Blog Posts

Script Quack Goes to the Movies

2/15/2013

**UPDATE 3/20/2013**
Our first winner is Angella Davis! Congratulations Angella. Email us and we can figure out the details of your free movie!

-- Original Post

Awesome news for our newsletter subscribers today. We’re launching our new program, “Script Quack Goes to the Movies.”

It’s a lot like how it sounds. A couple of times a month, we’re going to go to the movies. We do that anyways. But here’s the cool part…

Every time we go, one of you is going to come with us, for free.

That’s right.

You pick the movie. We buy your ticket. Then we all go to a movie together.

After the movie we can grab a cup of coffee, talk about the flick, discuss screenwriting in general, whatever your heart desires.

Perfect if you live in LA, or if you’re in town visiting for a few days. We’d love to meet you.

More details will be emailed out on Wednesday, Feb. 27 2013, including instructions on how to participate.

So join the email list now. Free movie. What are you waiting for?

8 Comments

What It Takes to Make the Blacklist

2/5/2013

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The Blacklist is a list of all of the hottest unproduced scripts passed around Hollywood each year. Past Blacklist scripts have included: Juno, Lars and the Real Girl and 500 Days of Summer.

Each year when the list comes out, screenwriters erupt with jealousy and self-loathing.

The annual list of Hollywood's unproduced screenplays, as voted on by dozens of industry professionals.

“Why aren’t I on the list? How can I be on the list next year? No one knows I exist.”

Reading about Blacklist success stories, writers feel a million miles away. They don’t think they’d ever make it onto a list like that, and they don’t know how they’d go about even trying.

For this article, we did a little research into the writers featured on this year’s Blacklist so you can see how you measure up...

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How to Tell If Your Concept Is Fool's Gold

1/20/2013

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The benefits of coming up with a truly original, unique, high concept idea are clear:

The PERFECT concept will interest producers, agents and managers
The PERFECT concept will get you meetings
The PERFECT concept has the potential to catapult your career into the stratosphere
The PERFECT concept, well executed, will make you very successful as a screenwriter

All of these benefits get screenwriters chomping at the bit, ready to write their ground -breaking idea and move to Beverly Hills already.

But BEWARE the concept that seems too good to be true.

For every PERFECT concept, there are a hundred IMPOSSIBLE concepts that seem perfect to the untrained eye.

Read this article to find out if your next project is one of a kind, or just another hunk of that familiar Hollywood Fool's Gold.

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10 Ways to Become a Better Writer in 2013

1/7/2013

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If you’re like most screenwriters, you’ve got a long list of writing resolutions for 2013.

But like other New Year's commitments, these resolutions are probably vague and impractical. They’re going to be hard to keep.

Before you know it you’ll be settled back into bad writing habits, treating 2013 just like every year that’s come before it.

Rest easy though. That doesn’t have to be your fate. This year can and will be different… If you want it to be.

The ten items on this list will force you to re-evaluate your process and renew your commitment to screenwriting.

They’ll ground you. Challenge you. Help you understand your writing in completely new ways.

Most importantly, they’ll help you become a better writer in 2013.

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How to Write a Great Script Without Slaving Over Page Requirements

12/4/2012

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It’s easy to get bogged down in the rules and requirements in most screenwriting books.

“Catalyst on ten.”

“Something big on twenty five.”

“Coy peanut butter reference on fifty four.”

But all of these page counts ignore what should be your biggest concern as a writer.

This article will focus on how to avoid the pitfalls of writing by the book: Obsessing over page counts.

KEEP READING

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5 Magic Questions For Tough Scenes

11/20/2012

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These questions will help you solve any scene problem without going completely insane in the process.

In a lot of ways, screenwriting is simply problem solving.

The writer sets out with a goal. Get the hero from start to finish. Write a compelling story.

But that goal can only be achieved if the writer first answers a complex web of questions, each one related to the next.

More often than not, writers don’t get stuck on the answers to these questions. They get stuck because they aren’t asking the right questions in the first place.

This series of five questions will help you get at the root of the problems you’re having with your script.

They’re simple and straightforward, but they’ll help you solve even the most challenging screenwriting problems.

[CLICK TO CONTINUE...]

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How to Fix Any Plot

11/7/2012

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Most beginning screenwriters approach plot in very simple terms.

They start with a concept.

They pick a main character.

They give that character a goal.

They figure out some good obstacles to get in the way of the hero.

They decide how the hero is going to overcome those obstacles.

And voila! They have a plot.

But approaching plot like that leads to uninteresting screenplays that lack theme, character and real conflict.

Real plot comes from character. Maybe you've heard that before, but that's probably one of the most misunderstood maxims in screenwriting.

Once you really understand it, though, you'll finally have the tools to command what happens in your story, and to make the plot really matter.

[click to continue...]

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3 Rewriting Tips That Will Save Your Script

10/24/2012

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If you’re not spending the majority of your time rewriting your screenplay, you’re making a huge mistake.

Back when Chelsea and I first started screenwriting, rewrites were quick and easy.

We thought to ourselves “Our concept is good,” (it wasn’t) “Our characters are great,” (they weren’t) and “Our story works” (it didn’t).

We were afraid to look at our writing critically and our work suffered.

To put this in perspective, before Chelsea and I really learned to rewrite, our scripts didn’t get any attention.

Now that we've changed our rewriting process, we’ve been hired to write two feature films. One of them is just a few weeks away from filming.

The ball would have been rolling a lot sooner if we had focused more of our time and energy on the rewrite process.

Pretty stupid, right?

Fast forward to today. I see people making the same mistakes we made. They’re embarking on ineffective rewrites, not making any real progress on their scripts.

In this article I’ll share the three essential components to every rewrite, along with one big rewriting tip that could change the way you write forever...

[click to continue...]

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6 Easy Ways to Write Better Dialogue

10/8/2012

4 Comments

In order to write good characters, your dialogue has to be GREAT.

Sure, movies are a visual medium. But people talk.

Want to write people falling in love? Breaking up? Extorting each other?

In most cases, your success is hinged on your ability to use dialogue to make your audience BELIEVE the things your characters say.

The question is... How can you write good dialogue?

It’s one of the areas writers struggle with most. But starting today, you’ll begin your journey to stronger dialogue writing.

[click to continue...]

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Script Analysis: How to Tell When Your Script Is Ready

10/2/2012

2 Comments

As writers work on their screenplays, they gradually lose the ability to objectively assess their own stories.

This is what most writers refer to as ‘being too close’ to their work.

It’s like standing an inch away from the Mona Lisa.

Before long, you stop seeing art.

You start seeing a mess of blurry paint, unrecognizable as the masterpiece you thought you knew so well.

KEEP READING.

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