Screenwriter, producer, artist(?), all around good guy
2 Players Required
The Undoing
Lucid
The Rickety Man
VASC Winner
Killer Shorts Finalist
📍Upstate NY
Sep 2, 2022 • 18 tweets • 4 min read
I've been striving to find who I am lately, while I also learn new lessons on writing craftsmanship.
I'm thinking a lot about Voice, because with it, a writer can own their career.
This is what I think Voice is and how to identify and cultivate your own Voice in your work.
Voice is that hauntingly impossible-to-pin-down quality of your writing that feels different, unique--*special*--on the page.
It's the reason writers like Quentin Tarantino and Diablo Cody are renowned for being incredible screenwriters. Their voice is indelibly theirs.
May 27, 2022 • 26 tweets • 5 min read
Y'all expressed interest in a thread about costs of filmmaking. I find this one really interesting because each film is its own entity and the circumstances of the film dictate its budget.
So, okay. Let's talk. How much does a film cost? 🧵👇
Imagine you want to make a film and you also want to pay everyone.
Imagine that.
Where is your money going?
Why are films so dang expensive to produce?
Whether a $200M blockbuster or a $2,000 indie, both reflect costs in time and money, which has to come from somewhere.
Apr 19, 2022 • 20 tweets • 3 min read
Okay, this is wild, y'all.
Have you ever heard of the Law Of Reversed Effort?
Buckle up.
This phenomenon was coined by psychologist Émile Coué. It describes the tension between our conscious and unconscious selves--that is to say, our minds.
Our two minds often are in conflict (but we don't consciously know this).
This is a classic staple of Zen Buddhism thinking.
Apr 18, 2022 • 5 tweets • 1 min read
There's a ton of screenwriting advice out there.
I give a lot of it, myself (YMMV).
But ultimately, you have to carve your own path.
Copying someone else's methods, process, voice, or style just means you're denying yourself the chance to be the original YOU.
Filter what you read and hear and create your own reality map.
It might take time for you to figure out where the sinkholes are, what route your wheels prefer. It's okay to experiment.
Filter out the bad. Incorporate the good with your own spin.
Apr 17, 2022 • 10 tweets • 2 min read
Many of you probably know what the 80/20 rule is, or at least you've heard of it.
It's also called the Pareto Principle, AKA the “law of uneven distribution”. It states that 80% of results come from 20% of the effort.
What's this mean?
It means 4 out of 5 things that you do (or hours you spend) in any activity will be inefficient in helping you achieve your goals.
It doesn’t hold precisely true in every circumstance--YMMV.
The takeaway here is: Effort does not always = Results.
Apr 11, 2022 • 9 tweets • 2 min read
Having just recently completed a revision on a feature script in pre-production, here are few tips I learned:
🧵
The first draft might be the most amazing thing you've written.
Until you realize it's not.
It will be vastly improved by Draft 2 if you commit to putting it through its paces, being honest with yourself, and listening to good feedback.
This will take work. Do not shy from it.
Apr 9, 2022 • 12 tweets • 2 min read
THREAD: 10 screenwriting pieces of advice...
On your screenwriting career:
SMARTER PEOPLE
Never pass up the opportunity to talk craft w/people smarter than you.
Different people are smarter about different things. Find the experts in various aspects of screenwriting. Engage them.
Learn from them.
Apr 8, 2022 • 10 tweets • 3 min read
What do screenwriting (or any writing) and Swedish furniture assembly have to do with each other?
Glad you asked.
Read on to find out, plus get three rewriting tips!
Putting your own blood/sweat/tears into something (like putting together furniture you bought at the store) makes you feel like it has more value.
Independence Day is a master class in delivering exposition and character backstory for lots of characters in a totally invisible way.
Each character, even the loathsome Nimziki, has some depth and at least a tiny arc.
Spending time with these characters gives us the fuel we need to care about them when everything goes pear shaped.
Mar 24, 2020 • 11 tweets • 3 min read
Dialogue should sound like everyday speech without it being boring like everyday speech. Every word should do double or triple duty in conveying character's traits, desires (what they want in scene) but without saying it outright. Dialogue needs to dance around the subject.
Dialogue must feel natural while being highly stylized. It should be nuanced/subtle but chock full of meaning.
The best dialogue is conversational and yet carries characters and plot forward in a powerful current--so it must be objectively goals-based (what the character wants)
