I review films to explore and set out principles of storytelling that convey how to write dramatic scenes and screenplays.

When I taught classes in screenwritng, I found many new screenwriters thought that describing the visual details of a scene was screenwritng. When, using a simple example, I would ask the dramatic purpose of the opening scenes in Sleepless in Seattle, none could answer: that Tom Hanks character is dealing with grief. Scenes lacking a dramatic structure are just an accumulation of details that fail to create an impact.

Citizen Kane, for all its technical virtuosity, tracks to two question: what does Rosebud mean, and how did Kane go from being an idealistic young man to an embittered, elderly recluse?

I found that new screenwriters who couldn't identify the dramatic purpose of a scene, could not write a dramatic scene or script.

These reviews are meant to give screenwriters and filmmakers and those with a love of film a look at the underlying dramatic structure of these movies and how scenes are built for dramatic impact.

The following are columns originally written for Screentalk, the International Magazine of Screenwriting.

A review of Mulholland Drive that explores how this complex story was built on a foundation of simple ideas and a simple premise.

A review of the structure of Memento and how going back in time can advance a story and set out what a story is about.

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