It’s Showtime! The opening night of a show in London’s West End is scary for everyone involved; the most recent dress rehearsals may have gone OK, but now there are hundreds of actual paying customers (and some ruthless reviewers). Success tonight is vital if the show is to continue, and if so, it may run for many years […]
The phrase ‘cut to the chase’ appears to have originated in early Hollywood, where (silent) romantic films and comedies would often culminate with a chase. If the studio felt that the script they were reviewing was moving too slowly and would lose the audience’s interest, this phrase was a simple instruction to move immediately to
I’ve been to a few pitching events recently, and I still see the same old stupid mistakes being made again and again. They may be innocent errors, unnoticed by most people, but each one makes me contort in my chair with painful frustration, because they’re so easily avoided yet so damaging. What are these stupid
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My communication philosophy is based on a latin phrase ‘utile dulci’*. Literally: ‘useful and enjoyable’. Here’s how you can do it. Make What You’re Saying Useful This can be tricky; you just have to do a bit of homework: Find out the pain point of your audience. You can do this beforehand and state it at
The Problem When Writing a Novel Robert McKee’s book ‘Story’ describes all the elements for creating a good story. Near the end he gives the ideal way to actually write it: ‘from the inside out’. Writing ‘from the outside in’ is the common, flawed method where the writer starts with dialogue before they’ve nailed all
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