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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,...

Writing Commercial Screenplays With Passion

Writing commercially viable screenplays does not have to mean sacrificing your passion for their stories. Something we encounter repeatedly at ScriptArsenal are scripts that are inherently difficult to finance, making them a more challenging project, within the field of screenwriting where every project is already incredibly challenging. To break that down a bit, today we’re going to walk through a hypothetical example of a non-commercial script, and how the author could tell the same essential story within a more commercial genre frame. Let’s say your passion is period pieces. You love period pieces. Therefore, you’ve written a lavish, expensive, period...

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