Snippets of a great screenwriting course are now available online.

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This has little to nothing to do with story theory or structuring a screenplay, but it was too good a find to simply let slip by. Besides if you’re a fan of amazingly great writing then you’re familiar with Deadwood and will have no problem allowing me this quick yet fascinating digression.

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Main Characters generally start out a story with everything worked out. Although they may have some deep-seeded problems, as far as they’re concerned, everything is hunky-dory. Until of course, that pain-in-the-ass Impact Character comes along and ruins everything!

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Using this theory to analyze great films or TV series is not always an easy thing to do. Unlike other story paradigms which simply seek to find out whether any “commandments” or rules are broken, Dramatica is chiefly concerned with deciphering the author’s original intent. It’s always nice then when you can have your analysis verified by the original writers…

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Nowadays, photographic evidence isn’t enough. With the advent of Photoshop and digital photography, anyone can claim ownership of the truth. In order to convince someone that a conspiracy exists, even one related to something so inconsequential as story theory, the whistle-blowers of today need cold hard facts and an airtight case.

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Everyone wants to know “Do any professional screenwriters use Dramatica?” Well, I’m here to tell you that I’ve found irrefutable evidence that the answer to that question is “yes.” The proof lies in one of the better episodes of The X-Files - “Milagro.” And like Mulder used to say, “The truth is out there,” you just have to know where to look for it…

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There are elegant ways to introduce the Subjective Story in your screenplay…and not so elegant ways. Examples of both can be found in two films from last year: Pirates of the Caribbean 2 and Notes on a Scandal. Care to guess which one handles this important introduction in a beautiful and artful way?

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Powered by a meteoric performance from Denzel Washington, Training Day offers up a complete and riveting story. An analysis of the film and in particular, a deleted scene available on DVD, proves that no matter what you do, the storyform will always win out.

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Some time ago I was introduced to the storytelling concept of the Impact Character. While the theory book did a decent job of explaining it, it wasn’t until I saw the following video montage that the concept became painfully obvious to me.

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