Tom Vaughan’s Post

The three most fundamental elements of narrative drama. 1. ) Someone wants something. 2.) They're having trouble getting it. 3.) Something will happen if they fail. If you can't identify all three in your screenwriting, you did something wrong. Rework whatever you're doing until you can. -------------- 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

One way to capture that real-time rhythm is that nothing should take longer to read than it takes to happen on screen. This significantly improves the reader's experience and helps them visualize a movie. Always have a plan. For every word, every sentence, every paragraph, know what you're trying to achieve. -------------- 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

That need to "get started" before I knew where I was going hobbled my screenwriting for years. The three sins of the outline phase for your screenwriting: 1. Impatience (I want to get to the fun stuff!) 2. Laziness (It's easier to just write it!) 3. Indecisiveness (I can't make a decision.) Do the work. You can’t tell a story if you don’t know what story you’re telling. -------------- 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

Academia rewards complex wordiness, and some pick up that bad habit. But for screenwriting, it is far better to write simple, clear sentences that: 1. Evoke emotion. 2. Suggest images. 3. Control the pacing. Maximum effect + simplicity = much better read. -------------- 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

I say to myself at least once on nearly every screenplay, "This is not working. I am wasting my time." Usually around page 35. 👇 This is so expected with my screenwriting now that as soon as it happens, I think, "Here we go again..." And then I just... carry on. ------ Interested in #screenwriting? If you want to: - Make more compelling choices. - Find a more consistent process. - Maximize the emotional response. Join 4,900+ other screenwriters every Tuesday for The Story and Plot Weekly Email. https://lnkd.in/gQPvsGgc

Remember when you were a kid, and you were okay with not being great at something? As long as you had fun and you were getting better, you did it. And that’s how you got great at it. Recapture that spirit in your screenwriting. Find the excitement in just getting better. -------------- 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

1) You need a phenomenal logline. This is the whole point of the logline. Make someone want to read the screenplay. 2) Don't be weird. Be normal. Just be a normal person someone doesn't mind communicating with. Sure, you can try additional stuff, and some of it might work. But it doesn't need to be any more complicated than the two things above. -------------- 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

Whenever I've struggled with my own screenwriting, I've found one of these is to blame. 1. I've lost track of the story and/or emotion. 2. I've lost confidence. 3. I'm over-complicating what should be simple. The fix? Figure out which area it is that's broken down, and then double my effort into the other two. This tends to do the trick and get them all back to normal. -------------- 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

After screenwriting for 28 years, I'm convinced the two most important factors in selling a spec are: 1. The quality of the logline. 2. How well you fulfill the promise of that logline. Yes, there's space outside that (thank goodness), but that's what gives you the best chance. -------------- 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

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