I saw Terminator Salvation for the second time yesterday and realized just how easy it is to implement a thematic discussion into your story. The central character in Terminator, Marcus, not only acts as the window into the story for the audience, but also leads the thematic discussion about “second chances” throughout the story.
I found that it could be broken into three parts for the sake of analysis:
1. Negative View of Theme
The first scene of the film introduces the audience to Marcus just an hour away from his death sentence, and it …

Got a Question? Ask it on Twitter – if you have a screenwriting related question you’d like me to answer in a post here at ScriptXRay.com, please feel free to ask using Twitter. Simply update your Twitter status with your question followed by the hashtag “#SXRquestions”. If we’re not already connected on Twitter, follow me at @ChristopherR2D2
If you don’t have a Twitter account - ask your question right here on ScriptXRay by using the comment box in the right hand sidebar ->
The nice thing about the Google comments feature is that …

The majority of screenplays circulating Hollywood are … eh … alright. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve read a screenplay or television pilot and thought, “if only they had …” – don’t get me wrong, to accomplish a screenplay is a great feat, but to allow things to sag in order to submit your screenplay to an agent or production is simply a waste of the accomplishment and opportunity.
1. Trim the Fat of the Scene – Don’t forget that Middle Area this time!
This advice is always thrown around …

Hey, just a quick update:
I just added a few new features from Google Friend Connect to SXR. As you may have noticed, the members gadget has been added to the right hand column, and readers have joined the SXR community.
The new features you’ll find on the site include the follwing:
Comments | Polls | Ratings

The comments section is an easy way to talk with other members of the site, add you thoughts about the articles displayed, or simply leaving a few suggestions — overall, it makes communicating with each other a …

I’ve learned over the years that writing, like most worthwhile pursuits in this world, is a process. I’ve spent years hoping and wasting time, wishing that writing wasn’t really like that, hoping to sit down and unload all the words of genius inside my head quickly onto the page and be done with it, but, usually it doesn’t work that way. And whatever gods patrol the top of “Good Writing Mountain”, all decided long, long ago not to make it that easy on us mortal writers. They decided to make us work …

Hi, my name’s Al Bloom and I’m the founder of ScriptReaderPro the screenplay consultancy service.
Solid structure, as we all know, is the foundation of crafting a good screenplay. It is one of a screenplay’s most crucial core components and immediately gives the writer who has mastered it the edge over one that hasn’t. A studio script reader simply won’t read past page 25 unless they have noted a clear set up, catalyst and crisis event that pushes the script into Act Two. At ScriptReaderPro, however, we receive many many scripts …

Just wrote a new article covering the 5 basic social media sites for cross-media storytelling realm. Check it out at CultureHacker — here’s a peek:
“Though there’s plenty more to explore and exploit when telling a cross-media story, these should be a pretty good intro to various platforms. Use each to its full potential, and remember not to merely copy everything from one social network to another…”
Also, thanks for all your support in our newest portion of SXR — POV. Our first article has sparked some interest from aspiring screenwriters across …