Though writing a successful Hollywood movie is certainly not easy, the stories for mainstream Hollywood films are all built on only three basic components: character, desire and conflict.
The term ‘Story Structure’ simply refers to the sequence of events in a story. A writer’s or filmmaker’s goal has to be to create an emotional experience for the reader or the audience.
Structure is something that every agent, editor, publisher, Hollywood executive, public speaker, marketer and story teller talks about, to the point that it can seem complicated.
Romantic comedies – especially Hollywood Romantic comedies – are among the most formulaic of genres, with elements that have consistently contributed to these scripts’ and films’ success.
All film making, and all storytelling, has one primary objective: to elicit emotion in the audience. This objective is achieved with only three basic elements, which form the foundation of all story.
Fiction writers must realize that much of what makes a novel great is by definition eliminated from the movie: writing style; interior thoughts of the characters; narration.
Many fiction writers, at one point or another, consider adapting their own work into film. Because both novelists and screenwriters use characters to tell fictional stories.
One of the biggest mistakes screenwriters make is giving too little importance to commercial appeal of their story. Before putting words on the page, a writer should always ask…
In other articles I discuss everything from story structure and adaptation to pitching and marketing your story. But here I want to cover something much more basic.
Back in the Dark Ages, when I was just a movie lover fresh from Oregon with Hollywood dreams, I attended Sherwood Oaks Experimental College.
Send your questions to Michael and he’ll create a Q&A Article specifically for your question!