The Story Department – Story. Screenplay. Sale.

Next year, I will have worked in the screen industry for 40 years, in various capacities, from movie critic to screen rights buyer to producer and writer. These days, I have been primarily consulting and lecturing privately and at a handful of film schools...

For 10 years, Michael Sweeney has been a script reader for Netflix and other producers. In this interview, he talks about working for Taylor Sheridan’s 101 STUDIOS, the impact of A.I. on screenwriting, how streamers changed screenplays, what he is currently...

Screenwriting books evangelize the importance of theme, without properly investigating thematic structure. They rightly identify that it’s the source of meaning in a story. It’s what separates great scripts from good ones.
But the same books invariably call for a thematic sentence, then move on as quickly as possible to a new topic. Why?...

https://youtu.be/PdZ76H7exZw
Pacing is critical. Rush through the story, and viewers struggle to understand what is going on. Slow down too much, and they get bored. How do you manage the pacing and rhythm of a story? Can you fix it in post?
Let’s go back a few decades....