Let’s talk about your midpoint. Assuming your script clocks in at 100 – 110 pages, this will happen somewhere between pages 50 to 55. The first part of Act Two saw our protagonist struggle to get their bearings in this new environment, try to advance their goal, and make quite a few mistakes. (If you…
When a Los Angeles family man’s secret neo-Nazi past resurfaces, to avoid life behind bars he must become the man he swore he never again would be and infiltrate a white-supremacist terrorist organization before it seizes the White House. Let’s hear it for our second consider of 2023: Philip Elliott’s thriller pilot AMERICAN SWASTIKA, which…
We’re continuing our journey through screenplay structure by examining the turn into Act Two. In case you’ve missed our previous columns about setup, inciting incident, and the hero refusing the call, you can find them on our blog. Act Two is where your protagonist embraces the mission they were given. It usually happens somewhere between pages…
Here is our weekly column of screenwriting tips. For all previous columns, please see our blog entries right here. In our last column, we’ve talked about the Inciting Incident. This week, let’s talk about the rest of Act One. What does that mean? Well, the inciting incident has happened, the monkey wrench has been thrown,…
This week, let’s talk about your inciting incident. The inciting incident is what sets your story in motion. In classic screenplay structure, this happens around page 12. Frankly, anywhere between pages 10 and 15 and you’re golden. If the setup is complex (e.g. a period piece) it tends to happen on the later end of…
Today, let’s talk about one of the most important aspects of screenwriting: the setup. As writers, we often want to jump into the action because we’re afraid of testing a reader’s or audience member’s patience. We don’t want anyone to stop reading or switch to another channel. And sometimes that leads us to skipping the…
Hi folks! It’s that time of year again – Get Repped Now time. As always, we’re looking for the best scripts and pilots out there – and ones that are maybe only a draft or two away. So the CI management team – Jim, Anna, and Tanya – have compiled a list of pet peeves,…
Get Repped Now begins again for 2023 March 13, and we are super pumped to announce this year’s panel. Truly the best of the best, the elite, the movers and shakers whose clients regularly get on The Black List and whose tastes are regarded as the best in the biz. Without further ado: You’ll notice…
Before we get into the nitty-gritty, a quick reminder that Get Repped Now! is almost upon us. It starts on 3/17. So polish those scripts! With that in mind, let’s talk about character. Does your character arc? Or are they the same person at the end that they were at the beginning? Now look, if…
Here is our… Screenwriting Tip of the Week Last week, we talked about editing. This week, let’s talk about a related subject: FORWARD MOMENTUM Does every scene move the story forward? Does it advance the plot or give us new insight into a character? In a perfect world, it should do both at the same…