Playwriting vs. Screenwriting: What's the Difference?

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Playwriting vs. Screenwriting: What's the Difference?

To many people, a play and a movie are strikingly similar in how they tell stories. In fact, many plays are adapted into movies almost seamlessly, it’s a wonder the two aren’t interchangeable.

However, if you are someone looking to write a play or a movie and you’re not sure which to pick, just randomly selecting to write a play because you think it will be easily adapted into a movie is not only a poor idea, but will limit your creativity as a storyteller.

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Why You Don't Want Your Novel Adapted Into a Movie

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Why You Don't Want Your Novel Adapted Into a Movie

For many authors seeing their work go from fiction to film sounds nothing short of a dream. This appeal is not unfounded – how awesome would it be for more people to come in contact with your story? To see your story brought to life? To hear those biting conversations you wrote and painful exclamations become fully realized?

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How to Write Your First Short Film

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How to Write Your First Short Film

As a writer, it takes a lot of courage to try something new. Not only are you facing another blank age, but you also have to deal with doing something you aren't sure will turn out right.

This means that mustering up the motivation to actually write in a new medium like screenwriting can be very difficult, even with tons of resources on how to write a screenplay as a newbie.

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Ten Tools to Help Change How You Think About Storytelling

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Ten Tools to Help Change How You Think About Storytelling

Hi, there! Welcome back to the #StorytellingShift series where I walk fellow writers through the process of learning how to become storytellers. If you're not sure what going from a writer to a storyteller means, hop on over to my first post in the series where I introduce the key to unlocking endless storytelling inspiration as well as the main premise behind the great #StorytellingShift!

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16 Prompts to Get You Thinking like a Storyteller

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16 Prompts to Get You Thinking like a Storyteller

Writing prompts are a fun way to get writing inspiration and beat down writer's block. They're low stress and force you to think in a new way, challenging you and enabling you to find new story ideas. That's why in coordination with my e-course, Swiss Army Storytelling, I've created a list of storytelling prompts to help you not only become a more dynamic storyteller, but also to give you a taste of what you'll find in my course.

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How to Treat the Camera like a Character

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How to Treat the Camera like a Character

One of the major things I think is neglected in screenwriting lessons is the discussion of a narrator. By contrast, when people learn fiction writing, this is almost always brought up. Perhaps it's because for film, when we think of narrators we think of Woody Allen films where he provides information for us via voice-overs or Ferris Bueller's Day Off when he looks at the camera and talks to us. While there are technical film terms for these devices, there is rarely discussion about the other types of narration within the medium, such as omniscient or close-third.

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The Eight Sequence Method

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The Eight Sequence Method

While in many ways the minute-by-minute approach to writing a script feels comfortable - it is in fact just a very detailed three act structure guiding writers when to hit major plot points - for some, this writing approach can feel stressful. Maybe all your scenes are just a few pages ahead of the typical page numbers you're supposed to be aiming for, or maybe you find the entire approach too precise for your taste. Either way, it can get intimidating starting down the 100 blank pages you need to fill without some sort of guidance.

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