“I pressed the button on the phone and the first sound I heard in the headset was a child sobbing. She was barely able to speak, kept saying the same thing over and over…”I just want it to stop.” It was Monday morning 7.30 am. My very first call as a ChildLine volunteer counselor.
Continue readingPeople who want a rich full life might be better off pursing play rather than wealth to get all that will make them happy.
Continue reading#WritingAdviceWednesday – Coming of Age films, as I define them, are Power of Idealism films.
Continue readingThe obstacles in a film or television series should create the kind of risk, peril or danger that pushes the character to take actions that define what is most fundamentally important or true in a character’s life.
Continue readingA character should be forced to make a stark, definitive and active choice. As one value is ultimately chosen, the character finally negates or surrenders the other contrasting value. What price is paid for the character’s choice?
Continue readingToo often characters seem to have emotional amnesia, especially when off stage for a couple of scenes. What’s a character’s emotional status quo? It’s the emotional temperature of the character when he or she enters a scene.
Continue readingWhenever a character is disappointed, rejected, humiliated or spurned (or has a set-back of any kind), he or she experiences a loss. The question is, how does experiencing this loss reveal character? The loss and grief cycle includes these character revealing steps.
Continue reading#WritingAdviceWednesday – Quit obsessing and start writing.
Continue readingAlways ask yourself– What would make the situation more impossible? What would torture your character more intensely. Then make the strongest choice. Ramp up the conflict. Make it more personal. The higher the stakes for the character the more the audience cares about what happens next.
Continue reading#MondayMusings – Internet Television needs to evolve
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