Behind-the-Scenes of the Business and Craft of professional Screenwriting.
Episodes
Sunday Dec 13, 2020
Sunday Dec 13, 2020
BACK TO THE FUTURE, crafted by Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale, has one of the most satisfying endings in film. It accomplishes this through building continuous Obstacles and Paying Off all the Setups from Act One. In this last installment of The Breakdown: BTTF Edition, hosts Tasha Huo and Josh Hallman break down just how a perfect, satisfying ending is pulled off at the writing level.
The Breakdown Series is a special, ongoing series where hosts Tasha Huo and Josh Hallman tear into the Screenwriting of masterful films and television episodes, breaking down how the sausage is made. It is an Act Two belief that the best writers never stop learning -- so this series will take an in-depth look at the writing of some of the most influential stories of our time, including the behind-the-scenes of how these scripts came together. Sit back, grab a drink, and let's see what we all can learn!
Questions/Comments: ActTwoWriters@gmail.com
Edited by Paul Lundquist
Music by 414beg
Sunday Dec 06, 2020
Sunday Dec 06, 2020
BACK TO THE FUTURE, written by Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale, is a masterclass in how to craft the perfect Act Two. It has a powerful story engine, unexpected twists and turns, emotional ups and downs, and it forces the audience to be an active participant in the adventure. In this second installment of The Breakdown: BTTF Edition, Tasha Huo and Josh Hallman break down just how Zemeckis and Gale pulled all this off to create one of the most perfect films in history -- Hint: Cause & Effect.
The Breakdown Series is a special, ongoing series where hosts Tasha Huo and Josh Hallman tear into the Screenwriting of masterful films and television episodes, breaking down how the sausage is made. It is an Act Two belief that the best writers never stop learning -- so this series will take an in-depth look at the writing of some of the most influential stories of our time, including the behind-the-scenes of how these scripts came together. Sit back, grab a drink, and let's see what we all can learn!
Questions/Comments: ActTwoWriters@gmail.com
Edited by Paul Lundquist
Music by 414beg
Sunday Nov 29, 2020
Sunday Nov 29, 2020
You've written your first script and you're ready to show it to the world. Where do you share it? Who do you trust with feedback, and what do you do with it? When is your ego getting in the way, and how can you tell? Hosts Tasha Huo and Josh Hallman talk about their first scripts and the hard lessons they learned when they were confident film school grads just starting out.
Questions/Comments: ActTwoWriters@gmail.com
Edited by Paul Lundquist
Music by 414beg
Sunday Nov 22, 2020
Sunday Nov 22, 2020
BACK TO THE FUTURE, written by Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale, wasn't always the perfect movie you think it was. The original draft was far from the genius that made it to screen. In this special holiday episode, hosts Tasha Huo and Josh Hallman take a close look at how Zemeckis and Gale handle Act One problems like setups, character intros, theme, dialogue, and suspense in the masterpiece that is BACK TO THE FUTURE, and they compare the rocky, more adult first draft to the finished tour de force that made it into our hearts and minds.
Thus begins our Breakdown Series where Tasha and Josh tear into the Screenwriting of masterful films and television episodes, breaking down how the sausage is made. It is an Act Two belief that the best writers never stop learning -- so this series will take an in-depth look at the writing of some of the most influential stories of our time, including the behind-the-scenes of how these scripts came together. Let's see what we all can learn!
Questions/Comments: ActTwoWriters@gmail.com
Edited by Paul Lundquist
Music by 414beg
Monday Nov 16, 2020
Monday Nov 16, 2020
Competitions are a very effective way to jumpstart your Screenwriting career. In this episode, hosts Tasha Huo and Josh Hallman sit down with Nicole Ramberg, 2020 Winner of the Screencraft Action-Adventure Feature Competition, to discuss how she found Screencraft, the application process, and how winning has affected her writing career. Hint: she now has a manager.
Questions/Comments: ActTwoWriters@gmail.com
Edited by Paul Lundquist
Music by 414beg
Sunday Nov 08, 2020
Sunday Nov 08, 2020
There are a million ways to a Screenwriting career. In this episode, hosts Tasha Huo and Josh Hallman sit down with screenwriter Corey Deshon to discuss his epic Twitter thread on the many starts and stops of his writing career, and how "the slog" is part of the job description. Corey started as a Production Assistant and found immediate success in Hollywood as an indie film writer, but never quite saw his career take off despite sales and produced credits. Now a working staff writer in TV and in post on his directorial debut Daughter due out in 2021, Corey reflects on the stutter-stops along the way, and goes in detail on all those arduous steps of his path to finding a career as a Screenwriter. Hint: it involved lots of credit cards. (This episode is part of the "Million Ways to a Screenwriting Career" series, where Tasha Huo and Josh Hallman go in-depth with Screenwriters of all walks of life to discuss the unique way they became a working Screenwriter.)
Find Corey Deshon: @CoreyDeshon
Questions/Comments: ActTwoWriters@gmail.com
Edited by Paul Lundquist
Music by 414beg
Sunday Nov 01, 2020
Sunday Nov 01, 2020
One of the most important and fraught relationships a Screenwriter will ever have is the one they have with their reps. In this episode, hosts Tasha Huo and Josh Hallman field questions from Screenwriters struggling with their Manager / Agent relationships and talk about how to maximize those relationships and how to transform a difficult or stagnant representation team into one that is working for you.
Questions/Comments: ActTwoWriters@gmail.com
Edited by Paul Lundquist
Music by 414beg
Tuesday Oct 27, 2020
Tuesday Oct 27, 2020
Pitching is terrible. But when you have a pitch format you can rely on, it's that much easier to be confident and successful in the room. In this episode of the "Pitching is Terrible" Series, hosts Tasha Huo and Josh Hallman discuss the standard formats they use in structuring their feature and TV pitches that make it much less terrible.
Questions/Comments: ActTwoWriters@gmail.com
Edited by Paul Lundquist
Music by 414beg
Sunday Oct 18, 2020
Sunday Oct 18, 2020
Turns out a Screenwriting career is not just about what you can do on a page. It's also about what you can do in a room. In this first part of a multi-episode series focused entirely on Pitching, hosts Tasha Huo and Josh Hallman talk generally about how you get pitches, what they are, and what you do once you have one. Pitching is terrible, but necessary if you are to have a Screenwriting career. So, let's start by breaking down the beast so we can figure out how to conquer it together.
Edited by Paul Lundquist
Music by 414beg.
Questions/Comments: ActTwoWriters@gmail.com
Monday Oct 12, 2020
Monday Oct 12, 2020
Confidence can literally make or break your writing career. Hosts Tasha Huo and Josh Hallman get philosophical as they talk about their struggles with confidence as writers and how they powered through it. It ain't easy, but it is possible.