Video: 10 Screenwriting Tips from M. Night Shyamalan

Advice from the writer-director of The Sixth Sense and Split.

Outstanding Screenplays with a new video compilation featuring the filmmaker M. Night Shyamalan whose screenwriting credits include The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable, Signs, The Village, Lady in the Water, and Split.

1:14–01 — Don’t be a writer/director if you have a choice among other professions. Only do it if it’s the only thing you want to do and if you have no other choice but to do it.

2:22–02 — “The plot comes out of the character.” M Night Shyamalan came up with the twist ending for Sixth Sense by asking himself a question “Why is the couple not speaking?”

4:16–03 — Taking certain elements out of your film can be just as effective as adding them in. There is no score in ‘The Visit’ which makes the story more intriguing to the audience.

5:03–04 — For your idea to explode you need to have things: 1. the idea and 2. the angle on the idea. There is only one angle the is right for you and you need to find that angle.

6:48–05 — You don’t have to live in Los Angeles to be a screenwriter. Your city can be your greatest strength, you’ll write things that are different and have a distinct voice.

7:41–06 — If you concentrate on characters, the unique story and good collaborators, you don’t need a big budget. You also have the freedom to include scenes that would never pass in a studio system.

9:40–07 — Every script will take you A LOT OF DRAFTS. In the first redrafts, you work on bigger problems like the whole acts, scenes and characters. In later drafts, you work on specific problems like lines of dialogue.

12:15–08 — When writing a TV series, have the ending in mind before starting it, so that in every episode you can write traces of that ending and the audience will feel the emotional resonance.

13:23–09 — Don’t think about twists like dance moves which you necessarily have to hit in your plot. The twist ending should be just an element of the story; not the whole story.

15:17–10 — Get a lot of feedback from people. There is no criticism that isn’t beneficial. You don’t need to follow it, just listen to every feedback, and then ANALYZE it on your own terms.

17:00 — EXTRA TIP — You can look at a filmmaker’s life in two different ways. People from the outside only see success statistics. But the REALITY is that success never comes easy, and EVERYBODY goes through multiple embarrassing failures before the success is achieved. Don’t be afraid of failures, just keep putting together your puzzle until your picture is complete.

You had me at: “The plot comes out of the character.”

Watch the rest of the video for the rest of the ten tips and a lot more insights from Shyamalan (22 minutes worth).

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