Comments on: Sunday Picture Post 4 / Tip: Focus

By: 2 Years at Screenwriting for Hollywood ! |

2 Years at Screenwriting for Hollywood ! | — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 19:02:33 +0000

[...] March 30, 2008 was my busiest day with 1,033 page views in one day. The majority of those visitors went to this post: “Sunday Picture Post 4 / Tip: Focus.” [...]

By: Jed

Jed — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 11:26:16 +0000

One word: [ very hard really, coz I keep on coming up with 2 but here goes...] FUTURE.

There you go, young man, there are no more shackles, no more limitations to what you can do, step up and take your place in the sun!

Featuring the latest futuristic film from the master of suspense and horror, but this time, the renowned filmmaker takes a look at himself.

- – -
I’m a bit satisfied with my last 2, but the first item lacks the power to deliver.

By: JAN

JAN — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 22:57:44 +0000

Couldn’t seem to come up with a movie pitch for this week’s Sunday pic….sort of drew a blank, lol. I guess the word I could come up with that would fit the picture….Confusion.

I too really enjoy these Sunday picture posts you feature here each week as well. Always something to look forward to, and to read everyone’s interesting ideas and pitches. Always enjoy visiting your site Jaden.

Jean, film school sounds like a great idea to consider.

By: Jaden

Jaden — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 00:11:09 +0000

SHANE – I would say that dialog that seems superfluous is actually character building. For instance, if a character is on drugs, like they often are, then rambling about nonsense is part of building that character.

Also note, on this website, I am giving guidelines for successful screenwriting for Hollywood, not necessarily to make good art or cult films (which I prefer) that tend to be strange and unpredictable. My pointers are for a screenwriter to have a chance at making a sale to Hollywood.

All rules are meant to be broken, but not by fools. If a writer writes a bad script because he doesn’t know what he is doing, that is very different than a writer who knows all the rules and cleverly comes up with a way to make something spectacular.

Tarantino broke new grounds by being a master of movies and playing on his massive knowledge of entertainment, not out of ignorance or accident. Tarantino also directs his own scripts, so he can do whatever he wants. Trying to sell a script to strangers is a whole different game. Tarantino is one in a million.

By: Shane

Shane — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 03:23:34 +0000

Question about this :

“Don’t put in any dialog or actions just because you think they are clever. If it doesn’t have something to do with the main story, get rid of it. Your script needs to be tight.”

I can understand that one must have a keen eye for dialogue in order to get past this, however, I cannot help but think of the “Like a Virgin” interpretation scene in Reservoir Dogs. It is full of wit, helps to establish character styles and personalities; all without having anything to do with the main story.
But maybe that’s just Tarentino?