Comedy vs Humor. Is There A Difference?

The terms comedy and humor are often used interchangeably in screenwriting. Is there a difference between the two? Actually, there is. And screenwriters should know them. COMEDY Comedy is the premeditated act designed to cause an audience to laugh. Comedy relies on jokes, visual gags, and physical acts to amuse and entertain an audience. It…

When Is A Genre Not Really A Genre

There are four main genres in film: action, drama, comedy and thriller (includes horror.) Scripted TV is generally broken down into drama and comedy. Sure, there are hybrids like action comedy and dramedy, but the main genres remain intact. Screenwriters should familiarize themselves with these terms. So when to these genres transcend their boundaries into…

20 Emotions Found In Horror Films

Horror movies continue to be a staple on cinema screens and television on-demand queues. Audiences can’t seem to get enough of these films. So screenwriters continue to write them. Horror films must still follow the tropes of good screenplays in order to be successful. They need to take the audience on an emotional journey. By…

How Many Categories Of Film Comedy Are There?

More than most screenwriters think. Here are some more movie types to get your comedic screenplays completed. 1) HIGH BROW These are comedies aimed at culturally and financially elite audiences. As such, they often deal with lifestyles of the rich and wealthy covering themes such as marrying into wealth, bulking up estates, avoiding taxes and…

Not All Comedy Films Are Equal

Comedy is one of the hardest screenplay genres for screenwriters to master. This is because comedy movies are so broad, so personal and so nuanced.  The writing style ranges from jokes so subliminal they barely register with the audience, to laugh out loud slapstick humor. Writing comedy movie and TV scripts is serious business, so…

8 Tips To Make Your Thriller Screenplays More Thrilling

Thriller movies are a staple of our cinema screens. Let’s explore the most significant ways to write a screenplay in this exciting and popular genre. 1) CAPTIVATION Most thriller movie scripts begin with a mystery that unravels throughout the course of the story. It could be a crime, a clue, an enigma a secret or…

Put Some Lovin’ In Your Screenwriting

Romance films, romantic comedies, and romantic subplots have been staples on our film and TV screens since the dawn of cinema and television. We love them. And our appetite for them shows no signs of slowing down. As is the case in all film genres, love stories have their own set of conventions which audiences expect.  If…

Smart Dumb Comedy – It’s A Thing!

What the heck is this sub-genre of comedy films that are cropping up on our screens? Well, filmmakers aren’t being rude. They just want audiences to know that screenwriters toiled over their keyboards to write “dumb” gags. They are purposefully farcical and deserve more respect than dumb comedies which are poorly developed and badly written….

9 Types Of Thriller Movies To Put Your Audience On The Edge Of Their Seats

Thriller movies are a box office draw cards which are consistency enjoyed by film audiences around the world. Thrillers are defined by the intense emotion they evoke in their audiences. They are, by definition, thrilling. They are often described by terms such as “edge of your sear”, “white knuckle” and “cliffhanger.”

12 Types Of Horror Films To Make You Sleep With The Lights On

It’s Halloween time; that spooky month. A time when screenwriters make audiences jump in fear or cover their eyes. Horror movies are a mainstay of our screens that never seem to fall out of favor. Here are some of the main types of horror movies: 1) Monster These include Godzilla, Cujo, Frankenstein and Black Sheep….

Writing A Monster That Will Make Your Horror Movie Totally Scary

What makes a good creature feature? Creature features are a common hallmark of horror films. Given the amount of such movies, you need to make yours stand out from the pack. A quick way to enhance your horror screenwriting is the think about what scares you? Is it blood, spiders, goo, sharp teeth? Your monster…

Wanna Write A Found Footage Film That Works?

I’ve written previously that low-budget filmmaking is an ideal entry point for screenwriters to break into the film industry. Found footage films have catapulted many newbie filmmakers into megastardom due to their ultra-low budgets and stellar profits. The Blair Witch Project has made over $140 million in theaters off a reported budget of $60k. That’s…