Top 10 Uses of Foreshadowing

The YouTube channel WatchMojo has been entertaining me for years now, but it can also be hugely educational. This video of the Top 10 Uses of Foreshadowing in film provides some excellent examples of set ups and pay offs. Foreshadowing is a powerful story-telling technique but not always easy to get right, too subtle and it may go unnoticed, too obvious and it ruins any mystique.

The Usual Suspects, Shaun of the Dead and Jurassic Park are some of my personal favourites. Whereas The Dark Knight's "you either die a hero or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain" always felt too heavy-handed to me, considering we all knew Harvey Dent was going to became Two Face.

The Books of Tarantino

"When people ask me if I went to film school, I tell them, 'No, I went to films.'"

Quentin Tarantino has an encyclopaedic knowledge of film and pop-culture thanks to his days working at the Californian video rental store Video Archives. But his early work also drew significantly on the writing of crime authors Elmore Leonard and Jim Thompson.

Read the full feature on Crime Fiction Lover.

Screenplays

Below I've collated a few links to great screenplays, both film and TV. The links are mainly pilfered from other, far better, filmmaking resources like the fantastic Cinephilia and Beyond, as well as the unstoppable Go Into the Story, and the UK's own BBC Writers Room. The more screenplays you read, the easier it becomes to write them... or so I'm told.

Glen Garry Glen Ross - David Mamet

Calvary - John Michael McDonagh

People Just Do Nothing - Steve Stamp

Fargo (film) - Joel & Ethan Coen

Fargo (TV series) - Noah Hawley

I've just finished watching Fargo the TV series, a new benchmark against which we'll measure all other spinoffs! Noah Hawley's black comedy had enough little nods to the Coen Brothers' original film - that subplot on the fate of Steve Buscemi's buried million was inspired - but did its own thing, with it's own deeply flawed yet lovable characters and quirky ideas. There's an online PDF of the first episode that's a perfect example of how a pilot can deftly introduce all your main characters, while keeping the plot moving - things just keep happening! - and using the setting to its full potential. The dialogue is sublime and the tone, that straight-faced gallows humour, is to die for.

Bryan Cranston & Aaron Paul read Breaking Bad finale Felina

The Guard - script

John Michael McDonagh's feature debut is an Irish black comedy with Brendan Gleeson as the titular Guard. Gerry Boyle is an unorthodox policeman who doesn't shy away from confrontation, he's teamed up with Don Cheadle's by-the-book FBI agent Wendell Everett to take down a ring of international drug smugglers.

It's dark and hilarious with a cast of great characters and dialogue sharp enough to draw blood. I found the script here and it's well worth a read - funny, touching and an excellent example of how to individualise your character voices.

The Bitter Script Reader

The Bitter Script Reader, AKA Zuul the Gatekeeper, has been reading scripts in Hollywood for nearly a decade and he's here to help you avoid the common mistakes. His blog's a great resource but it's his YouTube channel where the real fried gold lies. It's a veritable cornucopia of script writing advice, the short videos are rarely longer than a few minutes so you can have a quick binge while at work, or waiting for a bus, or having a pooh. And the '12 Step Screenwriting' strand provides a structured plan, that if adhered to, you'll have a first draft of your script finished in 3 months.

Using a puppet helps personify the tips and information and puts a face to the amusingly grumpy and irreverent tone. The BSR also interviews industry pros, from writers and showrunners, to producers and directors, and provides advice on breaking into the market, covering the LA scene as much as the value of pitch fests and networking. I've spent a lot of time watching and reading his great content, now if I just spend the same amount of time working on my script, maybe I'll actually finish it.

Lena Dunham on writing Girls

"Write stories that feel like yours and feel close to you rather than trying to fill a hole in the industry."

Lena Dunham

Girls is a pretty fantastic show, the first season never had a dull moment and from the opening scene where Hannah's parents tell her they're going to cut her off, you knew this was a generational sitcom that was going to talk to a lot of twenty-somethings. Although season 2 felt like it wobbled a little with a few missteps I'm excited that it's back. Here writer, director and star, Lena Dunham talks about the creation of the show, about being open with her drafts, getting feedback from Executive Producers Jennifer Konner and Judd Apatow, and soundtracking her writing process.

Empire Podcast - Three Flavours Cornetto Triology special

The Empire podcasts are a wealth of information on film and television development, as well as being delightfully entertaining thanks to the characters in the Empire team. Their knowledge, humour and ability to put almost every actor, director, and writer at ease, always gets the best out of them.

This one here's a Three Flavours Cornetto Trilogy special with Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright. Their work is testament to how important finding a writing partner can be to your work. Something magic happens whenever these guys get together, and the two share stories about how they met, how Spaced was developed and produced, and plenty of amusing on-set anecdotes from three of the best British comedies of the last decade. Interesting to hear how, before writing Shaun of the Dead, they read Syd Field's book 'Screenplay' and then would watch their favourite movies and match the story events to Syd Field's paradigm, and were surprised how many fit into the structure.

Tony Gilroy on Screenwriting

Tony Gilroy, American screenwriter and filmmaker, wrote the screenplays for the Bourne series and directed the fourth installment with Jeremy Renner. He sat down for a chinwag with the Empire Podcast team to talk about screenwriting, the state of movie making today, and George Clooney.

Charlie Brooker interviews Vince Gilligan

Breaking Bad is one of the best TV dramas ever made. A black comedy, a Shakespearean morality tale, and a show that epitomizes the current trend in TV drama for unsympathetic protagonists, every episode is an incredible example of high tension storytelling with some of the tightest writing on the screen. At the Edinburgh International TV festival Charlie Brooker interviewed the show's creator Vince Gilligan. They cover everything from the inspiration and development to Vince Gilligan's entry into the industry.

Breaking Bad scripts

Discovered this fantastic Tumblr called Cinephelia and Beyond - an amazing resource for any film fan, especially those into development, directing, screenwriting, and the like. They were awesome enough to find and post a few PDFs of Breaking Bad scripts.

Obviously, this made me wet with happiness. I've looked into purchasing some episode scripts but they're as yet unavailable, or at least they were the last time I checked Amazon. Worry not, though, because follow this link and you can read the scripts for the pilot and a few from season 3, including 'No Mas' - one of the tensest episodes in the series, which is saying a lot, coz every episode of Breaking Bad is a nail biting lesson in suspenseful storytelling.

They're not only great, action packed scripts, but they're also beautifully written. Note in the pilot episode how Vince uses the word 'galumphing' to describe the way the RV moves. When was the last time you used the word 'galumphing'? Yeah me neither, until I had read the script, now I try to use it at least once a day.