So the TSA board is busy trying to expand Script-com events for next year.  What would you like to see, hear or participate in?

How about a three page challenge competition? Maybe some breakout sessions for roundtables or team logline competitions?

Would you like a dine in box lunch option?

Let us know what you would like to see at our next Script-com.

In the mean time, check out one of the many daily links posted to the TSA Facebook Group page everyday.

Five screenwriting lessons from Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

5 Screenwriting lessons from Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

Guy1: What’s the threat to the protagonist?

Guy2: We don’t need a specific threat. It’s never addressed.

Guy1: Is there a threat to the protagonist?

Guy2: There’s a threat to all of them [the characters].

Guy1: What is it?

Guy2: It’s not important. We don’t need to define that. The audience doesn’t care.

Unlike the above conversation, the stakes for the protagonist do need to be high. If he fails or succeeds the result needs to be huge. And that needs to be well defined for the audience to give the audience one of the most compelling reasons to CARE about your protagonist.

Plot Point 1 and Plot Point 2 are opt-out decisions.

The other 5 Decisions demonstrate a character arc.

There may be more Opt-out Decisions throughout your screenplay but want to try for at least those 7.

The 7 Decisions MAY be the Plot Point 1, Plot Point 2 or Midpoint decisions but don’t have to be.

Usually Plot Point 1 is a reflection of the protagonist’s decision to undertake the challenge of Act 2.

Question: Does the protagonist’s need & want exist before the movie even begins?

Answer: Yes.

Ask yourself this: what do my characters want? Not just your main character, which is a huge ginormous duh. You know, the other guys running around in your world.

Recently I watched a very funny BBC sitcom called ‘Whites’ which features a dysfunctional kitchen crew in a high-end eatery. In this show, every character has wants:

• Roland wants Caroline
• Bibs wants a baby
• Skoose wants Bib’s job
• Kiki wants Skoose
• Caroline want slacker Roland to work harder and be more open-minded with his menu
• Celia want Roland

Some of these are big wants, some are small wants. But they all want something.  It’s a great way to add definition to your characters: give them some wants.

1000 other screenwriting contest are out there. We’re primarily an educational organization and thus, our contest is created in such of way to provide education to empower you, the writer, to become better.

We also offer opportunities for our winning writers to develop relationships with people already working in the business where they can learn, grow and further develop their career.

Excelling within our contest can be utilized to help lend credibility to a writer’s skills as well as adding a nice shout out on their query letter.

So get onto the Contest Page to start your submission!!!

If you are into foreign films, you may want to consider the following–

Therese Raquin (1953)–This black and white French film-noir centers on a dispirited housewife who brazenly begins an affair with a brawny trick driver.

Take My Eyes (2005)–In this Spanish drama, a battered wife flees her violent husband and struggles to start a new life as he desperately tries to win her back.

Story of a Love Affair (1950)–Consumed by the thought that his young wife is cheating on him, Enrico hires a detective to tail her in this quirky Italian thriller about jealousy, passion and betrayal.

All of these are available on Netflix streaming.

A good logline is a tough construct; On the surface it appears quite lucid, written in an elequent prose that’s easy on the eyes. Ostensibly a child could have written it, right?  To the contrary.  The logline is a beastly rap that needs taming.  In one line (maybe two), it is the soul of the tale:

genre, protagonist, goal, conflict

IE: War Movie – In WW2, a U.S. Army Captain must lead a squad on a mission through the Normandy invasion to locate one lone solider and bring him out of harm’s way. – Saving Private Ryan

All there before the period. And a great logline goes one step further: it compels. It is an enchanting siren in an ocean of sub-par one-liners, enticing the reader to Read me! Watch me!  There are some that can’t resist it’s call.  Instead of writing ninety or so pages, try boiling your tale down to one sentence.  Easier said than done.