While there are many guides to screenwriting, none of them tackle the specific difficulties of writing the tricky mid-section of the screenplay.The Heart of Your Scriptreveals the six key elements that are crucial for ensuring an emotionally satisfying and dramatically engaging center to any script.
Using a broad range of concise case studies, including contemporary films such asAftersun(2022),The Whale(2022),Shoplifters(2018),Talk to Me(2022),Barbie(2023) and Oppenheimer (2023), canonical texts such asBack to the Future(1985),Seven Samurai(1954) andThere Will Be Blood(2007) and cult classics likeSwiss Army Man, (2016),Jennifer's Body(2009) andHeathers(1988), Ted Wilkes and Phil Hughes provide helpful tips and tricks to assist writers in finding out what is at the heart of the story they want to tell and how to ensure that it is coming through in their stories. Refusing any single method for structuring this central portion, Wilkes and Hughes offer a character-centred study, which allows aspiring screenwriters to map their dramatic journey from the inside out.
An in-depth exploration of how to create an emotionally satisfying and dramatically engaging central section of a film.
Ted Wilkes is Senior Lecturer in Screenwriting at University for the Creative Arts, UK.
Phil Hughesis Senior Lecturer and course leader in Film & Screen at Regent's University London, UK.
1The mechanics
2Willing
3Unknowing
4Unable to believe
5Accidental
6Mistaken
7Willing case study:Inside Out 2(2024)
8Unknowing case study:The Fall Guy(2024)
9Unable-to-believe case study:Barbie(2023)
10Accidental case study:Everything Everywhere All at Once(2022)
11Mistaken case study:Talk to Me(2023)
12Character Is Structure does TV
![The Heart of Your Script: The Insiders Guide to Writing the Difficult Middle Se [Paperback]](/itemImage/2/2/1/0/2_7277811.jpg "The Heart of Your Script: The Insiders Guide to Writing the Difficult Middle Se [Paperback]")