Million Dollar Screenwriting

Reviewer: Michele W.

Out of the four DVDs the first two are the most informative and discuss a nice way to break down your screenplay making it easier to write. The third DVD was a bit disappointing in that I thought they were going to view movies and apply the information from the first two DVDs. The class may have done that, but it was not shown on the third DVD. I figure there may be some copyright law they had to contend with. I got the idea though. The fourth DVD was very short and really had nothing of value on it. I would recommend the first two DVDs highly and possibly the third. The fourth you can skip. Overall, the series was good and I did learn some things.

Reviewer: Michael D.

The series of four DVDs presented story-telling strategies and the mini-movie approach through lectures. While it was informative, I think the lessons would have been driven home stronger with clips from movies that demonstrated each sequence -- using, perhaps, a drama, a thriller, a comedy, and a sci-fi to show adaptability of the mini-movie method. Chris cited several movies as examples when discussing different sequences, but if you have not seen all of these movies, you're clueless about what he's saying. Showing not telling -- isn't that what it's all about?

At times, Chris Soth's voice was unintelligible; two reasons: he speaks fast, and the audio quality in the room was poor.

Students in the foreground were distracting.

Graphics were not held in view long enough.

As Chris said, the approach is a template to use for starters. But I just can't see outlining a story in this fashion, with a specified number of pages alloted to each sedquence, and then going back and writing the story. Adhering strictly to this method would make all screenplays predictable. Perhaps another way to drive home the lesson would be to examine screenplays that were adapted from novels or short stories. In other words, start with the story, then exam how it was adapted to make it roughly/approximately fit this screenplay skeleton rather than the other way around i.e., story to screenplay.

I will rent from Smartflix again. It's a great service for people like me who are not film-school students but who want to learn all that they do. And, oh yeah, who love to write.

Reviewer: Michael D.

Lot of good points. Learned new stuff (I'm a beginner, so that's not hard). But I think the lecture format could be improved with more visuals. Showing not telling is what it's all about, right?

1) I would love to see clips from various genres -- drama, thriller, romantic comedy, sci-fi, for example -- that demonstrate each of the eight sequences.

2) Chris refers to various films in his lecture as points of reference when discussing certain segments. If you have not seen all of these films, the reference falls on deaf ears. If this is to be the format, then structure it with prerequisites -- "You must recently view this, this and this before taking this workshop since they will be referred to in the lectures."

A few misc. points -- -- Chris talks fast and the audio quality in the room is poor. I missed a few points. -- Students in the foreground are distracting -- Workshop attendees receive handouts. The CD audience does not. Graphics should be held up long enough to copy and Chris should pause while these are up.

Regarding the Mini Movie approach: I am not sure I could outline eight seguences of a tentative story, with a specified range of page numbers in each, and then go back and write the story to fill. I know this is supposed to be a flexible template, but, to me, the story is all important. I would love to see a demonstration of how a short story or novel went to a screenplay, adapting it to roughly fit the eight sequences, if that was, indeed, what was done. "Brokeback Mountain" would be a great example.

I will continue to use Smartflix. I think it is a good learning resource. I would recommend Chris's series with caveats.

Mike DiPrima Atlanta

Reviewer: Michael D.

Lot of good points. Learned new stuff (I'm a beginner, so that's not hard). But I think the lecture format could be improved with more visuals. Showing not telling is what it's all about, right?

1) I would love to see clips from various genres -- drama, thriller, romantic comedy, sci fi, for example -- that demonstrate each of the eight sequences.

2) Chris refers to various films in his lecture as points of reference when discussing certain segments. If you have not seen all of these films, the reference falls on deaf ears. If this is to be the format, then structure it with prerequisites -- "You must recently view this, this and this before taking this workshop since they will be referred to in the lectures."

A few misc. points -- -- Chris talks fast and the audio quality in the room is poor. I missed a few points. -- Students in the foreground are distracting -- Workshop attendees receive handouts. The CD audience does not. Graphics should be held up long enough to copy and Chris should pause while these are up.

Regarding the Mini Movie approach: I am not sure I could outline eight seguences of a tentative story, with a specified range of page numbers in each, and then go back and write the story to fill. I know this is supposed to be a flexible template, but, to me, the story is all important. I would love to see a demonstration of how a short story or novel went to a screenplay, adapting it to roughly fit the eight seguences, if that was, indeed, what was done. "Brokeback Mountain" would be a great example.

I will continue to use Smartflix. I think it is a good learning resource. I would recommend Chris's series with caveats.

Mike DiPrima Atlanta