How to Apply a Theme to Your Script Using the Thematic Triangle of Conflict

As a writer, if you haven’t first worked out what your story is really about on a fundamental level — what its DNA is before you start writing — you’re not in the best position to know what characters to come up with, what actions they take, what’s likely to happen in a scene, etc. in the first place. And this is where the Thematic Triangle of Conflict comes in. Let’s jump right in by taking a look at what it is and how best to employ it in your screenplay.   Read More

New Script Ideas from Unexpected Sources

Spending time to sit and think, or to take a walk, seems increasingly difficult in a society that prizes busyness and multi-tasking. In particular, for A-type go-getters, intentionally carving more time to think without doing several things at once can seem like “wasted time.” But there’s a reason other than simply generating more ideas why daydream-type thinking is crucial: it’s the type of ideas that are generated – namely associative thinking.   Read More

Fostering an Environment for Brilliant Ideas

Why do most of your brilliant ideas happen while you're in the shower? Or when you're about to fall asleep? Or in your dreams...or while you're cooking...or while you're in class (or at the office) daydreaming? There is an answer found in an exciting, emerging area of science.   Read More

Don't Direct

As a script consultant, I read a lot of scripts by people I have never met. When a script arrives, I usually have no idea what the writer's background might be. He or she might be a practicing or former plumber or professor, barrista or banker.   Read More

I Get It...but What Is It? How to Define Your Original Television Pilot

Before you get anyone to read your brilliantly executed pilot script, you must first pitch them the idea for the series, and it must be clear, compelling, character-driven, and it must feel like a TV show, not like a movie. Put simply, the first thing you need to do is answer the deceptively simple question, “What is it?”   Read More

Bullet-Proof Your Script Against Reader Rejection

Imagine you're a studio script reader. It's Sunday night. You're dog-tired. Dreading work tomorrow where you're stuck in your own version of 'Swimming With Sharks'   Read More

Opening a TV Pilot (The Good Wife, Downton Abbey, The Walking Dead)

When an InkTip-approved producer starts to read your script, you’ve already piqued their interest with your dynamic logline and hooked them with your compelling synopsis and intriguing résumé, but now you need to reel them in with precise execution on the page, and that begins with a great opening sequence. Nowhere is more important than on television where every season a new batch of pilots contend for an audience.   Read More

Getting Up to Speed: What You Need to Start Writing a TV Pilot

Scripted television is exploding. And if you are a screenwriter with experience primarily in the feature-length form, then you would do yourself well to start learning how to write a pilot.   Read More

TV Series Storytelling - Commercialism vs. Creativity

In the cut-and-thrust world of television drama series production, can creativity work hand in hand with commercialism or does one override the other?   Read More

Spice Up Your Supporting Characters

You thought of an interesting premise and made sure your protagonist completed the hero’s journey. But your script still reads dry. It tends to drag. On top of that, you might have ideas for who can play the lead role, but you haven’t been able to think of whom else to cast for the other roles. One thing you’ve neglected: your supporting characters.   Read More