I’ve become somewhat known as a person who writes solid action, so I thought I’d share some thoughts on ‘fight scene theory’. In other words, what do I think I know about how to make fights in stories dramatic and compelling? This theory is the result of a process I call ‘modeling’ – that is, […]
This went out as a newsletter recently, and I thought the subject matter was worth saving for posterity… Did you see the new YouTube video I put up at the beginning of the month? I’m really fond of the format. I’ll confess: this is modeled on a format on music producer YouTube, created (perfected?) by […]
Yay, I have an excuse to talk about the new Half-Life game. I played through the original Half-Life in software mode on my parents’ old Pentium 2 machine. I played through its sequel on my PC shortly after I graduated film school way back in 2005. I still remember the immensely satisfying, filmic ending of […]
We did another episode of the wizard talk show. Then we got cancelled. Channel 101 is cruel. The episode turned out very silly and the production value is a huge jump from part one. I imagine a Wizard’s Corner show that is essentially Pee-Wee’s Playhouse, just a ton of bizarre characters and creatures in this […]
New year, and I miss posting blogs, on account that some of them turn out well and I like finding them years later. I’ll continue to YouTube sporadically; I’m fond especially of New Gods and the silly character I play when I host it. I think, in 2020, blogs will be where I say hopefully […]
It’s a new year. And with that new year I’m running through my creative works-in-progress. Evaluate, stop, go, that sort of thing. At any given time I’m ‘marinating’ several stories. I’ve talked in a YouTube video how there’s a moment a project feels right to me to begin real work on it. Before that it’s […]
It’s been a long time coming, but somehow, I’ve started directing again in earnest. It’s a good feeling. I’ve known for about a year now that I wanted to shoot something, but I took my time to be smart and deliberate about projects. Channel 101 is great fun but ultimately a chance to practice…a distraction. […]
It’s time again for another list of hot storytelling techniques gleaned from Evangelion, which remains a slick and complex TV show. And now we can all watch it on Netflix. Use Inversions! As in, when something good happens, something bad happens. And vice versa. Traditional writing education, especially screenwriting, says your midpoint of your story […]
What do you get nostalgic about? As you get old enough to have versions of you that aren’t yours anymore, you’re supposed to keep the best ones up on a shelf. Refer to them when you hear That One Song. That’s the rule, right? For me, as I work on a new project, it’s all about […]
This post is based on a YouTube video I did a couple weeks back. UPDATE: Got a second part to this. Do you want MORE Learning from Evangelion? Eva is about to make its debut on Netflix, and I opted to re-watch the series for the first time in years. I’m an early NGE convert; […]