3 Worst Ways To Start A Story - Steve Douglas-Craig

After graduating from the AFI, Steve was recruited by Sony Pictures Entertainment to work as a Story Editor & Acquisitions Executive for the Worldwide Acquisitions team in Los Angeles where he received an induction into story & business development, feature film packaging, domestic & international distribution, theatrical marketing & product acquisition. He helped develop & shepherd film titles including Terminator: Salvation, The Book of Eli, Django Unchained, War Room, Don’t Breathe (Sequel current in post-production), the Insidious horror movie franchise, Manchester By The Sea, The Grudge (reboot), Searching, Arrival, Whiplash, The Call, Attack The Block & many others (including TV releases - The Tudors, House of Cards).
Steve's tenure at Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions was followed with a promotion to Senior Story Editor & Creative Executive at Screen Gems where he was involved in the development & release of theatrical titles like the recent releases of Monster Hunter & the adaptation of James Herbert’s novel - The Unholy. Before that he helped shepherd Black & Blue, The Intruder, Possession of Hannah Grace, Brightburn, & Slender Man. He was also heavily involved in developing content strategies that attracted financiers & talent to specific projects for the studio.
Steve is also a professional screenwriter having worked as a freelance staff writer for the hit CBS TV series Hawaii Five-O over a number of seasons & currently has a pilot & several feature films (including a creature feature) going out through his literary managers in Los Angeles.
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#writing #story #movies

[@filmcourage]

Here is our full interview with Steve - kzbin.info/www/bejne/l5W5qYOXn5ZqqLc

[@OmniTron1000]

The "write what you want to see" advice is some of the best advice you could possibly get. It's ALWAYS obvious when something is written in service to what the writer thinks an audience wants. It's not writing at that point, it's a boring, lifeless shopping list.

[@PhantomFilmAustralia]

The mantra "Write what you know" doesn't apply to the people who are willing to put in the research and to interview and to investigate a world foreign to them. You can "Write what you know" or write about anything so long as you "Know what you write."

[@OmniTron1000]

@@PhantomFilmAustralia Very true. Not really what I’m talking about though. If you want to research something new to write about, it’s still coming from a place of interest and genuine passion. Which is a good thing because you’re still “writing what you WANT to see”.

[@VixxKong2]

​@@PhantomFilmAustralia "Know what you write" is a perfect advice

[@DaxterL]

​@@PhantomFilmAustraliaI've heard a better version "write what you feel" when you write characters and moments you understand emotionally, you'll know what you're doing

[@PhantomFilmAustralia]

@@DaxterL That's basically writing what you know. You know how you feel when you're in a situation. You know your own emotional intelligence. Any blanks are filled with other's experiences or your own imagination.

[@supernatural7690]

Finished my debut novel. I simply wrote the book that I couldn't find to buy. A book I really wanted to read.

[@Venejan]

I really think that's the way to go about it. After all, if you really want to read your book, somebody else very probably will want to read it too! But if even you don't genuinely care, you'll never find anyone else who will.

[@PaygunFGC]

What’s the name of it? Can’t just say that and not give us a way to find it 😂

[@supernatural7690]

@@PaygunFGC It's just back from.the publisher for me to proof read . Found 12 errors that need to be fixed before we go to print. It's little things like a miss spelling or a double space between words, nothing serious but I want the book to be the best it can be. So with this in mind it'll take a short while to fix and re set the book. If anyone is at all interested i'll put it here when available. My pen name is WH Sayle and the book is called None Forsaken. Thanks for the interest

[@pracujemynadprojektem6932]

Good luck mate

[@supernatural7690]

@@pracujemynadprojektem6932 thanks

[@SysterYster]

I also think "over marketing" is a problem these days. When I was younger, you'd get one trailer, and it didn't really reveal a lot. Nowadays, if you watch the 50 trailers and the 30 trailer teasers, you no longer need to see the movie, 'cause you already know everything that's gonna happen and you've seen the best and most exiting parts already. That's why I avoid trailers nowadays, 'cause they ruin any suspense or surprise I could have gotten from a movie.

[@aarkmish8087]

I love the trailers for movies from the 90s.

[@SysterYster]

@@aarkmish8087 Saaaame!

[@BostonsF1nest]

Well yea- because if you’ve watched 50 trailers you’ve essentially watched the entire movie. I don’t think watching one is going to spoil anything. I’m not big into trailers to begin with. I usually know after hearing a certain movie is coming out whether or not I’m gonna see it. The best trailers were always the ones they showed before the movie started at the theater. As a teenager I always loved that part of the experience.

[@fiktivhistoriker345]

I guess the problem is that most movies nowadays don't tell a story except "good vs evil". They are a conglomeration of action scenes, and that's what we see in the trailers.

[@LiorVolf]

​@@BostonsF1nest Netflix's trailers show everything in one video

[@trazz407]

I had the pleasure to meet the band Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, phenomenal jazz and swing band, and I asked the lead vocalist/songwriter if he has any tips for a young writer, and he said he only writes songs that he wants to listen to, so you should only write what you want to read. That really stuck with me, and it's something that all writers should realize.

[@dm_ex_machina3395]

Woah, crazy seeing two interests overlap like that. The internet is awesome. Great band, a lot of fun.

[@befelto8450]

“You’re like a big bear, man”

[@GoldenWolf115]

​@@dm_ex_machina3395pretty sure Josh Homme said something similar, and that has stuck with me for years.

[@ratatoskrnuts6354]

I love that band, great stuff

[@12DAMDO]

"write the movie you want to see" EXACTLY! too many writers these days write stuff based on what they think would be analytical successes without any love for the genre or the franchise... personally, i know what i write is obscure and some people might even hate it, but the things i write are exactly the stuff i'd like to see in for example an animated adaptation..

[@5Gburn]

I can't imagine the drudgery of writing something I'm not entertained by. It's difficult enough when you love the story.

[@Ranesbane]

I agree. I told a friend about a vampire novel I was planning about 7 years ago and he said oh you shouldn't write that cause vampire stuff isn't popular anymore. I said I don't care what's popular. I have a story in my head that I want to get out cause I want to read it

[@12DAMDO]

@@Ranesbane ignore your friend, i would totally want to read that

[@andreidragostin]

The problem is the screenplay is often the movie the writer wants to see and then it ends up with studio people who changed it to what they think the audience wants to see. Maybe they even have focus groups and numbers to support their decisions, they're still very bad. I believe there's hundreds of movies ruined by test audiences.

[@Tre_Storm_Art]

I know he's a screenwriter, but I love fantasy stories with like 6 main characters who are often in different countries.

[@KMJoshiMusic]

I take it you like Malazan Book of the Fallen then! :D

[@Tre_Storm_Art]

@@KMJoshiMusic Honestly not really. I still haven't finished the first book because it just felt like big things that should impress me were happening but nothing that was making me care. In that first book at least, all he does is flash names and places and events in front of the reader without explaining what any of that actually meant. Then like 10 chapters later, a character comes back in, and I already forgot that heard their name earlier from a background character without any context. The character introductions were underwhelming at best and the events so far seem interesting but like I stepped into a better story in the middle of the climax. I can see how if I can get through it, I might grow to love the series.

[@KMJoshiMusic]

@@Tre_Storm_Art I get what you mean. I'm currently reading the Stormlight Archive. It's a massive story but beautifully written. You should give it a try if you haven't already.

[@Tre_Storm_Art]

@@KMJoshiMusic one of my favorite series. I highly highly recommend the First Law series, the gentleman bastard's sequence, and the wheel of time if you haven't yet. The first two are much more grim, closer to A Song of Ice and Fire than Lord of the Rings, but genuinely brilliant series'. If brutal descriptions aren't your thing, Wheel of Time is the largest and in my view the best epic fantasy out there. If you like Sanderson, you'll be glad to know that he wrote the last three books with the original author's notes and he grew up on the series.

[@KMJoshiMusic]

@@Tre_Storm_Art I read the Wheel of Time in 2017 or so. I absolutely love it and consider it my favorite alongside the LOTR. That series is how I learned of Brandon Sanderson! It's too bad Robert Jordan didn't get to see it to the end, though. I love The First Law too. But I haven't read the Gentleman Bastard's sequence. I'd never even heard of it until now! I'll give it a shot when I get some time to get back to reading. Have you read Mistborn? It's wonderful.

[@BooksForever]

The Lord of the Rings seems to violate these suggestions, but it is clearly a special case.

[@Haplo-san]

Do you mean the movie LOTR? I don't think so, you only see and get to know 3 characters until the birthday, 3 more in the birthday, 1 more in The Prancing Pony, 1 more on the road to Rivendell, 4 more in the Rivendell, 3 in the Lothlorien and that's all the characters for the first 3 hours long movie. But in the Game of Thrones, only 50 minutes long first episode have this much of a character and it keeps increasing each passing episode. You watch different stories happening in the different geographics, geopolitics, north, south, east, west, cities and kingdoms all together. Rules are recipes for copycats who are looking for easy money. With a recipe, everyone can cook mediocre meal and with a recipe everyone can write mediocre story. And I hate mediocre entertainment. 99 Percent of a time, it's all same.

[@BostonsF1nest]

A lot of great movies do lol. The Godfather, Heat, Reservoir Dogs, the Killing of a Chinese Bookie. If it’s entertaining, ppl will watch it. The absolute worst way to start any movie tho is with an extended opening credits sequence.

[@daeocdomren9471]

Book to movie (and in LotRs case, cartoon to movie for the 2nd trilogy) is a very different beast than straight to film. Books already have a following; you just have to actually deliver, so there's a higher risk and higher reward. HP or LotR vs. Percy Jackson or Eragon.

[@davidbishop5359]

Watch the prologue sequence again. There is only one viewpoint character. "But the power of the Ring could not be undone." "The Ring passed to Isildur..." "And the Ring of Power has a will of its own." "It betrayed Isildur to his death." "And the Ring of Power perceived...its time had now come. It abandoned Gollum." The Ring is the viewpoint character. Gandalf is the one viewpoint character for the sequence that follows.

[@Izzythedestryr]

This is the reason i don't like lord of the rings despite having a lot of things i really like in a story

[@CamRebires]

That anecdote about not knowing who you are is powerful, good stuff

[@stephenflood3463]

This was great advice for me in relation to setting up my story intro. It took me near 15 pages to introduce the concept, tone, style, point of view, and main character. But now, thanks to this video, I know I must narrow it down and make it more concise. I just can't express my gratitude enough for finding this wonderful channel. Thank you film courage.

[@formulaic78]

In my latest I set practically all of that up in a wordless half a page scene on page 1. I then turned my character's world upside down on page 2 and then again on page 5. Then as we watch my character navigate this new world I introduce her normal life pre topsy turvy world through flashback scenes. Only took me twenty years to craft such an opening.

[@stephenflood3463]

@@formulaic78 Weldone to you on eventually getting it right. One must refine, refine, refine, until it is perfect.

[@jonathanrivlin6248]

If this helps, one tip from a published author (can't remember who) said that after you write your first few chapters to chuck out your first chapter and have your story begin with the second chapter. I wouldn't do that personally, but the concept is instructive. Good luck to you!

[@jonathanfranco8547]

​@@jonathanrivlin6248I was literally thinking of doing this, though I haven't heard it as advice.

[@emmanuelsekyere8792]

I remember watching an interview where Anthony Mackie comments that the movie star era is "dead", and most people would want to see a movie tied to a popular IP rather than starring some talented actor. Decades ago we would go see this movie or that movie because of Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jean-Claude Van Damme or Eddie Murphy, and I agree.

[@SDIBINGA]

More from this guy PLEASE!!

[@filmcourage]

Much more to come! Here is everything with Steve we have published this far - tinyurl.com/y6ybw9mc

[@AllThingsFilm1]

These are excellent points. I've seen these type of bad openings many times. His point on having too many characters is also ignored many times. When there are too many characters, they don't receive enough screen time to tell us who they are. So, I end up not caring about any of them. Setting up the main character at the beginning also makes it easier to establish the theme of the story. It's usually through the eyes of the main character that we get the first glimpses of the mood and theme to come. On the effort side of writing, I think it's important not to rush yourself in writing or outlining your story. Recently, after setting aside a story I was working on for a couple weeks, ideas for the character's experience and others he would interact with started to surface. Now, I have so much more to work with for the character and the story. One good way to avoid starting a story in a bad way, is to not force yourself to write. Take a break. Go back to your story after a few days or weeks. You will see the beginning of your story much clearer by doing so. Film Courage is a blessing. You always share inspirational suggestions through excellent interviews with thoughtful writers and creators. Thank you.

[@Goldfishliberationarmy]

My man has three first names, no wonder he feels strongly about introductions

[@ybra]

I think a good place to start a story is by having the main character trying to achieve something (and failing to do so can even be a plus). It gives you opportunity to introduce the character through their actions, rather than just talking about who they are, the good old "show, don't tell". It also shows the protagonist is active in trying to pursue their goals. It also gives you the chance to either set the tone of the story or even kick start the main plot right away. It also forces you to introduce the world by the character interacting with it, rather than having a long info-dump about the world.

[@DAMON409]

Doesn't have to be so well defined. You can simply introduce them in their present state of mind and general circumstances which can be done mostly visually.

[@FabiusandGertie]

It truly is incredible how good this channel is. Thank you!

[@pacificostudios]

"CASABLANCA" (1943) doesn't even show Humphrey Bogart until 10 minutes into the film, and the sign for "Rick's Cafe Americain" is just a piece of the background when Strasser's airplane lands. Capt. Renault is the first main character shown, followed by Major Strasser. We meet Bogey when he is playing solitaire chess. Ilsa and Laslow enter half an hour from the start. Yet "Casablanca" is a fantastic film.

[@Maazzzo]

But audiences in 2024 are completely different than audiences in 1943. He's not saying it can never be done. He's saying it's hard to do it well for the audiences now. Fewer and fewer people are watching Casablanca. Many-- if not most-- of the people born after say 1995 have never seen it.

[@pacificostudios]

@@Maazzzo I think that streaming and home video are the factors that have truly changed movies. Before home video, movies didn't "start" until 10 minutes in, because filmmakers knew that people would enter the theater after the film started. Now, people can rewind any part they missed before, and no one "comes into the middle of a film" accidentally.

[@piercemchugh4509]

always someone like you in the comments. That's why he said its difficult to pull off. Not impossible.

[@Maazzzo]

@@pacificostudios I'd argue it's the internet. We've got devices that give us immediate information, all the time. We've got instant access to the whole world at any moment. That changes attention spans and how we engage with content.

[@DAMON409]

True. The only real rule is to keep the audience interested.

[@matt2matt21]

Steve is fantastic. I would love to see the longer interview.

[@filmcourage]

More to come! We look forward to posting the entire interview as soon as we can!

[@arzabael]

This does channel has the best format ever though/video release structure

[@filmcourage]

Not sure we have ever gotten that feedback. Nice to hear!

[@5Gburn]

​@@filmcourageI concur 100%. You see so many interviews nowadays--side-by-sides and split screen (Zoom, for example)--where the interviewer steamrolls over the guest. You do a fantastic job of keeping the focus on the guest.

[@filmcourage]

Thank you @5Gburn!

[@ch355_]

my first time ever to hear from this gentleman. it was really great info and clearly explained. thank you so much for sharing!

[@filmcourage]

Glad you enjoyed it! Here is everything we have published with Steve thus far - tinyurl.com/y6ybw9mc

[@donnafluff_]

I absolutely love this series. Thank you so much. It's short enough to integrate it in my day and long enough to take away a lot of it. Learning with each video, thank you!

[@filmcourage]

Wonderful!

[@DarkWorlds]

There's no bad way to start a story. Be true to yourself and make what you like, don't change your art for the masses. Full metal alchemist brotherhood has so many characters its insane but its still one of the most thought out and well told story's ever made. Also why can't a horror start funny? lower your guard and give you a false sense of security. A lot of games do this and this bait and switch and I need more of it. Moral of the story. Anything can be good and no one really knows what people want to see. I know they don't want to see the 1000th remake or cash grab. Just be true to yourself and make the best art you can. Don't let anyone tell you what way something should or shouldn't be done. They are only telling you they're very limited and specific perception of how they think it should be done.

[@BostonsF1nest]

For a long time I thought Reservoir Dogs opening was horrible. And I loved Tarantino but I just did not give a fuck about what they were discussing in that first scene. Just went on and on and on. I’ve grown to enjoy the movie overall.

[@DAMON409]

It is a terrible opening because it is a boring static talking heads scene. The only reason it got any attention is because it is sexually explicit.

[@Okinawatrip]

Great questions and great responses.

[@MacGriggle]

Got right to the point in the beginning of the video! Well done!👍

[@r2d2rxr]

Star Wars opens with droids. The main character comes in later.

[@mesalgearsolid]

There's always room for exception. This is more of a guideline for the less experienced. Funnily enough, George Lucas should have followed some of these guidelines when writing the prequels. The Phantom Menace is an entire movie without a protagonist and it's garbage because of it.

[@FrenkTheJoy]

I think it's always good to point out that you can break these rules and do it well. Think about how long it takes us to actually meet Harry Potter (even longer in the book!). The first characters we meet in Game of Thrones are some nobodies who immediately die and one who dies later, we have like 15 main characters and one of them dies in the first season. Fellowship of the Ring takes approximately seven hundred years to introduce Frodo.

[@ybra]

I think Game of Thrones is a good example on how to do a prologue right. It sets the tone of the story and establish the promise of the horrors the main characters will eventually have to face. And it does in an actual scene, rather than just an info-dump. Then we get to chapter 1 and meet Bran.

[@SaetiStrakur]

Love these videos they are a great help but I feel they gravitate so consistently towards the money making aspect of Hollywood. I'm European and I feel the focus here is very much either artistic or rom/com family friendly local box office movies. So what I want to know more about I guess is the deeper philosophical insights these professionals have rather than the money marketing aspect of it. Again love these videos

[@themercer4972]

"write what you want to see" - Do not write what a committee or algorithm tells you will be popular, because it has ALL the trendy elements in it.

[@lloydlim]

Very good 3 points. I’ve seen too many films that are frustrating to watch for the first 20 minutes. And I will stop watching or walk out at that point.

[@GFF_Productions]

Too many characters is a big one for me but the rest I feel can be okay if done correctly.

[@PassiveSmoking]

"Don't start a story without introducing us to the main character" But in Star Wars, we're not introduced to Luke until 1/3 of the way into the film! I'm not saying that it's bad advice, but do bear in mind that these are guidelines, not immutable rules. There are cases when you can break them and get away with it or even produce a better story as a result.

[@BostonsF1nest]

I often think it’s bad for writers to listen to videos like these because the whole idea behind writing a movie is creative freedom. And suddenly before you’ve even began writing, you’ve introduced all these ferkakta rules that totally box you into a corner and eliminates any creative flow from happening. There are a ton of movies that don’t follow this guys advice lol and many of the other “experts” advice on this channel.

[@derek96720]

To be fair, we are introduced to Leia right out of the gate. And she's the other main character in the series. If we aren't following Luke in a scene, then we're following her and Han. The droids are the plot device joining the two.

[@pixels_per_minute]

I don't think you necessarily need to introduce the main character, but at least a main character. Vader and Leia are both main characters, but Luke is the main protagonist who takes us through the rest of the films after we meet him.

[@peterroe2993]

The original cut introduced him early but (Mrs Lucas iirc) removed it because it didn't add anything.

[@FlecheDeFer]

I agree, but I would say that in Star Wars the main theme is good vs evil, and this is clearly introduced to us within the first few minutes. Luke is basically an embodiment of good.

[@ChimeraLotietheBunny]

This is hitting deep with the advice

[@roundninja]

Thought he was talking about books for a second and I was wondering, does he think Game of Thrones or War and Peace are bad? But then I realized this channel is specifically about the film industry and he clearly has a lot of expertise there

[@pepe6666]

yessss this guy speaks the truth. a lot translates to making music too. art in general. make what you want to see. or want to hear.

[@yapdog]

He's absolutely right about introducing too many characters too soon. However, this even applies when your main character is well established. I ran into this recently with the sequel to my novel; beta readers already know and love Jesse Davenport and where happy to spend time with him again (according to feedback), but it was hard to tell who was who with 2 new characters introduced in chapter 3. The problem wasn't that the characters weren't described well enough. It was that there was no time spent getting to know them. However, if I spent pages upon pages giving their backstory, I'd have to reconfigure the novel around them... and the story is not even _about_ them. What was the solution? Introduce each character separately, dynamically. If there is some memorable event associated with each character, having some effect on/with the known character, then they and their names will also be remembered and each would be distinct. Worked for me; I hope it works for you, too. 👍

[@Dragonite43]

Another good advice is to give each one traits or features that are unique to only them that allows the audience to remember them. For example, X character is disabled, Y character has 3 eyes, Z character has Cat Ears.

[@yapdog]

@@Dragonite43 I had actually done that, but it wasn't enough. Both characters are intelligence analysts with the FBI, but one is a naturalized Nigerian with a buzz cut; she's has a burn mark on her face as a victim of a terrorist suicide bombing in her home country. She nervously held Jesse Davenport at gunpoint, threatening to shoot him if he didn't back down. The other woman is white and thin with vintage cat eye glasses--she'd also disguised herself as as a quite "singular" woman Jesse Davenport was connected with, just to gain his attention. That ruse didn't go well for her, which is why the other woman pulled out her gun (even though analysts aren't authorized for firearms). You would *think* that that creates a clear distinction between the characters, right? *Nnnnope* .... apparently. The proximity and method of their introduction made them harder to distinguish by name when the main characters weren't involved, even though these women were completely different "on paper." So, yes, do make your characters distinctive, but don't introduce more than one at a time if you can avoid it. However, whether you separate introductions or not, make sure that each has their own distinctive and *significant* impact on the key characters/plot/story. This will create emotional investment with the reader... which is what writing is all about.

[@iCarus_A]

@@yapdoghmmm, maybe it's actually that they aren't actually distinct "on paper", as in the literal paper of the book. Sure, their appearance and mannerisms are different, but they might not be different *enough* to manifest as different characters in the reader's mind...

[@yapdog]

@@iCarus_A Aaaand that's why I posted a solution? 🙂 Not every work affords a writer the latitude to, say, add another arm or remove a leg 😅 So, one approach is to focus more on the "how" and "why" of a character rather than the "who." Just for a bit of background: one of my readers has difficulty keeping track of who's who in some popular novels. Some writers, even popular ones, tend to introduce characters, expecting the reader to remember them all. (I've had this issue with Brandon Sanderson) I don't write that way, but this was one instance where she (and others) had difficulty remembering who was who with 2 new characters. Part of the problem is these readers are already quite familiar with all of the other characters, so encountering these new people in this series threw them off a bit. However, with the changes I've made (as described in my other comments), they no longer have that problem.

[@happymaskedguy1943]

Here’s the best advice anyone could ever give you about writing. Write. Then write some more. Then some more. Keep writing. And maybe, just maybe, you’ll improve after a few years. Then guess what? keep writing. You’re getting smart enough to stop listening to other people telling you how to write. You start to become embarrassed by your ego. You become humbled. You start to submit stuff. Get rejected. Over and over and over. And then you keep writing. Years pass. Improvements trickle in slowly. And you keep writing, keep submitting, keep learning to laugh at your past self and all your embarrassing pretentiousness. And you write. That is the life of a writer. Deal with it. No video is going to solve the problem for you. And if the work is too much, and you aren’t interested enough to do all this, then it probably isn’t worth worrying about.

[@filmcourage]

You may enjoy this one - kzbin.info/www/bejne/g5DXloJ_gL6pZ9ksi=FoPV5Jiq_FsH7XG3

[@NonSenseMcGee]

More with this guy please. :)

[@cane6074]

Somewhat disagree on the whole big action sequence at the beginning of the movie, James Bond franchise does this all the time with cold starts, though he's right you can set yourself up the fail if you don't do right things afterwards. It can work, but only if you're using it to promise something bigger or beter down the road and delver or maintain momentum or increase it as well as set the tone for the rest of the movie. Good example I'm not doing this right would be 3000 miles to Graceland, the first 30 minutes of the movie were awesome but kind I've lost speed after that.

[@user-fw1xi4oc5n]

Totally true in books too. When the book opens with too much action, and i am just not in vested in "Why?" I know some people like to jump in hard and fast, but I need to know what the characters are doing all this action for.

[@Shadow666_]

Ive grown really tired of the "5,000 years ago the chosen one blah warred with blah blah and then the macguffin came" types of story intro's. Expository introductions typically bore me to tears especially if its about stuff that happened a millennia before the story even takes place.

[@dextergarner1286]

Agreed. It’s the quickest way for me to get thrown out of a film. Exposition in any point of a film is a sin to me.

[@wilky1189]

Idk, star wars is pretty cool

[@M50A1]

💀

[@M50A1]

​@@dextergarner1286i assume you watch cinemasins?

[@Herv3]

I struggled to get through the beginning of Singin' in the Rain, but it became one of my all-time favorites.

[@aliank9658]

Thank you

[@earnieboy54]

I’ve always enjoyed movies with a deeply flawed main character. People with the best intentions but going about it the wrong way because perhaps they don’t believe fully in their ability or that taking the safe route yields slow results. Growing up in this generation I relate to the whole microwave/entitled mentality of things and seeing the fallout of that lifestyle/mindset is intriguing and also cautionary.

[@jollimaiahtacksworth]

"Once Upon a Time" is a classic tbh

[@mazuskakazus1534]

How does he feel about Robert Altman films? especially Nashville or Short Cuts where there's like 20 "main" characters?

[@DragonMagi]

I'm reading the Necroscope series and it takes a LONG time for the main characters to get really established in a way that the reader can relate, especially with the omniscient reader standpoint. I was left trying to guess who the protagonist was for far, far too long. It's definitely getting very interested now that it's hit its stride though.

[@mgproductions2007]

Honestly some really solid points.

[@ditw_music]

It's rather fascinating that The Lord of The Rings: Fellowship of the Ring breaks all three rules of starting a story. We do not meet Frodo until around 7 minutes of backstory/intro. The war of the ring is a massive action set piece during this intro as well as we see the fall of Sauron. We are also introduced to a slew of characters in this timeframe. The funnier thing is, that LOTR is the exception to all three of these rules because it's just so damn incredible.

[@MonAhgasInsomniAroELF]

to be fair, no rule in writing is absolute. it always depends on what kind of story you're trying to tell, your genre, and how well you know the rules, because only once you know those rules well can you break them without it ruining your story. there's nuance to every rule, they're very dependent on the context. :)

[@EA_Kar]

Just finished Diamonds Are Forever, started with one of several villains -- one at the start of the criminal op chain that you sort of hear about after but never see again until the very last bit of the book as both he and Bond are wrapping things up. Terry pratchett also does fun openings Edit: speaking of lucrative across its life, DVD & blue ray need to come back as a default; ppl dont like online long term renting they want to have the thing in their hoard forever rather than worry if it's going to get pulled by the platform etc.

[@charlessmyth]

Good interview.

[@filmcourage]

Thanks Charles!

[@neonspinx]

where i get lost is when they say things like "12 million dollar indie movies dont exist" when netflix, and hulu, and amazon are full of them. Where are these movies coming from if no one is making them? They should specify "disney / mgm / paramount arent making 12 million dollar indies. "the mid range movie is dead" translation.. "big studios dont make mid range movies anymore, and i only work in the studio system"

[@nobodyinparticular80]

When he asked the interviewer if Brad Pitt could still sell a movie and she said “I’d go watch it”, I immediately wanted to ask her when she saw Bullet Train.

[@enthusiasticallyOptimistic]

Great interview and insights!!! I love the advice you received about only writing what you would want to go see! It’s so simple yet profound. It’s what’s missing in certain genre movies and tv shows. It’s seems like writers don’t actually enjoy the property itself or the genre as a whole so they try to “subvert expectations “ only to fail to entertain the audience who actually went to the film to enjoy those “expectations“ 😕🤔. I’m looking at you Star Wars!

[@Lippeth]

Too many characters reminds me of how fun it was to meet all the students when I read Wayside School as a kid

[@gianni206]

The crash of DVD sales also killed movie marketing and business. See Matt Damon's Hot Ones interview for more.

[@CASH10K]

Yeah he brings up a very good point. Kind of a shame really. Might explain the decline in quality in the past few years in Hollywood

[@PopularMechanix]

Inglorious bastards had a ton of intense dialogue at the opening of the movie and it worked perfectly. so there are some exceptions obviously

[@gregorylagrange]

When he said not understanding your audience, did everybody hear that faint "Like Star Wars!" coming from Chris Gore in the background?

[@cane6074]

That one lands real hard!

[@8523wsxc]

Webster’s Dictionary defines Introduction as the act or process of introducing or the state of being introduced.

[@chrissiem3958]

Loved what he said about the found footage craze. I dont necessarily agree with what he said about why they fell out of fashion (ie, the industry changing quickly). I think it fell out of fashion because people---- from execs to writers who wanted fame and not a creative experience---- saw how much money something like the Blair Witch project made (especially since it made a bazillion dollars on a $10 budget.... but my figures might be incorrect 😅) and therefore wanted a slice of that bazillion dollar pie for themselves. And thats when it swings back round to create what you love. Audiences can tell when love hasnt been put into something, and considering storytelling has been a part of the human experince since we had language, I think its part of our DNA---- though we may not be conscious of it---- we are drawn to stories created with love. But I suppose thats just my opinion, not fact 😊

[@RetroBacon1]

This guy is awesome

[@pacificostudios]

There's also something to be said about mystery in an introduction. Remember that "CASABLANCA" was written and filmed under the title "EVERYBODY COMES TO RICK'S," and it wasn't renamed until immediately after the Allied invasion of French North Africa in November 1942. So the original idea is that you walk in the theater knowing you're seeing a film about someone or something called "Rick," you learn that "Rick's" is a swanky cafe, and then you learn how important the place is when Capt. Renault says: "Tonight he'll come to Rick's. Everybody Comes to Rick's." Then the very next scene is the front of "Rick's Cafe Americain." This was the original intention, a long slow burn of clues until the reveal of Bogey playing chess by himself, a scene that raises still more questions. Once you get past the newsreel footage section, "Casablanca" has one of the best ever introducitons.

[@filmcourage]

Can you think of a great movie that has a bad opening?

[@BostonsF1nest]

Reservoir Dogs

[@familycorvette]

I can think of two movies i noped out on after about 5 minutes and upon later viewing discovered each to be a little masterpiece. The first was Near Dark: left the theater during the bloodsucking-amidst-the-oil-wells scene. The other was Emily the Criminal: switched off during the opening job interview scene. Both movies were really original and both had really conventional openings.

[@erico7655]

​@@familycorvette"Noped Out" I'm running with that phrase lol.

[@SysterYster]

Evil Aliens! Though, to be fair, it's a bad movie all the way through, but I still love it. It's very funny and weird. But the beginning is too... much and too bad. But it's just a few minutes, then the fun/good part begins. :)

[@BostonsF1nest]

Gangs of New York. I thought the opening fight sequence was very poorly edited. The slow motion and the music that plays during it is absolutely horrendous. That whole scene could have been and should have been so much better. Idk what Scorsese was thinking.

[@JasmineJ-SuDirector]

Heyyyy Karen!!! Great Video per usual.

[@djd620]

Many classic films sometimes don't intro their main character for 15 or so minutes. Star Wars. War Games. Fargo (twice as long to get to Marge).

[@travisgames6608]

The minute he asked "can Brad Pitt still sell a movie in this country? I don't think he can." My opinion of everything he's said or will say is crap.

[@Thenoobestgirl]

His voice is really calming 😅

[@AETacts]

"Dont have too many characters"... Enter Cdramas like The Untamed with 40-50 important characters 😂

[@CzechAvailabilitie]

The main character of Fargo shows up 34 pages into the script. Which I think works partially because of the "Based on a True Story" conceit allows the audience to accept things being structured a bit differently as it supposedly really happened this way.

[@Ilfrinco]

" The night was humid..."

[@apersonlikeanyother6895]

For me the worst intro is when we are thrown into action without enough context. Just write an interesting introduction. That and writers following formulas. Forget rising action and 2nd act and all that garbage. Just write a great story in whatever structure it needs.

[@BostonsF1nest]

The worst way to start a movie is with opening credits that go on for 5 fuckin minutes. Like seriously? That is by far the worst way to start any movie. Just get on with it already.

[@GrimmFilmEnt]

"He helped develop & shepherd film titles including Terminator: Salvation, The Book of Eli, Django Unchained, War Room, Don’t Breathe (Sequel current in post-production), the Insidious horror movie franchise, Manchester By The Sea, The Grudge (reboot), Searching, Arrival, Whiplash, The Call, Attack The Block & many others (including TV releases - The Tudors, House of Cards)." He's not credited in any of those movies and show. Be wary of taking hints from people on You Tube videos. Read successful screenplays, the ones that sold for good money and were made into great movies, that's where you'll find all the advice you need.

[@SysterYster]

Oooh, The Block is such a great movie! I never see people talk about it though. :) Cool.

[@Ghost-27X]

1. Failure to Point out the main Character 2. Too big of Action Scene 3. Too many characters :Bounus: 4. Campy horror movie intro scene 5. Too talky.... Write what you love about Market movie well for the right audience

[@danielberg7644]

A good sign for me that a movie will be bad is when they take an action scene that takes place in the middle and they move it to the front.

[@jenpachi2408]

Do you mind giving me some examples?

[@danielberg7644]

@@jenpachi2408 yes! Skyline (2010) horrible movie and they made sequels!

[@grimmdanny]

My biggest peeve with starting a new novel is the main character being introduced right away, their name, their profession, without me even knowing *who* they are as a character first. It causes me to create a mental image of them right away, and then when more is known about them, it totally changes my mental image of them again. It's already jarring starting something new, but then having to rebuild a mental image multiple times is annoying and I just give up.

[@DFMoray]

Star Wars doesn’t introduce the main character for a loooong time

[@nil_nux556]

😅I think Infinite Jest is a pretty good standard blueprint right? I've sold zero copies so far btw

[@BostonsF1nest]

The best movies ever also have the best opening scenes ever- The Godfather, Goodfellas, Heat, No Country for Old Men, The Exorcist, Sicario, Taking of Pelham 123, There Will be Blood.

[@THE_SAMURAI_PETER]

...Raiders of the Lost Ark

[@greyarea7012]

Watchmen

[@abdulmalikadeola]

'I believe in America'

[@lewstone5430]

Jaws, Apocalypse Now!, Conan the Barbarian

[@chouderr1089]

*breaths out sigh of relief as I realise I didn't do any of these*

[@swickens930]

I feel like marketing and making films for cheap is actually easier today more than ever. Most popular podcasts, at most, charge 30-100 Grand for an ad spot. That single ad spot could net as many as 10-30 Million watchers. Some large corporations had their best single days of their company history after doing that. Plus you can market by yourself and a few friends just by spamming stuff on different forms of social media.

[@nealandkriz5078]

THE LONG GOODBYE has a very nice intro sequence. Nothing fancy, but the main character is laying in bed, without moving. Is he dead? No he just slept over again. And then he proceeds to find food for his cat.

[@betterdevils8005]

1:14 this is so true. The more characters i got rid of the easier my introduction began to flow

[@therealjohngalaxy]

4:53 what does this have to do regarding the title of this video

[@edward222100]

Lotr breaks many of these rules but has one of the best openings of all time

[@montecristo1845]

People watch movies in order to feel something. Depending on whom you speak to, you can either invite your audience or insist.

[@ozeirGD]

This is an advice for Zack Snyder, Michael Bay and for us interested to start a film.

[@SurferJoe1]

This is all about selling and marketing. I'm not a typical audience member, and no one markets to me, but I don't go see genres or stars or successfully executed formulas from the shelves of Samuel French. Just give me a good story well-told, whether it's told with car chases, singing Legos, or chainsaws. For bonus points, give me a character I haven't seen (like Norman Bates, who doesn't appear right away); an interesting structure (like "Pulp Fiction") or say something in a fresh and interesting way.

[@gwine9087]

"It was a dark and stormy night".

[@NashwoodBand]

The whole "star system determines how successful a movie" thought process from the studios pre-production is reductive and outdated... thinking that stars sell a movie is becoming more and more out of touch with the modern movie experience. From an audience perspective, Stars will give you a sense of security, as in "this movie can't be that bad if "ENTER STAR NAME HERE" is in it. However, because of the mass influx of new movies and shows constantly being rotated at theaters and then constantly rotated through the streamers, you need CONCEPT to hook the audience. Star power just lets the audience know where the floor is.

[@8triagrammer]

The nigh was humid

[@vasarian]

Thanks Film Courage! I'm trying to get away from ensemble casts.

[@TJUC123]

Most movie stars can’t sell a movie today. Not even Margot Robbie. People saw Barbie because it was Barbie. No one saw Amsterdam or Babylon or Birds of Prey or even The Suicide Squad. It’s very hard to sell a movie these days because no one is getting up and going to the theater to watch them.

[@Tardis216]

Bad movie openings bore me. If a movie on TV starts badly I leave the movie for what it is and look for a better program, or I turn off the TV. As a result, I don't know of any good movies with bad openings. Maybe there are.

[@Skylark-nu4qt]

“Apocalypse Now”-would that be one that breaks the rule a bit?

[@ryanvannice7878]

"It was a dark and stormy night..."

[@Trowarr]

"It was a dark and stormy night"

[@JoeNathanWhite]

Not a movie but one of the worst starts to a story (and keep in mind i LOVE these books and have a huge respect for em) is Tolkins Lotr start. Its a really dry historical introduction that is interesting for one minute but then keeps lingering on 😅 You gotta say tho, the world is FUCKING awesome that he built and its worth and probably one of the costs to immense worldbuilding, it takes patience to enter this awesome world

[@WusterWasti]

Its funny how his last advice is mostly financial aspects of selling your movie. It shows that its not about how good your movies is, but how youre going to sell it. Makes sense when you think about how many bad movies or series are made today, which are a big success because they are marketed and sold to the right people.

[@spencerhinds2803]

Rules in art are like laws. You learn them as well as you can so that you can break them 😂

[@12DAMDO]

in Assassin's Creed 3 you start off playing as someone else and the main character doesn't get introduced after hours of gameplay, there's quite a lot of action (moderate enough to not be too big tho) and you're introduced to quite a lot of characters before introduced to the main character

[@minbari73]

...and as a result, by the end the story seemed so much more epic, as they took the time to set up everything.

[@12DAMDO]

@@minbari73 oh sure i'm definitely not criticizing it, i just find it interesting how the game is kinda guilty of the 3 examples given in this video.. then again, i do think it took a little too long before we finally get to play as Connor..

[@minbari73]

@@12DAMDO I didn't think you were. Also, games aren't movies. Particularly not games with a 30 hour play time like AC3.

[@12DAMDO]

@@minbari73 wait, AC3 had 30 hours of playtime? damn, no wonder i never 100percented it

[@jenpachi2408]

Actually imo assassin's creed 3 is far worse than 2 and the other Ezio games.