If your story doesn't stick it on the landing, chances are audiences will leave feeling irritated and unsatisfied. So, how can we create endings that make the audience feel like the story couldn't have finished any other way? Here are five story tricks to give your climax that jigawatt jolt.
One brilliant idea can make or break a screenwriter’s career. But how do you allow yourself to shed the judgement you have in your head and take risks to create something unique and inspiring?
Classic movies may not have a lot of explosions or crazy car chases, but they still keep audiences nailed to their seats. So: how do they do it? What makes their stories so romantic, funny, heartrending or frightening? Why have these movies stood the test of time...?
The word Pixar is fast becoming synonymous with great storytelling. Why? Because they have a set of rules, and they stick to them. Following these seven Pixar story hacks will guide your relatable protagonist though a clear story and help you write an amazing screenplay.
Many of us have a romantic vision of writing, but the truth is that writing is often slow, deliberate, painstaking work. We put one word after another. There's no way around: if you're a writer, you'll probably face writer's block at some point, and you'll be forced to find a way work through it. So let's think about some places to find inspiration if/when you get stuck.
From #OscarSoWhite to the federal EEOC investigating the lack of working female film directors, outrage over Hollywood’s lack of diversity is everywhere. Now, the Writer’s Guild of America is doing its part to address the problem by creating a searchable database of its diverse members – but will it really make a difference?
Rejection is the worst. Every writer who has ever shown their work to someone else knows this. Sharing your most personal creations puts you at risk for the most terrible sort of pain. Unless you're standing on a boat, scribbling pages and tossing them into the sea, sharing your work means there's a chance you'll face rejection. And everyone, everyone in Hollywood gets rejected at some point. Yes, everyone.
How does a movie with so much potential, so many stars and so much cash behind it fail to measure up? We think it all starts with story. If you have that down, everything else falls into place. Here are five DON'TS when it comes to story that we learned from Alice Through the Looking Glass.
