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Which horror subgenre would YOU make your own?

Which horror subgenre would YOU make your own?

The Horror genre offers endless many ways for a scriptwriter to celebrate the genre and put their own spin on it. But have you thought about all of the horror subgenres that it’s made up of? Which one could empower your writing the most?

Since cinema began, audiences have flocked to the screens to be scared by horror movies. Since the first horror movie, LE MANOIR DU DIABLE from 1896, the horror genre has fascinated and frightened cinemagoers. As it evolved, so did the number of subgenres. How many subgenres of the horror genre can you name? Wikipedia states there are in fact 50 – from the almost clichéd Gothic to the obscure (but worthwhile!) Jiangshi subgenres. In the rarer but well-known Erotic Horror sub-genre, SHIVERS is a great example. Horror expert spins a story that erotically exploits the parasitic residents of a suburban high-rise apartment building, turning them into mindless, sex-crazed fiends who are out to infect others by the slightest sexual contact.

Meanwhile in a totally different subgenre, no one can forget the terrifying joy of Horror Comedy with such classics as EVIL DEAD II and ZOMBIELAND a subgenre that is still flourishing today. And in another subgenre, have you seen the box office successes of THE CONJURING 3: The Devil Made Me Do It, and THE EXORCISM OF EMILY ROSE, which Wikipedia describes as Legal Horror films?

With such vast hoards of horror subgenres to draw from and play to, horror is a great place for writers to show their imagination and originality. Horror can be subdivided in a remarkable number of ways, which all had to start somewhere, with one great original story that broke the mold! Can you create a new sub-genre with your next script? Maybe it´s Roman Dramatical Horror, a Robot Horror Comedy, or a Sci-fi Fake Documentary Crime Horror it seems the options are endless – and so are the number of ways you can refresh and reinvent the familiar, too. What is for sure is that we want more excitement, thrills, and spills that this multitude of growing genres has to offer.

Writing Insights: Setting the Tone

Writing Insights: Setting the Tone

One of the most important skills for a writer is getting the opening of your script right – and part of that is setting the tone. A great premise can be ruined if its presented in the wrong way, and this often happens if the screenplay doesn’t set the tone correctly. So what even is “tone”, and how do you get it right?

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#100DayCC38 – Genre in writing

#100DayCC38 – Genre in writing

Welcome to the thirty-eighth of our Creative Challenges. We’re focusing on key aspects of writing and storytelling – core elements that can always be found under the surface of every successful story in our eighth week of Creative Challenges: WriteMovies’ 100-Day Creative Challenge 38 is about genre in writing.

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Romance and Comedy Award – Standard Deadline on Sunday!

Romance and Comedy Award – Standard Deadline on Sunday!

Happy New Year from everyone here at WriteMovies! The first deadline approaches for our latest genre award – the Romance and Comedy Award 2020 – with just a couple of days left for you to enter at the standard price!

At standard entry for this contest, you can submit a screenplay, stageplay, or TV pilot for just $39, or a book or video game script for $49. But you’ll have to move fast – the standard deadline is this Sunday, January 5th!

The successor to our first two genre prizes – the Sci-Fi and Fantasy Award 2019 and the Horror Award 2019 – the Romance and Comedy Award is here to celebrate more great writing. We’ll accept scripts that belong to either genre, or which are romantic-comedies.

And don’t forget that in addition to some great prizes, including development notes to help enhance your work and guaranteed pitching to industry, you’ll also get FREE, automatic entry to the Winter 2020 Screenwriting Contest too. The winner of our Horror Award 2019 also took the Grand Prize of $2000 in our Fall 2019 Screenwriting Contest – so give yourself the same chance and enter today!

We can’t wait to see what you’ve got for us. Submit by the end of Sunday January 5th for standard entry – but if you’re not completely ready yet, don’t worry. The final deadline is February 9th, so there’s still time.

Click here to visit the contest page and submit your work. We can’t wait to see what scripts you’ve got for us!

Casting News for Amazon Superhero TV Show

Casting News for Amazon Superhero TV Show

The new Amazon superhero TV show is building up steam with announcements on casting and with more details coming out about the show itself. Article by Jamie White.

Adapted from the same comic writer of PREACHER, Amazon is moving forward strongly with its new show, THE BOYS. Antony Starr, Chace Crawford, Dominique McElligott, Jessie T. Usher and Nathan Mitchell are all onboard.

While the cast might not immediately catch the eye, the concept might. Here’s how TV Line describes the show… “The Boys is set in a world where superheroes have let fame go to their heads and gotten corrupt — and a ragtag team of vigilantes sets out to take them down.” http://tvline.com/2018/01/17/the-boys-cast-antony-starr-chace-crawford-amazon-superhero-drama/

Sounds cool, right? After the whole host of MCU films, the trash of DC films and the consistently decent X-Men films, this type of superhero story will surely add a bit of much-needed variation to the genre.

This is something you can use as writers, too. When you’re writing a genre script, think about what makes that genre tick. What do we usually expect from that genre? Then, flip it on its head, add a twist and mix it up to provide something interesting and unique. We’ve often heard it said that writers should “give us what we expect, but not in the way we expect it.” That’s how you can meet, and exceed, genre expectations.

Check out Ian’s Insights article about how Genre really works, to find out more!

© WriteMovies 2017. Exclusive to WriteMovies – To syndicate this content for your own publication, contact ian (at) writemovies dot-com.

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