[Watch the video interview on Youtube here]
Film Courage: How important is story analysis for a screenwriter?
Script Doctor, Writing Coach, and Author Daniel Calvisi: I think it’s the main way to learn screenwriting. I think it’s actually more important than writing. Maybe that’s because I worked as a reader on the job for studios and production companies and I learned so much on the job. I think forcing yourself to take apart a script or a movie or a TV show and do written analysis, forcing yourself to write down an analysis of it for some reason just gives you a better learning experience than just if you watch a movie and say Oh, okay I can see that it’s in four acts and there was a big midpoint. If you force yourself to analyze it on paper I think it really helps.
Film Courage: How much do you think new screenwriters realize this? Don’t they think that it’s just an innate talent and I have these amazing stories in my head? All of this doesn’t matter. I need to get my story out.
Dan: Some people say just writing is the best thing you can do, write, write, write, write as many scripts as possible. Yes, that’s great but you can’t write in a vacuum. You need to get notes from friends and people who know scripts in the industry, it’s absolutely key that you get notes. I think “talent” is maybe a part of it. I don’t know if we even call it talent, it’s just a proclivity towards expressing yourself with the written word and then can you do it in screenplay format. Maybe there’s a certain ability, there that’s kind of innate, some people just can’t get it and some people it comes second nature but the myth that great writers are just born and they just type out their first screenplay and it’s genius, I mean that’s a total myth. It’s a lot of practice, it’s a lot of work, it’s a lot of craft, it takes a while.
Film Courage: What are the first steps to analyzing a story?
Dan: For me, what I call the basic story map is you want to define your foundational elements…(Watch the video interview on Youtube here).
About:
DANIEL P. CALVISI is a Script Doctor, Writing Coach and the author of Story Maps: How to Write a GREAT Screenplay and Story Maps: TV DRAMA: The Structure of the One-Hour Television Pilot. He is a former Story Analyst for major studios like Twentieth Century Fox, Miramax Films and New Line Cinema. He coaches writers, teaches webinars on writing for film and television and speaks at writing conferences. Many of his clients have worked with the top networks and studios in the industry, such as Netflix, HBO, Warner Brothers, Disney, Sony, ABC, Showtime, Apple TV+ and more. He holds a degree in Film and Television from New York University. He lives in Los Angeles.
MORE VIDEOS WITH DANIEL CALVISI
BUY THE BOOK – STORY MAPS: How To Write A GREAT Screenplay
BUY THE BOOK – STORY MAPS: TV Drama: The Structure of the One-Hour Television Pilot (Volume 4)
CONNECT WITH DANIEL CALVISI
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