Tom Vaughan’s Post

I *just* posted a deep dive about this on my Substack this Friday! If you want a comprehensive list of analysis questions to bring to every script you read or movie you watch, click the link in the comments.

Consistency in your screenwriting is about processes and experience, not talent or inspiration. It's what you choose to work on, how you develop it, what you value, and knowing how to rewrite it. The habits you embrace today dictate what kind of progress you achieve in your screenwriting tomorrow. -------------- Interested in #screenwriting? If you want to: - Make more compelling choices. - Find a more consistent process. - Maximize the emotional response. Join 5k+ other screenwriters every Tuesday for The Story and Plot Weekly Email. https://lnkd.in/gQPvsGgc

You make two choices for everything in your screenwriting: 1. What happens on screen. 2. How you convey it on the page. These are separate skill sets. But if your screenplay is how you're selling yourself and the project, you need to get very good at both. -------------- Interested in #screenwriting? If you want to: - Make more compelling choices. - Find a more consistent process. - Maximize the emotional response. Join 7k+ other screenwriters every Tuesday for The Story and Plot Weekly Email: https://lnkd.in/gQPvsGgc

Make choices about the action. The moment. The emotion. Be decisive about what happens. What we see and what we feel. And then communicate it clearly to the reader. Make your intent obvious. Do that and you're ahead of 99% of screenwriters out there—professional and aspiring alike. #screenwriting

If something in your screenwriting is so vital you don’t want the reader to miss it… Give it its own paragraph. Whether it’s for emotional impact or just information, the separation helps it stand out and signifies its importance. Short paragraphs do wonders to control the flow and emphasis of the read. -------------- Interested in #screenwriting? If you want to: - Make more compelling choices. - Find a more consistent process. - Maximize the emotional response. Join 7k+ other screenwriters every Tuesday for The Story and Plot Weekly Email: https://lnkd.in/gQPvsGgc

Nearly every problem in your screenwriting can be solved by two questions: 1. What story are you telling? 2. What emotion are you trying to evoke? Your job gets much easier when you let these central values guide your decision-making. -------------- Interested in #screenwriting? If you want to: - Make more compelling choices. - Find a more consistent process. - Maximize the emotional response. Join 7k+ other screenwriters every Tuesday for The Story and Plot Weekly Email: https://lnkd.in/gQPvsGgc

So much of our struggles with our screenwriting are because we don’t know next steps. Find a process. - To find the idea. - To break the outline. - For what you want to write that day. The fastest route to your goals is through your processes. #screenwriting

The three primary ways to get your screenwriting read: 1. A phenomenal logline. 2. Pre-scrutinized. 3. Direct personal relationship. Don't go hurling your pages out into the void. Have a strategy. * * Hope is not a strategy. -------------- Interested in #screenwriting? If you want to: - Make more compelling choices. - Find a more consistent process. - Maximize the emotional response. Join 6k+ other screenwriters every Tuesday for The Story and Plot Weekly Email: https://lnkd.in/gQPvsGgc

You aren't rewarded for how few mistakes you make in your screenwriting. You're rewarded for making the reader feel something. So stop asking yourself how you're "supposed" to write it and ask how to maximize your intention. It's the emotional experience that counts. #screenwriting

One of the most constructive screenwriting notes you can give a writer is, "This is where I started to lose a little interest." It sounds harsh, but it is the exact thing they need to know. -------------- Interested in #screenwriting? If you want to: - Make more compelling choices. - Find a more consistent process. - Maximize the emotional response. Join 6k+ other screenwriters every Tuesday for The Story and Plot Weekly Email: https://lnkd.in/gQPvsGgc