Trending Lounge Discussions

I think you are looking at this backwards Alexandra. "Leap, and the net will appear."

Suzanne Bronson i likes this re-frame and admire the leap you have taken

Juliana Philippi that's great. What would you says is the 'why' for your acting?

Stephen Folker that certainly seems to work for you!

Alexandra Stevens My why, in acting, is to feel what others can't... It's...expression. Feeling, embodying a person who's story is being told, is my why. A service : )

Geoff Hall Thank you so much for this wonderful post ( pun...maybe intended ). I adore "It's a Wonderful Life", I think it is one of the most beautiful movies, across genres, of our time. Truly. James Stewart is so warm, and real, and accessible for the ensemble, and the audience as this character. There are lots of favorite moments for me in this film, but to pick one, I always remember immediately, the scene at the bridge, when the Clarence, the Angel appears to him, and stops him from committing suicide, and their first moments together, always open my heart so much.

Maurice Vaughan thanks Maurice. I think I’ve inly missed seeing it once in the last 5 or 6 years. Jimmy Stewart made me think of my writing too, and that I should look at my intent as a writer to ‘creating moments’ for the actor, but with the audience in mind.

Juliana Philippi ah, yes Juliana, Clarence’s appearance is wonderful and the humour when they are drying off their clothes is great. The scene that really upsets me is when Uncle Billy loses the money. I still shout at the screen and plead with him not to do it.

You're welcome, Geoff Hall. Actors love those moments! They can help get actors on board projects.

Geoff Hall I love that idea that a movie is not so much about the acting but about the micro moments that get created. I guess when everyone is on the same page, really connected to the text, their character and to each other. That's when I think something really special can occur. A shame there is no exact recipe book for this.

My condolences to Dan's family and friends. I was a big Simpsons fan growing up, Kevin Jackson. I like the movie too!

Maurice Vaughan I heard a new movie is in the works. https://screenrant.com/the-simpsons-movie-2-release-date-change-2027-hom...

So young. I'm so sorry for his family's loss. Thanks for sharing this Kevin Jackson.

I can't wait, Kevin Jackson. I need to catch up on The Simpsons show. I remember playing a Simpsons game growing up.

Interesting Jeffrey B. Wayne. You can tell it's not ready for prime time yet but no harm in using it to help describe a scene. I simply had fun playing around in it.

Leonardo Ramirez 2 I agree. Another tool in the tool belt.

Thank you, everyone.

You're welcome, Rich Terdoslavich. Are finished storyboards always in pencil?

Hi, Maurice. Sometimes, depends on the budget. I also did boards in Procreate, Fresco and have used Photoshop too. I like Fresco and Photoshop is great to tighten up the pencils, add textures etc.

Thanks for the answer, Rich Terdoslavich!

Hello I'm professional Animator and graphics designer I created animation videos, storyboyard, VFX, film poster, character design and more

You may need my skills let me know thanks

Yes, understanding the daily life of aliens is very important. I have one alien civilization that I’ve thought about deeply, and I’ll try to explore the daily lives of others as well Philip David Lee

"Have you ever tried to imagine the unimaginable?"

Yes, and the first thing that came to my mind was cosmic horror and HP Lovecraft.

And then, for a more mellow take, try to read Solaris by Stanislaw Lem, a Polish sci-author who was interested in the "alieness of aliens" and his represetations of alien life are quite hard to grasp. The 1972 Russian-language adaptin of Solaris sort of touches on this but focuses more on the personal drama, as does the 2002 US remake.

I’ve a master in philosophy so here is my advice.

What we do in philosophy is to go at the very root of what we know and question it. For exemple, time. We are used to linear time with causes and consequences. What happens in the past gives the presents conditions which inform us what will happen next. So you question that: what if time wasn’t linear. What if everything that happen in the past and future is determining to understand how something react or behave (like in quantum ohysics). You build on This new premise

Another examole would be our individualist self. We all focused on living and the self because we die and act individually. But what if that specie died collectively (perhaps two or three indivuals would be linked and would die together). Or what if their action was always collective in nature.

You can also go to our root values (freedom, love…) and change them. imagine a specie with other core values.

So the basic advice is go to the root and change it. then build it back up with these new conditions. What do you get

Thank you for your suggestions. I hope you succeed in writing your project Michael Dzurak

Thank you, that’s truly helpful. I’ll think about those questions Nicolas Lavoie

Bill Albert That's awesome Bill, kudos for this really cool script! The logline should be way shorter, and I know it is so challenging to put all the amazing things into a longish one sentence, but the thing I have found that helps ( because I have the same issue sometimes ), I imagine myself talking to a trusted friend, someone I love talking to, could be anyone, even an imaginary friend, the point is, someone who you love talking to, who always makes you confident and happy, and imagine they ask you, "Give me a one sentence logline of your script?" It's an exercise in getting out of the "should, do, force, nerves, fear" of getting the logline right.

Omar Barnes brilliant post, and suggestion.

you’ve made me realise, the reason I’m grappling with my own logline is, I’m trying to craft a two sentence synopsis of a short film with, paradoxically, a lot of moving parts—the task is Herculean!

but of course that’s not what it should be, at all! I’d lost sight of the proverbial forest…

from now on i need to keep reminding myself:

elevator pitch

elevator pitch

elevator pitch

James - yes, that’s my take on the thing. A Logline is for a producer - sell the script - marketeers write a marketing one. But I always write Taglines, those are for the audience/anybody.

Having said the above, here are a couple of examples of my Taglines:

‘A girl has appetites’ - Sci-fi, ‘Not Zombie’, Drama TV Series Pilot.

‘All laws are unjust, all business is stealing, only the guilty are innocent’ Major fraud, con-artist, terrorism, action movie.

David Taylor i love your con artist tagline. vibes of 1984’s propaganda/ mind-control mantras

Darrell, to me, screenwriting is much more of a craft than an art or business. It's essential IMO to truly learn the craft of screenwriting, and then worry about all the other stuff like I said about producers. If you're concerned about what is in the post before you nailed the craft, I fear that it might lose some of the magic you need for a great script.

Yes, I would agree. How to ever tell when we've 'nailed the craft' is a thematically ambitious endeavor haha. Some may say it is never nailed. I'm just trying to figure out how to apply the knowledge of your post into a practical effective piece of actionable tasks to round out the whole perspective. I may never nail script writing but I've seen a ton of movies and television that seemed to have missed the mark completely but they got a chance so I am just trying to arm myself with as much knowledge as possible if I ever get to take that swing.

Great tips here.

Trust me Pete, you're far from 'close' to the "brutal truth". That's all I am going to say about it ", because in some sadomasochistic way, I still love this website.

I have spec scripts and outlines. I know they aren't perfect but maybe people can work with them.