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5 Reasons You Should Write Short Film Scripts

Why We Write Scripts Everyone who has written a script has dreamt of seeing their story on the big screen, having the accolades and the kudos of being a produced screenwriter … It’s why we write scripts. But how many screenplays actually get read by people who want to make films, let alone turned into produced films? It is a very small percentage. What can you do about it? Here are 5 ways to not only get your scripts read, but produced too. Ready? Let’s go … 1) Keep it short – REALLY short Try writing a two-page script. I… Read More »5 Reasons You Should Write Short Film Scripts

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Top 10 Tips On How To Break In As A Screenwriter This Year

How To Break In As A Screenwriter If you want to break in as a screenwriter, you’re not alone. ‘How to break in’ is probably one of the top Google searches that leads to this blog, in fact. Whilst it’s true B2W believes we need to build our careers over a sustained period (rather than the break in being just ONE act), we all have to start somewhere. I was joined in a B2W livestream recently by comedy writer Amanda Graham (@AGComedy). Amanda specialises in rebellious, irreverent, female leads going against nonsensical power structures. She has various projects in development (including with… Read More »Top 10 Tips On How To Break In As A Screenwriter This Year

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10 Simple Steps For Revising Your Draft

So, You’ve Finished Your Draft! Congratulations, but you still have work to do: revising it!! But where to start?? If you are feeling overwhelmed, then check out these 10 revision pointers for novels or screenplays. They can act as a handy checklist for revising your draft. Good luck … 1) Wait! First up, do NOTHING. That’s right … Just let that novel sit in a drawer or on your computer’s desktop. Do absolutely zilch with it, for a couple of days (minimum) or weeks (preferred) or months (maximum). Let your subconscious bubble away, revising any of your story’s problems as… Read More »10 Simple Steps For Revising Your Draft

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Top 5 Mistakes Writers Make Writing School Scenes

Prepare To Get Schooled! You probably went through the school system, so that means you know how to write a school-based scene, right? Nope …. Even if you only left school recently, the chances are that things have already changed. It’s important to do your homework if you want to get 10/10 for authenticity. Here’s my top 5 mistakes I see in school scenes with suggested alternatives (FYI – this is based on the British school system, so be sure to do your research on your own country). 1) Teachers arriving and leaving school at the same time as their students… Read More »Top 5 Mistakes Writers Make Writing School Scenes

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An Epic Rundown of the LSF365 Live Script Edit Pile

LSF365 Live Script Edit 2020 So, it was the B2W LSF365 Live Script Edit last night! I have been doing the Live Script Edit for the festival for years now. I’m never failed to be impressed by the plucky writers who offer up their pages for dissection in this session! Seriously, let’s all be upstanding for them … Round of applause! LSF365 is the first time I did the session virtually. This year, I got 52 submissions. This is not the most I’ve ever received for this session, but it’s definitely up there. This gave me a crazy idea … ‘What… Read More »An Epic Rundown of the LSF365 Live Script Edit Pile

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15 Awesome Tips For Cutting Down Your Page Count

All About Cutting Down Page Count Cutting down scripts is an essential tool of the trade for writers. Last week I had to cut a script down from 138 pages to the required 104. Losing 34 pages is no mean feat, but most of us will have to do this at some point … Some writers will find themselves cutting down even more! I’m a writer who continually overwrites (I’d rather have too much than too little). This means cutting down page count is a skill I’ve developed over the last few years. Here’s my top tips on how to do… Read More »15 Awesome Tips For Cutting Down Your Page Count

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10 Quick Tips About Writing Non Linear Stories

Non Linear Stories My non linear novel, Never Have I Ever, is out this week. To celebrate, I thought I’d put non linearity under the microscope, since Bang2writers LOVE to write books and screenplays with this much misunderstood craft element. Ready? Then let’s go … 1) It’s all about story, not stylistics If you want to write a non linear story because it’s ‘cool’, STOP. Does your story *need* to be non linear?? This is one of the questions I ask as a script editor … and 9/10, the answer is NO. Don’t think stylistics, but STORY here – concept… Read More »10 Quick Tips About Writing Non Linear Stories

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CHEAT SHEET: How To Write A Logline

Logline Mistakes ‘Logline help’ is one of the top searches that lead writers to this blog. There’s loads of advice online about how to write a logline, but unfortunately writers still find it extremely difficult. It’s tough to know what the most important things are in a good logline. What should we include? What should we leave out? Yikes! All this means writers end up making lots of logline classic mistakes. The biggest is probably describing ‘around’ the story, meaning the writer is being too vague and/or not focusing on the most compelling bits of the story. You can find out… Read More »CHEAT SHEET: How To Write A Logline

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23 Powerful Examples of Character Motivation

What Is Character Motivation? Characters need a motivation for their behaviour in screenplays and novels. But what is character motivation? I like this definition from Reedsy: ‘Character motivation is the reason behind a character’s behaviours and actions in a given scene or throughout a story. Motivations are intrinsic needs: they might be external needs and relate to survival, but they might also be psychological or existential needs, such as love or professional achievement.’ Breaking it down then, good characterisation refers to WHO (the character); WHAT (their behaviour); and WHY (character motivation). Character Motivation In Movies And Novels With the above… Read More »23 Powerful Examples of Character Motivation

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How To Challenge Stigma In Your Writing

Stigma Subjects Stigma is defined in the dictionary as ‘a mark of disgrace or infamy; a stain or reproach, as on one’s reputation’. Sadly, there are many subjects and things that have a stigma attached, even in today’s more enlightened times.  Two such stigma subjects include suicide and rape, especially when it happens to young men. Did you know: That 84 men under the age of forty five in the UK take their lives per week? (Stats HERE). 75,000 men in the UK per year – yes, 75K! – were estimated to be sexual assault survivors, with 9K victims raped (or… Read More »How To Challenge Stigma In Your Writing

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FOCUS ON FORMAT – When To Use Captions

What is a caption? On a screenplay, ‘captions’ are those bits of text you may see flash up on screen – i.e.: 24 HOURS EARLIER NEW YORK DAY 32 COLONY 1, THE MOON BAGHDAD, IRAQ INSIDE DEREK’S LOWER INTESTINE You know the ones. You will have seen them countless times whilst watching movies, TV dramas, sitcoms, documentaries and even short films, web series, sketches, YouTube reviews etc. Lots of Bang2writers ask me how to format these. Well, it’s pretty simple. You just need to write: SUPER: [Caption you want to put in] Apparently, ‘Super’ is short for ‘Super impose’. This… Read More »FOCUS ON FORMAT – When To Use Captions

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25 Mistakes That Send Your Screenplay To The Trash

Don’t Get Sent To Trash If you don’t want your spec screenplay moved to trash, you need to read this post. A lot has changed since I became a script reader back in the early 00s … the biggest being PDFs are now the ‘main’ format of spec scripts. Back when I began, they were on PAPER! I would have to stay in all day and wait for the courier to stagger up my driveway with a sackfull of them. Nowadays, I just get sent a link to a Dropbox folder. Aaah progress! I’ll be teaching Breaking Into Script Reading… Read More »25 Mistakes That Send Your Screenplay To The Trash

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