No time for an intro today. Let’s hop right into it.
I’ve read a lot of scripts. Script that sold. Sold and got made. Optioned and still on the shelf. Scripts written by peers. By strangers. By professionals. You tend to pick up on what’s really working. There are a few obvious elements that sellable scripts tend to have. Sure there are exceptions. But writers with a career usually have a career because they’re excellent at what they do. They understand how to write movies.
There’s plenty of successful novelists who can’t transition into movies.
Why?
Because it’s not the same thing.
Writing a movie specifically is a skill.
Writing tv specifically is also a skill.
Sometimes they cross over, other times they don’t.
I’m going to talk about writing movies because it’s where my area of expertise and experience lies in. I’ve written tv. But never broken through in that arena so I can’t be sure what makes that material pop.
BIG PROBLEM I see with most scripts is apparent on the first page.
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