ScreenwriterGuy.com

Revised version of a posting originally from May 8, 2007. – Sometimes the title of a post speaks for itself. Here are my thoughts about some of the worst changes to Television over the last 25 years or so. #10.  Inescapable commercials Commercials are going to be a theme for this list. We’ll start with [...]

Yesterday I posted about whether it makes sense to move to L.A.  Ready to pack your bags?  Keep in mind it’s easy to have the wrong preconception of what life in L.A. is like, given that every movie you’ve ever seen set here announces its location with the same three establishing shots: the Hollywood sign, [...]

Geeks everywhere have been wondering whether Ronald D. Moore and company, now universally loved by critics for turning the 1970s sci-fi cheesefest Battlestar Galactica into a relevant and beautiful allegory for the 21st century, would be able to work their same magic on an even cheesier sci-fi show. So far, the answer seems to be [...]

Tutoring is slow over the summer, but I do have a couple of students I’m working with. One of them is a teen doing something of a writing intensive. To reinforce varying sentence structure, over the weekend I had him write 20 sentences of several different types. One of the resulting efforts was this sentence: [...]

Last month I posted a comedy monologue for women I had written on a lark. I was surprised by the immediate reaction it received. I wound up talking to several female friends with acting backgrounds who agreed wholeheartedly that it’s tough to find good comedic material for women. The screenwriterguy.com stats seem to back up [...]

Death may be the one aspect of life that shows up LESS on television than in reality (excluding, of course, those shows that start every episode with one, where it is featured far MORE than statistically plausible.) Death can be a taboo subject, perhaps harkening to more superstitious times when to name was to invite [...]

You know how we frequently go see a movie not because of its genre, or who made it or what it’s about, but because of who’s in it? I’ve been thinking about which performers have earned my trust, such that their involvement alone is enough for me to believe I will see a great movie. [...]

Since this week marks my one-year anniversary living in the City of Angels, I thought I’d post some of what I’ve learned about this town in which I’d rather not dwell, and the industry that keeps me dwelling here. Following are my top ten observations of things you just don’t see anywhere else but La-La-Land. [...]

With this posting I make a promise to you and to myself that the following lines shall never make their way into my writing. I’m not targeting clichés like, “What seems to be the problem, officer?” because people overuse them in real life as much as they do in movies and TV. Instead, the below [...]

A brand-new blog is born! I’ve taken a cowardly route, selecting a safe, cushion-y first posting topic. See, instead of putting forth my list of BEST movies, or even the ones I think have the Best Writing or Best Use of a Talking Rat in Act Three, I’m offering my FAVORITES. I’m hiding behind a [...]