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Blog by Doug Davidson, Produced Screenwriter and Screenplay Consultant. Doug is a credited writer on two direct-to-video animated features for Lionsgate: Elephant Kingdom starring Cary Elwes, Patrick Warburton and Alexa PenaVega and The Giant King starring Bella Thorne and Russell Peters.
Four Star Feedback
2y ago
Feeling out of creative steam?
It happens to every writer at every level. There’s so much resistance, so much rewriting, so much everything – it’s easy for any writer to lose momentum.
But momentum is everything.
All you really need, to eventually succeed, is to move forward.
All you really need is momentum.
If you find yourself without it, here are five ways to get it back:
One – Watch A Great Movie
Recently, I was pretty slumpy – lots of family distractions, lame excuses and a general feeling of time slipping away.
&nbs ..read more
Four Star Feedback
2y ago
I've gotten to know dozens of writers who've achieved success. Major contest wins. Options. Paid writing assignments. One thing these writers have in common is this:
They’ve all revised their screenplays based on constructive feedback.
The key word here is “constructive”. The feedback you get from the industry is often harsh and unreasoned. You hear things like, “It just doesn’t work.”
That’s not helpful. You need the kind of feedback that recognizes potential. The kind of feedback that usually comes from other writers.
In 2004 ..read more
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2y ago
I recently had the pleasure of spending some time with Gary Goldstein, a billion-in-revenues producer with a unique perspective on networking in Hollywood.
Like me, he was once a lawyer who wanted a more fulfilling life. He found himself in L.A. with no idea how the film biz ticked, and yet he somehow networked his way to a blockbuster career.
His movies have garnered Oscar noms. He’s worked with Hollywood royalty. He’s pretty much done it all.
That’s impressive enough in the abstract. But the thing that really gets me about Gary is this ..read more
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2y ago
This month I’d like to talk about fear in our screenplays.
I’m not talking about the horror genre. I’m talking about the writing process itself.
I’m talking about writing in a state of panic – fueled by the fear of failure.
This is a phenomenon I’ve seen fairly often. It goes like this:
A writer (often an excellent one) is closing in on a finished draft of a screenplay and getting ready to send it out.
Actually sending a script out – that can be scary.
And when the fear hits, there’s a very speci ..read more
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2y ago
What is the one thing every script needs to be if it’s going to get produced?
Unique?
Hardly. True originality often hurts more than it helps.
Commercial?
Nope. It’s not entirely necessary if the writing is great.
Entertaining?
Please. We all wish every script ever filmed was entertaining.
Then what is it? What does every successful screenplay need to be?
It needs to be clear.
Clarity In Screenplays
Clarity in dramatic writing is very different from clarity in prose. We’ve all heard the adage: Show, don’t tell. That’s a good rule of thumb, bu ..read more
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2y ago
Today I’d like to talk about relationships.
Not real life ones. You’re on your own with those.
I’m talking about relationships between the characters in your screenplay.
Here are 5 tips for improving them:
(1) Use Differing Points of View
This is an efficient way to establish a watchable dynamic between two characters. Give them opposing opinions on an issue.
A classic example is Luke, Han Solo and the Force. Luke believes in the Force. Han Solo thinks it’s a myth. Simple, engaging character opposition.
Ideally, these opposing points of view sho ..read more
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2y ago
Screenwriters love to come up with that “big moment” – the kind audiences talk about for years.
To use a football metaphor, a big cinematic moment is the equivalent of a sixty-yard Hail Mary pass. It doesn’t work very often, but when it does you score huge points.
As screenwriters, we absolutely need to go on the offensive and score points with our audiences, with compelling story beats, hilarious gags and climactic twists.
But we also have to remember to play defense. That means not losing points with audiences by doing things that annoy or upset them or otherwi ..read more
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2y ago
There are certain sentences you don’t want to hear in connection with your screenplay.
One of them is: “He wouldn’t do that.”
He wouldn’t respond to a killer that calmly. She wouldn’t head to all the way to Ohio just to follow a lead. He, she, they – wouldn’t do that.
Credibility is crucial in screenwriting. Actions need to be convincingly motivated and believable.
This is particularly important in the more dramatic genres, but it comes into play, to a degree, in every script.
So how do you make sure the actions of your characters f ..read more
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2y ago
A few years ago my manager submitted a script of mine to Sony. After a weekend of nail-biting anticipation I finally found out that they!!!!!!! -- passed.
The reason, I was told, was that they have a policy of making films offering “wish fulfillment” and this particular script didn’t fit the bill.
It got me thinking about the idea of wish fulfillment in movies, and since then I’ve noticed that audiences have a way of loving films and TV shows that play out certain scenarios. If you include one or more of them in your story, you’ll have a better chance of sel ..read more
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2y ago
We all learn from our missteps. These are the lessons we never forget. But to save you the trouble of making all your own mistakes, here are three of my own fumbles made during meetings with producers and studio execs.
One – Don’t Forget To Read Your Audience
I remember pitching to two young producers at Red Wagon. The two producers were very “mainstream” corporate types – nothing artsy about them. But I decided to pitch an oddball indie project I wanted to do. Neither of the two was taken with the idea, and one of them thought it was ..read more