Desk of Amy Suto

TV writer who eats danger for breakfast

5 Lessons Screenwriters Can Learn from The Hunger Games

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The Hunger Games is set to have the highest grossing opening weekend of all time for a non-sequel movie. What makes the story work? What can we learn from this smash hit?

  1. Go hard or go home. In the theater, people audibly gasped when a child was slaughtered onscreen. (Especially Rue– the grown man next to me was crying when she got killed.) In an interview, the marketing team said they were careful to make sure the Hunger Games wasn’t branded as ‘that child-killing movie.’ That’s why you never actually see any footage of the games in any of the trailers, even though everyone knew what happened anyways. In the book, Suzanne Collins was ruthless with killing off characters we loved (Rue, and some other major characters later in the series) so that just when we thought we knew what would happen next, she shocked us again. Believe it or not, The Hunger Games was a risky film. But because [Read more…]

Script Breakdown: “Castle” Pilot

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Pilot written by Andrew W. Marlowe

First Rev. Draft February 29, 2008 

Read the Pilot here.

 

Read some of the other season 1 castle scripts here.

…

So today I decided to mix things up and review a TV pilot. I’m not a fan of crime show procedurals, but I love the heart and humor in this show. The best episodes, however, are the darker ones. I’ve seen the two most recent seasons, but not the pilot. Thus why I was excited for this script!

PREMISE: Rick Castle is a murder mystery writer who follows around Kate Beckett, a NYPD police officer, in order to come up with new ideas for his books. Through the seasons, he falls for her, and a ridiculous amount of sexual tension ensues. [Read more…]

Script Breakdown: Hanna

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HANNA

Adapt or die.

Premise: A 16-year-old who was raised by her father to be the perfect assassin is dispatched on a mission across Europe, tracked by a ruthless intelligence agent and her operatives.

Release Date: 2011

Directed by: Joe Wright

Written by: Seth Lochhead (story and screenplay) and David Farr (screenplay)

[Read more…]

The “Will They Won’t They” Plot Device: Is it Overused?

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The “Will They Won’t They Get Together Romance” is possibly one of the most annoying– yet extremely addicting if used effectively- plot device on television today.

You know what I’m talking about. There’s two characters with a history, introduced from the beginning. They flirt, allude to their complicated past, and quickly establish that even if they did still have feeling for each other (they obviously do), there’s nothing they can do about it because some aspect of their lives makes their relationship ‘forbidden’. And so, us viewers have to endure 2-6 seasons of these two characters longing for each other. Those stolen glances. Those distracting new love interests that you and I grow to hate. The forbidden romance that is not quite pursued but is oh-so-idealized.

And then, finally, the two get together after some tragic, near-death experience that makes them realize that nothing in the world matters but each other.

So, the audiences are happy, and then, inexplicably, the ratings drop, and the network pulls the show off the air. Is this model archaic? To give shows a longer lifespan, do we have to abandon this plot tactic?

WHY THE MODEL IS BROKEN [Read more…]

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