3 Worst Ways To Start A Story - Steve Douglas-Craig

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After graduating from the AFI, Steve was recruited by Sony Pictures Entertainment to work as a Story Editor & Acquisitions Executive for the Worldwide Acquisitions team in Los Angeles where he received an induction into story & business development, feature film packaging, domestic & international distribution, theatrical marketing & product acquisition. He helped develop & shepherd film titles including Terminator: Salvation, The Book of Eli, Django Unchained, War Room, Don’t Breathe (Sequel current in post-production), the Insidious horror movie franchise, Manchester By The Sea, The Grudge (reboot), Searching, Arrival, Whiplash, The Call, Attack The Block & many others (including TV releases - The Tudors, House of Cards).
Steve's tenure at Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions was followed with a promotion to Senior Story Editor & Creative Executive at Screen Gems where he was involved in the development & release of theatrical titles like the recent releases of Monster Hunter & the adaptation of James Herbert’s novel - The Unholy. Before that he helped shepherd Black & Blue, The Intruder, Possession of Hannah Grace, Brightburn, & Slender Man. He was also heavily involved in developing content strategies that attracted financiers & talent to specific projects for the studio.
Steve is also a professional screenwriter having worked as a freelance staff writer for the hit CBS TV series Hawaii Five-O over a number of seasons & currently has a pilot & several feature films (including a creature feature) going out through his literary managers in Los Angeles.
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18 июн 2024

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Комментарии : 513

@filmcourage Месяц назад

Here is our full interview with Steve - ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-adVxPaj17rU.html

@OmniTron1000 6 месяцев назад

The "write what you want to see" advice is some of the best advice you could possibly get. It's ALWAYS obvious when something is written in service to what the writer thinks an audience wants. It's not writing at that point, it's a boring, lifeless shopping list.

@PhantomFilmAustralia 6 месяцев назад

The mantra "Write what you know" doesn't apply to the people who are willing to put in the research and to interview and to investigate a world foreign to them. You can "Write what you know" or write about anything so long as you "Know what you write."

@OmniTron1000 6 месяцев назад

@@PhantomFilmAustralia Very true. Not really what I’m talking about though. If you want to research something new to write about, it’s still coming from a place of interest and genuine passion. Which is a good thing because you’re still “writing what you WANT to see”.

@VixxKong2 6 месяцев назад

@@PhantomFilmAustralia "Know what you write" is a perfect advice

@DaxterL 6 месяцев назад

@@PhantomFilmAustraliaI've heard a better version "write what you feel" when you write characters and moments you understand emotionally, you'll know what you're doing

@PhantomFilmAustralia 6 месяцев назад

@@DaxterL That's basically writing what you know. You know how you feel when you're in a situation. You know your own emotional intelligence. Any blanks are filled with other's experiences or your own imagination.

@supernatural7690 6 месяцев назад

Finished my debut novel. I simply wrote the book that I couldn't find to buy. A book I really wanted to read.

@Venejan 6 месяцев назад

I really think that's the way to go about it. After all, if you really want to read your book, somebody else very probably will want to read it too! But if even you don't genuinely care, you'll never find anyone else who will.

@PaygunFGC 6 месяцев назад

What’s the name of it? Can’t just say that and not give us a way to find it 😂

@supernatural7690 6 месяцев назад

@@PaygunFGC It's just back from.the publisher for me to proof read . Found 12 errors that need to be fixed before we go to print. It's little things like a miss spelling or a double space between words, nothing serious but I want the book to be the best it can be. So with this in mind it'll take a short while to fix and re set the book. If anyone is at all interested i'll put it here when available. My pen name is WH Sayle and the book is called None Forsaken. Thanks for the interest

@pracujemynadprojektem6932 6 месяцев назад

Good luck mate

@supernatural7690 6 месяцев назад

@@pracujemynadprojektem6932 thanks

@SysterYster 6 месяцев назад

I also think "over marketing" is a problem these days. When I was younger, you'd get one trailer, and it didn't really reveal a lot. Nowadays, if you watch the 50 trailers and the 30 trailer teasers, you no longer need to see the movie, 'cause you already know everything that's gonna happen and you've seen the best and most exiting parts already. That's why I avoid trailers nowadays, 'cause they ruin any suspense or surprise I could have gotten from a movie.

@aarkmish8087 6 месяцев назад

I love the trailers for movies from the 90s.

@SysterYster 6 месяцев назад

@@aarkmish8087 Saaaame!

@BostonsF1nest 6 месяцев назад

Well yea- because if you’ve watched 50 trailers you’ve essentially watched the entire movie. I don’t think watching one is going to spoil anything. I’m not big into trailers to begin with. I usually know after hearing a certain movie is coming out whether or not I’m gonna see it. The best trailers were always the ones they showed before the movie started at the theater. As a teenager I always loved that part of the experience.

@fiktivhistoriker345 6 месяцев назад

I guess the problem is that most movies nowadays don't tell a story except "good vs evil". They are a conglomeration of action scenes, and that's what we see in the trailers.

@LiorVolf 6 месяцев назад

@@BostonsF1nest Netflix's trailers show everything in one video

@trazz407 6 месяцев назад

I had the pleasure to meet the band Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, phenomenal jazz and swing band, and I asked the lead vocalist/songwriter if he has any tips for a young writer, and he said he only writes songs that he wants to listen to, so you should only write what you want to read. That really stuck with me, and it's something that all writers should realize.

@dm_ex_machina3395 6 месяцев назад

Woah, crazy seeing two interests overlap like that. The internet is awesome. Great band, a lot of fun.

@befelto8450 6 месяцев назад

“You’re like a big bear, man”

@GoldenWolf115 6 месяцев назад

@@dm_ex_machina3395pretty sure Josh Homme said something similar, and that has stuck with me for years.

@ratatoskrnuts6354 5 месяцев назад

I love that band, great stuff

@12DAMDO 6 месяцев назад

"write the movie you want to see" EXACTLY! too many writers these days write stuff based on what they think would be analytical successes without any love for the genre or the franchise... personally, i know what i write is obscure and some people might even hate it, but the things i write are exactly the stuff i'd like to see in for example an animated adaptation..

@5Gburn 6 месяцев назад

I can't imagine the drudgery of writing something I'm not entertained by. It's difficult enough when you love the story.

@Ranesbane 6 месяцев назад

I agree. I told a friend about a vampire novel I was planning about 7 years ago and he said oh you shouldn't write that cause vampire stuff isn't popular anymore. I said I don't care what's popular. I have a story in my head that I want to get out cause I want to read it

@12DAMDO 6 месяцев назад

@@Ranesbane ignore your friend, i would totally want to read that

@andreidragostin 5 месяцев назад

The problem is the screenplay is often the movie the writer wants to see and then it ends up with studio people who changed it to what they think the audience wants to see. Maybe they even have focus groups and numbers to support their decisions, they're still very bad. I believe there's hundreds of movies ruined by test audiences.

@BooksForever 6 месяцев назад

The Lord of the Rings seems to violate these suggestions, but it is clearly a special case.

@Haplo-san 6 месяцев назад

Do you mean the movie LOTR? I don't think so, you only see and get to know 3 characters until the birthday, 3 more in the birthday, 1 more in The Prancing Pony, 1 more on the road to Rivendell, 4 more in the Rivendell, 3 in the Lothlorien and that's all the characters for the first 3 hours long movie. But in the Game of Thrones, only 50 minutes long first episode have this much of a character and it keeps increasing each passing episode. You watch different stories happening in the different geographics, geopolitics, north, south, east, west, cities and kingdoms all together. Rules are recipes for copycats who are looking for easy money. With a recipe, everyone can cook mediocre meal and with a recipe everyone can write mediocre story. And I hate mediocre entertainment. 99 Percent of a time, it's all same.

@BostonsF1nest 6 месяцев назад

A lot of great movies do lol. The Godfather, Heat, Reservoir Dogs, the Killing of a Chinese Bookie. If it’s entertaining, ppl will watch it. The absolute worst way to start any movie tho is with an extended opening credits sequence.

@daeocdomren9471 6 месяцев назад

Book to movie (and in LotRs case, cartoon to movie for the 2nd trilogy) is a very different beast than straight to film. Books already have a following; you just have to actually deliver, so there's a higher risk and higher reward. HP or LotR vs. Percy Jackson or Eragon.

@davidbishop5359 6 месяцев назад

Watch the prologue sequence again. There is only one viewpoint character. "But the power of the Ring could not be undone." "The Ring passed to Isildur..." "And the Ring of Power has a will of its own." "It betrayed Isildur to his death." "And the Ring of Power perceived...its time had now come. It abandoned Gollum." The Ring is the viewpoint character. Gandalf is the one viewpoint character for the sequence that follows.

@Izzythedestryr 6 месяцев назад

This is the reason i don't like lord of the rings despite having a lot of things i really like in a story

@Tre_Storm_Art 6 месяцев назад

I know he's a screenwriter, but I love fantasy stories with like 6 main characters who are often in different countries.

@KMJoshiMusic 6 месяцев назад

I take it you like Malazan Book of the Fallen then! :D

@Tre_Storm_Art 6 месяцев назад

@@KMJoshiMusic Honestly not really. I still haven't finished the first book because it just felt like big things that should impress me were happening but nothing that was making me care. In that first book at least, all he does is flash names and places and events in front of the reader without explaining what any of that actually meant. Then like 10 chapters later, a character comes back in, and I already forgot that heard their name earlier from a background character without any context. The character introductions were underwhelming at best and the events so far seem interesting but like I stepped into a better story in the middle of the climax. I can see how if I can get through it, I might grow to love the series.

@KMJoshiMusic 6 месяцев назад

@@Tre_Storm_Art I get what you mean. I'm currently reading the Stormlight Archive. It's a massive story but beautifully written. You should give it a try if you haven't already.

@Tre_Storm_Art 6 месяцев назад

@@KMJoshiMusic one of my favorite series. I highly highly recommend the First Law series, the gentleman bastard's sequence, and the wheel of time if you haven't yet. The first two are much more grim, closer to A Song of Ice and Fire than Lord of the Rings, but genuinely brilliant series'. If brutal descriptions aren't your thing, Wheel of Time is the largest and in my view the best epic fantasy out there. If you like Sanderson, you'll be glad to know that he wrote the last three books with the original author's notes and he grew up on the series.

@KMJoshiMusic 6 месяцев назад

@@Tre_Storm_Art I read the Wheel of Time in 2017 or so. I absolutely love it and consider it my favorite alongside the LOTR. That series is how I learned of Brandon Sanderson! It's too bad Robert Jordan didn't get to see it to the end, though. I love The First Law too. But I haven't read the Gentleman Bastard's sequence. I'd never even heard of it until now! I'll give it a shot when I get some time to get back to reading. Have you read Mistborn? It's wonderful.

@stephenflood3463 6 месяцев назад

This was great advice for me in relation to setting up my story intro. It took me near 15 pages to introduce the concept, tone, style, point of view, and main character. But now, thanks to this video, I know I must narrow it down and make it more concise. I just can't express my gratitude enough for finding this wonderful channel. Thank you film courage.

@formulaic78 6 месяцев назад

In my latest I set practically all of that up in a wordless half a page scene on page 1. I then turned my character's world upside down on page 2 and then again on page 5. Then as we watch my character navigate this new world I introduce her normal life pre topsy turvy world through flashback scenes. Only took me twenty years to craft such an opening.

@stephenflood3463 6 месяцев назад

@@formulaic78 Weldone to you on eventually getting it right. One must refine, refine, refine, until it is perfect.

@jonathanrivlin6248 6 месяцев назад

If this helps, one tip from a published author (can't remember who) said that after you write your first few chapters to chuck out your first chapter and have your story begin with the second chapter. I wouldn't do that personally, but the concept is instructive. Good luck to you!

@jonathanfranco8547 6 месяцев назад

@@jonathanrivlin6248I was literally thinking of doing this, though I haven't heard it as advice.

@CamRebires 6 месяцев назад

That anecdote about not knowing who you are is powerful, good stuff

@Goldfishliberationarmy 6 месяцев назад

My man has three first names, no wonder he feels strongly about introductions

@themercer4972 6 месяцев назад

"write what you want to see" - Do not write what a committee or algorithm tells you will be popular, because it has ALL the trendy elements in it.

@SDIBINGA 6 месяцев назад

More from this guy PLEASE!!

@filmcourage 6 месяцев назад

Much more to come! Here is everything with Steve we have published this far - tinyurl.com/y6ybw9mc

@AllThingsFilm1 6 месяцев назад

These are excellent points. I've seen these type of bad openings many times. His point on having too many characters is also ignored many times. When there are too many characters, they don't receive enough screen time to tell us who they are. So, I end up not caring about any of them. Setting up the main character at the beginning also makes it easier to establish the theme of the story. It's usually through the eyes of the main character that we get the first glimpses of the mood and theme to come. On the effort side of writing, I think it's important not to rush yourself in writing or outlining your story. Recently, after setting aside a story I was working on for a couple weeks, ideas for the character's experience and others he would interact with started to surface. Now, I have so much more to work with for the character and the story. One good way to avoid starting a story in a bad way, is to not force yourself to write. Take a break. Go back to your story after a few days or weeks. You will see the beginning of your story much clearer by doing so. Film Courage is a blessing. You always share inspirational suggestions through excellent interviews with thoughtful writers and creators. Thank you.

@emmanuelsekyere8792 6 месяцев назад

I remember watching an interview where Anthony Mackie comments that the movie star era is "dead", and most people would want to see a movie tied to a popular IP rather than starring some talented actor. Decades ago we would go see this movie or that movie because of Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jean-Claude Van Damme or Eddie Murphy, and I agree.

@matt2matt21 6 месяцев назад

Steve is fantastic. I would love to see the longer interview.

@filmcourage 6 месяцев назад

More to come! We look forward to posting the entire interview as soon as we can!

@arzabael 6 месяцев назад

This does channel has the best format ever though/video release structure

@filmcourage 6 месяцев назад

Not sure we have ever gotten that feedback. Nice to hear!

@5Gburn 6 месяцев назад

@@filmcourageI concur 100%. You see so many interviews nowadays--side-by-sides and split screen (Zoom, for example)--where the interviewer steamrolls over the guest. You do a fantastic job of keeping the focus on the guest.

@filmcourage 6 месяцев назад

Thank you @5Gburn!

@FabiusandGertie Месяц назад

It truly is incredible how good this channel is. Thank you!

@ybra 6 месяцев назад

I think a good place to start a story is by having the main character trying to achieve something (and failing to do so can even be a plus). It gives you opportunity to introduce the character through their actions, rather than just talking about who they are, the good old "show, don't tell". It also shows the protagonist is active in trying to pursue their goals. It also gives you the chance to either set the tone of the story or even kick start the main plot right away. It also forces you to introduce the world by the character interacting with it, rather than having a long info-dump about the world.

@DAMON409 2 месяца назад

Doesn't have to be so well defined. You can simply introduce them in their present state of mind and general circumstances which can be done mostly visually.

@ch355_ 6 месяцев назад

my first time ever to hear from this gentleman. it was really great info and clearly explained. thank you so much for sharing!

@filmcourage 6 месяцев назад

Glad you enjoyed it! Here is everything we have published with Steve thus far - tinyurl.com/y6ybw9mc

@pacificostudios 6 месяцев назад

"CASABLANCA" (1943) doesn't even show Humphrey Bogart until 10 minutes into the film, and the sign for "Rick's Cafe Americain" is just a piece of the background when Strasser's airplane lands. Capt. Renault is the first main character shown, followed by Major Strasser. We meet Bogey when he is playing solitaire chess. Ilsa and Laslow enter half an hour from the start. Yet "Casablanca" is a fantastic film.

@Maazzzo 6 месяцев назад

But audiences in 2024 are completely different than audiences in 1943. He's not saying it can never be done. He's saying it's hard to do it well for the audiences now. Fewer and fewer people are watching Casablanca. Many-- if not most-- of the people born after say 1995 have never seen it.

@pacificostudios 6 месяцев назад

@@Maazzzo I think that streaming and home video are the factors that have truly changed movies. Before home video, movies didn't "start" until 10 minutes in, because filmmakers knew that people would enter the theater after the film started. Now, people can rewind any part they missed before, and no one "comes into the middle of a film" accidentally.

@piercemchugh4509 6 месяцев назад

always someone like you in the comments. That's why he said its difficult to pull off. Not impossible.

@Maazzzo 6 месяцев назад

@@pacificostudios I'd argue it's the internet. We've got devices that give us immediate information, all the time. We've got instant access to the whole world at any moment. That changes attention spans and how we engage with content.

@DAMON409 2 месяца назад

True. The only real rule is to keep the audience interested.

@MacGriggle 6 месяцев назад

Got right to the point in the beginning of the video! Well done!👍

@donnafluff_ 6 месяцев назад

I absolutely love this series. Thank you so much. It's short enough to integrate it in my day and long enough to take away a lot of it. Learning with each video, thank you!

@filmcourage 6 месяцев назад

Wonderful!

@Okinawatrip 6 месяцев назад

Great questions and great responses.

@BostonsF1nest 6 месяцев назад

For a long time I thought Reservoir Dogs opening was horrible. And I loved Tarantino but I just did not give a fuck about what they were discussing in that first scene. Just went on and on and on. I’ve grown to enjoy the movie overall.

@DAMON409 2 месяца назад

It is a terrible opening because it is a boring static talking heads scene. The only reason it got any attention is because it is sexually explicit.

@DarkWorlds 5 месяцев назад

There's no bad way to start a story. Be true to yourself and make what you like, don't change your art for the masses. Full metal alchemist brotherhood has so many characters its insane but its still one of the most thought out and well told story's ever made. Also why can't a horror start funny? lower your guard and give you a false sense of security. A lot of games do this and this bait and switch and I need more of it. Moral of the story. Anything can be good and no one really knows what people want to see. I know they don't want to see the 1000th remake or cash grab. Just be true to yourself and make the best art you can. Don't let anyone tell you what way something should or shouldn't be done. They are only telling you they're very limited and specific perception of how they think it should be done.

@Shadow666_ 6 месяцев назад

Ive grown really tired of the "5,000 years ago the chosen one blah warred with blah blah and then the macguffin came" types of story intro's. Expository introductions typically bore me to tears especially if its about stuff that happened a millennia before the story even takes place.

@dextergarner1286 6 месяцев назад

Agreed. It’s the quickest way for me to get thrown out of a film. Exposition in any point of a film is a sin to me.

@wilky1189 6 месяцев назад

Idk, star wars is pretty cool

@M50A1 6 месяцев назад

💀

@M50A1 6 месяцев назад

@@dextergarner1286i assume you watch cinemasins?

@r2d2rxr 6 месяцев назад

Star Wars opens with droids. The main character comes in later.

@mesalgearsolid 6 месяцев назад

There's always room for exception. This is more of a guideline for the less experienced. Funnily enough, George Lucas should have followed some of these guidelines when writing the prequels. The Phantom Menace is an entire movie without a protagonist and it's garbage because of it.

@SaetiStrakur 6 месяцев назад

Love these videos they are a great help but I feel they gravitate so consistently towards the money making aspect of Hollywood. I'm European and I feel the focus here is very much either artistic or rom/com family friendly local box office movies. So what I want to know more about I guess is the deeper philosophical insights these professionals have rather than the money marketing aspect of it. Again love these videos

@jollimaiahtacksworth 5 месяцев назад

"Once Upon a Time" is a classic tbh

@lloydlim 6 месяцев назад

Very good 3 points. I’ve seen too many films that are frustrating to watch for the first 20 minutes. And I will stop watching or walk out at that point.

@ChimeraLotietheBunny 6 месяцев назад

This is hitting deep with the advice

@pepe6666 6 месяцев назад

yessss this guy speaks the truth. a lot translates to making music too. art in general. make what you want to see. or want to hear.

@BostonsF1nest 6 месяцев назад

The worst way to start a movie is with opening credits that go on for 5 fuckin minutes. Like seriously? That is by far the worst way to start any movie. Just get on with it already.

@NonSenseMcGee 6 месяцев назад

More with this guy please. :)

@James-nv1wf 5 дней назад

Best way for me is a crisis a character is going through and we (the audience) slowly understand what it is. "this time you've really fd up bob"

@PassiveSmoking 6 месяцев назад

"Don't start a story without introducing us to the main character" But in Star Wars, we're not introduced to Luke until 1/3 of the way into the film! I'm not saying that it's bad advice, but do bear in mind that these are guidelines, not immutable rules. There are cases when you can break them and get away with it or even produce a better story as a result.

@BostonsF1nest 6 месяцев назад

I often think it’s bad for writers to listen to videos like these because the whole idea behind writing a movie is creative freedom. And suddenly before you’ve even began writing, you’ve introduced all these ferkakta rules that totally box you into a corner and eliminates any creative flow from happening. There are a ton of movies that don’t follow this guys advice lol and many of the other “experts” advice on this channel.

@derek96720 6 месяцев назад

To be fair, we are introduced to Leia right out of the gate. And she's the other main character in the series. If we aren't following Luke in a scene, then we're following her and Han. The droids are the plot device joining the two.

@pixels_per_minute 6 месяцев назад

I don't think you necessarily need to introduce the main character, but at least a main character. Vader and Leia are both main characters, but Luke is the main protagonist who takes us through the rest of the films after we meet him.

@peterroe2993 6 месяцев назад

The original cut introduced him early but (Mrs Lucas iirc) removed it because it didn't add anything.

@FlecheDeFer 6 месяцев назад

I agree, but I would say that in Star Wars the main theme is good vs evil, and this is clearly introduced to us within the first few minutes. Luke is basically an embodiment of good.

@roundninja 6 месяцев назад

Thought he was talking about books for a second and I was wondering, does he think Game of Thrones or War and Peace are bad? But then I realized this channel is specifically about the film industry and he clearly has a lot of expertise there

@happymaskedguy1943 6 месяцев назад

Here’s the best advice anyone could ever give you about writing. Write. Then write some more. Then some more. Keep writing. And maybe, just maybe, you’ll improve after a few years. Then guess what? keep writing. You’re getting smart enough to stop listening to other people telling you how to write. You start to become embarrassed by your ego. You become humbled. You start to submit stuff. Get rejected. Over and over and over. And then you keep writing. Years pass. Improvements trickle in slowly. And you keep writing, keep submitting, keep learning to laugh at your past self and all your embarrassing pretentiousness. And you write. That is the life of a writer. Deal with it. No video is going to solve the problem for you. And if the work is too much, and you aren’t interested enough to do all this, then it probably isn’t worth worrying about.

@filmcourage 6 месяцев назад

You may enjoy this one - ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-M_teOIKYv1w.htmlsi=FoPV5Jiq_FsH7XG3

@FrenkTheJoy 6 месяцев назад

I think it's always good to point out that you can break these rules and do it well. Think about how long it takes us to actually meet Harry Potter (even longer in the book!). The first characters we meet in Game of Thrones are some nobodies who immediately die and one who dies later, we have like 15 main characters and one of them dies in the first season. Fellowship of the Ring takes approximately seven hundred years to introduce Frodo.

@ybra 6 месяцев назад

I think Game of Thrones is a good example on how to do a prologue right. It sets the tone of the story and establish the promise of the horrors the main characters will eventually have to face. And it does in an actual scene, rather than just an info-dump. Then we get to chapter 1 and meet Bran.

@user-fw1xi4oc5n 6 месяцев назад

Totally true in books too. When the book opens with too much action, and i am just not in vested in "Why?" I know some people like to jump in hard and fast, but I need to know what the characters are doing all this action for.

@Herv3 6 месяцев назад

I struggled to get through the beginning of Singin' in the Rain, but it became one of my all-time favorites.

@DragonMagi 6 месяцев назад

I'm reading the Necroscope series and it takes a LONG time for the main characters to get really established in a way that the reader can relate, especially with the omniscient reader standpoint. I was left trying to guess who the protagonist was for far, far too long. It's definitely getting very interested now that it's hit its stride though.

@mgproductions2007 6 месяцев назад

Honestly some really solid points.

@GFF_Productions 6 месяцев назад

Too many characters is a big one for me but the rest I feel can be okay if done correctly.

@cane6074 6 месяцев назад

Somewhat disagree on the whole big action sequence at the beginning of the movie, James Bond franchise does this all the time with cold starts, though he's right you can set yourself up the fail if you don't do right things afterwards. It can work, but only if you're using it to promise something bigger or beter down the road and delver or maintain momentum or increase it as well as set the tone for the rest of the movie. Good example I'm not doing this right would be 3000 miles to Graceland, the first 30 minutes of the movie were awesome but kind I've lost speed after that.

@EA_Kar 5 месяцев назад

Just finished Diamonds Are Forever, started with one of several villains -- one at the start of the criminal op chain that you sort of hear about after but never see again until the very last bit of the book as both he and Bond are wrapping things up. Terry pratchett also does fun openings Edit: speaking of lucrative across its life, DVD & blue ray need to come back as a default; ppl dont like online long term renting they want to have the thing in their hoard forever rather than worry if it's going to get pulled by the platform etc.

@yapdog 6 месяцев назад

He's absolutely right about introducing too many characters too soon. However, this even applies when your main character is well established. I ran into this recently with the sequel to my novel; beta readers already know and love Jesse Davenport and where happy to spend time with him again (according to feedback), but it was hard to tell who was who with 2 new characters introduced in chapter 3. The problem wasn't that the characters weren't described well enough. It was that there was no time spent getting to know them. However, if I spent pages upon pages giving their backstory, I'd have to reconfigure the novel around them... and the story is not even _about_ them. What was the solution? Introduce each character separately, dynamically. If there is some memorable event associated with each character, having some effect on/with the known character, then they and their names will also be remembered and each would be distinct. Worked for me; I hope it works for you, too. 👍

@Dragonite43 6 месяцев назад

Another good advice is to give each one traits or features that are unique to only them that allows the audience to remember them. For example, X character is disabled, Y character has 3 eyes, Z character has Cat Ears.

@yapdog 6 месяцев назад

@@Dragonite43 I had actually done that, but it wasn't enough. Both characters are intelligence analysts with the FBI, but one is a naturalized Nigerian with a buzz cut; she's has a burn mark on her face as a victim of a terrorist suicide bombing in her home country. She nervously held Jesse Davenport at gunpoint, threatening to shoot him if he didn't back down. The other woman is white and thin with vintage cat eye glasses--she'd also disguised herself as as a quite "singular" woman Jesse Davenport was connected with, just to gain his attention. That ruse didn't go well for her, which is why the other woman pulled out her gun (even though analysts aren't authorized for firearms). You would *think* that that creates a clear distinction between the characters, right? *Nnnnope* .... apparently. The proximity and method of their introduction made them harder to distinguish by name when the main characters weren't involved, even though these women were completely different "on paper." So, yes, do make your characters distinctive, but don't introduce more than one at a time if you can avoid it. However, whether you separate introductions or not, make sure that each has their own distinctive and *significant* impact on the key characters/plot/story. This will create emotional investment with the reader... which is what writing is all about.

@iCarus_A 6 месяцев назад

@@yapdoghmmm, maybe it's actually that they aren't actually distinct "on paper", as in the literal paper of the book. Sure, their appearance and mannerisms are different, but they might not be different *enough* to manifest as different characters in the reader's mind...

@yapdog 6 месяцев назад

@@iCarus_A Aaaand that's why I posted a solution? 🙂 Not every work affords a writer the latitude to, say, add another arm or remove a leg 😅 So, one approach is to focus more on the "how" and "why" of a character rather than the "who." Just for a bit of background: one of my readers has difficulty keeping track of who's who in some popular novels. Some writers, even popular ones, tend to introduce characters, expecting the reader to remember them all. (I've had this issue with Brandon Sanderson) I don't write that way, but this was one instance where she (and others) had difficulty remembering who was who with 2 new characters. Part of the problem is these readers are already quite familiar with all of the other characters, so encountering these new people in this series threw them off a bit. However, with the changes I've made (as described in my other comments), they no longer have that problem.

@ditw_music 5 месяцев назад

It's rather fascinating that The Lord of The Rings: Fellowship of the Ring breaks all three rules of starting a story. We do not meet Frodo until around 7 minutes of backstory/intro. The war of the ring is a massive action set piece during this intro as well as we see the fall of Sauron. We are also introduced to a slew of characters in this timeframe. The funnier thing is, that LOTR is the exception to all three of these rules because it's just so damn incredible.

@MonAhgasInsomniAroELF 5 месяцев назад

to be fair, no rule in writing is absolute. it always depends on what kind of story you're trying to tell, your genre, and how well you know the rules, because only once you know those rules well can you break them without it ruining your story. there's nuance to every rule, they're very dependent on the context. :)

@AETacts 5 месяцев назад

"Dont have too many characters"... Enter Cdramas like The Untamed with 40-50 important characters 😂

@charlessmyth 6 месяцев назад

Good interview.

@filmcourage 6 месяцев назад

Thanks Charles!

@Lippeth 5 месяцев назад

Too many characters reminds me of how fun it was to meet all the students when I read Wayside School as a kid

@pacificostudios 2 месяца назад

There's also something to be said about mystery in an introduction. Remember that "CASABLANCA" was written and filmed under the title "EVERYBODY COMES TO RICK'S," and it wasn't renamed until immediately after the Allied invasion of French North Africa in November 1942. So the original idea is that you walk in the theater knowing you're seeing a film about someone or something called "Rick," you learn that "Rick's" is a swanky cafe, and then you learn how important the place is when Capt. Renault says: "Tonight he'll come to Rick's. Everybody Comes to Rick's." Then the very next scene is the front of "Rick's Cafe Americain." This was the original intention, a long slow burn of clues until the reveal of Bogey playing chess by himself, a scene that raises still more questions. Once you get past the newsreel footage section, "Casablanca" has one of the best ever introducitons.

@PopularMechanix 6 месяцев назад

Inglorious bastards had a ton of intense dialogue at the opening of the movie and it worked perfectly. so there are some exceptions obviously

@aliank9658 4 месяца назад

Thank you

@8523wsxc 5 месяцев назад

Webster’s Dictionary defines Introduction as the act or process of introducing or the state of being introduced.

@RetroBacon1 6 месяцев назад

This guy is awesome

@gregorylagrange 6 месяцев назад

When he said not understanding your audience, did everybody hear that faint "Like Star Wars!" coming from Chris Gore in the background?

@cane6074 6 месяцев назад

That one lands real hard!

@neonspinx 6 месяцев назад

where i get lost is when they say things like "12 million dollar indie movies dont exist" when netflix, and hulu, and amazon are full of them. Where are these movies coming from if no one is making them? They should specify "disney / mgm / paramount arent making 12 million dollar indies. "the mid range movie is dead" translation.. "big studios dont make mid range movies anymore, and i only work in the studio system"

@chrissiem3958 5 месяцев назад

Loved what he said about the found footage craze. I dont necessarily agree with what he said about why they fell out of fashion (ie, the industry changing quickly). I think it fell out of fashion because people---- from execs to writers who wanted fame and not a creative experience---- saw how much money something like the Blair Witch project made (especially since it made a bazillion dollars on a $10 budget.... but my figures might be incorrect 😅) and therefore wanted a slice of that bazillion dollar pie for themselves. And thats when it swings back round to create what you love. Audiences can tell when love hasnt been put into something, and considering storytelling has been a part of the human experince since we had language, I think its part of our DNA---- though we may not be conscious of it---- we are drawn to stories created with love. But I suppose thats just my opinion, not fact 😊

@djd620 5 месяцев назад

Many classic films sometimes don't intro their main character for 15 or so minutes. Star Wars. War Games. Fargo (twice as long to get to Marge).

@earnieboy54 6 месяцев назад

I’ve always enjoyed movies with a deeply flawed main character. People with the best intentions but going about it the wrong way because perhaps they don’t believe fully in their ability or that taking the safe route yields slow results. Growing up in this generation I relate to the whole microwave/entitled mentality of things and seeing the fallout of that lifestyle/mindset is intriguing and also cautionary.

@Ilfrinco 6 месяцев назад

" The night was humid..."

@enthusiasticallyOptimistic 6 месяцев назад

Great interview and insights!!! I love the advice you received about only writing what you would want to go see! It’s so simple yet profound. It’s what’s missing in certain genre movies and tv shows. It’s seems like writers don’t actually enjoy the property itself or the genre as a whole so they try to “subvert expectations “ only to fail to entertain the audience who actually went to the film to enjoy those “expectations“ 😕🤔. I’m looking at you Star Wars!

@travisgames6608 6 месяцев назад

The minute he asked "can Brad Pitt still sell a movie in this country? I don't think he can." My opinion of everything he's said or will say is crap.

@CzechAvailabilitie 5 месяцев назад

The main character of Fargo shows up 34 pages into the script. Which I think works partially because of the "Based on a True Story" conceit allows the audience to accept things being structured a bit differently as it supposedly really happened this way.

@Ghost-27X 6 месяцев назад

1. Failure to Point out the main Character 2. Too big of Action Scene 3. Too many characters :Bounus: 4. Campy horror movie intro scene 5. Too talky.... Write what you love about Market movie well for the right audience

@JasmineJ-SuDirector 6 месяцев назад

Heyyyy Karen!!! Great Video per usual.

@mazuskakazus1534 6 месяцев назад

How does he feel about Robert Altman films? especially Nashville or Short Cuts where there's like 20 "main" characters?

@nobodyinparticular80 6 месяцев назад

When he asked the interviewer if Brad Pitt could still sell a movie and she said “I’d go watch it”, I immediately wanted to ask her when she saw Bullet Train.

@Thenoobestgirl 6 месяцев назад

His voice is really calming 😅

@apersonlikeanyother6895 5 месяцев назад

For me the worst intro is when we are thrown into action without enough context. Just write an interesting introduction. That and writers following formulas. Forget rising action and 2nd act and all that garbage. Just write a great story in whatever structure it needs.

@grimmdanny 5 месяцев назад

My biggest peeve with starting a new novel is the main character being introduced right away, their name, their profession, without me even knowing *who* they are as a character first. It causes me to create a mental image of them right away, and then when more is known about them, it totally changes my mental image of them again. It's already jarring starting something new, but then having to rebuild a mental image multiple times is annoying and I just give up.

@gianni206 6 месяцев назад

The crash of DVD sales also killed movie marketing and business. See Matt Damon's Hot Ones interview for more.

@CASH10K 6 месяцев назад

Yeah he brings up a very good point. Kind of a shame really. Might explain the decline in quality in the past few years in Hollywood

@filmcourage 6 месяцев назад

Can you think of a great movie that has a bad opening?

@BostonsF1nest 6 месяцев назад

Reservoir Dogs

@familycorvette 6 месяцев назад

I can think of two movies i noped out on after about 5 minutes and upon later viewing discovered each to be a little masterpiece. The first was Near Dark: left the theater during the bloodsucking-amidst-the-oil-wells scene. The other was Emily the Criminal: switched off during the opening job interview scene. Both movies were really original and both had really conventional openings.

@erico7655 6 месяцев назад

@@familycorvette"Noped Out" I'm running with that phrase lol.

@SysterYster 6 месяцев назад

Evil Aliens! Though, to be fair, it's a bad movie all the way through, but I still love it. It's very funny and weird. But the beginning is too... much and too bad. But it's just a few minutes, then the fun/good part begins. :)

@BostonsF1nest 6 месяцев назад

Gangs of New York. I thought the opening fight sequence was very poorly edited. The slow motion and the music that plays during it is absolutely horrendous. That whole scene could have been and should have been so much better. Idk what Scorsese was thinking.

@chouderr1089 6 месяцев назад

*breaths out sigh of relief as I realise I didn't do any of these*

@nealandkriz5078 5 месяцев назад

THE LONG GOODBYE has a very nice intro sequence. Nothing fancy, but the main character is laying in bed, without moving. Is he dead? No he just slept over again. And then he proceeds to find food for his cat.

@swickens930 5 месяцев назад

I feel like marketing and making films for cheap is actually easier today more than ever. Most popular podcasts, at most, charge 30-100 Grand for an ad spot. That single ad spot could net as many as 10-30 Million watchers. Some large corporations had their best single days of their company history after doing that. Plus you can market by yourself and a few friends just by spamming stuff on different forms of social media.

@danielberg7644 6 месяцев назад

A good sign for me that a movie will be bad is when they take an action scene that takes place in the middle and they move it to the front.

@jenpachi2408 6 месяцев назад

Do you mind giving me some examples?

@danielberg7644 6 месяцев назад

@@jenpachi2408 yes! Skyline (2010) horrible movie and they made sequels!

@JoeNathanWhite 5 месяцев назад

Not a movie but one of the worst starts to a story (and keep in mind i LOVE these books and have a huge respect for em) is Tolkins Lotr start. Its a really dry historical introduction that is interesting for one minute but then keeps lingering on 😅 You gotta say tho, the world is FUCKING awesome that he built and its worth and probably one of the costs to immense worldbuilding, it takes patience to enter this awesome world

@spencerhinds2803 6 месяцев назад

Rules in art are like laws. You learn them as well as you can so that you can break them 😂

@GrimmFilmEnt 6 месяцев назад

"He helped develop & shepherd film titles including Terminator: Salvation, The Book of Eli, Django Unchained, War Room, Don’t Breathe (Sequel current in post-production), the Insidious horror movie franchise, Manchester By The Sea, The Grudge (reboot), Searching, Arrival, Whiplash, The Call, Attack The Block & many others (including TV releases - The Tudors, House of Cards)." He's not credited in any of those movies and show. Be wary of taking hints from people on You Tube videos. Read successful screenplays, the ones that sold for good money and were made into great movies, that's where you'll find all the advice you need.

@SysterYster 6 месяцев назад

Oooh, The Block is such a great movie! I never see people talk about it though. :) Cool.

@betterdevils8005 6 месяцев назад

1:14 this is so true. The more characters i got rid of the easier my introduction began to flow

@DFMoray 6 месяцев назад

Star Wars doesn’t introduce the main character for a loooong time

@SurferJoe1 5 месяцев назад

This is all about selling and marketing. I'm not a typical audience member, and no one markets to me, but I don't go see genres or stars or successfully executed formulas from the shelves of Samuel French. Just give me a good story well-told, whether it's told with car chases, singing Legos, or chainsaws. For bonus points, give me a character I haven't seen (like Norman Bates, who doesn't appear right away); an interesting structure (like "Pulp Fiction") or say something in a fresh and interesting way.

@edward222100 6 месяцев назад

Lotr breaks many of these rules but has one of the best openings of all time

@user-rd3rf3ft8e 5 месяцев назад

I made a videogame I myself always wanted to play... 90 percent of testers couldn't get through character creation without asking for my help

@Skylark-nu4qt 6 месяцев назад

“Apocalypse Now”-would that be one that breaks the rule a bit?

@lunarmodule6419 6 месяцев назад

"It's was a dark and rainy night..." lol

@matthewstarkie4254 6 месяцев назад

James Gunn's The Suicide Squad manages to do all 3 of these "bad" openings, and does them well. 😄 I'm not sure there really is a type of bad opening, just openings used, or constructed badly. Plus the best storytelling device in the world can become worn out and tired if too many people use it, in too short a time.

@TheEldarGuy 6 месяцев назад

He said it was difficult to do. Not that it should never be done. You can write for an audience and be successful or write for yourself and be prepared that it might never get done. Rocky, if the 'experts' had been right, would never have been made or even done as well.

@TJUC123 6 месяцев назад

Most movie stars can’t sell a movie today. Not even Margot Robbie. People saw Barbie because it was Barbie. No one saw Amsterdam or Babylon or Birds of Prey or even The Suicide Squad. It’s very hard to sell a movie these days because no one is getting up and going to the theater to watch them.

@ozeirGD 5 месяцев назад

This is an advice for Zack Snyder, Michael Bay and for us interested to start a film.

@angryfilmgamer570 5 месяцев назад

While what he says is technically right, it's also wrong in that many movies have started the way he mentions and are considered some of the best films of all time. So really it's a matter of talent and knowing what your audience is willing to put up with.

@vasarian 6 месяцев назад

Thanks Film Courage! I'm trying to get away from ensemble casts.

@nil_nux556 5 месяцев назад

😅I think Infinite Jest is a pretty good standard blueprint right? I've sold zero copies so far btw

@yojimbo3681 5 месяцев назад

Worse way to start a story: Say X amount of time earlier, and have the entire story be a flashback.

@sevenstarred77 5 месяцев назад

I totally understand and respect what you're saying, but that doesn't apply to everyone as far as your rules go. One of my favorite movies of 2020 was TENET directed and written by Christopher Nolan one of films great icons . And an opening of that movie started off with a massive action seen. A elaborate Siege taking place at the Opera somewhere in the Ukraine,but it turns 😢 into a hostage situation- yet the CIA was infiltrating the so-called " hostage" Terrorist situation but it was All 💥RED HERRING . Because the CIA is there to collect PLUTONIUM 241 FROM AN UNDERCOVER INFORMANT THAT THE CIA PLACED TO MAKE THE BUY as they also use the siege to collect their man, and the goods -which is 💥THE MACGUFFIN of the movie. And in that situation the writing it works , so breaking the rules that you claimed in the beginning of your video is best. We see a lot of characters in the beginning scene of that movie but we are not technically introduced to them. So in my opinion is it possible to break your rules if you have unknown plot Point behind each one making the audience believe what we want them to believe but it's not what's going on😮

@NashwoodBand 6 месяцев назад

The whole "star system determines how successful a movie" thought process from the studios pre-production is reductive and outdated... thinking that stars sell a movie is becoming more and more out of touch with the modern movie experience. From an audience perspective, Stars will give you a sense of security, as in "this movie can't be that bad if "ENTER STAR NAME HERE" is in it. However, because of the mass influx of new movies and shows constantly being rotated at theaters and then constantly rotated through the streamers, you need CONCEPT to hook the audience. Star power just lets the audience know where the floor is.

@jamesgravil9162 5 месяцев назад

George R. R. Martin is guilty of mistakes 1 and 2. ASOIAF has so many characters it's impossible to work out who the main protagonist is, and the author himself struggles to keep track of them all. Also, most of the books in the series start with a prologue told from the point of view of a minor character who usually dies and is never seen again. A Clash of Kings, for example, gives us Stannis, Davos, Maester Cressen, Stannis's daughter Shireen, his wife Selyse, the red priestess Melisandre, the fool Patchface, Davos's sons, and more in the first chapter. That's a LOT of characters at once! The TV show simplified things by leaving out Patchface, saving Selyse for a later season and cutting Davos's seven sons down to one. Tolkien is also guilty of introducing a lot of characters at the off. The Hobbit gives us Bilbo, Gandalf, Thorin and eleven other dwarves in the first few pages - the entire main cast. I worry if I'm introducing too many characters in the first three chapters of my fairy-tale novel (I have a gang of seven thieves, an un-wizardly wizard, a buffoonish knight, a princess and a mad queen), but then I look at other epic fantasies and suddenly feel like the skinny kid standing next to a 500lb sumo wrestler.

@Tardis216 6 месяцев назад

Bad movie openings bore me. If a movie on TV starts badly I leave the movie for what it is and look for a better program, or I turn off the TV. As a result, I don't know of any good movies with bad openings. Maybe there are.