Screenwriting Tips

elevated story telling, GET OUT, How to Elevate Your Writing, JUNO, LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE, specifics - November 06, 2019

How to Elevate Your Writing: Specifics

Specifics are the stuff of great screenplays. Quick, what are three of the best screenplays of the last twenty years? Plenty of screenwriters might mention GET OUT, JUNO, and LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE. Not coincidentally, all three won the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay. All three have also been heavily influential on spec screenplays, often imitated in the spec market. But what specifics make these screenplays stand out? In GET OUT, the white family that welcomes in their white daughter’s black boyfriend is seemingly progressive. Bradley Whitford’s character confides to his daughter’s black boyfriend that he would have voted for Obama...

The Producer’s Guide to Saying No: Why Producers Pass On A Script

Why do producers pass on screenplays? There is no magic or absolute answer to that question, but there are plenty of practical guidelines to be gleaned from producers. Here at ScriptArsenal, we know a good deal of producers, and have learned a thing or two about why they might pass on a piece of material. Improper presentation. If your script does not adhere to basics of formatting and presentation, chances are any legitimate producer will toss the script on page 1. Because any legitimate producer has much more pressing demands on their time than reading an amateurish script. With the...

The Producer’s Guide to Saying Yes: Why A Producer Will Make Your Film

The most important thing any writer should know is how to get a producer to fall in love with their script. There is no magic or absolute answer to that question, but there are plenty of practical guidelines to be gleaned from producers. Here at ScriptArsenal, we know a good deal of producers, and have learned a thing or two about what it takes for them to commit to a screenplay. Give them a reason to give a damn. This is the most important guideline. Producing movies is a huge pain in the neck. It takes a long time. By...

One Great Scene: GLENGARRY GLEN ROSS

In this series of articles, we’re going to do a deep-dive on one knockout scene from a great movie. Today’s movie is GLENGARRY GLENN ROSS. The scene is when Al Pacino delivers a monologue to Jonathan Pryce, the context being that Pacino’s character is trying to close a sale. Here’s a link to the scene as a refresher (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qa9dttNx1S8). Pacino is trying to sell a real estate deal, yet says nothing about it, nor is what he is saying directly tied to the sale itself in any way. It’s a masterclass in dialogue from David Mamet. The monologue begins with...

Our Favorite Screenwriters: Gillian Flynn

Gillian Flynn has quietly become one of the top screenwriters working today. Formerly a television critic for Entertainment Weekly, Flynn burst onto the scene when she adapted her own novel GONE GIRL for director David Fincher. All three of her novels have been adapted to film/TV. Flynn wrote GONE GIRL (both the novel and film), WIDOWS and wrote on the series SHARP OBJECTS (also based on her novel). She’s currently filming UTOPIA, a series she created, for Amazon. And it might not have happened had Flynn not been laid off by Entertainment Weekly in 2008. At the same time, that...

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Screenwriting Tips RSS

How to Elevate Your Writing: Specifics

The Producer’s Guide to Saying No: Why Producers Pass On A Script

The Producer’s Guide to Saying Yes: Why A Producer Will Make Your Film

One Great Scene: GLENGARRY GLEN ROSS

Our Favorite Screenwriters: Gillian Flynn

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