“BOSCUTTI’S GREAT GATSBY” (film treatment)
It seems like Stefano Boscutti has been trying to do a film adaption of Fitzgerald’s novel all his life. Despite his enthusiasm (or perhaps because of it) he just cannot ... Read on
All that flickers is not gold
The constant flicker of the American dream. The constant, restless flicker and ceaseless glints of light on the city’s shining, metallic surfaces. The flicker of electric light off a car, the ... Read on
Lists, lists, and more lists
The genesis for ‘The Great Gatsby’ came from F. Scott Fitzgerald’s life. From his secret yen for those lovely Scandinavian blondes who sat on porches in St. Paul. All ... Read on
List
- broken sunlight - careless wealth - dried voices - hollow people - empty men ... Read on
A story in every drop
Inciting incident > progressive complications > crisis > climax > resolution. Each scene is it’s own film. It’s own story. ... Read on
Scene analysis
Step One: Define conflict (what’s the text and subtext?) Step Two: Note opening value (is it positive or negative?) Step Three: Break the scene into beats (does the behavior clearly change?) Step ... Read on
Feel the fear
H. P. Lovecraft is afraid. The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown. Write what you’re afraid ... Read on
No text without subtext
No text without subtext (for the pleasure of insight). For the underscore. ... Read on
Conflict the scene
From inner conflict to personal conflict to extra-personal conflict. From you to them to beyond you and them. Make the conflict complex on all three levels. In each ... Read on
Kiss my assonance
Assonance is the refrain of vowel sounds to create internal rhyming within phrases or sentences. It’s when Robert Louis Stevenson would hear the crumbling thunder When Edgar Allan Poe would ... Read on
Pry open the gap
What’s the opposite of that? How far can you go in the scene? If you were the character in these circumstances, what would you do? There’s an action then a reaction ... Read on
Into the white
There ain’t no death. There ain’t no light. Into the white. ... Read on
The story climax is the crowning major reversal
When meaning slips from your fingers before your very eyes. When meaning tumbles and turns and becomes a new emotion. A revolution in values from positive to negative, or ... Read on
Love yourself and do the work
You can make yourself anxious in all sorts of ways. The answer is not to make yourself even more anxious. The answer is to love yourself and, out of ... Read on
From reacting to creating
Type out the word reacting. That’s write. Just type it out – r – e – a – c – t – i – n – g. Think ... Read on
Mockingbird
In the movie, Ewell spits on Atticus, but never overtly threatens the children. He does it with a look, not dialogue. When it’s visual, it’s stronger for the audience. You don’t ... Read on
Hit it
Ray Charles knows it. Ain’t no son of a bitch alive knows what’s gonna hit ... Read on
What?
What makes it new and fascinating? ... Read on
Each character must want something badly, very badly
But what they need is different to what they want. What they need is what they get in the end. ... Read on
Action speaks louder than words
William M. Akers asks a good question. Do we learn about your characters by what they do – not through dialogue? A man beats his wife, cries and says he’s sorry, ... Read on
Wobbly skates
William M. Akers tells a great story about “Rocky”. Stallone’s script called for Rocky and Arian to finally go on a date.  He’s asked her out and she’s refused, but ... Read on
Sudden death
Harry Houdini sure knew how to draw a crowd. The easiest way to attract a crowd is to let it be known that at a given time and a given ... Read on
The opponent is the hero’s agent of change
William M. Akers makes the case. Without the opponent, your hero will never evolve to what they need to be. At the beginning of your tale, your hero is in a ... Read on
Hi, I’m you’re antagonist, how can I serve you today?
Think about how often the antagonist actually drives the story. No Darth Vader, no exploding planets, no dead Auntie and Uncle, no need for Luke to get a move on. No ... Read on
Shading characters
Give a character an unexpected characteristic that shadows some future action. Give a character some darkness, some area where no one dares go. Make that darkness what the character must shine ... Read on
Toying with the Pablo Escobar story
Already a few thing you probably don’t know about the man who became the world’s richest drug lord. His family was almost slaughtered by militia when he was a ... Read on
Begin with the end in mind
What’s the most satisfying ending? No, no , not the crane up into the sky as they drive off into the sunset. (Although, yes, I admit, a ... Read on
The angel, Gabriel, appears more often than you . . .
The angel, Gabriel, appears more often than you might think, telling us that we are pregnant with a new form of life that we should accept and trust. ... Read on
And so it begins
Every aspect of the human condition is found in storytelling, Blake says during a telephone interview from her home in London. Stories are there to entertain but, fundamentally, they ... Read on