BAFTA Sessions 2019: Screenwriting
On a panel moderated by Hannah Patterson, BAFTA Sessions speaks with screenwriters Deborah Davis (The Favourite), David Rabinowitz & Charlie Wachtel (BlacKkKlansman), and Will Fetters (A Star is Born).
Filtering by Tag: screenwriting
10 Tips On Writing Better Dialogue
Film Courage offers “10 Tips On Writing Better Dialogue.”
NYC Midnight's Short Screenplay Challenge
Today, October 11th is the final deadline to enter NYC Midnight’s Short Screenplay Challenge.
“The Short Screenplay Challenge is a competition that challenges writers around the world to create short screenplays (5 pages max.) based on genre, location, and object assignments. Each writer will participate in at least 2 writing challenges and as many as 4 depending on how well they place in each challenge. When the competition begins, writers are placed in groups where they will be judged against other writers within their same group. Each group receives its own unique genre, location, and object assignments (see past examples here). After 2 challenges, the top 5 writers that score the highest advance to the next challenge. In Challenge #3, writers are placed in new groups and given a new genre, location, and object assignment. The top 5 writers from each of the groups in Challenge #3 advance to the fourth and final challenge of the competition where they are given the final genre, location, and object assignment…”
The first challenge launches on Friday, October 12th with the subsequent challenges starting on November 30th, January 11th, and February 22nd.
Artificial Intelligence Will Not Transform Screenwriting, Not Yet
Yves Berquist, Co-founder and CEO of Corto, and Poppy Crum, Chief Scientist at Dolby Laboratories, weigh in on storytelling in the dawn of artificial intelligence.
Christopher McQuarrie on Writing and Directing Mission: Impossible - Fallout
For Variety’s Playback podcast, Kris Tapley went behind the scenes of Mission: Impossible - Fallout with writer-director Christopher McQuarrie.
“What I do with writing action is I write everything I want you to see in the order that I want you to see it. So my action sequence tend to be long in their description and incredibly boring to read. There’s nothing more boring than reading a car chase. But you write that out because you want to communicate to your crew. It’s not really meant for anybody else to read. It’s a very dry, technical document. The helicopter chase was another instance where the script form of the helicopter chase was an afterthought to figuring out what exactly is the helicopter chase.”
Writing an Empathetic Villain
Lessons from the Screenplay looks at ‘Writing an Empathetic Villain
Dialogue Done Right
ScreenPrism asks 'How do you make dialogue scenes compelling and interesting?' and says Netflix's Mindhunter is an example of dialogue done right.
The Hollywood Reporter's Writers Roundtable
The Hollywood Reporter sat down with Jordan Peele ('Get Out'), Anthony McCarten ('Darkest Hour'), Aaron Sorkin ('Molly's Game'), Fatih Akin ('In the Fade'), Emily V. Gordon ('The Big Sick'), and Darren Aronofsky ('mother!') to discuss screenwriting and more as we head in to the Academy Awards.
Aaron Sorkin is Teaching a Screenwriting Class
Aaron Sorkin is teaching for Masterclass:
"Learn how to write incredible screenplays from Aaron Sorkin in the most comprehensive screenwriting course he’s ever taught. In addition to both improving your storytelling skills and outlining what it takes to write incredible scripts, Aaron invites you into his writer’s room for an eight-part screenwriting case study where he and his team will script, rewrite, and break down a new Season 5 premiere of The West Wing.
Diving deep into screenwriting fundamentals, Aaron offers detailed lessons on narrative structure, character development, generating new ideas, and his signature style of dialogue. Aaron knows that great screenwriting requires intention and obstacle. He dedicates several lessons to explaining how to create conflict, raise dramatic stakes, and keep audiences watching. Designed to offer useful lessons to seasoned and emerging screenwriters, Aaron’s class can be enjoyed by writers of all skill levels."
Sorkin's class will cover how to:
- Create intention and obstacle
- Develop unforgettable characters
- Hook audiences from the opening scene
- Write compelling dialogue
- Add momentum to your scenes
- Apply and subvert the rules of drama
- Research and gather material
- Establish consistent writing habits
- Overcome writer’s block
- Pitch screenplays
Learn more or sign up on Masterclass.com.
And The 2016 Oscar Nominees Are...
Just announced this morning by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, these are the writing nominees for the 2016 Academy Awards:
WRITING - ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Bridge of Spies - written by Matt Charman and Ethan Coen & Joel Coen
Ex Machina - written by Alex Garland
Inside Out - screenplay by Pete Docter, Meg Lefauve, and Josh Cooley, from a story Pete Docter and Ronnie del Carmen
Spotlight - written by Josh Singer and Tom McKay
Straight Outta Compton - Jonathan Herman and Andrea Berloff, from a story by S. Leigh Savage & Alan Wenkus and Andrea Berloff
WRITING - ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
The Big Short
Brooklyn - screenplay by Nick Hornby
Carol - screenplay by Phyllis Nagy
The Martian - screenplay by Drew Goddard
Room - screenplay by Emma Donoghue
Deadline: Spotlight Screenplay Competition Closes On October 31st
If you've got something ready to go, and you want a shot at the $5,000 Grand Prize in the Writers Store's Spotlight Screenplay Competition, submit it now because the extended deadline is tomorrow, October 31st.
The full Grand Prize package includes a $5,000 Cash Prize, meetings with industry professional, a Screenplay Pitch Clinic with ScriptXpert Story Coach, exposure to over 200 industry professionals, featured announcement in Script Magazine, and a special Invitation into the ISA Development Program.
Enter here: Spotlight Screenplay Competition
The Science of the Movie Screenplay
Looking for the formula for writing the perfect screenplay? This infographic from Cartridge Discount might help.
