Category: Opinion

Peggy Bechko on How to NOT Sell Your Script or MS

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by Peggy Bechko

Most of us want to know how to do it, not how not to do it, but if you know the big DON’Ts you’re a whole lot more likely to get the DOs right.

We might as well admit it, we’re all ‘eager’ when it comes to finding a berth for our babies and selling our work. And, eager is okay, but top that with professionalism and now you’re going somewhere.

So what are the don’ts? For starters when you pitch don’t tell a movie producer the script should be a novel as well and don’t tell a publisher ‘my book should be a movie’. Don’t tell them the manuscript will result in a book that’s a bestseller or that the movie will be a blockbuster. No one can predict that outcome. Only result from such claims will be (if they’re polite) deeply patient sighs. Let’s face it, if someone could predict blockbusters and bestsellers they’d be a dime a dozen. You’re no more likely to predict it than they are. Good luck. So let’s just skip that one. read article

Peggy Bechko on Creating Characters We Care About

Hey, we remember this guy!
Hey, we remember this guy!

by Peggy Bechko

Have you wondered how a writer goes about creating characters his or her readers will actually care about?

There are lots and lots of ways and as many approaches as there are writers. It’s simple and yet difficult. The writer wants a relationship with the reader. It’s as simple as that – and as difficult.

Characters drive the story and every character in the story your favorite writer creates must have a desire. It doesn’t matter what that is, it could even be as simple as new car, a new job, a new girlfriend or just a glass of water.  Lack of desire equals lack of story. read article

Why are the stories in video games so bad?

Time now to pursue the second most pressing mystery in video gaming. (The first, of course, being: “Why does my PC keep freezing just as I finally start getting somewhere in this $#@! game?”)

heavyrainby Leigh Alexander

People often say they are enthusiastic about games because “they can tell stories”, or because they enable narrative moments not possible in other media. But although there are numerous flashes of brilliance in games, this potential often feels like something they circle, but never attain.

That’s because the act of writing for games and the skillset required is vastly different from what you’d think or expect, and even people who do it professionally, toiling quietly behind the scenes, often seem frustrated at how poorly-understood the work is. read article

John Ostrander on Choosing Your Future!

Choose-Your-Future-Mad-Max-or-Tomorrowlandby John Ostrander

There’s an interesting duel going on at your local Cineplex – two very different views of the future. One is Mad Max: Fury Road and the other is Tomorowland. The first is a reboot of the classic Mad Max films, set in a very dystopian future, while Tomorrowland is based, in part, on a section of Disneyland. (While that might seem a bit thin a premise on which to base a film, keep in mind that the initial Pirates of the Caribbean was based on a ride at Disneyland and, the initial film at least, was delightful.)

While I haven’t yet seen the latest Mad Max incarnation, I know its predecessors very well and the trailers have certainly more than suggested that it’s the same landscape. Tomorrowland posits a city founded by the likes of Jules Verne, Thomas Edison, Nikolai Tesla, and Gustave Eiffel. In some parallel dimension, they created a utopia where the best and the brightest from all walks of life, art as well as science, can come and are encouraged to do anything they can dream. The four recruit other scientists and dreamers with a pin that has the letter “T” on it. It’s supposed to be science although for all extents and purposes, it’s a magic talisman.

I’m not going to do a review of either film but I am interested in the two contrasting visions of the future. Tomorrowland acknowledges the problems facing this world, any of which could lead to a dystopian future but it maintains that this future is not inevitable. As the villain in the piece, Governor Nix, maintains what makes it inevitable is that humanity embraces that dystopic vision, even runs towards it, because it is easier. All we have to do is nothing. Changing it requires doing something. I think doing something requires belief that the actions will have a positive effect, that the future can be changed, that it all can be made to work. read article

Diane Vaccarelli Sees SECRETS AND LIES

Did he do it? Sorry, gang, but we aren't telling.
Did he do it? Sorry, gang, but we aren’t telling.

Everyone Has Those Little Secrets
by Diana Vaccarelli

My favorite genre to watch on television is suspense.  Secrets and Lies follow the aftermath of the murder of a young boy name Tom Murphy.  The show is told through the eyes of Ben Crawford, played by Ryan Phillippe, whose world is turned upside down as he is the prime suspect but claims his innocence.

Phillippe portrays Ben Crawford as a sensitive nice guy always looking to do the right thing even when the right thing gets him in trouble. He establishes a poise and grace even though you can see the frustration on his face.  Phillippe manages to change his mood when his family is in the room, mainly his youngest daughter Abby.  He does everything he can to assure them that everything is going to be okay.

When he is alone you can see the anger building and tension and then he flips the switch. This is where he shines in the role. He makes that seem so easy, which we know is not as an actor. It is a rare gift. read article