Screenwriting From Iowa

“The most important thing is the story. We need to be telling a better story.” Attorney Johnny Cochran (Courtney B. Vance) in The People v. O.J. Simpson This morning I woke up at 4:30 AM unintentionally and did what any other sane person would do—I watched the first episode of The People v. OJ Simpson: American […]

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There is often strong connection between the inciting incident, the characterization of the protagonist, and the objective (and even the obstacles and the climax). The respective protagonists of Ikiru, Haut les caeur! and Breaking Bad have the same inciting incidents: they learn they have cancer. But because they don’t have the same characterization, that inciting […]

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Whatever its nature, the inciting incident is an event that focuses the future protagonist to take action. Think of the inciting incident as an electroshock. A death, an accident, an inheritance, and love at first sight are all classic inciting incidents. This plot point needs to be powerful enough to disrupt the future protagonist’s life […]

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If the writers of Tootsie wanted to show the transformation of a macho actor who is forced to disguise himself as a woman to find work and to finally get a taste of his own sexist medicine (which is a great premise), Michael should have been characterized like the director [played by Dabney Coleman].  The […]

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I am of the opinion that a character arc is more powerful and meaningful when the character changes morally or psychologically rather than socially or physically. ” Yves Lavandier Constructing a Story Page 43 My Spin: Would we still be talking about Rocky 30 years after it was made if Rocky Balboa simply went from […]

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Every once in a while people send me books and a few months ago I receieved one by Yves Lavandier sent from Paris. I don’t know about you, but personally getting mail from Paris is cool because it’s not something that happens on a regular basis. So I’m going to pull a few quotes from […]

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[Movies] have an obligation to be sort of timeless. A good story is a good story, it doesn’t change. The Searchers is still The Searchers. It’s A Wonderful Life is still charming, Dirty Harry is still suspenseful, Jaws is still terrifying. These are movies that are prime, pristine examples of storytelling. The Exorcist is as […]

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There’s a writer named Evan Hunter who worked under the pen name of Ed McBain. I’ve always been a fan of mystery and thriller novels, of suspense, you know? He was a suspense novelist, and one thing he wrote that I always took to heart was, “Every movie’s a thriller.’ “Think about it. It’s like […]

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A couple of days ago I wrote a post titled Screenwriting from Your Darker Side—here’s an example of that from The Dark Knight written by Christopher Nolan and Jonathan Nolan: Related post: Writing Good Bad Guys (Tip #85) Scott W. Smith 

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Now I want to talk about the most important thing a writer must know how to do—which, for lack of a better phrase, is just to get out of his or her own way. Or as cellist Pablo Casals said about playing music well,  ‘Learn the notes and forget about ’em.’ Simple, isn’t it? You […]

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