Welcome to Create Your Screenplay

William Martell. Martell does his usual probing analysis of the film "Die Hard," along with the most entertaining history of how the movie got to be made. Real insight into the clockworks of the Hollywood movie machine, but the best part is Martell's analysis of what makes an action movie tick.

Adaptations
Adaptive Behavior

Terry Rossio. Witty and insightful column on doing adaptations. Also threads in a riff about getting your script in on time. Or not.

Agents
Getting An Agent

Daniel Petrie Jr. Guest Wordplay (Terry Rossio) column. Delightfully entertaining and informative article on the subject. Gives verbatim responses from Agents who appeared at a Hollywood symposium. Extremely worthwhile, honest advice.

What You Always Wanted to Know About an Agent but were Afraid to Ask.

Wendy Moon. From a column on Hollywoodnet. The hard facts about breaking into the Castle of Hollywood. Also a cornucopia of other articles on this page. Good visit. Recommended

Animation
Animated Features

Terry Rossio. Whimsical Multiple choice self-test, which sugar coats good hard facts about the animated feature business in Jollywood.

Audience
The Audience is Listening.

Terry Rossio. Highly readable column by the always entertaining Terry Rossio. He details one of the most important, and often overlooked principles of screenplay writing--the writer's sense of his or her audience, how to understand, please, excite, and not offend or patronize people who lay down their bucks at the box-office.

Basic Structure
Anatomy of a Screenplay

David Siegel. Siegel boils the art of the screenplay down to "Premise, People, and Plot." He has a website on which he promotes his paradigm of the "Nine-Act Structure." Enthusiastic and genuine, but the concepts still tend to feel like a retread of Syd Field. Siegel's website, for its design and energy, is a recommended stop on your tour of the Web.

What a Plot Is

Bill Johnson (Lawrence Booth, Ed.). Solid, accessible attempt to define the essential nature of a story. Of particular interest is Johnson's take on what an audience desires of a story. A Must-Read.

Deemer's Idea of Structure

Charles Deemer. Short article on laying out basic structure of a story idea by the well-nown internet Guru. Deemer's website, although heavily commercial, is well worth a visit.

Perceiving the Foundations of Storytelling

Bill Johnson. Seven page essay detailing 15 principles Johnson suggests are necessary for a screenwriter to understand.

The Task

Terry Rossio. " Task" is a four-letter word you OUGHT to use, according Rossio. He's right, and he deftly distinguishes (with examples) the differences between Hero's oal and Hero's Task.

Screenwriting Vs. Playwriting

Richard Toscan. Potpourri of articles from this unique site. Toscan is allied with Amazon books. The site is a maze, and if you want to get the full benefit, you have to visit it.

Becoming a Screenwriter
You Don't Have to Live in Hollywood to Sell Your First Script

Andrea Leigh Wolf. Wolf should know. She did it. And she's on her 34th screenplay as of this writing.

Memo From the Trenches

Frank Darabont (Shawshank Redemption). Essay on the essence of being a screenwriter and director. This is what Oz is like, Dorothy.

Throw In The Towel

Terry Rossio. Rossio tells it like it is, but you feel good at the end, like you do after a two hour session with your Rolf specialist, after a 12K, after a day at the beach with your three preschoolers and their six little friends, or after diving into Lake Muskoka in April. Yeah!

Beginnings
Five Types of Openings

Michael Hauge. Concise column from Hauge's site which describes, in summary form, five types of openings for features.

The First Ten Pages

New York Screenwriters Monthly. A cautionary tale for beginning writers, and other denizens of the movie world.

The Biz Lost Angels

Fade In Magazine. "The burdens of success can burn out even the brightest young stars." Having it tough in Tinseltown.

Career Information
3 Steps to a Feature Film Sale

Terry Rossio. Rossio writes a letter to his friend Steve, and shares it with us. Down-to-earth, practical, and as usual laced with

Rossio's engaging ironic wit.
I Love L.A.

Terry Rossio. Do you have to move to L.A. to be successful? An anecdotal feast on the topic with just the right soupçon of wisdom.

Character

Name-Dropping

Terry Rossio. The best article on the net about naming characters. Must read.
A Great Villain With a Great Plan

William Martell (Hard Evidence) as interviewed by Eric Lilleor. The good gritty from Martell on to create powerful believable bad guys. Specific examples. Practical tips.

Impressive Failure

Terry Rossio. How heroes and failure work ogether in stories. Appealing anecdote about Superman.

Classical References
Aristotle's Poetics

Aristotle, 350 BC. The famous Greek's codifying of the art of storytelling. Academic in its tone, but brimming with clarity and careful thought about fundamental principles that still have application today. Quote by one screenwriter, "There are three types of people in the world, those who take Aristotle too seriously, those who don't take him seriously enough, and those who don't take him at all." Find out which type you are.

So What Is The Good For Plato?

Bernard Suzanne. Excerpt from an online site on Plato. Somewhat dense for those of us who are not philosophers, but offers insight into the eternal question of what virtue is and why a human being should strive for it.

Joseph Campbell Tribute Page

David Siegel. Thumbnail of an interview with the great mythologist conducted by Bill Moyer. Score: Campbell 10, Moyer 0.

Joseph Campbell: Hero With a Thousand Faces

David Siegel. Short summary of Campbell's thesis on the commonality of heroes. For those who prefer to discover what Campbell is all about in the time it takes to sip a cappuccino.

Copyright
Steal This Column

Terry Rossio. When your paranoiac alter ego akes possession of you and you're plagued by fears that someone may "steal your script," here's the remedy--for both the real and unreal fears. Practical advice about how to protect your work, and an entertaining real life story that underscores the human frailties that cause some people to fail at trying to write. Get your sense of balance here.

Title Search

Terry Rossio. Copyright information re screenplay titles, plus mini lesson on the importance of care in naming your script.

CREATE YOUR SCREENPLAY
With Barry Pearson

Pearson's Index First Pagee

Create Your Screenplay
site updated
December 14th, 2008

Send me an e-mail to get one of my
free mini-books

How To Write Better Screenplay Dialogue
Summary, Outline, Treatment

OR email.us.atcreateyourscreenplay at rogers dot com

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CREATE YOUR SCREENPLAY With Barry Pearson

Pearson's Index First Pagee

Create Your Screenplay site updated December 14th, 2008

Send me an e-mail to get one of my free mini-books

How To Write Better Screenplay Dialogue Summary, Outline, Treatment