You’ve heard it many times: great dialogue will set you apart; whereas pedestrian dialogue will get you a pass. So, without further ado, here are five dialogue hacks. Employ liberally. How to Write Dialogue that Sells Great dialogue pulls readers in and keeps them hooked. It’s more than words: it’s rhythm and emotion shaped into…
Often we’ll get emails from writers wondering about the marketability of their project. Let’s face it, we all think our projects are marketable because we are passionate about them. If we weren’t, we wouldn’t have put months of blood, sweat, and tears into a story. So when somebody asks us about their high-budget period piece,…
Where Do You Send Your Script for Feedback? You’ve got a feature script over 130 pages, or a 1-hr TV pilot over 70 pages. Where do you send it for feedback? Well, not to us. Why Coverage Ink Has a Page Limit So why doesn’t Coverage Ink accept feature scripts over 130 pages, or 1-hr…
Happy Labor Day, fellow scribes! Just a quick update this week as to where we’re at with Get Repped Now – and what happens next. We’ve been working overtime all summer long to review all the Get Repped Now submissions. And I’m happy to say the end is finally in sight. We’ve got around 80…
Many of you will have at some point exchanged emails with her–CI’s Manager Anna Siri. Anna is also an accomplished writer and mentor with many years of development and running contests under her belt. Now her Girl in Trouble Stories Substack is hosting a few new and exciting writing workshops, the first of which focuses on…
Every time we do Get Repped Now, we’re reminded of the common mistakes we all make — because we see them over and over and over. Sometimes (often) it’s because we’re inexperienced and/or don’t know any better; sometimes it’s due to ego and/or wishful thinking; and sometimes it’s just not taking the job (you do…
Many, many features began as shorts — DISTRICT 9, WHIPLASH, BOOGIE NIGHTS, to name just a few. If you’re interested, there are many lists of such films online, such as this one. This is especially true in the horror space of late; recent short-to-feature adaptations include SMILE, OCULUS, and NIGHT SWIM. As a proof of concept, a short is invaluable….
Query letters! Your key to the castle of the entertainment industry… maybe… or maybe not. Often writers are surprised that they can send out dozens of queries and the response is still crickets. Okay, hard truth first: going in cold (without an intro, without a connection, without any heat,) radio silence is what you’ll get 99% of…
The protagonist plans a difficult, daring heist… and everything goes smoothly. The protagonist wants nothing more than to land the coveted promotion they have worked for… and they do. The protagonist is terrified of screwing up this all-important date… but it’s all rainbows and unicorns. Hmmm… what’s wrong with this picture? You guessed it: a…
Two massive IPs dropped new content (er, movies) recently – “Jurassic World: Rebirth” and James Gunn’s reboot of “Superman.” Now I haven’t seen either of these films… and I probably won’t. I suffer from a terrible malady – bad movies and TV shows make my BLOOD BOIL and leave me angry for days. My cardiologist makes enough money….
