BlueCat Writers Blog

  Does your script have an awesome title? Yes? BlueCat celebrates the art of creating the unforgettable title with our annual Title Contest and we invite you to enter now! Every script entered by August 4th is eligible for our Title Contest, and all scripts will...

Your characters compel you to be honest, and this creates a challenge. The actions of the characters make your story. Writers often focus on plot, structure, theme, dialogue, description, amongst many other elements, but the success of your script and your story rely...

What are the reasons you write? How did you become a writer? Why do you continue to write? My first memory of writing was an assignment by my second grade teacher. She asked us to write a story.  I remember the strange and wonderful feeling of being able to make...

Can you write your script in one month? The answer is yes. Will your project be ready for production? Probably not. But the key to writing a producible story is actually writing. Yes, i know, that's a trade secret that we don't necessarily want everyone to know, but...

Writers want success, but how do you define it? Is it writing enough to pay your bills? Is it writing to find an audience, regardless if you make enough money or not? Maybe you want to be famous or win an Emmy or Oscar. Any writer would probably welcome all of these...

Successfully constructed drama delivers emotion. When a story delivers emotion, people watch it. Watching great television shows and movies helps writers learn how to write an emotionally engaging story. The emotional impact of Game of Thrones on its audience made it...

On Tuesday, April 30th, BlueCat held its Short Film Festival at the Landmark Theatre in Los Angeles, California for the second year in a row. A total of 13 short films were selected for screening. The 13 selected short films spanned multiple genres ranging from horror...

Writers often feel powerless in the face of pursuing their goals. They feel helpless in the face of a business they perceive to be difficult to enter and succeed. We fight off overwhelming feelings of confusion when developing our stories. It becomes frustrating to...

Rewriting is the difference between your dreams and where you sit today. Over the years, I have employed different approaches to successfully rewriting my script. Here are 13 tips to get your project into the shape you need to receive financing to produce, attract...

Professionals are teachable. They do not lock into patterns and habits and methods. We need to always look to see where we fall short, and we must remind ourselves over and over what served us in the past. After two decades of writing scripts, I have now come to a...

As a writer, I often forget something------writing creates more writing. If I write, the act of writing inspires new ideas and places for my characters to go, turns I did not imagine for my story at all. Writing is so much stronger an act of development than thinking...

Nearly every writer reading this is in the same place-----we haven't finished our script! There's something creating a roadblock to completing our draft. It could be the final script or the first draft, or one of many rewrites. Either way, we are miles from where we...

I recently confronted myself over the idea of how willing I am to write. I talk about myself as a writer and it's a big part of my identity. I'm a writer. And I work the way I do and approach my work with a certain attitude that does not tend to change much over time....

Why are you writing? When you write well, why does it make you feel good? If we are writing solely for our own benefit, what is the benefit? Writers who pursue material gains and popularity can write the same quality of scripts as writers who write to gratify their...

Black Friday Weekend Specials!Scripts Feature Screenplay $65 Pilot (Hour) $60 Pilot (Half-Hour) $55 Short Script $50 Short Films  Get 35% off your short film submission!  Use Discount Code: SHORTBF2019  Written Analysis Enter your script by Monday, November 26th...

Most people when they start writing scripts sit down and write like they are writing a novel or a love letter or something beautiful. This is not screenwriting. Screenwriting is closer to the writing of a recipe for pumpkin bread than a novel by Eudora Welty or...

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), the people who give out the Oscar, do a wonderful thing every year. They give Oscars to short filmmakers! The Oscar for Best Short Film (they give out two---Live Action and Animation) provides undiscovered...

Writers often wonder what idea they should choose to develop their next script. What idea will actually lay the foundation for an amazing story? What idea will be best for your career? What is the best idea out of all their ideas, which all seem to have equal appeal?...

Animated short films are transcendent. A memorable one transcends time, age, gender, language and all the other beautiful intricacies that make us human. When we enter the magical world of an animated short, we forget about what sets us apart and remember what brings...

Gordy sits down with the cinephiles and hosts of Battleship Pretension to discuss the importance of subverting audience expectations and why great screenwriting is not above films like The Meg. "If you generate emotion and an abundance of it, it's going to generate...

One of the most common and personal questions I am asked by writers is whether I think they have what it takes to make it as a writer. Do you think I'm good enough? Should I quit writing? Do you think I should even bother? This is probably the most popular question I...