

WHAT IS A SCREENWRITER'S VOICE AND HOW DO YOU FIND YOURS?
(SPOILERS: Get Out, The Big Sick) If you ask producers and development executives what they’re looking for in new writers, among the top...


THE TEN BEST WRITTEN MOVIES OF 2017
It’s time for my list of the ten best-written movies of last year! Keep in mind, this is a list of the best written movies, not...


GET OUT ANALYSIS: PART THREE
INTEGRATION OF THEME Spoilers: Get Out (of course!) After considerable delay (sorry), I’m going to conclude my three-part analysis of Get...


GET OUT ANALYSIS: PART TWO
(SPOILERS: Get Out – of course!) This week I continue my analysis of writing techniques in the horror movie Get Out (written by Jordan...


GET OUT ANALYSIS: PART ONE
Building and Maintaining Psychological Horror (SPOILERS: Get Out – of course!) In the spirit of Halloween, I’m going to do several...


ON THE BEGINNINGS OF SCENES
Screenplays are a very formal type of writing with a highly specific format and rules. This is because they are not just a way to tell a...


THE THREE IMPORTANT QUESTIONS YOUR STORY SHOULD ANSWER
(Spoilers: Gravity, Little Miss Sunshine) In my book, The Three Stages of Screenwriting, I describe what I refer to as the “Dramatic...


SINISTER: STORY ANALYSIS
Horror has pretty much always been my favourite genre. Like a lot of people of my generation, I saw a lot of movies years before I was...


BLAKE SNYDER'S BEAT SHEET
Opening Image – A visual that represents the struggle & tone of the story. A snapshot of the main character’s problem, before the...