I had the opportunity to visit the set of one of my favorite shows on television: the sitcom “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” which shoots on the Fox lot. A group of us observed the shooting of a very funny scene in Paddy’s pub (I wish I could tell you the premise, but I can’t reveal any spoilers), toured the set and interviewed the cast. Read more
Even Spike "the Story Analysis cat" is not entertained by me.
Dan’s 2-Minute Screenwriting School is back in action with an expert panel of top screenwriters including Dustin Lance Black (Milk, Big Love), Josh Olson (A History of Violence), Christopher Markus & Stephen McFeely (Captain America, Chronicles of Narnia) and Diablo Cody (Juno). These professional script doctors discuss the importance of writing multiple projects at once. Read more
It’s back! The 2-Minute Screenwriting School is back in action with this video and I’ve got more in the pipeline.
Dearest Screenwriters: If you find yourself wanting to give a character a supremely obvious name, please heed my “Mike Teavee is the worst character name ever” Rule, which states as follows:
Roald Dahl can name a character who watches too much television, MIKE TEAVEE, which is pretty much the definition of on the nose, because he’s Roald Dahl. You can’t because you’re not.
-Dan Calvisi
p.s. If you would like to receive more life-changing pearls o’ wisdom like the above, then you must redeem your (non-existent) golden ticket for Story Maps: How to Write a GREAT Screenplay.
Dearest screenwriters: If you are thinking of giving two characters very similar names, please heed my “You are not J.R.R. Tolkien” Rule:
J.R.R. Tolkien can name two separate villains SARUMAN and SAURON, which is a horrible idea, only because he’s J.R.R. Tolkien. You can’t because you’re not.
-Dan Calvisi
p.s. If you would like to discover more nuggets of wisdom such as this, then you must enter the realm known only as Story Maps: How to Write a GREAT Screenplay.
Black Swan is a tight, merciless thriller that forges one, driving throughline that is supported by every character and element in the story. In order to become the Black Swan and achieve her dream of ballet perfection, Nina must prove to her director Thomas that she can transform herself on stage, fight off her mother’s attempts to stifle her and defeat her rival Lily, all while suffering from the rapid deterioration of her psyche. She loses the battle for her mind but she achieves her artistic dream, dancing a perfect Black Swan, at the ultimate cost of her life.
Raiders of the Lost Ark is a flawless classic and my favorite film of all time. It is the benchmark of the action/adventure genre and features one of the most iconic heroes in cinema history.
My e-book Story Maps: 12 Great Screenplays includes a Full Story Map for the first Sex and the City movie, which is a great example of a well-written modern Romantic Comedy.
Sex and the City took proven, beloved characters from the television series and wove them into a classic Hollywood Romantic Comedy for the big screen. The first rule of the TV adaptation is “go bigger,” so they gave all of the women life-changing conflicts to navigate.
In an article titled “The Inside Story,” published in Psychology Today back in March, super producer Peter Guber talks about the psychological, emotional and transformative powers of storytelling and how they apply to the movies — WHY we love movies and what gets us engaged.
Stories… are state-of-the-heart technology – they connect us to others. They provide emotional transportation, moving people to take action on your cause because they can very quickly come to psychologically identify with the characters in a narrative or share an experience…
I couldn’t help but find many points in the article where Guber affirms the very same tenets that I put forth in Story Maps: How to Write a GREAT Screenplay. The quotation above, specifically the wonderful phrase “state of the heart,” immediately made me think of a line from my Introduction (excerpt here): Read more
Story Maps: How to Write a GREAT Screenplay E-Book is ready for purchase. Go HERE for excerpts, a sample story map and three options, including a “Booster Pack” with 12 new story maps!
E-Book now available for purchase - Click on image for Limited-Time Offer
For better or worse, Hollywood is always close behind major news stories so it’s no surprise that Deadline.com posted this story only a few hours after President Obama’s stunning announcement of the death of Osama Bin Laden.
Could we see a movie about the hunt for Bin Laden sometime soon, and would it focus on the intelligence effort, the special forces operation, the politics behind U.S.-Pakistani relations or even the ground-level view from the various Middle-Eastern cultures impacted by the Al Qaeda leader? Whatever the focus, I hope that it’s made by top talent and not just a quick knock-off action movie.
This was a very funny discovery.
I bought some old comics from a used book store over Christmas for nostalgia’s sake (and hoping the Wolverine guest appearances might be worth something) and I came across this gem in a John Byrne Namor comic from 1991: Stan Lee announces the upcoming Spider Man movie directed by James Cameron!
Here’s the text, the bolds are mine: Read more
Continuing this Excerpt from Story Maps: How to Write a GREAT Screenplay (Part One here):
I love it when I see a movie or read a script and the writer is willing to “go there,” to take the story to the extremes of the dramatic conflict. Not afraid to shock, offend or make their audience uncomfortable, but to be true to the story and the dramatic elements that they have built.
In The Hangover, the guys tell Phil (Bradley Cooper) not to leave the baby in the car alone and he argues, “I cracked the window!” Awful…but hilarious.
In Million Dollar Baby, Maggie (Hilary Swank) is not just hurt but she is paralyzed from the neck down. Her condition worsens in horrible ways and she asks Frankie (Clint Eastwood) to euthanize her. There is no last-minute save; he must end her life to allow his arc to come to fruition.
In Sideways, Jack (Thomas Hayden Church) has already had one affair and got his nose broken in 3 places, but he still insists on sleeping with the waitress, leading him to get caught by her husband. It gets worse when Jack makes Miles (Paul Giamatti) go back to the house to retrieve his wallet, and Miles gets chased by the naked husband. This represents the ultimate test of Miles’ loyalty to his friend.
Or in Total Recall, when this happens to Arnie…
Now that’s good writing.
Excerpt from Story Maps: How to Write a GREAT Screenplay, coming soon.
Scott Rosenberg is a very successful screenwriter whose produced credits include Armageddon, Beautiful Girls, Things to do in Denver When You’re Dead and Gone in 60 Seconds. I had been a fan of his for years before I met him at the Austin Screenwriters Conference. Read more
Here’s my short, exclusive Q&A with Leslie Dixon, screenwriter of Limitless, The Thomas Crown Affair, Mrs. Doubtfire, Hairspray, Freaky Friday, The Heartbreak Kid and the upcoming Tower Heist. Read more
This exciting new screenwriting book is available now…
Design by Sonia Fiore
This book is the culmination of over twenty years of working with screenplays and screenwriters. Reading, analyzing, evaluating, studying, teaching and coaching. Read more
The script.
I finally read it over the weekend (At the Mountains of Madness screenplay written by Guillermo Del Toro & Matthew Robbins) and I can see why Universal just couldn’t summon the confidence to put it into production with a $150 million pricetag.
There’s no theme. There’s no character development. The plot is repetitive and gets quite boring. The “method of defeat” is a silly construct that’s straight out of Shyamalan’s Signs. We don’t invest emotionally in the protagonist. Read more
There’s a lot of buzz going around about increased spec script sales in 2011. Scott Myers of “Into the Story” has a post today about how 6 scripts have sold in just the past week, putting the pace for sold scripts in 2011 higher than 2008-2010. Myers says… Read more
Here is a compilation of questions I was asked by screenwriters on varying topics a few years back and my advice still holds firm — some helpful screenwriting tips that I’ve learned over the years and I hope this information can help you…
Questions Below (links removed):
hi Dan,
What is the criteria for judging scripts in script contests? If you don’t place in one does that mean odds are you won’t place in another? Is it possible for a good script to not place simply because it wasn’t what they were looking for?
I entered my script into the San Diego Script Competition and found out yesterday I wasn’t even a finalist. I was pretty disappointed and it got me thinking that my script isn’t as good as I thought. I am still waiting to hear from another contest but, I can’t get it out of my head that it is hopeless…
I won’t ever give up and have already begun redrafting, but man did that hurt. Can you offer some insight into to how the whole script contest thing works?
Thank you from a newbie!
J.
As my friends at Inktip prepare the next Inktip Pitch and Networking Summit (July 22-23 at the Marriott Burbank Airport), I came across these amazing pitches from last summer that were entered into a contest sponsored by American Express and the Tribeca Film Festival.
They have both achieved viral fame and it’s easy to see why.
The first is a frightening tale of the apocalypse that plays on a universal human experience…
The second, perhaps more inspired, is “a Greek-like tragedy” in the words of the wunderkind narrator…
With that shown, I encourage you to work on some REAL pitches for upcoming opportunities like the Inktip summit, which is the only “pitchfest” event that I’ve ever worked with and I had a blast. I’ll be telling you more about it in the coming weeks.
Until then, I’ll be here waiting patiently for the day that Gesundheit and Mr. Stache make it to the big screen! And they say no one comes up with great movie ideas any more…
-Dan
