The emotion you must elicit with your stories will come primarily from the conflict your heroes face – the hurdles and obstacles they must overcome as they pursue their desires,… read more →
In coaching film and fiction writers as well as speakers, marketers and entrepreneurs, I stand by the principle that stories are universal, and that the same qualities that make movies… read more →
I recently received the question below, and since marketing television scripts is not really my area of expertise, I asked my friend, colleague and renowned screenwriting career coach Lee Jessup… read more →
Q: When I first introduce a character into a story, must I always give his or her last name? Is the first name enough? Must I name the character at… read more →
James Cameron’s screenplay Avatar is an outstanding example of using many structural tools and devices successfully in one script. In addition to the overall structure of your screenplay – the… read more →
Many of you have asked how effective the elements of my 6 Stage approach to plot structure are when applied to one-hour dramatic television series. Even though an episodic series… read more →
Hollywood movies are simple. 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… read more →
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, intricate, mysterious and hard… read more →
When you decide to write a spec script for television, you must first decide the series for which you want to write a sample episode. Focus on series you like,… read more →
Stories are built on a foundation of desire and conflict. To create an emotionally involving and commercially successful screenplay, you must give your hero some compelling desire he or she… read more →