Screenwriting : Mixed Genres by Maurice Vaughan

Maurice Vaughan

Mixed Genres

Mixed vegetables are great (and delicious), but a movie/show with different genres is better! My favorite genre mix is Horror Action. What’s your favorite genre mix to write?

And feel free to post a tip for writing a genre mix script.

Tip for writing a Horror Action script: don’t get so caught up in writing action that you forget the scares.

Banafsheh Esmailzadeh

I love anything with surrealism because it just works with everything. Surreal comedy, romance, sci-fi, fantasy, slice-of-life... you just can't go wrong with it.

Maurice Vaughan

You're right, Banafsheh Esmailzadeh. I love writing and watching surreal movies and shows. What's your favorite surreal movie/show?

Banafsheh Esmailzadeh

Maurice Vaughan definitely everything I've watched of Satoshi Kon's (Millennium Actress is my favourite one), and Revolutionary Girl Utena of course, the movie Adolescence of Utena, especially (Kunihiko Ikuhara broke the scale with surrealism there). And of course in terms of novels I'm all over Haruki Murakami, who was my gateway into it. How about yours?

Maurice Vaughan

I'll have to check those out, Banafsheh Esmailzadeh. My favorite is Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.

Neal Jamison

comedy Sci-fi

Abram Christian

Maurice Vaughan For me, broccoli represents the conflict in a script since I can’t stand it and don’t eat it at all.

Maurice Vaughan

I love watching Comedy Sci-Fi, Neal Jamison. What's your favorite Comedy Sci-Fi movie or show?

Maurice Vaughan

Haha You could make broccoli a villain in a script, Abram Christian. Maybe an Animation script.

Abram Christian

Maurice Vaughan broccoli is definitely the villain lol

Maurice Vaughan

Happy Thanksgiving without broccoli, Abram Christian!

P. J Oken

I love writing a blend of action and sci-fi

Maurice Vaughan

I love writing a blend of Action and Sci-Fi too, P. J Oken. What's one of your favorite Action Sci-Fi scenes you've written or one of your favorite Action Sci-Fi movies?

Meriem Bouziani

Generally, I don’t mix genres — but I have one that blends sci-fi with fantasy: The Great Cosmic Sacrifice

Ehsan Rahimpour

I like focusing on "high-octane psychological drama."

Debbie Croysdale

Horror Thriller. Alongside any disturbing visual topics, there must be a mystery to solve. Psychological horror, I dig too but I’m no fan of repeated gore with little plot.

Imola Orbán

Interesting topic! I’ll want to make sci-fi/dystopian musical movies, sci-fi/dystopian comedies, and sci-fi/dystopian quasi-biographical movies

Maurice Vaughan

Are you finished The Great Cosmic Sacrifice or is it one of the projects you're working on, Meriem Bouziani?

Maurice Vaughan

That sounds interesting, Ehsan Rahimpour. What's an example of a high-octane Psychological Drama?

Maurice Vaughan

I write Horror Thriller scripts sometimes, Debbie Croysdale. Thanks for the tip! I’m not a fan of repeated gore with little plot either. Too much gore pulls me out of a story.

Maurice Vaughan

Those are interesting genre mixes, Imola Orbán! I'd watch those movies, especially a Sci-Fi Dystopian Comedy!

Meriem Bouziani

Not yet — all of them are still in the waiting list.

This is my problem: I had a year of idea explosion, yet I’m stuck in a slow writing process.

and also my mind keeps generating new worlds Maurice Vaughan

Ehsan Rahimpour

Shutter Island (2010), Collateral (2004), Bourne Identity (2002) Maurice Vaughan

Maurice Vaughan

Sometimes it's better to take a lot of time on a project, Meriem Bouziani. Something I do when I keep thinking of ideas is save them in a file to work on later, and sometimes I make a short outline for the idea to get it out of my head, then I make the outline longer later on when I'm ready to work on the project.

Maurice Vaughan

Thanks, Ehsan Rahimpour. Shutter Island and Bourne Identity are incredible! I still need to see Collateral.

Meriem Bouziani

Yes, exactly — that’s what I do as well.

I am focusing on The Silent PFC War, while also taking notes on every new idea that comes my way.

And I also develop titles for them.

Titles are the anchors I use to remember my ideas

I’ve noticed that ideas without titles are far more likely to be forgotten Maurice Vaughan

Jim Boston

Maurice, I've got a comedy-Western ("Kitten on the Keys") and an action-crime-comedy ("Got Any More Bullets, Sister?")...but I'm more likely to (and I like to) mix comedy with drama.

Maurice Vaughan

I like the Comedy Western mix, Jim Boston. I haven't heard about a lot of them.

Jim Boston

Quite a few feature-length Western comedies came out of Hollywood in the 1957-74 period. (Two of the most famous ones were 1965's "Cat Ballou" and 1974's "Blazing Saddles.")

I guess what happened to shut Westerns of all kinds down were three things: A dip in popularity as the Twentieth Century headed for the sunset, spaces to film oaters in the Mountain and Pacific time zones dwindling, and...1977's "Star Wars" setting a new standard.

David Taylor

It's a good problem to have, but my problem is Comedy - the awful temptation to put comedy gags into serious stories to amuse myself. I'm a natural gag writer so have to stop myself. Nothing ruins the high-tension moments in a thriller more than e.g. a fart gag - it is hilarious, but it's not supposed to be there. What I do to control it, is write the gags down separately. I just love writing comedy. -- Yes, I have a few, including a very recent TV thirty minuter called 'Ponzi's schemes' - which makes me fall about laughing.

Maurice Vaughan

I think a comic relief character is fine in serious stories, suspenseful scenes, and Horror scripts, David Taylor. Maybe avoid writing too many comedy moments though, or maybe don't make the comic relief character over-the-top funny.

David Taylor

Yeah. I do manage to get the balance right.

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