Screenwriting Tips... You Hack

Screenwriting Tip #106

It’s not enough to just have bad shit happen to your protagonist if they’re capable of...

Oct 1st

Screenwriting Tip #105

If Family Guy has taught us anything, it’s that a pop culture reference is not necessarily the...

Sep 30th

Screenwriting Tip #104

If you’re going to steal… make sure to steal from the best.

Sep 29th

Screenwriting Tip #103

You are not the first person on the planet to give your female protagonist a male name. (And Bryan...

Sep 29th

Screenwriting Tip #102

That twist you have — where the tough soldier guy turns out to be a sensitive soul who just...

Sep 27th

Screenwriting Tip #101

Do you know what the phrase ‘gibbous moon’ actually means, or are you just regurgitating...

Sep 26th

Screenwriting Tip #100

100 pages is the new 120 pages. Cut it down.

Sep 25th

Screenwriting Tip #99

Most of the time, voice-over feels like scaffolding. You know — something you left in there...

Sep 24th

Screenwriting Tip #98

‘Back the truck up’ is clichéd dialogue. This is something my grandpa would say, if he...

Sep 23rd

Screenwriting Tip #97

Bumping out the margins in Final Draft is only sneaky up to a certain point. Then it becomes really,...

Sep 22nd

Screenwriting Tip #96

We don’t need to know exactly what make and caliber of handgun the characters are using....

Sep 21st

Screenwriting Tip #95

The first word of your script better not be ‘We’. A little over-directing and...

Sep 20th

Screenwriting Tip #94

Explosions do not create ‘sonic booms’ — they create the sound of an explosion....

Sep 20th

Screenwriting Tip #93

Give your main character some flaws, dammit. They’re not perfect! (Unless you’re...

Sep 19th

Screenwriting Tip #92

Stop writing that one minor character whose only purpose in life is to snark at everyone else....

Sep 18th

Screenwriting Tip #91

Who says you have to write like a novelist? If you suck at coming up with metaphors, just...

Sep 16th

Screenwriting Tip #90

Don’t give characters backgrounds — say, a killer whale trainer at SeaWorld, for example...

Sep 16th

Screenwriting Tip #89

Think really hard — is this man-eating monster you’ve made up actually cool, or is it...

Sep 15th

Screenwriting Tip #88

If you change a character’s name in rewrites, you better triple-check every instance of that...

Sep 13th

Screenwriting Tip #87

If you’re using VO to describe the action that we’re seeing, then I can’t help...

Sep 13th

Screenwriting Tip #86

It’s not necessary to have fifty ellipses per page. If your characters were to actually pause...

Sep 12th

Screenwriting Tip #85

‘Wise beyond his years’ is a cliche and tells us nothing. When you’re describing a...

Sep 10th

Screenwriting Tip #84

The line “Houston, we have a problem”, and any variation thereof, shall be banned on...

Sep 10th

Screenwriting Tip #83

If you’re introducing a new villain in Act 3, chances are something in your structure is...

Sep 10th

Screenwriting Tip #82

On Page 1? People should be talking OR shit should be exploding (so to speak). If your Page 1 is...

Sep 7th

Screenwriting Tip #81

Don’t be preachy. You’re a writer — it’s your job to cleverly point out...

Sep 6th

Screenwriting Tip #80

SUNSET, SUNRISE, DAWN, DUSK, MIDNIGHT, AFTERNOON, MID-MORNING, TEA-TIME, and on and on…...

Sep 5th

Screenwriting Tip #79

If a minor character has a unisex name, you better make it clear real fast whether they’re...

Sep 5th

Screenwriting Tip #78

Rhyming slang: no. Not unless you’re Guy Ritchie. In fact, not even if you’re Guy...

Sep 4th

Screenwriting Tip #77

Every young (usually white, usually male) writer’s first script involves angels, demons, Jesus...

Sep 2nd

Screenwriting Tip #76

If you’ve got 2 scenes back-to-back, and they’re set in the same location, with the same...

Sep 2nd