Screenwriting

Of all the species on Earth, humans have a unique ability when it comes to communication. We have the gift of stringing together words and phrases into complex ideas that eventually become stories. And we’ve used stories throughout our history as a way to educate, inspire, entertain, and yes, even save lives. The problem, as I see it, is that society can easily undermine the importance of stories and those whose chosen profession is to create them. If you’re willing to join me on a journey of st...

Dialogue is the central focus of most screenplays. It’s perhaps the clearest tool filmmakers have to convey information on plot and character to audiences, and unless you’re David Lynch of Shane Carruth, chances are you’re going to use a lot of it. In spite of this—or maybe even because of this—there is a great deal of bad dialogue in movies. Dialogue filled with clunky exposition and drastic tonal shifts that sounds nothing like a real human conversation. If you’re going for that effect, you...

Good morning Stage 32 Creative Crew! I hope you’ve had a productive and creative weekend. And I like me, I am sure you are ready to tackle this week and knock out some of your goals. We’re officially in the Summer of 2020 now, and while the year has not gone according to anyone’s plan, there is still a lot of great news for our community. Some of the best news comes directly from our members who shattered records in June. Listen to this, in the month of June, there were over 70 meeting reques...

Happy Wednesday Stage 32 Community! Last week, our fearless leader Richard "RB" Botto hosted one of his signature "Ask Me Anything" webinars focusing on the "new normal" that is the entertainment industry during COVID-19. We were beyond jazzed to virtually host thousands of Stage 32 members tuning in from every corner of the world, culminating in an invigorating two hours of inspirational and no-bs shop talk from RB.   In this Ask Me Anything, RB answered questions from Stage 32 members, bot...

Good morning Stage 32 Creative Crew! I hope you had a great weekend and were able to hit your screenwriting or creative goals. It has been a busy month at Stage 32 and I wanted to take this opportunity to congratulate our members who have been seeing the results of their dedication pay off. As you know, we’re about halfway through the year, and to date there have been over 275 meetings requested by executives after connecting with screenwriters through Stage 32! But even more than that, more...

Stage 32 hosts online forums, called Lounges to encourage like-minded professionals to communicate and collaborate. As I've become more familiar with these lounges as the new Stage32 Community Manager, the more I liken them to V.I.P. Filmmakers' Lounges hosted at film festivals. These are the exclusive rooms where creators can step away from the pomp and press to find other professionals… and a stiff drink. These are the "networking opportunities" that so many in the industry scramble to attain....

Human beings are animals that tell stories. And like so many other things that come naturally to us -- running, for instance -- we can improve on our natural ability through the development of proper technique. Writing is both an art and a craft, so study and practice are the keys to mastery. And so, like Po in Kung Fu Panda or Luke Skywalker in The Empire Strikes Back, we are each on a quest to find the Master who will teach us how to become the writers we were born to be. Is it John Truby? I...

A few years ago, I joined Stage 32 as a member and I found it to be most suited to my experience in the film industry, with very informative content and great networking facilities. I must say though, I am one of those cynical kinda members, probably from a lifetime of being an independent minded individual who thinks, if you want something done, do it yourself. As I continued to write, I realised how relatively easy it was to adapt a novel into a basic screenplay. At the same time I was fol...

Happy Sunday Creative Army! How has your week been? Here's hoping you have had some time to get creative this week. I've got a nice lineup of content today that will give you a creative jolt to complement your Sunday morning dark roast.  First up, Director David F. Sandberg (aka "ponysmasher" on YouTube) has compiled a couple of lessons he has learned from filmmaking over the years. David uses examples from his own filmography including Shazam!, Annabelle: Creation, and Lights Out. David tal...

Connie Brean (Robert De Niro): Stanley, don't do this. You're playing with your life here. Stanley Motss (Dustin Hoffman): F*** my life. I want the credit. (David Mamet’s Wag the Dog) A Game Worth Getting Into Let’s face it. Given a choice, most Creatives want to make their own art rather than spend valuable hours helping others perfect theirs. I’m always on some level aware that every minute I spend doing the things I talk about in this article I am not spending on my own stuff. But I al...