3 Stories per Episode
flying wrestler
by Erik Bork
1M ago
I recently watched an interview with Friends co-creators David Crane and Marta Kauffman (I think it was here). In it, Crane commented on how they had to come up with over 700 stories in their ten seasons, so inevitably, some are not going to be great. 700, you ask? An easy Google search would tell you they produced 236 episodes. So where does he get 700? Watch the show closely, from a writer’s perspective (not an audience member’s), analyzing what’s going on, and you’ll see. There are 3 stories per episode. Come again? What does that mean? Here’s how I would define “Story” in TV: A ..read more
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The War of Art
flying wrestler
by Erik Bork
3M ago
Photo by Alan Rourke is licensed (original usage here) under CC BY 2.0 The happiest and most free I ever felt as a writer was with some of my earliest scripts. They were the work of a beginner and didn’t go anywhere but I enjoyed them. Why? Because I hadn’t gotten any harsh critiques yet. I hadn’t been told how far off I was. I hadn’t had objective professionals “in the business” tear apart what I’d created. But soon enough, that happened. I found out someone I knew, in my home state of Ohio, was connected to a big Hollywood producer and willing to send him my script. She did. And after mo ..read more
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Intention and Obstacle
flying wrestler
by Erik Bork
3M ago
Aaron Sorkin says he “worships at the altar of Intention and Obstacle.” What does that mean? In his Masterclass he defines it as: “Somebody wants something, and something is standing in their way of getting it.” Sounds so simple, right? And even obvious? It’s actually the biggest thing I find myself asking writers to do more of. Believe it or not, most scenes in most scripts I read aren’t doing this.  Let me explain… Certainly on the story level, you want one big “intention and obstacle.” Most get that. (I even wrote a book about the 7 elements to that PROBLEM at the heart of any goo ..read more
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Double Mumbo Jumbo
flying wrestler
by Erik Bork
4M ago
Double Mumbo Jumbo is a term in the original Save the Cat book. Blake Snyder used it to caution against including two different types of unrelated fantastical elements in the same script. As an example, he cited the 2002 Spiderman movie, where Peter Parker gets bitten by a radioactive spider and gains spider-like powers. Meanwhile, his nemesis the Green Goblin gets super powers coming from a totally different and fantastical lab accident. The audience maybe went with it because these were well-established characters from a comic book franchise decades earlier, not an original script about br ..read more
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Insert shots
flying wrestler
by Erik Bork
6M ago
When we write action and description in a script, we’re telling the reader what the viewer would see, hear and clearly understand from that. Nothing else. This dictates a different approach from other kinds of writing. We don’t get the reader ahead of the audience. We tell the reader what the audience would be witnessing. So for instance, when a character is reading or doing something on a cell phone, computer or piece of paper, we want to be conscious of only telling the reader what viewers would pick up on. Which is usually just the fact that the character is looking at that thing. Not wha ..read more
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What Good Stories Need
flying wrestler
by Erik Bork
7M ago
Five years ago this week my book was released.  I’m proud to say it’s been translated into Complex and Simplified Chinese and Russian. (See the cover artwork for those above.) And after about 20,000 sales and 800+ ratings, it holds a 4.7 out of 5 rating on Amazon. But most of all I like what people say in those reviews or to me in e-mails — that the book does fill a void and has a unique angle on screenwriting and story in general. That’s very gratifying. Because as I continue to read scripts and work with writers, I observe the same things I wrote about then: 1. It’s a lot harder and r ..read more
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Workplace stakes
flying wrestler
by Erik Bork
8M ago
“Will Michael Jordan agree to sign a shoe deal with Nike, so their basketball division can survive?” This is essentially the main dramatic question in the recent movie Air. The big negative stakes if the story goal isn’t reached is that Nike might not do basketball shoes anymore and Matt Damon might lose his job there. Hmm. I wouldn’t say this is a bad movie. And a lot of people apparently enjoyed it. But I will say I found myself thinking “I’m not sure I care enough” throughout. And I’m an NBA fan! Who watched all of the Jordan documentary The Last Dance. It’s not a topic that’s o ..read more
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Theme Stated
flying wrestler
by Erik Bork
8M ago
What is your story really about? I know it’s about certain characters and plot events. But what’s it examining, behind all that, which could resonate for audiences? What life issues does it explore? The answer to that is “theme.” I say “explore” because the best themes don’t have easy answers or conclusions. And theme is not an obvious value judgement that most would agree with. For instance “Racism is Bad.” Or “Climate Change Needs to be Addressed.” Such sentiments might be present in your story and may even be your reason for writing it. But “theme” tends to be an examination of competing ..read more
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Barbie’s World Building
flying wrestler
by Erik Bork
8M ago
SPOILER ALERT: This post reveals some elements of the plot of Barbie. Greta Gerwig's Barbie movie has a lot of wonderful elements. I think most can agree. The production design, performances, and many of the ideas of how to turn this classic doll into a motion picture in 2023 certainly are impressive and fun. As writers, though, we're trained to look beyond "finished film" factors to assess the story underneath. We want to learn from what works while being careful not to assume that because a movie got made and was successful, it's a viable model for writers trying to break in. Why is t ..read more
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Midpoint of a Script
flying wrestler
by Erik Bork
1y ago
Long before the Save the Cat “beat sheet” came along, screenplay structure theories going back to Syd Field talked about the importance of the midpoint of a script. Something big tends to happen there that changes the story in some way. But how big should it be? How much should it change things? Raising the stakes The one thing most agree on is this: the stakes rise at the Midpoint. Some call it a “point of no return,” where the main character is now “in it” in a bigger way than ever before. A classic example is when Michael kills Solozzo and McCluskey in The Godfather. Now the n ..read more
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