MY NEW DVD SET

Dear Writers,

I have literally put my money where my mouth is in championing aspiring screenwriters for years. I have made two feature films from scripts entered in my contests and have gambled with tens of thousands of dollars of my own money to try to grow the Champion Screenwriting Competition into a life-changing experience for some of the winners. My previous 25 issues of Craft & Career have given away an entire book's worth of craft advice.

My sales pitch isn't exactly crowd-funding, since I am not offering just a t-shirt, but, sure, I hope you longtime readers support me and this project.  But there are benefits for you and the community, too.

Everything I've discovered in my own two-decade quest to understand screenwriting inside and out is now available for the first time on DVD. You can learn the most advanced screenwriting concepts in the comfort of your home for a fraction of the cost of a weeklong retreat in Taos or Los Angeles. Instead of scrambling to take notes, you can work at your own pace and watch the class as many times and with as many friends as you like.

Also consider how much the landscape of the screenwriting education niche has changed. When this newsletter began, there were two prominent print magazines about screenwriting. Now we are down to one...  available only digitally. Your support allows everyone to have more access to instruction from me and some of the other teachers I will be promoting later in the year, who are outside of the classic screenwriting canon.

As silly as my Love on the Rocks? essay is, there is some truth to it. I am a person who likes to say, "Yes." Even in my review of the screenwriting "gurus" years ago, I never criticized anyone's approach. However, having directed 40 DVDs on screenwriting and taken dozens of classes, I know I am teaching some novel concepts and digging deeper into craft than anyone else I have seen. 

This year-long production is my legacy as a teacher. I believe it will be the greatest investment into your screenwriting growth. Here is the chance to pre-order my DVD set, which will ship next month, with the best deal: a $50 discount from the sale price.

Thanks for your interest.

Sincerely,

Jim Mercurio

LOVE ON THE ROCKS?  YOU AND YOUR SCREENWRITING PARADIGM

by

Doctor Jim  

I know you have gone through a lot of bad paradigms to find the one you are with. You may be in love yet when your paradigm fails to meet all of your needs, it hurts. You reminisce about the romance stage of your relationship: your paradigm's every plot-point, pinch or shape-shifting ally was fulfilling. It was everything.

Back then, your paradigm would look into your eyes and whisper its lesson: character arc is like the center of a Tootsie Pop and the hard outer coating made of candy is like the character's, well, hard outer coating. How many licks and elixirs did it take to get to the center?  You didn't care. Your endings were never bittersweet.

Two scripts later, you would be out to dinner with your paradigm and you would see an ad for some sexy storytelling software. It was almost impossible not to steal a glimpse at the software's low-cut price-point and skinny-jeans packaging.

You thought you had ignored it, put it out of your mind, but that night as your screenwriting paradigm slept cozily in your laptop, you stared at the ceiling and wondered how it would feel if - even for just one night - you could turn yourself over to those advertised 17 Steps. Maybe you are the type of person who could embrace the new idea that the protagonist and main character aren't the same person. You wondered about the carnal knowledge your hardware could experience if you just gave the software a try?

In theory we know that there is no such thing as a perfect paradigm. But if you prick your paradigm, does it not bleed? Let's say you and your paradigm are honest with each other and you explain how you feel. Who wants to hear that they are necessary but not sufficient? 

I am here to tell you that the relationship between you and your paradigm is not star-crossed.  There's good news.

Help is here. 

Consider Champion Screenwriting's new DVD set with the working title: Jim Mercurio's Screenwriting: From A to Z to A-List set as Couples Counseling for you and your approach to screenwriting. The 10+ hours of instruction on these DVDs allows for everything you have already learned about screenwriting. It doesn't say "no" to any of it. It is a resounding "Yes, and..." Our paradigm is that we don't have a paradigm. We look at the underlying craft and the psychology that allows stories to work.

Your paradigm tells you that your character has to hit rock-bottom or the dark night of the cat and be farthest away from the goal. True? Yes. Necessary? Yes. Sufficient? No. The character also has to regress psychologically so that he is the furthest away from his character arc and transformation. You know what the best moment IN the LA Confidential scene where Russell Crowe's Bud White decides not to kill Guy Pearce's Exley?  Two scenes before when Bud punches his girlfriend Lynn.  

Your paradigm demands that your story should have 180-degree turns. How many of us have felt shame when our paradigm "shoulds" on us like that?  It can be overwhelming. Is it our fault that we grew up in an environment that didn't foster or encourage reversals and peripeteias?  No.

All relationships are about communication. We will give you the skills to understand each other. Just like in psychoanalysis, we will dig deep into the subconscious inner workings of writing and shed light on the tiniest, seldom-taught nitty-gritty craft that allows you to satisfy your paradigm's every wish and desire. 

Before you can turn an act or a sequence, don't you need to learn how to turn a scene? Or a line of dialogue? Your favorite book Making a Good Setup Great shows you how to establish something 50 pages earlier than it's needed, but does it show how to plant something inconspicuously 5 seconds earlier?

This therapy, errr, DVD will allow you to tell your paradigm honestly: It's not you, it's me. It will raise your expectations and push you to strive toward self-reliance over every inch of your script. By being less dependent on your paradigm, you will have a stronger relationship and begin to rekindle your love for story and each other.

Oh, yeah, and it will make you a better writer. And we all know paradigms dig that.

ORDER JIM'S DVD SET TODAY