Screenwriting Articles

Welcome to our archive of screenwriting articles, written by BlueCat founder and judge Gordy Hoffman.

We hope they shed light on possible solutions to the challenges you might face as a screenwriter.

Please contact us if you have any comments or questions. Do you have an idea of a future screenwriting article? Let us know.


Kubrick’s Boxes

I watched a movie on Kubrick’s boxes last night. The master would prepare so completely and with such great detail, he left behind thousands of boxes of photographs, notes, memos, fan letters and blank stationary, all collected and stored meticulously in service of the development of his work, produced and very much unproduced. To some, [read more]

You’re an Idiot: Making Value from Reaction to your Screenwriting

If you’re like me, if someone doesn’t like something about my screenplay, my very first reaction is always the same. You’re not as smart as me. If you knew what I knew, you would understand what I wrote. And you don’t understand what I wrote, because you don’t know as much as I do. About [read more]

The Rogue Knight of Cinema: Why Screenplay Contests Matter

Screenplay contests are changing cinema. Coming from a person who runs one, your first reaction to this statement is most likely, “The only reason you’re saying that is you want me to enter yours.” Or more frankly, “You just want my money.” Well, coming from one who runs one, I’ll say you’re right. Sorta. I [read more]

You are the Box Office Smash: The Personal Screenplay

Right this very second, in the heart of every struggling, undiscovered screenwriter, in the dark, hidden corner deep within, there is a voice, a clear whisper, saying one thing: You’re never gonna figure this out. And this is not referring to the story with its gaping hole, the finale missing a payoff, the hit and [read more]

Naming Your Baby: How to Find a Great Title to your Screenplay

How exactly does one work on the title of their screenplay? I recently came up with such a wonderful idea for a movie, one of those miraculous moments, like finding money on the sidewalk. I told somebody, and they said, “Great. What’s the title?” Suddenly, and rather horrifyingly, my beauty of an idea is crippled. [read more]

The Heart and Soul of Screenwriting: Writing good dialogue and description

Writing dialogue and description is writing a screenplay. You can argue about format and tab margins and what to capitalize and what not. I won’t. Dialogue and description is where the experience of screenplay for your reader lives. We write screenplays to make movies. They are not literature. They are directions for people to make [read more]

Discovering the Great Movie Idea for Your Next Screenplay

I am lucky. I have no problems coming up with very good ideas for movies. If I never had another idea for the rest of my life, I would not make a sizable dent in the ones I already have. Screenwriters who struggle with coming up with an idea tend to be visibly annoyed when [read more]

Screenwriting Tips from a Screenplay Contest Judge

After cracking hundreds of screenplays sent into the BlueCat Screenplay Competition, the same problems in the execution of the story and script continue to emerge. Here is a general overview of these persistent issues. Do you realize what you’re saying?? In the theatre, they read plays aloud over and over in the process of script [read more]

How to Start a Screenplay: Treatment or Free Fall?

Starting a screenplay can sometimes be as hard as finishing one. Impatient to pull up to the front door of a classic motion picture, I want to get everything right so quickly. This impatience challenges my trust in the work, the creative process of screenwriting. What exactly does trust mean? If I don’t trust my [read more]

Writing the Classic Movie Ending (How to Finish your Screenplay!)

I’ve only finished so many screenplays in my life. Writing a script all the way to the very last page is always an extremely significant, personal achievement for me. A large part of its significance is the reality that I actually wrote an ending, or, at the very least, typed “THE END.” Trying to finish [read more]

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