The Indestructibles film journal #7: Inventing Something New

The seventh installment of The Indestructibles film journal has been published at the Apex blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

Has Everything Been Done?

The question I keep asking myself as I plan the shots for the film is: Is there a new cinematic language to be invented?

I have a problem with the old cinematic language. It’s built for budgets. Everything we see falls under the scale that has Hollywood on one side, goes through almost-Hollywood, down the scale to not-even-close-to-Hollywood which is only a step above just-pure-piss.

The full article can be found here.

The Indestructibles: Coming Soon!

The Indestructibles Film Journal #4: Writer vs. Director

As the shooting day for my independent SF film, made for the web, gets closer and closer, the inevitable showdown between writer and director finally takes place. So what if they’re both me?

The War Begins

There’s a war going on. And it begins every time a film director is doing his job. If the drums of war are missing, the director isn’t doing his job right. I’m happy to report that this war has finally reached the rehearsals of The Indestructibles, my indy, no-budget, epic sci-fi flick for the web.

To read the full article, click here.

The Indestructibles – Poster

Aaron Sorkin and Amy Sherman-Palladino – They’re Ba-a-a-a-ck

Aaron Sorkin, of West Wing and Sports Night (not to mention The Social Network and A Few Good Men) is back with a new TV show, Newsroom. Meanwhile, Amy Sherman-Palladino, of Gilmore Girls, is back with a new TV series, Bunheads.

A few years ago, in my blog The Storytellers, I wrote a few articles analyzing the writing of my favorite writers, these two being among them. What I wrote back then still holds true today. Let’s go back and take a look.

• Here’s why I considered Aaron Sorkin the second best writer in Hollywood (meant in a good way, not a bad way).
• Here’s an analysis of what went wrong and what went right in Studio 60.
• Here’s an analysis of Sorkin and truth telling.
• Now it’s Amy Sherman-Palladino’s turn. Here’s why she and Daniel Palladino are at third place (again, meant in a good way).
• Since we’re reminiscing, here’s an article about the best writer in Hollywood. His name is David E. Kelley. He hasn’t been doing his best work recently, but when he is good, he’s better than anyone.
• Lastly, here’s an analysis of the writing team that made it to fourth place: Denis Leary and Peter Tolan with Rescue Me. One writes perfect pieces, the other gives them soul.

 

Comedy Writing Tips: 7 Articles

In my weekly column/blog at Gamasutra, Story Design Tips, I’ve published a series of seven articles about writing comedy. Here they are:

In Writing Comedy, Part I I introduced my comedy bona fides and gave us a shortcut to writing comedy.

In Writing Comedy, Part II we tackled the first basic element of comedy: Over-exaggeration.

In Writing Comedy, Part III we tackled the second basic element of comedy: Under-exaggeration.

In Writing Comedy, Part IV we tackled the third basic element of comedy: Comic Distress. The difference between dramatic distress and comic distress is the fine line between drama and comedy.

In Writing Comedy, Part V we tackled the fourth basic element of comedy: The comic problem.

In Writing Comedy, Part VI we tackled the fifth basic element of comedy: Distance. The fifth element of comedy, surprisingly enough, isn’t funny.

In Writing Comedy, Part VII we explored the most basic structure of comedy, both in micro and in macro, and the large role logic has comedy.

Enjoy.

Story Design Tips: 5 Articles about World-Building

In my weekly column/blog at Gamasutra, Story Design Tips, I’ve just published five articles about world-building.

Article #1: World-Building Needs Closed Doors.

World-building 101. This time: The world you’re building needs doors that will never open.

Article #2: 2 Fallacies in World-Building.

Creating new worlds means there are things you need to avoid doing.

Article #3: The 3 Building-Block Principles of World Design.

The building-blocks every new world needs.

Article #4: Basing World Design on a World That Works.

The real world is your best resource for creating imaginary worlds.

Article #5: New Worlds Need Dust and Rust.

If you’re designing a new world, don’t make the mistake of making it shiny and perfect.

Article: Why I Write About Women

The online magazine Flames Rising has a new article of mine called Why I Write About Women.

I started my career as a playwright, not as an author.

A long time ago, when I was twenty-four, I wrote an intimate one-woman play. The actress needed to play four women characters in extremely unstable emotional situations. I gave it to a few actresses, to see if they would do it (I sent the manuscript one at a time, of course). One famous actress invited me to her home to talk about the play. It’s not that she wanted to take it, she said when I came, the play was too dark for her; it’s that she needed to see with her own eyes that a man wrote it and not a woman. When I was twenty-four I looked fifteen, so that no doubt made it even more jarring for her. She kept saying how she couldn’t believe a man wrote that play, that a man would know so many things about women.

I’ve been getting that reaction to my plays – and to my stories and books – ever since. I like writing about women characters. I like putting them as lead characters. I prefer it that way, in fact.

 

Read the rest of the article.

Storytelling Tips: Articles for Gaming Companies

I have a new regular weekly blog at Gamasutra, a site for gamers and professionals in video game companies. The techniques of storytelling are often underused, overlooked, or ignored by game companies, which rely more on luck than on professional writers to write a good plot.

So far three articles have been published:

Article #1: How to Build a Mystery Within a Mystery in 7 Steps.

Article #2: How to Plan Big Plot Twists in 4 Steps.

Article #3: How to Turn Games into Art.

Enjoy.

Guest Post: How to Be Truly Original

A guest post at the Mad Hatter’s Book Review asks and answers: How to be truly original? How to come up with original ideas? How to make sure that what you do doesn’t look like anything that’s been done.

Online Article: American SF Authors Vs. Foreign SF Authors

The Article, ‘American Authors Vs. Foreign Authors‘, has just been published at the World SF Blog.

In my last ‘SF From the Rim’ article, I wrote about writing for two cultures at the same time: the English-speaking SF readers and the ‘foreign’ readers. This time I analyze the differences between the English-speaking authors and the ‘foreign’ authors.

Article on Writing (Hebrew): Creating New Worlds, Part II

I had a column, ‘On Writing’, in the Israeli SF magazine, ‘Dreams in Aspamia’. They are reprinted on the web.

Here is a link to the fourth article: Creating New Worlds, Part II.