Jim Hull's Story Fanatic

This is Story Fanatic, a collection of articles covering story structure and analysis for
creative writers. Published weekly.

Tuesday, Feb. 2

Spec Scripts and Length

Found this great piece on the new thinking towards spec script lengths (as first mentioned yesterday). David Trottier on the changes over the past two decades:

Throughout the 1990s, there has been a movement towards “lean and clean” screenwriting: Shorter screenplays, shorter paragraphs, shorter speeches, more white space, and the omission of technical instructions. It should come as no surprise that this gradual evolution continues to refine spec style.

Really great info in this one. Short and sweet. Like I guess your spec is supposed to be.

About This Site

Story Fanatic is a website dedicated to investigating the wonderful world of story. From story structure to theory, analysis to writing, the articles on this site are an effort by Jim Hull to explore why some stories work better than others. Since 2005, 314 articles have been written. Read more »

About the Author

In the summer of 2011, Jim Hull took a leave of absence from his fifteen years as a character animator in order to pursue a career in story. There is absolutely no connection between this decision and what is commonly referred to as a "mid-life crisis." No connection at all. Read more ⇒

Follow

@storyfanatic

Explore Further

Not sure where to start? You could check out the different topics covered here. Or, if you're really crazy about story, you might have more fun searching the hundreds of articles by concept.