Changing the narrative of your week
Oh, hi friends!
What’s your word of the week so far? The one that’s been running through your mind?
Annoyed, pleased, excited, happy, scared, bored?
So what’s the opposite of that word?
Calm, dissatisfied, indifferent, sad, confident, interested.
For some reason, defining the opposite can help clarify our current mood.
You’re finding a new target — or maybe something to avoid — and realize perhaps you’re only a little shift away from a new refrain.
This tweet and its many replies gave me a good, horrified laugh. (Confession: I filed a story last night at 11:23pm!)
This is exactly why I usually ask for a preferred time for my deadlines. Because while I love that final sprint to the finish, I don’t want to (and simply can’t) work that late anyway! I’ve aged out of that habit!! Silly little brains — at least mine, anyway — crave structure, even if it’s as simple as a one-digit deadline like 5pm.
So You Want to Write a Movie
Here is something a lil random! I sent this list of resources to someone when they wanted advice on screenwriting. Here are a few bits and bobs I’ve found helpful over the years.
Save the Cat screenwriting book. Generally the talked about book for structure and formatting.
Scriptnotes podcast. It’s been awhile but I listened to this every week for years. A nice deep dive into the industry from John August and Craig Mazin. I particularly liked the episodes with Aline Brosh McKenna, show runner of Crazy Ex-Girlfriend.
Script Database. One of the best things you can do is read the script of a film you love or have just watched. Seeing how the writer spells out each scene and the narrative arc is much easier when comparing page to screen.
Celtx and WriterDuet are two free software programs that help you format your script. I use Final Draft. Truly, it doesn’t matter. Just pick one!!
Follow writers on Twitter. Two of my faves are Liz Hannah, who wrote The Post and Long Shot, and often does Q&A sessions, and Brian Koppelman, show runner of Billions and writer of many films! They are v nice and encouraging.
And finally, the first screenwriting assignment I gave myself was to write a 10-minute short. That felt more doable than a feature and a solid first goal to work towards. Pick an idea that can be resolved in 10 minutes (aka 10 pages). Write it!
Then onward and upward from there.
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Thanks, as always, for reading.
Love, Kara