Industrial Scripts - Industrial Scripts®, Screenwriting and Screenplay Consultants

7.9

OPINION: The Perks & Pitfalls of Low Stakes Screenplays

June 25, 2017

Is it possible to have a film that tells a story without conflict? Conventional wisdom would say no. However, this doesn't mean that every film needs a world-ending threat. It is possible, but difficult, to tel...

8.5

GENIUS CHARACTER REVEALS: Cosmo Lawlor (SING STREET)

Industrial Scripts

June 25, 2017

Articles, Craft, Film, Genius Character Reveals

In our Genius Character Reveals series we examine scenes and moments where a film or TV show reveals a tremendous amount of character information in a compressed amount of screen time. This instalment focuses o...

6.2

OPINION: Writing a character sacrifice that works

Industrial Scripts

May 25, 2017

Articles, Craft, Opinion

A character sacrifice is a difficult moment to get right. Audiences today are incredibly cine-literate. They've seen it all before, and can tell when a film or TV show has used storytelling shortcuts. Still,...

8.8

GENIUS CHARACTER REVEALS: Dale Cooper (TWIN PEAKS)

Industrial Scripts

May 25, 2017

Articles, Craft, Genius Character Reveals, TV

In our Genius Character Reveals series we examine scenes and moments where a film or TV show reveals a tremendous amount of character information in a compressed amount of screen time. This month's instalment f...

7.3

20 Kathryn Bigelow Quotes Writers and Filmmakers Can Learn From

Industrial Scripts

May 19, 2017

Articles, Classic Quotes, Listicles

Alongside an eclectic filmography that includes vampires in NEAR DARK, surfing in POINT BREAK, and war in THE HURT LOCKER (though as yet fails to combine them), Kathryn Bigelow is the first (and, as of ...

9.4

The Insider Interviews: Stuart Hazeldine, Part II

Industrial Scripts

May 15, 2017

Articles, British Film, Film, The Insider Interviews

The Insider Interviews series started in 2010 as a set of recorded interviews, featuring the likes of Tom Hiddleston, Gareth Unwin, who produced THE KING’S SPEECH, Ben Wheatley and Hossein Amini, the ...

8.9

John Carpenter Quotes and Lessons for Screenwriters

Industrial Scripts

May 15, 2017

Articles, Classic Quotes, Listicles

15 John Carpenter Quotes Writers & Filmmakers Can Learn From John Carpenter entered film wanting to make cowboy films. He claims that horror as a genre found him, not the other way round. Ironically, tho...

7.4

Why Screenwriters Need to Look at the Big Picture of Script Coverage Fees

Industrial Scripts

April 27, 2017

Articles, Business, Opinion

Writers at the start of their career have a lot to contend with. For one, they get called 'emerging', something better done from swamps or during childbirth than at the start of a creative endeavour. For anothe...

7.3

Is the Subtle, Theme-rich Screenplay Dead?

Industrial Scripts

April 27, 2017

Articles, Didactic, Film, Opinion

The plot-light, theme-rich screenplay is often - at the script development stage at least - unfairly maligned with the phrase 'nothing happens'. But there are many that more than make up for that 'nothing' with...

7.3

OPINION: When Screenwriters Should Unsettle Audiences

Industrial Scripts

April 23, 2017

Articles, Craft, Film, Opinion

There's an old Hollywood saying to writers that if you want to send a message, use Western Union. The idea is that audiences want films to entertain them, not to make them think. Studio heads and producers didn...

Minnie Goetze (Bel Powley) - The Diary of a Teenage Girl

7

GENIUS CHARACTER REVEALS: Minnie Goetze (THE DIARY OF A TEENAGE GIRL)

Industrial Scripts

April 23, 2017

Articles, Craft, Genius Character Reveals

In this series we look at scenes and moments where a film or TV show has revealed a great deal of character information in a short amount of screen time. This instalment focuses on Minnie Goetze (Bel Powley) fr...

7.6

The Insider Interviews: Camille Gatin

Industrial Scripts

March 29, 2017

Articles, British Film, The Insider Interviews

THE INSIDER INTERVIEWS: CAMILLE GATIN The Insider Interviews series started in 2010 as a set of recorded interviews, featuring the likes of Tom Hiddleston, Gareth Unwin, who produced THE KING'S SPEECH, Ben Whe...

9.5

50 Quotes About Defiance Every Screenwriter Should Live By

Industrial Scripts

March 27, 2017

Articles, Classic Quotes, Film, Inspiring

Screenwriting often runs the risk of turning into plate-spinning – following narrative rules; trying to appeal to an audience; trying to appeal to a producer; trying to be original; trying to meet genre expecta...

create intrigue in screenplays - the ultimate guide

8.8

The Top 5 Story Questions That Pique A Human Being’s Interest

Industrial Scripts

March 27, 2017

Articles, Craft, Film

If a story doesn't pose a dramatic question, you're probably reading a shopping list. Story questions are the narrative equivalent of a sales pitch, the means by which we're convinced to stick a story out inste...

9.2

OPINION: Screenwriters Should Consider the Cinema Experience

Industrial Scripts

March 21, 2017

Articles, Craft, Didactic, Opinion

It's a cliché, but the entertainment industry is an industry. Show business is a business. It behoves screenwriters to remember this and to consider why write films in the first place. What makes the cinema exp...

Holland March (Ryan Gosling), THE NICE GUYS

8.1

GENIUS CHARACTER REVEALS: Holland March (THE NICE GUYS)

Industrial Scripts

March 21, 2017

Articles, Film, Genius Character Reveals

In this series we look at scenes and moments where a film or TV show has revealed a great deal of character information in a short amount of screen time. This instalment focus on Holland March (Ryan Gosling) fr...

9.1

GENIUS CHARACTER REVEALS: Tom Reagan (MILLER’S CROSSING)

Industrial Scripts

February 28, 2017

Articles, Craft, Film, Genius Character Reveals

In this series we look at scenes and moments where a film or TV show has revealed a great deal of character information in a short amount of screen time. In this instalment, we focus on Tom Reagan (Gabriel Byrn...

8

OPINION: Crafting Convincing Teenage Characters

Industrial Scripts

February 28, 2017

Articles, Craft, Opinion

A major problem with crafting convincing children and teenage characters is that as we grow up it's too easy to forget what it's like to be young. Whether a project is aimed at children, teens, adults, or a ran...

9.5

The Insider Interviews: Emily Leo

Industrial Scripts

February 18, 2017

Articles, British Film, The Insider Interviews

THE INSIDER INTERVIEWS: EMILY LEO The Insider Interviews series started in 2010 as a set of recorded interviews, featuring the likes of Tom Hiddleston, Gareth Unwin, who produced THE KING'S SPEECH, Ben Wheatl...

8.9

The Insider Interviews: Rebecca O’Brien

Industrial Scripts

January 31, 2017

Articles, British Film, Film, The Insider Interviews

THE INSIDER INTERVIEWS: REBECCA O'BRIEN The Insider Interviews series started in 2010 as a set of recorded interviews, featuring the likes of Tom Hiddleston, Gareth Unwin, who produced THE KING'S SPEECH, Ben W...

8.4

OPINION: Flashbacks and the (Rare) Stories that Need Them

Industrial Scripts

January 25, 2017

Articles, Craft, Opinion

One of the major exceptions to the oft-repeated "show, don't tell" screenwriting rule is the equally common received wisdom that screenplays should avoid using flashbacks. The criticisms are familiar from sc...

8.8

GENIUS CHARACTER REVEALS: Ricky Baker (HUNT FOR THE WILDERPEOPLE)

Industrial Scripts

January 25, 2017

Articles, Craft, Film, Genius Character Reveals

In this series we look at scenes and moments where a film or TV show has revealed a great deal of character information in a short amount of screen time. In this instalment, we focus on Ricky Baker (Julian Denn...

4.8

The Genius, Multi-Conflict Opening of THE GODFATHER PART 2 Script

Industrial Scripts

January 12, 2017

Articles, Craft, Film

There are, broadly speaking, two ways to convey conflict: implicitly and explicitly. The former involves illustrating some kind of dissonance through setting, silence, the way one character looks at another; th...

9.1

The Insider Interviews: Colin Vaines

Industrial Scripts

December 30, 2016

Articles, The Insider Interviews

THE INSIDER INTERVIEWS: COLIN VAINES The Insider Interviews series started in 2010 as a set of recorded interviews, featuring the likes of Tom Hiddleston, Gareth Unwin, who produced THE KING'S SPEECH, Ben Whea...

8.8

The Insider Interviews: Sarah Radclyffe

Industrial Scripts

December 29, 2016

Articles, British Film, Film, The Insider Interviews

THE INSIDER INTERVIEWS: SARAH RADCLYFFE The Insider Interviews series started in 2010 as a set of recorded interviews, featuring the likes of Tom Hiddleston, Gareth Unwin, who produced THE KING'S SPEECH, Ben...

7.1

Nostalgia: Finding the Future of Film & TV, in the Past…

Industrial Scripts

December 28, 2016

Articles, Business, Opinion

From looking down 2016's box office results, it's clear that a certain trend shows no sign of stopping. Sequels, remakes and reboots abound, tapping into audience nostalgia to massive success. Family animati...

8.8

GENIUS CHARACTER REVEALS: John McClane

Industrial Scripts

December 28, 2016

Articles, Craft, Film, Genius Character Reveals

In this series we look at scenes and moments where a film or TV show has revealed a great deal of character information in a compressed amount of screen time. In this instalment we focus on John McClane (Bruce ...

9.6

10 Screenwriting Lessons We Can Learn from…BOOGIE NIGHTS (1997)

Industrial Scripts

December 22, 2016

Articles, Craft, Film

Like much of Paul Thomas Anderson's work, the BOOGIE NIGHTS screenplay has an odd structure, divergent POV and a hefty length, yet every page of it is full of worthwhile lessons for screenwriters. Here are t...

7.8

Should Screenwriters Write “Omnisciently”?

Industrial Scripts

December 14, 2016

Articles, Craft, Didactic, Investigative

To write omnisciently as a screenwriter often entails, for better or worse, including elements that may never show up onscreen: jokes in descriptions or insights into characters' thoughts and histories that onl...

8.5

10 Screenwriting Lessons We Can Learn From…ANGEL HEART (1987)

Industrial Scripts

November 29, 2016

Articles, Craft, Didactic, Film

Alan Parker's ANGEL HEART is an odd blend of genres, taking noir, psychological thriller and horror to a three-way shotgun wedding. The screenwriting lessons it can teach us are similarly diverse. The basic plo...

8.7

10 Thriller Screenplays You Probably Haven’t Read, But Should

Industrial Scripts

November 29, 2016

Articles, Craft, Didactic, Listicles

As a genre, 'thriller' tends to gently caress several others, namely horror, sci-fi, and drama. As such, thriller screenplays provide a goldmine of various narrative and structural techniques. These may well b...

6.6

Why Screenwriters Should Always Consider a Second Act Subplot

Industrial Scripts

November 28, 2016

Articles, Craft, Film, Opinion

While first and third acts pose their own challenges, it’s in the weeds of the second act that many scripts (and movies for that matter) go astray. Introducing a second act subplot can be a strong solution, if ...

8.8

The Brit List Scripts 2016

Industrial Scripts

November 22, 2016

Articles, British Film, Business, Film

As reported by ScreenDaily, The Brit List (a kind of contained, sporadic knock-off of The Black List) was released today. Reportedly more than 80 producers, agents, distributors and sales agents from the UK ...

7.4

GENIUS CHARACTER REVEALS: Annie Wilkes

Industrial Scripts

November 22, 2016

Articles, Craft, Film, Genius Character Reveals

In this series we look at scenes and moments where a film or TV show has revealed a great deal of character information in a short amount of screen time. This installment focuses on Annie Wilkes (Kathy Bates) f...

9

10 Script Notes You May Choose to Ignore…

Industrial Scripts

November 11, 2016

Articles, Craft, Didactic

Whilst advocating the deflection of script notes may be a strange thing for a dedicated script consultancy to do, the truth is that there is a great deal of bad advice handed out by script consultants at the mu...

9.2

10 Great Sites to Download Movie Scripts

Industrial Scripts

October 31, 2016

Articles, Business, Film, Inspiring

Smart and serious aspiring screenwriters not only watch a lot of movies but read a lot of movie scripts. Studying the craft is an invaluable part of the learning and developing process. Thanks to the internet, ...

6.4

10 Minor Characters Who Still Have a Great ARC

Industrial Scripts

October 31, 2016

Articles, Craft, Didactic

One facet of screenwriting which causes writers enormous headaches is conveying a lot with a little. Studying great minor characters is one way of learning this kind of efficiency. From minor characters to fin...

8.9

GENIUS CHARACTER REVEALS: Jim Donovan (BRIDGE OF SPIES)

Industrial Scripts

October 21, 2016

Articles, Craft, Genius Character Reveals

In this series we look at scenes and moments where a film or TV show has revealed a great deal of character information in a short amount of screen time. In this installment, we focus on how BRIDGE OF SPIES int...

9.4

Unresolved Plot Threads: Magic or Madness?

Industrial Scripts

October 21, 2016

Articles, Craft, Didactic, Film

Endings are crucial. The feeling an ending gives an audience is the feeling they leave the cinema with. It's the feeling that will colour their perception of their whole experience and the whole film. How do u...

7.7

The 10 Commandments of the Accountable Screenwriter (DOWNLOAD)

Industrial Scripts

October 3, 2016

Articles, Craft, Didactic, Free Resources

There are two kinds of rugby player", the legendary Scottish coach Jim Telfer told his players, "there are the honest ones, and there's the rest. The honest player gets up in the morning and looks himself in th...

9.5

10 Films That Skillfully Persuade You to Invest in Their Protagonist’s Goal

Industrial Scripts

September 29, 2016

Articles, Craft, Film, Listicles

10 Films That Skillfully Persuade You to Invest in their Protagonist’s Goal In 9/10 cases the protagonist is the driving force of a successful film narrative. We invest in their story because we identify with ...

Kate Mercer (Charlotte Rampling) in 45 Years

9.8

GENIUS CHARACTER REVEALS: Kate Mercer

Industrial Scripts

September 21, 2016

Articles, British Film, Craft, Film, Genius Character Reveals

In this series we look at scenes and moments where a film or TV show has revealed a great deal of character information in a compressed amount of screen time. Writer-director Andrew Haigh followed up his acc...

Anachronisms in the Alex Cox film Walker

8.8

OPINION: Screenplay Anachronisms Can Bring the Past to Life

Industrial Scripts

September 21, 2016

Articles, Craft, Film, Opinion

Films that are set in the past are often judged for their authenticity. The "goofs" section of IMDb is overrun with anachronisms: this porcelain wasn't made until six years later; or this character shouldn't ha...

8.5

14 Brilliant Uses of Setting AS Character in Film and TV

Industrial Scripts

September 13, 2016

Articles, Craft, Listicles

Ask yourself this: what is a setting? Really think about it. Is it just a backdrop on which to stage the events of your story? A static playground, conveying only time and place? Or can it be something more? S...

9.4

25 Francis Ford Coppola Quotes Writers and Filmmakers Can Learn From

Industrial Scripts

September 13, 2016

Articles, Classic Quotes, Craft, Inspiring, Listicles

25 Francis Ford Coppola Quotes Writers and Filmmakers Can Learn From Francis Ford Coppola is one of the greatest writer-directors to come out of the so-called "New Hollywood" wave of filmmaking, having made TH...

9.6

How to Write “Mythically” but Avoid Cliche – The ULTIMATE PDF Guide

Industrial Scripts

September 9, 2016

Articles, Craft, Didactic, Free Resources

Writing mythically with cliché is relatively easy: watch a couple of films, read a couple of books then regurgitate the obvious stuff: quasi-religious story world, the quest, the mentor, initiation, testing, th...

9.1

20 Great James Cameron Quotes on Storytelling

Industrial Scripts

September 7, 2016

Articles, Classic Quotes, Craft, Film, Inspiring, Listicles

20 Great James Cameron Quotes on Storytelling With a filmography that boasts the likes of THE TERMINATOR, ALIENS, and THE ABYSS, James Cameron is undoubtedly one of the finest genre filmmakers and storytellers...

7

10 Almost-Great Screenplays

Industrial Scripts

August 31, 2016

Articles, Craft, Didactic, Listicles

An almost-great screenplay can be more frustrating than a really bad one. The potential is strong and the execution is almost there, but something went wrong at the final hurdle. Of course, it's easy to pick...

8.1

OPINION: Hacking Films Don’t Have to be Boring

Industrial Scripts

August 31, 2016

Articles, Film, Opinion

Computers are not the most interesting subjects. Anyone who's had to watch someone else type very slowly into a search bar can attest to this. In a visual medium like film or TV, this frustration multiplies. Wh...

9.5

GENIUS CHARACTER REVEALS: Mark Watney

Industrial Scripts

August 31, 2016

Articles, Film, Genius Character Reveals

In this series we look at scenes and moments where a film or TV show has revealed a great deal of character information in a short amount of screen time. THE MARTIAN was adapted by Drew Goddard (writer-direc...

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