Welcoem to posts!!
in the future - u will be able to do some more stuff here,,,!! like pat catgirl- i mean um yeah... for now u can only see others's posts :c
Hi everyone,
I rarely talk about personal things, but I guess if I want to know you better, I'll have to show you mine first.
My wife is the sweetest person I know in the universe. But then, she says something like "You'll be 60 next year!" If there's anything I rarely think about, it's my age. Now, she'll remind me a few more times, as June is my birthday month.
We just returned from a week's holiday in Bali. You may have noticed this from the video with the unusual intro. There was a time when I did more videos 'on location'. Check them out!
By the way, most of my regular videos have a dark curtain in the background. It's an unintended perk from living at a hotel. I have only been home for about three weeks over the past six months. Not that I'm travelling THAT much, but we've been offered temporary accommodation while our home is being repaired. That was going to take about 10 weeks, but we're now into the fifth month!
I would like to know what sort of videos you want to see more of. Interviews? Analyses? Rants? Or Immersion practice?
When I ran the Sicario series, I was expecting some serious interest, but all videos I posted AFTER that playlist have been getting more views... Still, I want to do another one of those script challenges.
First, I'm going to revisit some older videos that were successful and update them with bigger and better ones. One of those is "OVER BLACK", which was the most-watched video for a long time.
Right now, I'm researching a killer version of that one, and I'm hoping to post later this week.
Meanwhile, if you haven't already, please watch the first part of my interview with Oren Shved about AI in screenwriting. I posted it merely days ago, and my prediction in the intro has come true... Watch this space.
Cheers,
Karel
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To All You Story Departmentalists,
First of all, thank you so much for subscribing!
A month ago we celebrated 6,000 subscribers, and since then, we've added another 10 percent. We're at 6,619 when I write this. Sorry, but it's easy to get caught up in the analytics on YouTube when things go well. ;)
More importantly, I love how you've all been engaging with the videos. I'm really grateful for the many comments, and even more for the conversations between subscribers.
Many of you subscribed when you saw the teaser for my interview with Michael Sweeney. I'm about to post the full interview, but I've decided to do it in 2 bite-sized chunks of about 15 minutes each.
Over the past few months, you may have wondered whether I can keep up the current publication frequency. And trust me, so have I. We'll see how we go. Since the end of January, I have lived in a 5-star hotel with my wife, and these circumstances have somehow made it easier to get things done. Sadly, it is a temporary situation, and it will come to an end at any time.
In any case, here are some videos I'm hoping to post in the next few weeks:
Insider Insights from a Hollywood Reader (Interview with Michael Sweeney)
The Inevitable End Of The Screenwriter (Interview with Oren Shved)
CIVIL WAR - Critical Analysis
Screenwriting with Woody - Toy Story 2 - The Major Event
I'm particularly excited about the interviews, because Michael and Oren have shared with me some super useful insider insights. And the conversation with Oren in particular was both enjoyable and concerning to me. You'll see what I mean when you watch it.
In that conversation, we'll also cover Oren's imagining of what The Shining would look like in vertical format: www.reddit.com/r/StanleyKubrick/comments/151bi8r/w…
I hope you'll enjoy May at The Story Department.
Cheers,
Karel
PS: A quick quiz to see if you watched the videos over the past month!
QUESTION: What is the 1 superpower that will make every character compelling?
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And here we go…
Video number 100!
I will upload it in a few hours. It's the 10th and final instalment in our Sicario series, with a roundup of the key takeaways.
More importantly, I'm sharing something I found by sheer coincidence as I was looking at the file information for one of Sheridan's scripts.
If you're a fan, you might dig this little insight/inside.
And of course, I'll be answering the question all of you had after last video:
"WTF was that James Cameron thing??"
Sorry!
In any case, I think #100 will be one of the best videos yet.
Meanwhile, I'm going back through all the comments on the channel so far. I am making an effort to answer them all. I'd love to hear from all of you, so please leave a comment after watching any video!
Also…
I want to hear from all of you what it is that you would like to see more of on the channel!
I’m guessing you'd love more free 1-hour masterclasses, but that's not something I can easily throw out like that!
I promise there will be more of them, but I'm asking you kindly to be patient.
However...
I have something really cool coming up for all those who'd like to learn about screenwriting in different ways.
I'm planning on doing another series of videos, and I think you'll love it.
Stay tuned!
Cheers,
Karel
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I’ve just saved you from seven hours of boredom.
You’re welcome.
How so?
I’ll explain, but let me first THANK YOU.
For the amazing feedback and for subscribing to the channel. The last video - the new channel intro - celebrated 5,000 subscribers, and it is looking like we’ll hit 6,000 soon after the next video.
So, what about the boredom?
Well, I followed your guidance (see the previous post) and copied the SICARIO screenplay.
One percent of the channel subscribers (50) voted, and the result was pretty obvious: SICARIO was the clear forerunner.
It took me 9 days to type the script—in bursts of 30-45 minutes each...
...and that was anything BUT tedious.
It was my favourite thing of the day!
Now, it took me a little longer to prep the first video.
Why?
Well, I watched that first video, and I had to be honest with myself.
It was DEAD BORING.
How could I know, right?
It was ME TYPING FOR - FOREVER!
I realised why I always tell screenwriters to NEVER SHOW WRITERS DOING THEIR JOB ON THE SCREEN.
Hell must be having to watch writers write—for eternity.
So instead of me typing for 45 minutes, the videos will show how I pick the fruits of the experience.
And here’s the surprise…
There is so much to process for me that I had to condense it into 7 points, to see the wood for the trees.
And that’s become the format.
After a short intro, you’ll see me discover some of Taylor Sheridan’s story and style secrets for about 5-10 minutes, and the final part condenses the key takeaways.
Kinda like a tight 3-act structure.
The first video will go live at 8.45am PST (2.45am AEST) here:
https://youtu.be/ZJi09yv4lKM.
And then I’ll aim to publish another one every day until we hit THE END.
I hope you enjoy it, and if you do, perhaps we can repeat this together during a live event one day!
I’m thinking of tackling a next script (Which one?? Tell me in the comments! HELL OR HIGH WATER is still high up my list, but ALIEN is the other one I'm keen on taking on) and then having a livestream for the final pages, where we all share what we find.
So, I wrote SICARIO!
What did you write?
Happy watching, happy writing!
Cheers,
Karel
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Inspired by Elliot Chan and his copying of The Great Gatsby here on YouTube (where he follows in the footsteps of Hunter S. Thompson), I want to pick a screenplay to copy over the next month, while I take my own course Immersion Screenwriting.
Because you are my loyal subscribers, I thought I'd put the choice to you all!
I'm giving you 3 options, all of which are written by Taylor Sheridan.
He's the most prolific screenwriter of these days, and in sheer word count he has reached Shakespeare' boss level. I estimate that Sheridan has written around a million produced words. (I'll get back to you with a more accurate estimate soon)
So, what script do you all want me to copy? I'll do it in bit sizes, and for each video I will also share what I learned from the experience. In this way, you all get something out of it, too.
I'll leave it open for 24 hours or so.
(Or I could close the poll when I'm happy with the result... )
See you soon again on the channel!
Cheers,
Karel
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Would you believe me, if I told you there was a screenwriter who continued to write original blockbuster movies for forty years?
Would you believe that those movies attract the most diverse audience, from the nerdiest film buffs to those who only watch one film a year?
And would you believe me if I told you that you can write exactly like that writer?
Of course you wouldn't, even if I'm speaking the truth. And I’ll prove it to you.
But first, I will show you why you aren't already writing successful scripts.
You have the talent, you have the intelligence, and you have the ideas.
But you're not writing the screenplays, and you sure as hell ain't selling them.
Perhaps you've taken a course, or watched some YouTube videos breaking down the techniques of great writing.
You may have spent, hours, weeks, years doing this. And still you're no closer to earning a pay check.
You secretly also know what the problem is: all that time you were reading about great screenwriting, you were doing neither of the two things that are absolutely critical to becoming successful: reading and writing *scripts*.
Let me guess what has been holding you back:
- You didn't know what scripts to read
- You didn’t know the proper format
- You don’t have the habit or routine
- You didn’t have an incentive to get started
- You started, but lost interest
- You believed you needed to learn theory first
So here’s the news: you’ve run out of excuses.
When students kept coming back to my theory-based courses, at some point I realised they weren’t completing screenplays.
Some research quickly exposed that my courses were not the problem. Similar courses by highly successful gurus achieved the same result: nothing.
At the beginning of a new year, it’s time to stop fooling yourself.
Start learning how to write like the greatest, and build a habit doing it.
I can help you with this. The videos on this channel are a first step. But they're not going to make you successful.
By the way, have you figured out who that successful writer above is?
Hint: forty years ago he was writing the script for a little movie called TERMINATOR.
And if you forgot that he can write more than just action movies, here’s a word for you: TITANIC.
While I write this, the first AVATAR sequel is on its way to becoming the top-performing film of 2022.
So why are you not studying the worlds most successful screenwriter alive? :)
You don’t like Cameron’s movies?
Well, I admit that I’m not the greatest fan of his dialogue, either. But the man can tell a story, and knows all about structure, too.
It takes only a few pages from AVATAR to see that if you want to write a riveting spec screenplay, you can learn a whole lot more from Cameron than from, say, Christopher Nolan.
Even if you prefer Nolan’s filmmaking.
But here’s the problem with so many wannabes:
Beginning writers confuse the movies with the scripts.
Further into the AVATAR script - should you decide to read it all - you’ll learn how Cameron is a master at placing the reader in the POV of the main character, a skill that is immensely powerful if you want to 1) immerse the reader, and 2) keep them inside your story.
Thanks to the brand-spanking new Immersion Science-Fiction course, you can now study some of Cameron’s work, and practice your writing skills using some of his scenes.
Because you’re a subscriber of the Story Department YouTube channel, I’m offering you a massive 50% launch discount, PLUS a 30-day money-back guarantee if you decide you didn’t learn enough.
Here is a recent video showing snippets from most of the movies whose scripts are included in the course: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=arKfY...
So head over to the Immersion site: my.scriptwriting.courses/.
And if you have any questions, just contact me: www.thestorydepartment.com/contact-immersion.
To your writing success in 2023 - and beyond!
Karel
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Which video would you like to see next:
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Dear friends,
I hope you've enjoyed the edits of my online screenwriting masterclasses over the past few months since my first community post here. Check them out if you haven't already.
The latest videos are about BREAKING BAD, WRITING FOR SOUND, and THE STORY ENGINE. That last one is particularly useful if you're relatively new to screenwriting.
I wanted to let you know what is in the pipeline for the remainder of this year - time permitting.
- I noticed that one of my old webinars about writing loglines has over 7,000 views. In the YouTube universe, that's nothing but on my channel it's significant. I'll probably do an updated video on synopsis writing soon.
- If you've watched every video, you may have picked up that I'm a fan of The Wire, and the show celebrates its 20th anniversary this year, so I wanted to dedicate at least one video to that. I analysed the pilot episode with my students, and came to some really cool insights.
- There are also a range of screenwriting topics that I covered in my masterclasses, and which I am yet to edit for the channel. Keep an eye out!
- Finally, I'd love to do a series of videos about a short segment early in Toy Story 2 that I have used for many years in my classes. In fact, I believe you can learn all the fundamentals of story for the screen just from that short video.
This week is the 10th anniversary of Logline It (logline.it), and I'm celebrating this with the release of the Logline Generator 2.0, with the gracious help of Story Architect (Starc.app). Check out logline.it, as you can post loglines to get them peer reviewed. We just ask you to return the favour.
There's more great news around the corner about the Immersion Screenwriting courses (screenwriting.courses), but until I reveal it to you all, you can already check out the latest and greatest here: scriptwriting.courses. (Yes, the URL's are supposed to be different. At some point, both sites will be merged and show the same content.)
Meanwhile, please keep watching the videos and leaving comments! I love feedback, and will respond as much as I can.
Best wishes from Sydney, Australia!
Cheers,
Karel
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Hi folks,
This is the first time that I can write something to you all!
YouTube creators need to have 1,000 subscribers before this community page opens up. I only learned this last week, when we finally got there after more than three years of hard work.
Of course I have been posting articles on The Story Department (thestorydepartment.com), but that's different. This post is just for you, my dearest subscribers!
So what do I have to say today? Two words: THANK YOU.
You have no idea how immensely grateful I am that you're all there. Creating videos for this channel is one of the greatest joys in my week, and without you all, that would be a pretty futile exercise...
But of course, it's not all about me. The idea is that you take something away from it.
In my next post, I will poll you to see what sort of videos you would like to see in the future.
Thank you for reading, and see you on the channel soon again!
Cheers,
Karel Segers
PS: The picture was YouTube's pick for the thumbnail of my masterclass on SUBPLOTS (https://youtu.be/RFyyztIY-Wk). I'm pointing up, because you can hear the rain pelting down in the video during one of the heaviest downpours in Sydney, where I live and work.
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Everything to start out and succeed as a screenwriter: Story + Script = Sale!
youtube.com/c/TheStoryDepartment?sub_confirmation=…