All phases of filmmaking are challenging in their own ways, but mastering story telling is much harder than most aspiring film directors realize. But what’s done in development echoes into every part of the filmmaking process. What’s done in development will make or break your movie.
In the studio world, development could look like this: A producer hears a pitch they like. They bring a studio onboard to finance writing the script. The script goes through a lot of feedback and rewrites, and then when it’s good enough to invest more money in, the project is greenlit and they move on to pre-production. This is just one of many examples. Another would be a studio buying a spec script. In 2024 there were a few spec script sales that brought hope to a lot of writers!
You might be an aspiring director thinking, “I don’t want to write, I just want to direct.” I feel you. But directors MUST understand the fine details of story telling or they will break a working script.
Take THE LAST BOY SCOUT for example. It was written by Shane Black, directed by Tony Scott. Both masters of the craft. But Tony Scott later said the completed film did not live up to the quality of the script. Ouch…this is a massive fail.
To Tony’s credit, there were things at play like input from celebs (Bruce Willis, etc) that tied his hands. But the point of the story is this: To be a good director you must know development as good as a writer does. If you don’t, you can’t make wise decisions.
The best way to learn what you need to know as a director is to actually study story telling as it pertains to the big screen. How do you write a screenplay? What are the steps? Development is the first thing we cover in the Write & Direct training. Here are just a few of the topics covered:
When you watch a movie, you can tell almost immediately if a filmmaker understands the rules of story telling. As creatives many of us don’t want “rules.” We wanna be free. But you have to understand and accept the fact that there are conventions to story telling. Things that have been done since the dawn of time. These rules do not confine you. They empower you.
The first step in making any movie is coming up with an idea worth shooting. What makes an idea worth the monumental amount of time it takes to do a well done film? We explore this in detail.
The most important thing about any hero is their journey of change. Their journey of transformation. They start out one way, and end up another. I don’t care if your hero is Iron Man or Black Panther, they go through a journey of transformation. This is huge. Everything about your movie is about this.
One of the first things we do in a movie is get the audience on board with our hero. And we do this before we introduce the hero’s flaw — that’s important. So how do you quickly make an audience like someone they’ve never met before? I mean, we’re kind of all a little self occupied at times. So why should we care? You do this with something I call empathy intentions.
Plot is what happens in your movie. It’s the surface level actions and events. It’s not the “who” or the “why” but the “what.” Theme is what your story is really about. Some call it the spiritual journey of a hero. We’ve talked about our hero’s flaw and how they have to change, right? This journey of change is theme.
If story is really about a hero who changes, as a filmmaker you must place your hero in situations where they’re forced to make tough choices. And a key way to do this is with an exceptional antagonist. An antagonist provides entertainment. An antagonist serves the theme. Antagonists can be a person, thing or whatever fights against your hero’s goals. And there’s so much more to know!
If you tell a friend you’re working on a film, and they say, “Cool, what’s it about?” The next words out of your mouth better make them wanna see it. Fast forward to the future and you’re going after a studio or investor, your title and logline are going to make them want to read or not read your script.
But the title and logline have a purpose even greater than all of that: They help you understand your movie. They help you make sure it’s working. They are the DNA of your movie.
Think about the films you love. How many have characters are completely different from each other? Think HAN SOLO and LUKE in the original STAR WARS. FOX and SCULLY in THE X-FILES. MORPHEUS and NEO in THE MATRIX. Nathan Algren and Katsumoto in THE LAST SAMURAI. And the list goes on. You must have conflict in your story. CRUCIAL. And it must be genuine. The best way to create natural conflict, that isn’t forced is with character polarization.
So what do setups and payoffs do for you? They help your film feel fluid and they reward your audience. Both of these are crucial. Have you ever watched a movie that felt a little disjointed? More episodic than a cohesive story? Setups and payoffs can be a glue that helps your film stick together. Some setups will be at the beginning with a payoff at the very end. Others will happen much closer together. But when you do this correctly, it helps your film feel like a united story.
The above story points are paramount, but we’re just scratching the surface! If you want to be a film director who can compete in a world saturated with creatives chasing their dreams, you must understand story at a deep level.
The good news? The Write & Direct online film school will start you out right. We take a deep dive into story where you not only learn, but come up with your own idea and write your own screenplay! If you want to be a film director, this film school is designed for you. Start your journey and enroll today.
If your answer is yes, Write & Direct is your inciting incident. It's your catalyst in the journey to becoming a filmmaker. There's nothing else quite like it. Enroll today or find out more below:
