Vera Caccioppoli, MFA Founder, Hi- Way Haven:  A Place for Writers 1042 N. El Camino Real Suite 269 Encinitas, CA  92024 Vera at hiwayhaven@yahoo.com

COMPLIMENTARY INITIAL CONSULTATION FOR SCREENWRITERS!

Vera views this consultation as so important to ensuring your writing success that this free benefit is a prerequisite before attending any of Vera's workshops, private sessions, or novel and script consultations.

What happens during this consultation?

This consultation is all about you. Your background as a writer, your goals, your needs, the types of projects you are (working on or want to be working on). This information will help us determine the best of the options we have support and enhance you in attaining your writing goals. Likewise, you will learn who we are, what we do and ask specific questions you may have.

Arrange a Free 20-minutes consultation!

SCREENPLAY ANALYSIS

ScreenplaysCovered.com The online Movie Script Analysis Service by Hi-Way Haven's founder, screenwriter Vera Caccioppoli, MFA.

When it comes to screenwriting, my motto is, “Arrive late. Leave Early.”

(This motto has also proven itself when applied to certain social functions I’ve attended.)

When we arrive late, and leave early, each scene is dramatic. If we arrive too early in a scene, there’s a lot of what I call “cranking” going on.  Cranking means the screenwriter is wasting a lot of her precious white space having characters cranking out hello’s, introductions, pleasantries, and backstory. Writing dialogue looks simple.  But it ain’t. Remember that a page of your screenplay equals a minute of screen time, and the average movie is 100 minutes long. The screenwriter has only 100 pages to tell a fully realized, complex story with intriguing, deeply developed characters in life-altering situations.

The trick is in the dialogue. Dialogue is truthful deception.

Yes, dialogue must sound like believable human conversation, but without the "fluff". And effective dialogue must also reveal character, create complex tensions, demonstrate dynamic interaction between multiple characters, move the story forward, reveal subtext, and never, ever be boring.

The screenwriter who writes dialogue that does ALL of the above—and not just one or two of the above—will be able to play with the big shots in Hollywood.

Now, back to “Arrive Late. Leave Early.

”Never be the guest who hangs around too long, like the smell of bad fish. A scene should never meander to a stop. I believe the last sentence a character speaks in a scene should be powerful and resonate. When done well, this is what I call “exiting on an upbeat.”

Selling to Hollywood is a tough road, but, for every writer, the writing experience is not complete when the screenplay is done. Learn the does and don'ts of selling your screenplay and also how Tinseltown deals with the screenplay once it's optioned or bought. It's a Fantastic Voyage with no guarantee of a walk up the Academy Award carpet, but Vera will help you understand and work the process to maximize your chances.

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