“This story is a movie. That other story needs to be a novel.” One of my pet peeves is the common assumption among writers that particular types of stories are best suited to a single medium. This assumption belies either a lack of skill or a lack of understanding and…
Tameri
As a playwright, I am accustomed to “directing” the action. One of the attractions of writing for the stage is the primacy of the script, as submitted by the writer to a director. Changes require the approval of the playwright, and well-known playwrights have challenged directors who felt the need…
Part One of “Your Script is a Snitch” explained how your script is snitching on you before the reader opens or scrolls to page one. Now, let’s examine what your script says to readers as they skim the pages of your screen gem. The message might not be the one…
Your script is a snitch. It’s telling readers all about you, and what it is saying might work against you. Some questions that readers evaluating a script will ask themselves can help you prepare and deliver a script with a better chance of being taken seriously. How did the script…
“I have been working on the screenplay for 10 years.” Few screenwriters and playwrights earn a living, and even fewer do so with only one or two produced works. To make writing a career, you must be receiving residuals and royalties from a larger collection of works that are being…
When someone casually states, as if revealing a deep and universal truth, that writing is a (take your pick) business or art form or craft, I shake my head and attempt to move far away from the wise sage and the lecture that is about to begin. What is meant…
“Doesn’t the review bother you?” I was asked following a rather harsh criticism of a musical play that premiered this summer (2014). “It didn’t even explain what the critic disliked very well.” Yes, the review bothered me, and I certainly agreed with my theater colleague that the review could have…
Students, seminar attendees, and visitors to our online writing guide have complained that my insistence on knowing (and adhering to) traditional story structures ignores “real art” in favor of production and publication. “You can break the rules after you master the rules,” I respond. “And then, only break them when…
Beat sheets, outlines, storyboard, and other tools help me organize my thoughts when writing. Too many writers stick with word processors as their sole “digital tools” when many other great applications exist — and “applications” for various applications, too. How can you use a spreadsheet to write? And why might…
As I finished the draft of a short play, a colleague sent me a message asking how many new manuscripts or adaptations I have written in the last twelve months or so. It seems best to list them: Billie’s Girlfriend, written in early 2014 and submitted to Acting Out! Pittsburgh…