Check Your Story Before You Shoot.
Two free downloads from my book. The Storytelling Checklist puts every lesson on a few pages, so you can run any script, video idea or pitch through it. The Pocket Summary gives all forty-three chapters one idea each, sized for your phone.
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Every two weeks: one storytelling tool you can use on your next script, short or video.
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The Storytelling Checklist
The Pocket Summary
The Seven Core Questions
They come from the checklist in chapter 43 of The Story Is the Budget. Use them as a flashlight, not a cage: they show what is in the dark, they don't give you rules to follow.
- Whose story is it?Pick one person the audience follows. See chapters 4 and 5.
- What do they want, and what happens if they fail?A want with no cost for failing is only a wish. See chapters 1 and 2.
- Why now?What forces the problem to be dealt with today. See chapter 3, "The Bomb Under the Table".
- What stands in the way?Opposition that thinks it is right is the hardest to beat. See chapter 10.
- What do they choose, and what does it cost?Every yes costs a no. See chapter 13.
- What changes between the beginning and the end?If nothing changed, it wasn't a scene. See chapter 15.
- What is different about this, and does everything on screen earn its place?Familiar is fine, generic is fatal. See chapters 32 and 40.
Questions About the Checklist
The Storytelling Checklist puts every lesson in The Story Is the Budget on a few pages, as tick-box questions you can run on any script, video idea or pitch. You won't tick every box, and you don't have to. Every empty box is worth a second look.
No. The checklist works on its own. The book explains the thinking behind each question.
Two PDFs straight away: The Storytelling Checklist, and The Pocket Summary, which gives all forty-three chapters one idea each so you can recall the book on your phone. Then Storytelling Craft, one short email every two weeks with a storytelling tool you can use. Unsubscribe anytime with one click.
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