BlueCat Writers Blog

The aspiring screenwriter understands how we should behave when we meet people in a business environment. Treating producers, managers, lawyers, cast, and crew with respect and grace goes a long way to advancing your career. But what is the successful character of...

There is a significant debate over whether to write for television or write movies instead. We are in a new golden age of television -- peak TV. And we can all agree movies are not in a classic period of cinema.  Many writers have gravitated to writing for television,...

Have you ever received feedback on your script that included the suggestion to "raise the stakes"? It's a common note----raising the stakes. Do you know what it means? At first glance, we would think the reader is telling us to make what's at stake for your characters...

Writer's block is not a mysterious condition that a wizard creates for writers. It's not a magic spell with no way out. Getting stuck as a writer, be it in the first draft or 10th, can be very difficult to face for writers, but the solutions to your problems are not...

How often do we hear, “There’s nothing new under the sun” or “Hollywood is just plain out of new ideas”? And yet, how often do we find ourselves, as movie-goers (more specifically, writers that happen to be movie-goers), pleasantly surprised when the movie we’ve just...

Nothing makes an action-adventure film pop quite like a well-timed joke. Whether it’s John McClane quipping while crawling through air vents or a killer robot from the future learning how to smile, a properly placed joke helps add dimensions to an action story and...

Short filmmakers run into a number of challenges when they start off to make a short film. Some are hesitant to get started because they've never made a short film before, even if they've written a feature script or a television pilot. How is making a short film...

Query letter. The very sound of those two words sends many a writer spiraling into an ocean of sad panic. Like no matter what you write it's not going to sound right and why try anyway? Do query letters work? There are a lot of people that will tell you that...

Receiving feedback on your script is often frightening. Waiting to hear what someone thinks can be awful in and of itself. Why did you even give it to this person? What a stupid idea. Why are they taking so long? It must be awful. Why did I want to receive feedback on...

Screenwriting Reddit AMA with Gordy Hoffman Gordy Hoffman, Founder and Judge of the BlueCat Screenplay Competition, dropped by the Screenwriting subreddit for an AMA on all things screenwriting. Below are some of the highlights from the discussion. The full Reddit AMA...

In this episode of The Dave Bullis Podcast, Gordy Hoffman, Founder and Judge of BlueCat, elaborates on what it is like to be an educator in the screenwriting world. Gordy, who has taught screenwriting classes at USC & UCLA, in addition to offering his own courses,...

The stories we love begin with characters we love. Audiences seek stories that provide meaning to the emotional struggles of life. This identification begins with people living life, with all its challenges. Why do people pay money to sit in a dark room to watch...

Paul Thomas Anderson, one of America’s greatest living filmmakers, recently made rounds on social media to promote his new film Phantom Thread, starring Daniel Day-Lewis in his final screen performance, Lesley Manville, and Vicky Krieps. He participated in an AMA on...

Making Movies is Hard-Screenplay Competitions and Written Analysis In this episode of Making Movies is Hard, Gordy Hoffman, Founder and Judge of BlueCat, discusses how a screenplay competition works and how it can launch careers. Gordy says BlueCat has grown into its...

Want to write a kids movie? Here are 5 questions to consider when approaching the genre. Most of us remember the movies of our childhood with great fondness, especially the ones we couldn’t get enough of, repeat viewing until our parents reached a breaking point. We...

Screenwriters, be it for any screen or any audience, look to become better storytellers every time they set out to write. The humility to question and challenge our methods for writing is crucial for the professional. When we become unwilling to learn more, we stop...

"Finish writing your screenplay!" Does that sound familiar? Is someone you know yelling that at you all day long? Is there any chance that someone might be you? There are a million reasons you’re not finished writing your screenplay. You have lots of explanations for...

Are writers born with a special gift for writing dialogue? Does having an "ear for dialogue" really exist? Some people say there are writers that simply possess a knack for writing dialogue in the same way a basketball player is blessed with height, like winning a...

Writing a short film script changed my career. That’s how important it is. People do not see a demand for short film scripts in the marketplace, so they don’t write them. But writing a short screenplay can prove to be very helpful in showing how good of a screenwriter...

Making a short film is vital to the development of the filmmaker and screenwriter. But how do you do it right? If you’ve decided you want to make a short film, it might seem obvious. Write a great script, raise money and resources to produce your screenplay, cast...

Screenwriting podcasts have become quite popular and so useful over the years and we love them so much. Many BlueCat writers listen to them religiously and gain great insight from the broad range of topics they cover, be it business-related or focused on the task of...