PROJECT MENTORSHIP & CONSULTATION
Clients receive world-class, professional guidance and oversight for their specific projects. This could be a tutorial tailored in your chosen topic, original script development, budgeting feedback, actor coaching, building a reel/portfolio or almost any other aspect of work.

This one-on-one work can be adapted to any skill or experience level, designed for any desired outcome. Contact to discuss.

Mahaffy's new book is available on Amazon.

These are a few topics to look for:

• Original stories should be constructed from an inventory of available resources. Design your story to match your existing circumstances. Utilize your resources to make a movie; don’t invent a movie that forces you to find (or fund) resources.

• Story and telling are distinct from each other. This is the difference between narrative and narration. Narratives exist as a chain of cause & effect whether it be among characters or among abstract shapes on-screen. The balance of change and continuity is what attracts and maintains viewer attention. Narration is the way by which narrative is designed and told.

• Despite all of the arcs, pyramids, graphs, journeys, circles, act structures, subplots, and other conventions of screenwriting, we really need to understand one simple unit of cinematic narrative: the dramatic question. A dramatic question is a scenario that requires resolution. It could be a single image.

• You can’t afford to buy and add a lot of stuff to a low-budget production. But you can selectively subtract to consolidate your strengths. Artful omission is an immense creative power that distills your vision to essentials.

• How do you find your “creative voice?” How do you develop your own directorial style? A filmmaker’s style doesn’t come from artificial self-branding but from personal beliefs. You find a vision by learning to see.

• There are different performance modes that can be selected to suit actors of varying experience and ability. You can adjust acting styles to make the most of non-actors and professionals alike.

• Viewer attention is maintained through tension. Tension can be created through either extending or compressing time on-screen.

• These principles are old school. But because they’re so basic and fundamental, they can be utilized, modified, or attenuated in any combination to match your individual goals for a given story, style, genre, duration, format, or platform.

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