Show Don’t Tell: A Visual Guide to Cinematic Storytelling

Every successful screenwriter knows that writing for a visual medium can be much harder than it sounds. By using numerous examples, this live webinar illustrates the tried and true cinematic strategies professional scribes use to create compelling images in the mind’s eye of the reader and get their projects sold.

Today’s film audiences are more sophisticated than ever before. That’s why a screenwriter’s visual language needs to raise the bar even higher by elevating the stunning imagery that showcases their script’s narrative storyline. This webinar will enlighten the process of creating compelling visuals utilizing the written word, making every slug line, descriptive action, and even line of dialogue as visually evocative as possible. Equally important, this webinar will share the tricks of the screen trade in how a writer can conceptualize storylines so full of energy and vitality the reader will want to keep turning the script page.

This live webinar will also cover how to visually describe not only characters, but the worlds they inhabit in exciting and engaging prose. The instructor will illustrate how to create friction and conflict to visualize a story’s dramatic stakes, including strategies on how to escalate the tension for an ultimately satisfying third-act climax. Finally, several film franchise properties will be highlighted to show how their distinct and unique cinematic universes were created.

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In this episode of "Writer's Digest Presents," content editor Michael Woodson chats with author Hilary Leichter, author of Temporary and Terrace Story, about ignoring craft rules, not thinking about your readers, and when to ask yourself what you're afraid of.

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