Last night I conducted the final event of the screenwriter-in-residence program, part 2 of the rewrite workshop for writers who submitted scripts. About 20 writers joined me to spend an hour and a half going over all the tasks required for a rewrite. I’m not going to try and duplicate my seminar, (complete with Powerpoint […]
Last Wednesday, I held the first of a two part rewrite workshop for writers who submitted scripts to the residency. I had asked some of the writers whom I’d met to go over their submissions to send me a 5 page excerpt from their script to work on during the workshop. What I hadn’t told […]
I spoke to a group of aspiring screenwriters at the Toronto Film School today and as I was leaving, one of them asked me, “Syd Field or Robert McKee?” I replied, “Aristotle.” Whatever Syd Field, McKee or all the other cats making a fortune writing how to write a screenplay books have to say was […]
Someone posted a comment on this blog requesting advice on raising the stakes. I’ll try and explain what this means. Often producers will read scripts–or really their lowly readers will read scripts–and complain about the stakes. Many of the scripts submitted to the library that I’ve been reading suffer from either low or unclear stakes. […]
Last Saturday May 31, 16 kids aged 12-14 took me up on my offer to try to teach them something about screenwriting. I called the workshop, “Writing the 1 minute movie” but I found the kids able to do far more than that. So I took a chance and introduced them to some of the […]
I made a video record of the panel discussion I moderated with fellow screenwriters Janet MacLean, Malcolm MacRury and Cal Coons on May 15 at the Library. It’s just a static shot of the panel from about midway in the room, so it’s not fancy, but you will get an account of what happened. One […]
This link will take you to an interview with me for the North York Town Crier paper about my position as screenwriter-in-residence. Thankfully, I’m quoted accurately!
If you do get your screenplay in the hands of a production company or broadcaster or studio willing to read it, it’s unlikely that anyone you might want to meet there will read your script. What they will read is the coverage. Coverage is a document provided by a reader of your screenplay or TV […]
Thursday, May 15 at the Toronto Public Library. Over 75 people turned out to hear 3 of Toronto’s top screenwriters (pictured from my left, Janet MacLean, Malcolm MacRury and Cal Coons) respond to queries about their work and their creative process. I was thrilled by the turnout and want to express my appreciation to the […]
Thursday, May 15 at 7 PM, in the 2nd floor auditorium of the Toronto Public Library, 5120 Yonge Street, I’ll be moderating a panel of Canada’s finest screenwriters, Cal Coons, Malcolm MacRury and Janet MacLean. Collectively we have written many hours of film and TV and I’m excited to get all 3 of these talented […]