Go Into The Story Resource: Screenwriting Advice From The Past
A series analyzing screenwriting advice from the book “How to Write Photoplays” written in 1920 by Anita Loos and her husband John Emerson.
A series analyzing screenwriting advice from the book “How to Write Photoplays” written in 1920 by Anita Loos and her husband John Emerson.
On May 16, 2023, Go Into The Story turned 15 years old — you can read the very first blog post here. I led with this paragraph:
Welcome to Go Into The Story! Right now, it’s nothing but a humble, threadbare blog, but I hope it will evolve into an active resource for aspiring screenwriters, as well as a community for anyone interested in storytelling and the creative life.
And evolve it did! To the point where it was recently named “Best of the Best” Scriptwriting Website in the 20th Annual Writer’s Digest Best Websites for Writers list.
To celebrate 15 years of blogging about screenwriting, writing, Hollywood, movies, TV, and the creative life, each day in May, I’m going to feature a piece of Go Into The Story trivia, plus a writing resource you can find in the site’s archives. This is not an exercise in self-congratulations so much as I figured readers could use some tips about how to best use the site. With — to date — over 100 archive topics, there is a LOT of content here. Hopefully, these posts this month will clue in more recent followers and remind long-time readers about resources you can use to facilitate deepening your understanding of the writing craft.
Today’s trivia: You may know that my screenwriting credits include three movies: K-9 (Universal Pictures), Alaska (Sony Pictures/Castle Rock Entertainment), and Trojan War (Warner Bros. Pictures).
What you may not know is I have written over 30 projects for every major Hollywood studio and almost every broadcast network. That list:
20th Century Fox
Disney
Paramount
Sony/Tri-Star
Universal
Warner Bros.
Lorimar
MGM
Propaganda
Working Title
CBS
Fox
NBC
PBS
That list includes spec script sales, original pitch deals, open writing assignments, and TV pilot scripts.
What this means is I have boots on ground experience as a screenwriter in Hollywood which is reflected in the articles on this site. Combined with my experience hosting this blog which has provided a unique insight into the business and my decades as a teacher which has caused me to dig deep into character driven storytelling, Go Into The Story readers should feel confident the content they access here is solid, grounded stuff.
Today’s Go Into The Story resource: Screenwriting Advice From The Past. Over the course of a year, I went through one of the very first books about the craft: How to Write Photoplays. Written in 1920 by screenwriters and real-life couple Anita Loos and John Emerson, it is one of the very first ‘how to’ books about the craft.
Here are links to that entire series:
The Continuity [Part 1]
The Continuity [Part 2]
The Actor’s Angle [Part 1]
The Actor’s Angle [Part 2]
Character on the Screen [Part 1]
Character on the Screen [Part 2]
Character on the Screen [Part 3]
Character on the Screen [Part 4]
The Kinds Of Stories That Sell [Part 1]
The Kinds Of Stories That Sell [Part 2]
The Kinds Of Stories That Sell [Part 3]
The Kinds Of Stories That Sell [Part 4]
The Kinds Of Stories That Sell [Part 5]
What to Write and Not to Write [Part 1]
What to Write and Not to Write [Part 2]
What to Write and Not to Write [Part 3]
Writing for the Censors [Part 1]
Writing for the Censors [Part 2]
Writing for the Censors [Part 3]
Midway in the Photoplay [Part 1]
Midway in the Photoplay [Part 2]
Midway in the Photoplay [Part 3]
Midway in the Photoplay [Part 4]
Midway in the Photoplay [Part 5]
Midway in the Photoplay [Part 6]
Midway in the Photoplay [Part 7]
There is some great information and inspiration about the screenwriting craft in this series that is surprisingly relevant to today. I highly recommend you go through it!
Each day this month, I am taking the opportunity to thank you for supporting Go Into The Story. I’d love to hear from you in RESPONSES. When did you start following the blog? What are your favorite features? And as always, if you have any suggestions, feel free to suggest away.