29721471526247438232009-04-20T11:01:00.000-07:002009-04-21T16:28:21.066-07:00

Virtually all dramatic, emotional, thrilling, or satisfying moments in films center on the protagonist's choosing one course of action over another. In order to deliver these moments effectively, the screenwriter needs to keep the protagonist's decision-making process as clear and understandable as possible -- because if the audience doesn't understand what his or her options are, or if there

Nicknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7934287582091369564.post-50725692614484847182009-03-26T13:31:00.000-07:002009-03-26T15:45:54.144-07:00

The title is a quote from a TV writing teacher I had several years ago. It's accurate on the face of it, but it also points to a larger truth about dialogue in general.Screenwriters are always looking for quick ways to convey things. And quicker usually equals better. For example, the single sentence, "STEVE JACKSON exits a massive Hummer limousine, flanked by an anxious ENTOURAGE, and walks

Nicknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7934287582091369564.post-59408346778705906672009-02-17T09:29:00.000-08:002009-02-18T11:41:37.491-08:00

Setup-and-payoff is probably one of the most important concepts to be mastered on the road to producing professional-grade screenplays. Some writers equate it with cause-and-effect, but in fact cause-and-effect is only one type of setup-and-payoff -- and it's the most obvious type to boot. A script that uses only cause-and-effect may succeed in telling its story, but it won't be as effective as

Nicknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7934287582091369564.post-47013936113543205212009-02-12T10:18:00.000-08:002009-02-12T16:41:06.941-08:00

In practically every aspect of life, we're constantly having conversations whose sole purpose is to provide information. We wouldn't dream of trying to "hide" an explanation in some other, unrelated conversation. In film, though, that's exactly what we have to do.And let's be frank here. It's a major pain in the ass.But it's also essential. No matter how seamlessly we weave our narratives,

Nicknoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7934287582091369564.post-10139247932579368982009-02-10T20:36:00.000-08:002009-02-13T11:28:18.993-08:00

Anyone who's taken a screenwriting class, read a screenwriting book, or listened in on any given conversation at the Coffee Bean on Sunset is familiar with some pearl of conventional wisdom about The First Ten Pages of a script. One of the best versions goes something like, "Studio executives only read the first ten pages!" (As far as I know, that estimate is at least ten pages too high.)Thus,

Nicknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7934287582091369564.post-50819913655605533322009-02-09T09:11:00.000-08:002009-02-10T10:32:38.479-08:00

As I struggle to finish the second draft of my current screenplay, part of my brain is already drifting (as it is often does) toward my next project. With that script, I'm planning to delve head-first into the Adventure genre -- an area in which I haven't exactly written before, even though it's the source of some of my favorite movie memories.I've blogged before about genres and how important

Nicknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7934287582091369564.post-39085732320995275932009-02-03T11:21:00.000-08:002009-02-04T17:03:25.531-08:00

There are so many challenges involved in writing a screenplay that solving any one of them feels like a triumph. Surviving the process requires that we embrace that feeling just long enough to keep us going, then take a step back to determine what other issues need to be tackled. Get too excited that you made it to 100 pages and you may not realize (or want to realize) that 15 of those pages

Nicknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7934287582091369564.post-53786050313083748792009-01-20T15:00:00.000-08:002009-01-21T11:11:26.293-08:00

...is not really what I'm going to talk about, but I couldn't think of a good title for my general updates and ramblings. (Note to self: maybe just say "general updates and ramblings" next time.)In the past few days I came back out of my cocoon of outline-revising, subtext-finding, and central-theme-clarifying, and started on some actual script pages. In my limited experience, the best time to

Nicknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7934287582091369564.post-31458652424704686482009-01-15T08:31:00.000-08:002009-01-15T16:52:01.529-08:00

Here's another thing that's just recently crystallized for me. I always knew subtext was a big deal (and not just to loyal X-Files viewers), but I couldn't quite explain it to myself. The argument all the books use -- that scenes without subtext are flat and boring -- makes sense to an extent, but I don't think it's always true. Where's the subtext in Mission: Impossible, 24, or most of the

Nicknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7934287582091369564.post-32443422286021874732009-01-12T08:48:00.000-08:002009-01-12T12:35:39.438-08:00

Screenwriters hate following rules. Doesn't matter what stage you're at, really. If you're new at the trade, the "rules" you read in books and hear about in classes seem bizarre and draconian, a total wet blanket on your creativity and zeal. If you've been writing for a while, you might think that the rules apply to people writing a certain kind of script, just not to you since yours is

Nicknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7934287582091369564.post-49357118659448582152009-01-09T10:25:00.000-08:002009-01-09T12:17:56.202-08:00

(Note: I've made it one of my New Year's resolutions to see more films, especially classics that I've missed, in an effort to broaden my pool of inspiration for writing. I figure it also makes sense to write down some thoughts about them as I see them. Here's the first.)Rififi (1955, France, directed by Jules Dassin, written by Dassin, Rene Wheeler, and Auguste Le Breton, based on the novel by

Nicknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7934287582091369564.post-83871911724281991252009-01-08T09:15:00.000-08:002009-01-09T17:07:10.761-08:00

I'm feeling especially didactic after a few days of revisiting Robert McKee's Story, so bear with me. Anyway, I realize the term "intention" is incredibly loaded and controversial (if not simply ridiculous) in the studio system, where all such precious concepts go to be taken out and shot -- but fortunately for all of us, that's not the context in which I want to address it.Instead, I'm just

Nicknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7934287582091369564.post-9145018938636799072008-11-01T00:46:00.000-07:002008-11-01T09:57:05.815-07:00

I wouldn't say I've mastered any aspects of screenwriting yet, but there are certainly some that I'm a lot closer on than others.  Writing short but effective scenes (i.e., the "get in late, leave early" rule), making my descriptions clear and vivid, piecing together an exciting plot -- these are things I'm starting to get the hang of, more or less.  But creating interesting and compelling

Nicknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7934287582091369564.post-4903008974339795582008-10-27T14:58:00.000-07:002008-10-27T17:01:56.314-07:00

If you're looking for a creative endeavor that's conducive to mood swings, you can't do much better than screenwriting, which has about as many emotional peaks and valleys as a Meat Loaf song. First there's the excitement of having a really great idea smack you in the face. This is one of the best feelings there is, because it's totally unadulterated. The idea hasn't had a chance to be poked,

Nicknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7934287582091369564.post-4043049571371353942008-10-23T15:15:00.001-07:002008-10-23T15:46:22.283-07:00

Well, the rewrite came and went in less time then I'd planned. On the one hand, it felt like a copout to throw in the towel two weeks before the Fade In Awards contest deadline, but on the other hand, it just felt done. Not to say that I'll never do any more work on it, because I'm sure I'll have to, especially if there ends up being any interest in it -- but for now, I feel pretty good

Nicknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7934287582091369564.post-65752446670527427212008-10-13T14:03:00.000-07:002008-10-14T10:58:33.018-07:00

After finishing off the first draft of my as-yet-untitled thriller this week, I took a few days off before launching into the rewrite. On one of those days (nights, actually) I headed to the ArcLight to catch Rocknrolla, which was alleged to have been Guy Ritchie's triumphant return to form after his last couple regrettable films.Except I'd still call this one regrettable. Now, I realize that

Nicknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7934287582091369564.post-8873163099705560542008-09-29T10:27:00.000-07:002008-09-30T09:45:19.783-07:00

I talked earlier about a lesson I learned from Vicky Cristina Barcelona; and another writing principle really crystallized for me while I was watching Eagle Eye this weekend, although in this case it was because of a failure (in my view) on the part of the script. The premise of the film should be pretty familiar even to those who have only seen the poster. A mysterious voice on a phone is

Nicknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7934287582091369564.post-12112943409765994102008-09-25T14:42:00.000-07:002008-09-25T16:41:49.630-07:00

Well, the two-thirds itch has struck again, even more acutely than last time.  Am I to be plagued by this condition for the rest of my literary career?  Is everyone?  Here's what I'm talking about.  I'm working on a script.  A good one, at least in my opinion and that of most people familiar with it.  Definitely the best one I've written so far.*  My ticket to fame and fortune?  Who knows.  I'm

Nicknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7934287582091369564.post-42802668047945421712008-09-22T14:11:00.000-07:002008-09-23T10:56:17.447-07:00

I've been writing screenplays off and on for ten years.  I think I've come a long way (though the results have been more mental than tangible), yet it's remarkably easy to go back into the mindset I had when I was writing my very first script.  What's interesting about that, in sort of a hilarious way, is I wasn't the least bit intimidated -- much less so than I am now when I write.  The task

Nicknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7934287582091369564.post-89945530152835251732008-09-10T11:37:00.000-07:002008-09-12T17:09:30.677-07:00

It's always fun to hear what famous and successful writers have to say about their writing schedules and habits.  Usually it's something like, "I get up at 8:00 every morning.  I brew myself a fresh cup of coffee, read the New York Times, perhaps circle some articles that have story potential.  Eat a healthy breakfast, then sit down to write for a few hours.  Have lunch, run errands.  Write for

Nicknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7934287582091369564.post-16588128437102351612008-08-19T16:46:00.000-07:002008-08-22T12:29:29.114-07:00

My girlfriend Alexis and I saw Vicky Cristina Barcelona this past weekend. Definitely one of Woody Allen's stronger recent films, not quite up there with Match Point, but very good nonetheless. Going into it, I was worried that it would be silly, fluffy, little more than an excuse for the cast and crew to hang out in Barcelona for a few months. The trailers really played up the comedy, and

Nicknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7934287582091369564.post-69752212493578465042008-05-05T14:45:00.000-07:002008-05-07T10:44:47.803-07:00

For the first time ever, I'm doing a real second draft of a screenplay.It feels pretty weird. This is seriously uncharted territory. I used to have a system, and I stuck to that system. It consisted of:Come up with idea for movie. Start writing script before really finishing an outline.Write first draft of script. Take forever. End around page 80 due to insufficient idea generation.Later on

Nicknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7934287582091369564.post-61929473747730264312008-04-23T14:53:00.000-07:002008-05-09T15:57:43.886-07:00

Oh, how I hated genres when I started writing. I mean, come on! Genres are everything that's wrong with modern movies. Instead of coming up with an original story, they shoehorn an idea into a narrow category that imposes all these rules on it and prevents it from ever being fun or interesting. My screenplays sure as hell were not going to fall victim to that kind of literary castration. I

Nicknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7934287582091369564.post-54934733562409080562008-04-22T15:17:00.000-07:002008-06-05T14:21:17.266-07:00

Locations are one thing I don't think I've ever had much instruction on, screenwriting-wise -- either in class or from books. Most people will teach you about the basics: (1) character, (2) plot, and (3) dialogue (in that order). Not that there's anything wrong with that. If you can't nail those three elements, nothing else is going to save you. But there are other components to a really good

Nicknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7934287582091369564.post-39758615130517816922008-04-22T14:44:00.000-07:002008-04-22T15:17:37.908-07:00

On the torturous path to becoming a successful screenwriter, I find that I am occasionally hit over the head with revelations about the craft of movie writing -- some small, some big, some probably incomprehensible to anyone other than me. Anyway, I thought it might be a good idea to start a forum for sharing these little nuggets of information, if for no other reason than to make sure they

Nicknoreply@blogger.com0