Writing between the lines
Being faced with a blank page is one of the scariest things for a screenwriter. It’s even worse when you think about the other 119 blank pages lurking just around the corner. Here’s a simple thing I do to ensure I never have that problem. It all starts in the…[read more]
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I’m only now realising the importance, and the joy, of reading scripts.I did read some when I was ‘learning the craft’, but then I stopped. I didn’t want to pollute my own creativity. That stupid decision probably set my writing back a number of years. Reading scripts from good movies…[read more]
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It’s taken me a while to realise that writing is a business – a proper business. I’m not talking about all the guff to do with contracts, selling scripts, and attribution. I’m talking about claiming expenses. You are entitled to claim back some of the expenses from writing – even…[read more]
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“Write what you know” – have you ever been told that? Or read it in a book? When people say that I really feel like slapping them. It would be better to say “Know what you write.” You can have a fantastic idea for a comedy about people working on…[read more]
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Many people say that you should find the time of day that you are most creative. This is terrible advice. For a start, most of us have other jobs and responsibilities which take a large portion of our time. We only have a few hours in our busy day to…[read more]
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I’ve used a few different software packages through the years. The main thing I’ve learned is that the software doesn’t make you a better writer. People have written some utter crap in Final Draft. Others have written works of genius using mechanical typewriters. Tarantino actually writes his scripts by hand.
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I love doing research. That was probably what lead to me doing screenwriting. Everything I read would turn into a story in my head and make me want to learn more. The problem is that I want to know absolutely everything about absolutely everything. When I start looking into a…[read more]
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