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I Hate to Break It to You, But Your Logline Isn't Working

(Be like Hermione…study, read, practice, be smart.)I am going to vent a little bit in today’s post, but it’s because you all need to hear it. I’ll hold myself back as much as I can. Please remember that I am coming to you with love and positive intention here, I swear.Your logline sucks.OK, so maybe I didn’t hold myself back. I ...
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So You Finished a Draft... Now What?

RewritingIt’s something we all need to deal with, and there is no getting around it. Rewriting, rewriting, rewriting. In the last post, I talked about writer’s block and, well, how and why writer’s block is pretty much a whole bunch of bullshit, and to again quote Terry Pratchett, “something invented by people in California who ...
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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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Screenwriters Alfred Gough & Miles Millar Talk “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice”

  • Staff Writer
  • .October 16, 2024
Beetlejuice was a playful foray into horror comedy in 1998 depicting the gentrification of family neighborhood Winter River with left-field visionary director Tim Burton at the helm. A follow up film was discussed for over three decades since Michael Keaton first exclaimed “It’s Showtime” as his iconic Betelgeuse character.After...
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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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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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Comedy Screenwriting Craft: Using Metaphors

  • Steve Kaplan
  • .December 5, 2022
One of my favorite plays (and films and TV shows, for that matter) was Neil Simon’s The Odd Couple, in which a pair of mismatched friends, one divorced and one soon-to-be, decide to room together. On the surface, Oscar Madison and Felix Unger are friends and roommates. As the story progresses, however, their relationship undergo...
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Desperation, Dread, & Determination

I call them the triple D’s of screenwriting:DreadEvery screenwriter experiences this eventually. You get to a place where it feels like it’s all over. You’ll never get that agent. The manager will never call you back. Will anyone respond to my query? Listen my friend. I’ve been there. You are not the only one. I remember doing o...
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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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The Key to a Perfect Pitch is You

Another successful Pitch Challenge and Panel has come and gone! We were so impressed by the quality and diversity of all of the submissions we received. It was definitely difficult to narrow it down to our three winners.At our Virtual Pitch Panel, we heard from our four amazing industry pro panellists Mitchell Bendersky (Manager...
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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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How Comedy Works

  • Steve Kaplan
  • .April 7, 2020
So, how exactly does comedy work? First off, let’s differentiate between funny and comic. Funny is whatever makes you laugh. Period. End of story.  When my niece was five, I could shake a set of keys in her face, and dissolve her into hysterics. To her, that was funny. But is it comedy? Would you submit a set of keys to Sundance...
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Comedy Writing Q & A: Sketch Writing

  • Steve Kaplan
  • .March 12, 2020
Katy Segrove asks: "Any particular tips for approaching sketch writing? In particular, any advice for coming up with strong endings?"Endings for sketches are tough-- that's why Python used to simply skip to another sketch or make a joke about the fact that the sketch had no ending.But approaching sketch writing is simply coming ...
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Sundance 2020: ISA’s Table Read My Screenplay Event

At Sundance 2020, I was able to attend the International Screenwriters’ Association’s Table Read My Screenplay event, which allowed the winner of the contest, M Rowan Meyer to watch as his script for a pilot, Cloistered, was read on stage. It was directed by the ISA’s Jerren Lauder, and I was able to see the shift in dynamic fro...
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Why Is Mrs. Maisel So Marvelous?

  • December 3, 2018
Why Is Mrs. Maisel So Marvelous? Amy Sherman-Palladino and Daniel Palladino Tell All!It is a rare surprise that a near perfect TV show is made. The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, now in its second season on Amazon Prime Video, is one of those shows balancing humor and drama in the 1950s world of stand-up comedy. Mrs. Maisel’s talented c...
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Tossed Salad, Scrambled Eggs, and the Sundance Film Festival

  • Josh Sorokach
  • .October 5, 2018
How can I be expected to get any writing done when there are eleven seasons of Frasier on Netflix? That was my first thought when I sat down to write about my experience winning the 2018 Table Read My Screenplay Competition. Some iteration of that statement is always in the back of my mind when I'm about to type sentence one. Wr...
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Interview with ISA Fellowship Winner Sean Collins-Smith

  • June 11, 2018
Ever since graduating from film school in 2010, Sean Collins-Smith has wanted to move to Los Angeles to pursue a TV writing career. His goal seemed unobtainable, though, until he won an ISA Fast Track Fellowship on the basis of his pilots End of Life and Lifers Anonymous. As part of his ISA prize package, he scored a week of ind...
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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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Why The Crocodile Dundee Super Bowl Ad Made An Impact

Are They Really Remaking Crocodile Dundee?No, but the Super Bowl ad was pretty fun!For all of you out there who are Eagles fans, I send you a happy congratulations on your Super Bowl win. Being a fan of the Chicago Cubs, I know how difficult it is to be a fan of a team that consistently fails to win a championship, so bravo. I h...
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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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