Actually, joking aside, Sony's approach seems to be built around relationships with the stars rather than the directors. If you want a deep dive into the subject, I recommend Ben Fritz's The Big Picture, which draws on interviews and the big Sony email hack for source material.
Arad tried but it was really David Maisel who got the banks to fund the movies. Highly recommend this book, it has two great chapters on the beginnings of Marvel and the Spiderman Homecoming story.
There's lots of good making of info in this book. From what I recall he claims not to have been influenced by the Bakshi movie, but there are a lot of shot for shot similarities there.
I took a class on rewrites at UCLAE and we used the book Screenwriting is Rewriting: The Art and Craft of Professional Revision by Jack Epps, Jr.
The book changed the way I write entirely.
Basically, I go through my draft in Passes: Dialogue, Character, Scenes, etc. I break down the notes that I got into fixable bits. "I received this note about this character's dialogue" So, during the Dialogue Pass I address that dialogue all at once.
By breaking the rewrite into Passes and therefore smaller pieces, it gets easier to address issues one at a time rather than all at once.
Bored at work so I bought the kindle edition off Amazon and read in the online reader. Has a really interesting forward that has Jonah Nolan interviewing Chris about the movie and certain decisions he made.
There are certain things like it ends on the burning spitfire instead of on the train, but one thing that is bothering me since I watched the movie is not ever seeing a shot of the trawler actually going out into the water. The script makes mention of the Commander seeing the trawler in shallow waters taking fire, but I can't for the life of me remember seeing it leave the beach. I know we saw it floating from the sky and when they're finally escaping, but never an exterior of the tide picking it up and it floating out.
That is absolutely going to happen. The depth and nuance on this show. Soon, it’ll be listed here for great minds to ponder:
https://www.amazon.com/Popular-Culture-and-Philosophy-125-book-series/dp/B0897GS1YK
There's a book that the hosts on Buffering the Vampire Slayer have referenced a few times that might be interesting if you haven't read it already. Amazon link here
In the video essay The Dark Knight - Creating the Ultimate Antagonist, LftSP includes a quote from Story by Robert McKee that I thought was well placed:
>True character is revealed in the choices a human being makes under pressure - the deeper the pressure, the deeper the revelation, the truer the choice to the character's essential nature... A protagonist and their story can only be as intellectually fascinating and emotionally compelling as the forces of antagonism force them to become...
>
>As such, if we define an antagonist, they are a character who is uniquely, exceptionally good at attacking your hero's greatest weakness, pressing their buttons, forcing them to make difficult decisions that reveal who is *actually* hiding underneath the shining armor.
So, anyhow, I think you're looking at this backwards.
It's not necessarily about the villain getting their comeuppance. Maybe that's part of it, but I think its more about seeing the protagonist (whom we're emotionally invested in) come out on top after being kicked so many times.
He was unreliable, didn’t bond with the rest of the cast, and generally gave the impression that he didn’t want to be there. Source? Anything You Can Imagine: Peter Jackson and the Making of Middle Earth
> 6.The best friend is more interesting than the main character. > --- > > > Is the reader saying you should change the screenplay and make it about the best friend? No, what the reader is saying is the best friend is more interesting because the best friend probably has faults and flaws. Often, we tend to hold our main character too dear and not dirty them up enough. As a result, the main character is the least interesting character in the screenplay. This is a common problem with many aspiring screenwriters’ scripts. > > * •This note does not mean you should make the best friend less interesting. You have a good character that is working, so now you need to bring up the main character’s vitality by adding relatable flaws. To address this note, your main character needs to be struggling with an internal emotional issue. > > * •In addition to adding dimension to the main character, work on your main character’s major relationships. Relationships help dramatize the main character’s problems. The main character must have multiple relationships that pressure them. Is there a love interest you can use to show another side of the main character? How can you use the relationships to explore another aspect of the main character’s emotional life?
Screenwriting is Rewriting: The Art and Craft of Professional Revision 1st Edition by Jack Epps Jr
Screenwriting is Rewriting: The Art and Craft of Professional Revision 1st Edition by Jack Epps Jr
doubling what /u/ace_jace said.
> you said a good story is full of twist
No I said a turn, which I'm pretty sure I got out of this very well-known screenwriting book:
Story: Style, Structure, Substance, and the Principles of Screenwriting
It definitely does not mean hook, twist, or cliffhanger.
If you are a newbie and a fan of stuff, there's a series called "Pop Culture and Philosophy" that starts with some pretty famous properties and discusses some ideas related to those.
Screenwriting is Rewriting: The Art and Craft of Professional Revision 1st Edition by Jack Epps Jr
Really invaluable read. And the method of a produced screenwriter.
in the book Writing a great movie the author creates a story from scratch using the techniques in the book.
also check out the book The Dramatic Writer's Companion to flesh out a premise if you're stuck.
I liked Marties book but the one that helped me most with writing is this: eight characters of comedy
The book is aimed at actors and writers but as a writer, just understanding how to write a classic neurotic or other characters really helps you figure out the building blocks of sit coms. As everything it’s springboard for your own stuff and twists but if you’re just struggling to get something workable and funny together like I was, check it out.
Even if the money is there, there still needs to be distribution, marketing.
The studio system will still be the majority of media we know about in a decade where TV and Films are concerned.
I highly recommend everyone read The Big Picture: The Fight for the Future of Movies by Ben Fritz
Streaming is just consolidating what the studios already started.
I have not read this book.
But the class will read the book and discuss it, no?
A college class is a dialogue between the lectures, the text, the teacher and you.
I've never taken an Intro to Screenwriting college course, but it may want you to finish the semester with a screenplay for a Short Film.
I'd find this book would be a useful resource for people who are knew to writing scripts, as an Intro to Screenplay course suggests.
One of the best books on Screenwriting I've ever read only has 47 Reviews on Amazon.
Number of reviews isn't useful, as it lends bias to older books and not better books.
Thanks I got it from Jack Epps Jr (Top Gun, Sister Act) and his book Screenwriting is Rewriting: The Art and Craft of Professional Revision 1st Edition
It's the best book I've read on screenwriting so far.
Definitely put together some comedy scenes, but make sure you understand comedic structure first so you can really make them pop. A good book for that is The Eight Characters of Comedy by Scott Sedita.
You should jump right into the "inciting incident" (the event that propels the protagonist(s) on their journey) as soon as you have properly setup the stakes. If the incident is something most people will get, a loved one killed themselves for example, it doesn't take much for the reader to understand that this would be hard. You can start there and develop the character more thoroughly afterwards. If instead it is something like the character got a new job, you will probably want to setup more context around why this is a particularly important event.
For more info, I recommend reading Robert McKee's book Story. It is focused on screenwriting but is generally applicable to all story creation.
I haven't read all of the responses but wanted to respond before logging off because I'm liable to forget. First of all, kudos for taking up writing for the sake of writing. That's music to my heart. A good place to start IMO is Story by Robert McKee. Story: Style, Structure, Substance, and the Principles of Screenwriting https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B0042FZVOY/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_UNKxAbMB01STH
It's honestly pretty shallow but that's its beauty: it gives the general frameworks for different types of stories and you fill in the rest with your content/ideas.
It's very much geared to screenwriting, but as a prose writer I still found it helpful to give the analytical portions of my brain something to chew on, while I went about my short stories.
Besides that, write, don't hold back, don't judge yourself and enjoy the struggle.
This is the kind of stuff that bugs me. Campbell did a lot of research before he wrote The Hero's Journey. Robert McKee also did a lot of research before writing "STORY". There are so many people today who think they just read something and watch a dozen movies and "break the code" but they're just finding commonalities. Then I hear people say that McKee and Campbell are just "pointing out the obvious" because so many people have referenced them in their own half-assed attempts as sounding smart.
This is a great book about the storytelling skills, what they are, what's important, and how do you develop it.
My advice would be to come up with a basic premise for the book and then jot down a few ideas for characters and scenes.
I'd then read up on three act structure (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three-act_structure) and use this plot out three acts. Once you have the acts you can plot out the scenes in each act. Make each scene a new chapter. It is then just a matter of writing each chapter.
I'd suggest this book would help: http://www.amazon.com/Story-Structure-Substance-Principles-Screenwriting-ebook/dp/B0042FZVOY
She wouldn't be the first 13 year old I've seen on /r/WritingPrompts. A lot of the active subscribers are apparently 15 years old. I don't blame you for not wanting to recommend it to her though, there's too many creeps on reddit.
Though the subreddit's founder did put out a book with 1000 writing prompts.