“Smoothly add bits of backstory along the way in ways that will not interrupt the story’s forward thrust. Information should blend in perfectly with the whole story, not feel like it’s the writer telling us a necessary thing in order for the...
“Like all stories, musicals can be joyous, somber, thrilling, meditative, lively, plodding, goofy, emotional, political, instructive, and on and on. What they are obliged to be, first and foremost, is entertaining….” ~Steve Cuden If you’re going to...
Audiences are harder to please if you’re just giving them effects, but they’re easy to please if it’s a good story. ~Steven Spielberg Most unforgettable stories go like this…. An interesting, three-dimensional protagonist is prompted by an outside force to...
Host Heather Abraham of Talk Pittsburgh on KDKA TV talks with Steve Cuden, a Point Park University Cinema Art Department faculty member, about why some musicals do not find success on the big screen. Watch the clip on CBS News Pittsburg here.
“A dramatic story is any series of events having vivid, emotional, conflicting, striking interest or results.” ~William Froug, Screenwriting Tricks of the Trade Setting the Parameters: The Story’s Sandbox Story is the sandbox that screenwriters play in. When...
