THE SCRIBBLERS TOOLBOX
“A collection of tips, tools, observations, and ephemera for like-minded scribblers. Peruse, share, or disregard at your leisure.”
Jesse Alexander
Chekov’s Gun
The legendary playwright Anton Chekhov said, "If in the first act you have hung a pistol on the wall, then in the following one it should be fired."
Character Introductions
There’s an art to crafting character intros that'll make your audience sit up and say, "Whoa, who's that?" You've got precious few seconds to make your characters unforgettable.
Online Arenas: Where My Wallet Weeps but Humanity Thrives
If my wife ever finds out how much money I’ve spent on Call of Duty skins, she’s gonna be as annoyed as I was when I found out how much my son had spent on Fortnite skins. Oof. That said, there is more happening here than wallet-draining and family tsuris enhancement. The global generation that will inherit the earth is connecting cross-planet and collaborating via games as a service.
Adapting Iconic Worlds
A school of thought believes adapting a beloved IP without prior knowledge or connection to the material or even the genre is a positive. Maybe that works. Sometimes. Once. Has it ever?
Establishing Point of View
Make your audience forget they're staring at a screen and believe they're in your character's head, heart, and even their nightmares.
NVO & MRU vs. TL;DR
In the post-attention span era, scribbling pages that lower the barrier of entry and get folks turning pages is more important than ever.
A Scribbler’s Take on AI Creativity and Productivity
Over the past year and a half, I’ve been experimenting with ChatGPT, Claude, MidJourney, Gemini, Eleven Labs, and others. They’ve become an essential part of my strategy.
Every Aspiring Screenwriter Should Befriend a Future Agent
As I prep my son for his first year at film school, I’m reflecting on my own screenwriting career path. It’s a story of surprise connections, enduring friendships, and relentless scribbling.
Scribbling Trailer Tales
Use the eight-sequence structure to craft a compelling trailer for your movie that sets audience expectations.
Finding the Fifth Element
The secret to scribbling genre tales that resonate is finding love, empathy, and relatable human connection.
The Wizard of Haecceity
Michael Moorcock was a true haecceity wizard. This guy scribbled novels faster than most of us can type a grocery list, and he did it all without sacrificing an ounce of depth or detail.
Establishing Shots
Let’s jibber jabber about the unsung icons of visual storytelling: establishing shots. The powerhouse moments and opening chords of your cinematic symphony – they set the stage, grab audience attention, and deliver a taste of the incredible journey to come.
The Scribblers Film School
Over the next few weeks The Scribblers Toolbox is returning to our roots with a series of posts re the tools and techniques of cinematic storytelling.
Haecceity Rules!
Haecceity is a medieval word for scribbling those juicy, specific details that make your characters, settings, and scenes come alive on the page.
Strong C.O.R.E. without the Abs
Let Curiosity, Obsession, Resilience, and Empathy be the C.O.R.E. that supports your scribbler’s lifestyle.
I am Scribbling.
My dance card requires Deep Work scribbling at the moment. I shall return.
Scene & Sequel
Scene and sequel structure is the blueprint, the GPS of your story. It keeps your narrative engine revving, pacing on point, and audience on seat edge.
Berserker by Berserker
Whatever project you tackle, breaking it into bits and pieces is a tried-and-true way to get ‘er done.
Fail Faster
Not only is AI helping many creative disciplines work more efficiently, it’s creating more time for iteration and adding the elements of our work that are uniquely human.
Priority Pages
When it comes to screenwriting, the opening pages of your script are way more than just a warm-up. They're like the front door to your story, the audition tape, the chance to hook your readers and reel them in.