Resources
A montage is one of cinema’s most powerful storytelling tools: a rapid sequence of images that compresses time, builds emotion, or shows a character’s transformation. In French, the word montage is used for the position of the Editor. It is that semantically fundamental to the craft of making
Resources
The screenplay format is exacting and regimented. It can intimidate new writers and old pros alike because at some point all of your wonderful ideas need to be transformed into sluglines and action lines and dialogue. But, before you start worrying about translating all of your ideas into screenplay format,
Resources
Parentheticals (also called “wrylies” or “actor’s direction”) are used to clear up confusion about a line that could be read multiple ways: They can also be used to indicate who a speaker is addressing: You will sometimes see them used to indicate action. This is acceptable if the action
Resources
First impressions matter. Discover how to format your screenplay’s title page like a pro.
Highland
Highland 2 has evolved into Highland Pro. It's the next generation of the app, now on Mac, iPad, and iPhone with one subscription and a 30-day free trial.
Inneresting
For this week's rebroadcast, we highlight some evergreen questions from readers in 2007.
Inneresting
Back in 2010, John answered a question about second guessing yourself and deciding what sample to send to a producer if you think your work doesn't match their taste.
Inneresting
In 2007, John came back from a screening of Spider-Man 3 and used his reactions to point to the hurdles a writer can throw in their story's path when relying too heavily on coincidence.
Highland
In Highland Pro, you can change the colors of just about anything. Use one of our built-in themes, or create one exactly to your taste. In this short video, I explain how themes work, how to create a custom theme, and how to share your creation with others. Here'
Highland
Highland Pro’s /lookup provides short, inline answers. Building it required early design decisions.
Inneresting
In 2009, John answered a question about how to choose between the different stories competing for your attention, and gave an example of one time he didn’t need to choose just one. I know you have addressed this type of question to a certain extent, but I was left
Inneresting
Just how early can you tell a script isn’t going to work? To me, it’s as the first few characters are introduced. If character introductions are not done artfully, the odds of anything else in the script being great are slim. That’s James Cameron’s terrific script