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Writing Morally Gray Characters, Part 2

This article is a continuation of Writing Morally Gray Characters, Part 1. Politics Is A Dirty Gray“Politics is a dirty business, but if you do not do politics, politics will be done to you.” So states novelist Will Shetterly.Many movies and TV series about politics shows the absolute compromising nature of politics. Gray charac...
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Writing Morally Gray Characters, Part 1

When you speak of gray in life, you’re normally talking about a mainly colorless tapestry. But morally gray characters, those considered not good nor bad, neither heroes not villains, are some of the more complex characters you can write. Even more interesting, is a psychological phenomenon that allows our audiences to embrace a...
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10 Recent Horror Movies That Weren’t Afraid To Push Their Boundaries

  • Staff Writer
  • .October 28, 2024
Horror films have been a staple of our screens since the inception of film, especially during Halloween month. It seems of late that these films have become more bold and daring in mashing up and contorting the traditional genre of scares to create a new entertainment experience.1) Alien: Romulus (2024)The Alien franchise is bui...
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Would It Kill You To Smile 2? Writer/Director Returns With A Gorier Sequel

  • Staff Writer
  • .October 25, 2024
The premise of a trauma-driven supernatural entity infecting people and causing them to violently bludgeon themselves to death began in Parker Finn’s 2020 short film Laura Hasn’t Slept. It centers on the nightmares of Laura Weaver (Caitlin Stasey) featuring a smiling face, eventually forcing her into state of somniphobia (fear o...
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"How JT Mollner Used 'Halloween' to Inspire Horror Film 'Strange Darling'"

  • Staff Writer
  • .October 21, 2024
“Strange Darling came to me through an initial image that I saw of a woman running through the woods in distress,” says JT Mollner of his horror film that can be described as a mix of a bloody popcorn wild ride and art.“I’ve read countless stories about serial killers which gave me some inspiration to show a different side of th...
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The Trigger – More Than An Inciting Incident

  • James "Doc" Mason
  • .October 18, 2024
While even the non-writer will recognize that the climax is the character’s final battle, the end of the story, fewer know what to call the start of the story. Remember, there is no story without conflict. Therefore the story starts with a clear conflict. Writers will know the Inciting Incident or Inciting Event is often describ...
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Navigating Your Story

  • Salva Rubio
  • .September 16, 2024
Since its inception over twenty years ago, the methodology of Blake Synder’s Save the Cat has been as synonymous with storytelling as Joseph Campbell’s Hero’s Journey and Syd Field’s Paradigm Worksheet.Many screenwriters can’t help but spot the moment when “Bad Guys Close In”, or the “Dark Night of the Soul” whenever they sit do...
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Where Do You Get Your Ideas?

Dr. Linda Seger, author of Making a Good Script Great and 8 other books on screenwriting discusses how to set yourself up as a writer so that there is ALWAYS something to write about !   Writers vary in terms of how many ideas are floating around in their heads at any one time. Pen Densham, (Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves) told m...
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8 Keys to Writing a Marketable Script

  • Film Consortium San Diego
  • .October 9, 2023
1. ONE GENRE TO RULE THEM ALL I recently sat through a webinar where writers were given the opportunity to pitch their concepts. One lady stuck out to me because she described her project as a suspense, thriller, and comedy, with horror elements. She then went on to pitch her story, which I didn’t comprehend at all, because I wa...
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Play Fair with the Audience

  • James Vanderbilt
  • .November 7, 2022
“Play Fair with the Audience” James Vanderbilt on ‘Scream’ and ‘Zodiac’:“I’m always writing something,” said James Vanderbilt. “I’m always working on a spec. I always want to have something that is just for me, not something I’ve promised someone or something from someone else’s IP or sandbox. I think that keeps me sane.”“There’...
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An American Hero In A French Movie

  • Tom McCarthy
  • .October 31, 2022
“An American Hero In A French Movie” Tom McCarthy, Thomas Bidegain & Noé Debré Talk ‘Stillwater’: (This interview contains mild spoilers) Stillwater was one of the few original films released this year and audiences are better off for it. Matt Damon (playing Bill Baker) and Abigail Breslin (playing his daughter Allison) were on ...
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Why Demons and Devils Make for Superior Villains

(REPOST) We all know that “the devil is in the details,” but why are there so many demons in movies and on TV these days? In the past two years, there have been 26 horror movies released where the primary antagonist is some sort of supernatural force (It: Chapter Two), a demon (Annabelle Comes Home), or in some cases, ol’ Beelze...
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The Mysterious Development of Your Villain

The Mysterious Development of Your Villain - (an excerpt from Max Timm's online class, The Craft Course - REPOST)In this week's lesson, we will be focusing on how the other characters in your story - namely the Secondary Character and The Villain/Rival - will play their essential roles in your project. I'm consistently reminding...
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Scaring Up Funds: How to Acquire Investors When Your Movie’s in Horror

(REPOST) Scaring Up Funds: How to Acquire Investors When Your Movie’s in Horror, the Most Profitable Genre of Them AllBy Brian Herskowitz and Tony Timpone on November 14, 2017There are a few paths you can take to finding investors for your movie:Friends, Family, and AcquaintancesIf they are rich enough or if your budget is low e...
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Improving Your Logline

Logline Breakdown ProcessHello from Max Timm, the ISA’s Director of Education, VP of Development with Creative Screenwriter Prods, and coach/consultant for The Story Farm! What you are about to consume is information, education, tips, and exercises that should help you improve the quality and effectiveness of your logline. We’re...
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Why You Need a Professional Consultant to Give You Screenplay Feedback

  • May 28, 2018
What should expect from a script consultant? Creative Screenwriting Magazine gets into the weeds with our friends at the International Screenwriters’ Association to help elevate your screenplay to a marketable level and strategize your career.When your car needs repairs, you seek a mechanic to help you fix the issues that need t...
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You're Not Going To Win An Oscar...

You're Not Going To Win An Oscar......but hold on, I'll explain.I'm sure most of you did it Sunday night at some point in the evening (if you watched the Academy Awards). You imagined what you would say if you were up on that stage accepting your Oscar. I've done it. I've done it probably every year since I first watched in the ...
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Dedication, Discipline & Cultivating Self-Worth in 2018 with The Story Farm

It's A New Year - So What?This is part of a weekly email series delivered to The Story Farm email list by the ISA's Max Timm. If you would like to join the email list and receive inspiring messages and upcoming offers from Max and The Story Farm, CLICK HERE-------------------------------------------------------------------------...
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Have a Horrible Holiday

'Twas the night after X-mas and all through the house…  bodies and corpses were starting to mount...Most people don’t think of horror when they think of winter holidays, but there are those fans who cannot wait for the seasonal frights that come along with Santa Claus and Rudolph.You don’t have to look much further than 1894 whe...
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Interview with Bestselling Author and Screenwriter Dougie Brimson

"I never actually set out to be a writer at all, it just kind of happened. Indeed, it's fair to say that even after three award winning feature films and 750,000 book sales, I spend most days waiting for the literary police to bang on my door and cart me away for fraud!" - Dougie.In this interview, you’ll meet bestselling author...

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