Screenwriting From Iowa

Ed McMahon played many roles as a spokesman and announcer in a show biz career that spanned more than 60 years.  McMahon, who died yesterday, was best known as the sidekick for Johnny Carson for more than 30 years on The Tonight Show. His trade mark  “Heeeeeeeere’s Johnny” has not been forgotten and probably never [...]

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The first time I read a book by Ernest Hemingway I was a junior in high school. I didn’t chose to do a report on him because he was a literary giant but because The Old Man and the Sea was so thin. In about the time it takes Melville to explain whale blubber in [...]

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If I told you I was going to write about the most famous writer from Jamestown, North Dakota that probably wouldn’t be a good clue for most people. If I told you that at one time he was one of the most popular writers in the world and is mostly known for his westerns you [...]

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One thing that is not going down in price is the cost of going to movies. While you can buy a classic movie on DVD for $5, going to a mediocre one in the theaters can cost just about twice as much. And by the time you add drinks, snacks, gas (and sometimes parking) a [...]

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Every once in a while I pick up William Goldman’s book Adventures in the Screen Trade and flip through it. I don’t know if that or Syd Fields’ book Screenplay was the first book on screenwriting I ever read, but I remember discovering them both while in film school. Many have built on the foundation [...]

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Since I just covered descriptive writing for screenwriting in five parts I think it’s important to address the Shane Black factor. When Black came on the scene in the 80s he was the latest hotshot screenwriter to come on the scene.
He quickly had a couple hit movies (Lethal Weapon, Last Boy Scout) and made a [...]

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Today we’ll look at three well known movies and see how the settings were written:
INT. MEMPHIS SUPERHUB–NIGHT–LATER
Our executives work amid the army of EMPLOYEES sorting the rivers of Christmas packages that flow relentlessly into the Hub. Some still have ties on, others have on Christmas hats incredibly complex; the work is demanding, intense. Like “Modern [...]

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Writing action in a screenplay is not to be confused with car chases (though it could be a car chase). The action, or as it is also called the narrative, is simply what’s supposed to be happening on screen. More often than not it is a few blurbs rather than thick paragraphs. If there is [...]

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When you break down the core aspects of a screenplay you have scene headings (INT. HOSPITAL ROOM – DAY), dialogue (”I’m walking here!”) and what is called scene description, action or narrative. It’s the little blurb that sets up the scene and explains what’s going on in between the the dialogue.  Today we’ll look at [...]

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There are been over 100 movies and TV programs based on the novels and short stories of Stephen King so it’s safe to say that his writing strikes a cord with viewers as well as readers of his books. Here are some excerpts of what what King as to say about descriptive writing:
“Description is what [...]

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