BlueCat Writers Blog
Interview with Pen Densham
The Producer: Pen Densham of Trilogy Entertainment Group Pen Densham is a man of many hyphenates. Along with Trilogy Entertainment Group partner and co-founder John Watson, he has created 15 films, including Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, and more than 300 hours of...
Interview with Jim Burke
THE PRODUCER An Interview With Jim Burke by Heidi Haaland The stories favored by award-winning producer Jim Burke (Election, Kingpin, The Descendants) could stampede an entire herd of the entertainment industry's most sacred cows. No one meets cute, talks cute, does...
Interview with Deepak Sethi
I met Deepak Sethi at Mel's Diner on Sunset Boulevard. It's the kind of 50's throwback restaurant where they force all the wait staff to wear little paper caps and make a big deal out of the fact that when you order a milkshake they give it to you in the big metal can...
Kubrick’s Boxes
I watched a movie on Kubrick's boxes last night. The master would prepare so completely and with such great detail, he left behind thousands of boxes of photographs, notes, memos, fan letters and blank stationary, all collected and stored meticulously in service of...
You’re an Idiot: Making Value from Reaction to your Screenwriting
If you're like me, if someone doesn't like something about my screenplay, my very first reaction is always the same.You're not as smart as me. If you knew what I knew, you would understand what I wrote. And you don't understand what I wrote, because you don't know as...
The Rogue Knight of Cinema: Why Screenplay Contests Matter
Screenplay contests are changing cinema. Coming from a person who runs one, your first reaction to this statement is most likely, "The only reason you're saying that is you want me to enter yours."Or more frankly, "You just want my money."Well, coming from one who...
You are the Box Office Smash: The Personal Screenplay
Right this very second, in the heart of every struggling, undiscovered screenwriter, in the dark, hidden corner deep within, there is a voice, a clear whisper, saying one thing:You're never gonna figure this out.And this is not referring to the story with its gaping...
Naming Your Baby: How to Find a Great Screenplay Title
How exactly does one work on their screenplay title? I recently came up with such a wonderful idea for a movie, one of those miraculous moments, like finding money on the sidewalk. I told somebody, and they said, "Great. What's the title?" Suddenly, and rather...
The Heart and Soul of Screenwriting: Writing good dialogue and description
Writing dialogue and description is writing a screenplay. You can argue about format and tab margins and what to capitalize and what not. I won't. Dialogue and description is where the experience of screenplay for your reader lives. We write screenplays to make...
Discovering the Great Movie Idea for Your Next Screenplay
I am lucky. I have no problems coming up with very good ideas for movies. If I never had another idea for the rest of my life, I would not make a sizable dent in the ones I already have. Screenwriters who struggle with coming up with an idea tend to be visibly annoyed...
Screenwriting Tips from a Screenplay Contest Judge
After cracking hundreds of screenplays sent into the BlueCat Screenplay Competition, the same problems in the execution of the story and script continue to emerge. Here is a general overview of these persistent issues.Do you realize what you're saying??In the theatre,...
How to Start a Screenplay: Treatment or Free Fall?
Starting a screenplay can sometimes be as hard as finishing one. Impatient to pull up to the front door of a classic motion picture, I want to get everything right so quickly. This impatience challenges my trust in the work, the creative process of screenwriting. What...
Writing the Classic Movie Ending (How to Finish your Screenplay!)
I've only finished so many screenplays in my life. Writing a script all the way to the very last page is always an extremely significant, personal achievement for me. A large part of its significance is the reality that I actually wrote an ending, or, at the very...
Rewriting your Screenplay: The Road to your Audience
The promise of the rewrite is very sweet. I have collected evidence that the more authentic the labor put into rewriting your screenplay, the greater the reward, and the reward is high, for whatever lovely, wonderful moments you might have discovered in...
Prisoners
Vicki Speegle Testimonial
Watching the performance of my script at Screenplay Live was an experience I'll always treasure. Hearing the words being brought to life by a talented director and actors is what every writer wishes for, I think. It's why I write, and getting to experience that at...
Ryan David Jahn Testimonial
Screenplay Live! allowed me something most unproduced screenwriters never get: the ability to see my work performed in front of an audience. It was an invaluable, learning experience to see an audience react emotionally to a story that, until then, was only the page....
Kathy Garcia Testimonial
BlueCat's hard work and dedication really comes from a sincere wish to help the writer, but most importantly, the story. Not only did these readings help me to 'experience' my script and pinpoint where it needed work, but they also helped it to become real for me, not...
Kelsey Simons Testimonial
It was such a great experience to see my script read in front of an audience, and to see that people actually 'got it.' (I wasn't sure they would). BlueCat did a remarkable job hashing out all those details in what seemed like a very limited amount of time, and there...
Nelson Chipman
Gordy's affable good nature makes everyone feel comfortable at the table, creating a family for the afternoon. He uses his extensive knowledge of story and his passion for the craft to help those screenwriters find ways to improve their work. At the end of the day,...
Fang Dong
During my graduate cinema studies at USC, one of my script writing professors, Professor Hoffman, taught me not only how to develop and write a good story, but also how to use my own eyes to discover the people, the life and the world created in my stories. Hoffman...