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What 5 Classic Horror Movies Can Teach Us About Theme & Structure

Horror Is In Big Demand In The 2020s Classic horror movies are not just entertaining, they can teach spec screenwriters and filmmakers A LOT. As most of us know, good horror is in demand in the 2020s. Budgets are being cut to the bone right now, thanks to the political and technological furore that has dogged the industry in the post-Covid era. In addition, horror is one of the few genres that can stand up in contained spaces easily, plus a lack of star power … IF it’s done well. I wanted to look at five of my personal favourite… Read More »What 5 Classic Horror Movies Can Teach Us About Theme & Structure

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Top 5 Monster Moments Of All Time In Movies

Iconic Monster Moments The best monster moments don’t always involve blood, screaming or a full reveal. Sometimes it’s a face behind someone who hasn’t seen it yet. Sometimes it’s a still image that moves when it bloody shouldn’t. These five scenes got under my skin and stayed there. Here’s why they work, and what horror writers can steal from them … Ready? Let’s go! 1) Ripley comes face to face with the Xenomorph  (Alien 3) Whaaaaaaat you say?? How about ‘Get away from her, you BITCH!’  Look, Ripley in the robotic loader versus the Alien Queen in Aliens is a… Read More »Top 5 Monster Moments Of All Time In Movies

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The #1 Lie About Female Characters You Should Not Believe

The #1 Lie About Female Characters There’s a #1 lie I hear all the time about female characters. You may have heard it yourself, or even thought it. If you have, it’s not your fault. On the surface, it seems like common sense. After all, blogs like B2W have been warning for years that bad female characterisation is everywhere. So-called self-styled ‘gurus’ online offer all kinds of female character fixes. These may range from sensible but overlooked ones like the ‘fridged woman’ through to the well-meaning but fundamentally flawed, like The Bechdel Test. So what exactly is the #1 lie… Read More »The #1 Lie About Female Characters You Should Not Believe

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Want Better Story Feedback? 7 Ways to Improve Your Screenplay Or Novel – Fast

Stop Wasting Money on Coverage! My job is quite literally giving story feedback. I spend a lot of time working with writers. This means giving my thoughts on how their concepts, characters and plotting work in their novel or screenplay. That’s why it often surprises writers when I say, ‘Don’t waste money on coverage’. Some may believe – not unreasonably – I want writers to come to me to tell them *if* their story works. Obviously, giving writers story feedback means I can pay my bills. However, B2W has always (and will always) say that it’s much more productive to… Read More »Want Better Story Feedback? 7 Ways to Improve Your Screenplay Or Novel – Fast

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How Intercut Can Help Tell Your Story In Just 8 pictures

All About Intercut Whether you’re writing a screenplay or a novel, intercut can help you tell your story. An intercut is a storytelling technique used to rapidly switch back and forth between two different locations. This might be during a phone call, text message conversation, or parallel action. An intercut frequently plays around with the sense of time in your story, too. They may reference something that has happened in the past. However, intercuts can also reference to the future, to different versions of ‘now’ (whatever that means), or even thoughts and feelings. When Intercuts Go Wrong While intercuts are… Read More »How Intercut Can Help Tell Your Story In Just 8 pictures

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Top 5 Mistakes Writers Make With Short Films

Short Film Mistakes Writing short films is exceptionally difficult. In recent years, many film festivals have started to prioritise short films that are ten minutes or under. Telling a story in such a short timeframe is a big challenge. As a script editor, I’ve spent a lot of time in the world of short films. In the past 20+ years I have been … Involved with numerous produced films, including award winners & nominated ones A judge for Shore Scripts’ Short Film Fund A mentor on numerous screen agency short film schemes, including BFI New Voices Part of the steering… Read More »Top 5 Mistakes Writers Make With Short Films

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How Mystery Works: 7 Steps For Writing One In Your Screenplay or Novel

Writing A Mystery Writing a mystery is HARD. I’ve published ten novels now, many of them crime fiction. However, any genre in any medium can benefit from a mystery component. Police procedurals and domestic noir are the key subgenres that use mystery components. There have been over two hundred years of detective novels, plus modern psychological thrillers are super-popular with readers. On TV and in movies, there are frequently mysteries at the heart of thrillers, political or otherwise. We may see them in workplace shows (such as police, but also medical shows in which finding a diagnosis is key). They… Read More »How Mystery Works: 7 Steps For Writing One In Your Screenplay or Novel

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Why Most Spec Scripts Fail (It’s Not The Idea – It’s The Execution)

It’s All In The Execution? Most scripts don’t fail because the idea is bad – they fail because the execution is not doing the work. But how can we tell if our execution is not cutting it? Here’s 8 common pitfalls I see regularly in spec screenplays. Ready? Let’s go … 1) A situation is not a story A cool idea or set-up isn’t enough. Your concept at the heart of your story needs to be road-tested at foundation level. A story = movement. This means your story requires escalation, cause & effect, and a protagonist driving towards a clear… Read More »Why Most Spec Scripts Fail (It’s Not The Idea – It’s The Execution)

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What Writers Can Learn From The Short Film That Launched a $1 Billion Franchise

Selling, Not Selling Out ‘Write me a low-budget screenplay that launches a $1 billion dollar franchise.’  A producer said this in a room full of writers I was in, back at the very beginning of my career. To say it landed with me BIG TIME is an understatement. It made me realise that story is not the only thing writers must contend with. As a collaborative medium, it’s also our job to come up with ideas that SELL. Of course, this is where writers might say: ‘But I don’t want to sell out!’ I totally get this. It can seem… Read More »What Writers Can Learn From The Short Film That Launched a $1 Billion Franchise

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How 600 Seconds Can Kill Your Script DEAD

600 Seconds To Victory? NEWSFLASH: 600 seconds can mean the difference between a full read of your spec screenplay … or not. Why 600 seconds? Well, the received wisdom is that a page of script is equal to one minute of screen time*. If a minute is 60 seconds, then your first ten pages = 600 seconds. It really is simple as that. (*Of course, this measurement is not an exact science. Pages with lots of dialogue may be faster, whereas those with more visuals may be longer. But that’s a conversation for another time!). But First, The Elephant In… Read More »How 600 Seconds Can Kill Your Script DEAD

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Boy Meets Girl: How To Write Romance That Impacts Your Reader

All About Boy Meets Girl ‘Boy Meets Girl’ is a plotting archetype that underpins probably 90% of romance stories. Across all subgenres and cross-genres of romance, we can see it in action because that’s what our readers and viewers WANT. I thought I would trace this powerful archetype and what makes it hit so hard. Ready? Let’s go … ‘Boy Meets Girl’, Beat for Beat 1)  The Set Up Like all stories across all mediums and genres, this archetype begins with the set up. We join the protagonist in their normal life and understand what missing there on an emotional… Read More »Boy Meets Girl: How To Write Romance That Impacts Your Reader

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5 Reasons Why You Should Build Fear Into Your Story’s Turning Points

Why You Should Build Fear into Your Turning Points When it comes to storytelling, fear is more than a feeling; it’s an underlying force that runs through multiple story elements. Influencing plot, character arc and development, conflict, and theme, fear draws readers in and makes the story feel human and authentic. This emotion is at its most potent when plot and character arc dovetail to create the question readers most want to answer: Will the character surrender to their fear or master it? Using Turning Points to Plot a Character’s Fear Journey Turning points – those pivotal events or complications… Read More »5 Reasons Why You Should Build Fear Into Your Story’s Turning Points

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