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A-story, action, antagonist, efficient storytelling, MAD MAX, narrative construction, protagonist, THE ROAD WARRIOR - April 20, 2022

EFFICIENT STORYTELLING

I recently had the pleasure of seeing The Road Warrior (aka Mad Max 2) on the big screen for the first time. This film is wonderful for a variety of reason, not least of which is it’s a set-up that’s so high concept it established its own sub-genre. The other thing that stands out is the ruthless efficiency of its storytelling. We open with a voiceover telling us about the world. This is essentially a car chase movie, so we cut to a car chase in media res; we’re immediately delivering the goods. At the end of the chase, Max...

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action, comedy, genre, horror, subgenres, thriller - November 03, 2021

Thoughts on Genre

First as a development executive, and then as a manager, it was my job to find, develop, and shop screenplays. In the course of those experiences, it swiftly became apparent that the scripts that had the easiest time getting traction were those that were driven by a big, clear genre, and were just as clearly working to deliver the goods of that genre. Simply put, a comedy should be funny, a horror project should be scary, a thriller thrilling, an action script needs action, and so on. For example, if a script is intended to be shopped as a comedy,...

Combining Genres

In this article, I want to talk about genre. I believe it’s commonly overlooked by new writers and often leads to scripts that aren’t commercially viable, and even if they have a strong concept or story, they aren’t executed in a way that makes it easy to sell, or even digest as a reader. Moreover, new writers tend to write scripts that combine genres in a way that makes their story miss both. Combing genres is VERY HARD TO DO, but we will also look at examples of how they are done well. To start, does your script easily fit...

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