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“World-building” is the term used for crafting the details of a fantasy world, whatever that might be. It’s the expression of the project’s internal mythology as reflected by the “reality” of the characters inhabiting this world. The most obvious example of world-building is something based on, for example, thoroughly detailed fantasy IP: LORD OF THE RINGS, HARRY POTTER, GAME OF THRONES, and so on. That is: What our mythical countries are, where they reside in the larger fantasy world, who are the main players in this space, if magic exists and how it works, the backstory of how this world...

There are some genres and paradigms that have a realistic chance of getting set up on a spec script, and others that often need an underlying property. That is: adapted from a novel, comic book, remake, etc. Perfect example: Back when I hustled scripts for a living, several execs told me they were looking for a young adult fantasy adventure project; basically, Harry Potter. Lo and behold, I found one, and immediately called them. All of the conversations played along the same lines: “Great, send it over!” But then: “Wait, it’s based on a book, right?” When I said no,...

My wife and I recently went back and watched the Lord of The Rings movies, and on my own I went back and watched The Hobbit(s) once we had finished the original trilogy (remember Hobbit was made after LOTR). It made me hyper aware of the epic scope that all Saga’s embody, and how powerful the world-building in those stories are. Other examples include: The Matrix, The Hunger Games, Game of Thrones, Star Wars, The Godfather, Harry Potter, Narnia, Indiana Jones, and Pirates of the Caribbean… In this article, I want to breakdown what those movies have in common, what...

I run one of the largest writers’ groups in Hollywood, with writers at all different skill levels. Every week the group hears 30 pages of a screenplay acted out by professional actors (like a table read), then the rest of the writers in the group gives notes on the pages. As you can probably imagine, people mostly present the first 30 pages of a feature. At this point I have heard nearly 1000 Act One’s, and in this article, I want to discuss what makes an Act One FLY or DIE. There are multiple things you need to accomplish in...