3 practical ways Fury Road binds characters together
When helping to build Mad Max: Fury Road‘s character arcs for Max and Furiosa, dramaturge Nico Lathouris saw how three chases could bind the characters together: “The first chase brings the Road Warrior [Max] and the Praetorian [Furiosa] together, the second chase manacles them together in mutual obligation, and the third chase bonds their hearts […]
Galaxy Quest travels to the stars
In the film Galaxy Quest, Jason Nesmith and the rest of the cast of the Star Trek-like series Galaxy Quest are forced to travel into space for real. An alien race called the Thermians mistake broadcasts of the show for “historical documents” about the crew of the NSEA Protector. So when the warlord Sarris threatens the […]
Writing zombies who don’t crave brains
The Simpsons episode “Marge vs. the Monorail” doesn’t feature any flesh-eating ghouls. But it does offer examples for writing zombies of another kind: people stuck in a mob mentality. When local billionaire C. Montgomery Burns pays a $3 million fine for burying nuclear waste around Springfield, a town meeting decides what to do with the money. […]
“Right here, you are going to witness an absolute spectacle.”
If spoilers make you want to nope on out of here… That’s fine. You should see Nope before you read this. We need to talk about what happens in the story to take a closer look at how it works, and how it might give you some ideas for stories that you’re working on. How […]
“Welcome to the party, pal!”
For the first half of Die Hard, John McClane is completely on his own against Hans Gruber and his men. Learn how the script keeps forcing him to work harder to get help!
Endings are the new beginnings
Endings are the new beginnings by Chris Csont This post contains spoilers. Don’t let that scare you off. You’ve likely seen all these movies, but even if you haven’t, knowing how a movie ends shouldn’t detract from the pleasure of watching a movie. Think about it: how many people skip out on Star Wars because […]
Writer Emergency Pack featured in Writer’s Digest
Writer Emergency Pack featured in Writer’s Digest We’re thrilled that Writer’s Digest featured Writer Emergency Pack in this month’s “Top Shelf” section. Look for us in the March/April issue on newsstands now!
Writer Emergency Pack: Looking back and looking forward
Writer Emergency Pack: Looking back and looking forward One year ago today, I held my first Writer Emergency Pack. It was a test deck, full of typos and formatting errors, but it felt like something worth pursuing. I showed the prototype to screenwriter friends, soliciting their feedback. I took several decks to the Austin Film […]