Just creating amazing characters in a memorable world, and writing a story with an original voice still isn’t enough to start a screenplay. A novel, maybe, but not a script. The prose writer has freedom to use anything, go anywhere, use any tense, and explore any point of view. Screenwriting, however, is essentially filmmaking on paper. It’s a visual medium after all, so the screenwriter must write in PRESENT TENSE - only what the audience can SEE and HEAR. Imagine sitting in the theater yourself and seeing your words as the reader would. If you write a scene…

There was a time when I wasn’t so sure a theme was necessary in writing a good screenplay. All you needed was an interesting character, who wanted something badly, and was having trouble getting it. That was it. If we had someone to cheer for, with a clear goal, and lots of conflict and obstacles, the script would work. And if someone asked, “What’s it about?” I would dish out a logline: “It’s a comedy about a nice guy who turns to a scheming lady’s man to help transform him into a womanizing jerk in order to win the girl of his…