Rage Against The Page

You are using the sequencing method as I understand it to plot out your scripts first? Can you let people know what the sequence method is for those who have never worked with it? And can you talk about how it helps you plan what to write? Sequencing is gold. I hesitate to even talk about it, lest all of your readers go out and become overnight successes and put me out of work. I jest, but this approach really is that good. And there’s no magic to it, it’s just good, common sense. That’s what’s so brilliant about it. Essentially, you want to look at your script as eight 12–15 page sequences. Act 1 and Act 3 each get 2 sequences and Act 2 gets 4. Each sequence should have a mini-goal for the protagonist (some more defined than others) and a beginning, middle and end just like your script does. That way, you end up with a sequenced script that builds on itself and creates those wonderful "peaks and valleys" that create tension/release, tension/release all throughout your stor...

Whenceforth Comes This Shabby Creature Of The Night? Fake. Had to be. The grammatical horrors waiting between the covers were solid proof of a novice writer at the keyboard. Surely. I read the first 10 pages: the linguistic horrors multiplied and then multiplied some more. Ask anyone: screenplays this unpolished don't escape unscathed when crossing a Studio Reader's desk. Screenplays this unpolished earn extra wrath from Readers. A well-presented screenplay (good spelling, punctuation, formatting) with poor structure or story is inoffensive; a Reader will dutifully appraise it with the minimum amount of effort and then set it aside, perhaps concluding the writer knows their screenwriting craft but not their art of storytelling . If this screenplay did not have QT's name on it, and it fell into a Studio Reader's hands, you'd better believe the Reader's red pen would be boiling over with invective. That Reader would likely cancel lunch to devote themselves wh...

Any day is a good day for zombies. The best day for zombies will be when Left 4 Dead hits the PC. On that day I will be transported to Zombie Heaven. Ironically, Zombie Heaven is right here on Earth: the Land of the Living. Where the warm-fleshed, juicy-brains-carrying humans are abundant and conveniently packaged into cramped apartment blocks with no exit strategies. Where humans fear the night and zombies do not fear the day. Where humans still believe a zombie holocaust can happen only on screen. And so, I present for your viewing pleasure two animated short films featuring zombies. The stories have a beginning, middle, and end and are told completely without dialogue. CHAINSAW MAID Beyond the wonderful claymation, I love, love the Casio-quality sound effects in this one. And there's a chuckle early on that would feel right at home in any Wallace and Gromit move. ZOMBIE ZOMBIE - DRIVING THIS ROAD UNTIL DEATH SETS YOU FREE This delightful riff on Carpenter...

This post title appeared on digg.com : US official: Blackwater hit car with kids to avoid traffic It hit a car with kids? Impressive. But why resort to hurling children at the enemy? What we have here is another case of failure to communicate. More murderous grammar. This is the story : The kids in the back seat looked back in horror, mouths agape at the sight of the heavily armored Suburbans driven by large, armed men in dark sunglasses. The poor Iraqi driver frantically searched for a means of escape, but there was none. So the lead Blackwater vehicle smashed heedlessly into the car, pushing it into the barrier. Yes, that's an awful situation. One of many, many awful things going on over there. Putting the content aside for a moment, let's consider the form. Is the sentence ambiguous? Yes it is. Is that a problem? Yes. Ambiguous is to writing what a Stop sign is to driving. No, it's more. It's a Go Back sign. Ambiguity forces the reader to backtrack, reread, and fig...

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This model represents the Hero's Journey in four acts. It supplements my old story diamond. Click the image for a larger view. Discussion about the eight plot points is here .

Jeremy Slater just sold his horror screenplay Pet to MGM. Is this the same hilarious (former) neophyte screenwriter and veteran malfeasant Jeremy Slater who dreamed up Rapebear over at How To Write Screenplays, Badly ? I think so. I hope so. Go visit HTWSB and spend an hour trawling the archives. You will laugh lots while learning some lesser-known do-nots of screenwriting. Sadly, it's unlikely we'll see more HTWSB posts from Jeremy and his blogging partner Dan Whitehead. The site has been dormant since about February, 2007. But I suspect Jeremy will launch a new blog someday soon to document his rite of passage into the realm of Hollywood Screenwriter. [ Update: here's Jeremy's new blog .] Congratulations, Jeremy!