The Screenwriting Blog

You’ve done the research, read a couple of articles (hopefully this one too 😊 ), asked some experts and decided to self distribute your movie, at this point you’ve probably found that there are a lot of options, from a small premiere with family and friends to seeing your movie in the top 10 of your preferred streaming service, so to help you out a bit, here are some ideas on how to get your movie to the world of online video on demand. Prime Video Direct A division of Amazon Prime, allows you to upload your own content and decide how you want to get paid for it, with a variety of Licensing options. You maintain your rights, keep creative control, and have at your disposal many marketing tools straight from the giant of online retail. Prime Video Direct also provides you with metrics and information about your viewers that will help you understand your audience and market your content properly. This is no doubt a great way to get to distribution with no middle man. Youtube/Vimeo/Own ...

This very easy (and effective) method works great for experienced and amateur writers alike since it allows you to see your structure and make modifications without spending time in writing and rewriting, it also helps to make sure that every scene contributes to the story and remove unnecessary scenes without getting rid of them completely. How does it work: Write each scene on an index card (post-its work too). You can either write (or print) the whole scene, or just headline and description. What matters is that you’re able to identify the scene by looking at the card alone. Organize the cards as they currently appear in your script. You can put them on a wall or board if you have them available but if you don’t, a table or floor will do the trick. Do some staring. Seriously, look at your cards and understand where you’re at and where you want to get. Are you getting there with the way the scenes are now? What do you need to change in order to get there? Is every scene contributing...

Even the best chefs in the world started by following a recipe, in fact, the best of them still use them every once in a while, it allows them to ensure consistency and gives them a structure to follow so that they can create and let their imagination fly.  The same thing happens with screenwriters. There is no magic formula to create a script, but there are recipes that provide guidance and direction to kickstart the passion and get you to type “the end”. Famous fellas like Blake Snyder, Robert McKee, and Syd Field, have tried hard to create and simplify these recipes with great success, taking the whole of the story and breaking it down to pieces or story beats . But what is a beat anyway? Beats are moments that move the story forward and set the course and tone to what’s going to happen next. They are simple narrative elements that bring the audience back to the story and challenge the characters that conform it. Beats are the smallest part of the story structure and exist withi...

People always say that you need to walk before you run and run before you fly. It makes, the more prepared you are to do anything, the easier and smoother the actual doing will be, and screenwriting (or any writing for that matter) is not the exception, which is why screenwriters across the industry, rely on pre-writing to succeed in the bumpy process of screenwriting. The Whats, Whos and Hows. The first thing you need to think of when preparing to write a script is, naturally, what the story is going to be about (plot), who it is about (characters) and how the story will be told ( genre ). Once we’ve defined these key elements, we can start outlining the smaller parts that will, combined, make our script. The Logline Loglines are important. They are a widely used tool in terms of production because they summarize the script, allowing busy people, like producers and executives, to know upfront if the script is something they might be interested in, before spending the time in reading a...

Every story has a beginning, a middle, and an end. This is what Aristotle thought and taught and boy, did he teach it well, because this seems to be embedded in every storyteller’s brain, even unconsciously.  When applied to screenwriting, this basic structure seems to mutate into much more detailed forms, dividing the whole story into pieces as small as beats , however, seeing the bigger picture first comes way easier when we’re stepping into the world of screenwriting. So before you can dig into these more exhaustive approaches, let’s take a look at the basic, oldie but goodie, 3 Act Structure. Act 1 (Pages 1-30)**  This is where everything begins (bet you didn’t see that coming!). We introduce our characters and the world they live in and we present the object of desire, that thing (physical or not) that our main character wants and will do whatever it takes to get. This is key not only for Act 1, but for our whole story because it is what sets everything in motion, the rea...