Screenwriting Tips

checklist, FARGO, GOOD WILL HUNTING, JUNO, LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE, SPOTLIGHT, THE CRYING GAME, THE USUAL SUSPECTS, Unorthodox - August 26, 2020

The Unorthodox Great Screenplay Checklist

Studying screenplays is a worthy practice, but can sometimes lead to cookie-cutter scripts, without the spark of originality that defines truly great films - with that in mind, here’s the ScriptArsenal “Unorthodox Great Screenplay Checklist”. Does your screenplay fit the bill? To compile this list, ScriptArsenal found commonalities in eight of the greatest screenplays of all time (all won Best Original Screenplay at the Oscars), FARGO, LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE, JUNO, WITNESS, GOOD WILL HUNTING, SPOTLIGHT, THE USUAL SUSPECTS, and THE CRYING GAME. The protagonist is dead wrong about the most important thing in their own lives. In GOOD WILL HUNTING,...

Confessions of a Screenwriting Contest Reader

At ScriptArsenal, some of our analysts also read for prominent screenwriting contests. After reading dozens of scripts for a prominent contest (and hundreds for previous contests), here are some things to avoid for screenwriters looking to advance in screenwriting contests. Crazy opening sequence plus “Five days/two weeks/seven years/etc. earlier.” This is a cliché that is incredibly popular. It shows up (anecdotally) once in every four or five screenplays. That’s an unbelievably high rate. The story starts at some moment of high tension, typically one from later in the screenplay, and then jumps back to “Two weeks earlier” or some other...

Great Monologues Get Great Actors

A great monologue can still net a great actor. Monologues can feel dicey to write. A weak monologue is a pace-killer for a screenplay. But a stellar monologue can be catnip to a great actor. And securing a major star can be the difference between a film getting made and not getting made. Here are some examples of great monologues in film history. Can you spot the common factor? BULL DURHAM “Well, I believe in the soul. The cock. The pussy. The small of a woman’s back. The hanging curveball. High fiber. Good scotch. That the novels of Susan Sontag...

Decoding "Writing For The Market"

The term “writing for the market” can be a confusing. Advice on this ranges from complete avoidance to slavish devotion. The most effective strategy to write for the market lands somewhere in the middle. Should writers chase trends? No. Vampire movies were a trend, zombie movies were a trend, and trends come and go. Writers should write material they feel passionately about, period. But, within that, there are some smart ways to adjust your material so it fits into one defined market. At ScriptArsenal, we often come across scripts that straddle two markets in an incompatible fashion. For example, a...

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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Screenwriting Tips RSS

The Unorthodox Great Screenplay Checklist

Confessions of a Screenwriting Contest Reader

Great Monologues Get Great Actors

Decoding "Writing For The Market"

Writing Commercial Screenplays With Passion

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