BPS 057: The Neuroscience Behind Profitable Screenwriting with Paul Gulino

Today's guest is screenwriter Paul Gulino. Paul is the author of
Screenwriting: The Sequence Approach and The Science of
Screenwriting: The Neuroscience Behind Storytelling
Strategies.

Paul believes in Hitchcock's adage that "films are made on paper."
Although students may obsess about a film's look, all of the visual
elements, he says, function to enhance the story. And that,
ultimately, comes from the mind of the screenwriter.

In spite of the fact that there seems to be a screenwriter behind
every corner (in California, at least), screenwriting is something
of a lost art, Gulino maintains, having seen hundreds of flat
screenplays as a story analyst for Showtime Entertainment.

Honing his own skills through writing for the theater and
practicing the craft as taught by Frank Daniel and Milos Forman,
Gulino secured an agent with William Morris on the basis of his
thesis script. With that "real world" confirmation in hand, Gulino
went on to write and see produced features, plays and comedy
sketches.

Screenwriting, he says, isn't a craft you can learn from a book.
"The best way is to learn from someone who knows the craft, so you
can see how theories can be applied to your own work." There must
be something to that. Or at least it's worked for screenwriter Paul
Gulino.

Enjoy my conversation with Paul Gulino.

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