If you want to write fantastic fight scenes, do yourself a favor and attend the Paddy Crean Stage Combat Conference. It’s held in North America once every three years, and it’s here this winter (2012/2013) in Banff, Alberta. The workshops bring in the best stage and film fight choreographers, teachers, and stunt people from around the world. I’ve attended once and my husband has twice; the year I was there the theme was “Fights on film” and classes included armed and unarmed combat, wushu, and wire work. I can not begin to convey what an incredible experience it was, how amazing-generous-brilliant-talented the people are, or how it opened my eyes to a new appreciation of viewing and writing combat scenes. (And for the value you receive, it’s cheap like borscht!) Best vacation you’ll have in your life and you’ll come out of it a better writer and a far more interesting person. Reposted from here. . . . Other resources: William Martel's Script Secrets website has great tips on screenwriting in general and action script writing in particular. Two good posts from John August: - on Writing Fight Scenes - on Writing Better Action The Film International interview with Walter Hill: http://filmint.nu.hemsida.eu/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/Walter-Hill-Interview2.pdf (PS Not all of the posts in the series this week have been tagged with "Genre Essentials". I've tried to go through and look at some of the posts earlier in the week and I haven't yet successfully identified the right tag to pull up all the posts. Passing along FYI.)

I can't believe I almost forgot to include this: TV Tropes Action Adventure Tropes Page Want to know how many times that scene you have in mind has been done? Look it up on TV tropes. Then, want to make a fresh choice that hasn't already been done to death? Run it through the Playing with a Trope process. This is a great brainstorming tool. I really do this as a writing exercise (very good for the brain), and it's been a useful took for me for comedy punch-ups, too. (I once working with a writing partner on a scene and she wasn't happy with the comedy set-piece. I was able to make 26 different suggestions for alternatives using the Playing With Tropes exercise.)

The late John Frankenheimer's commentary on Ronin is the absolute best commentary on how to direct I've ever heard, and luckily it's focuses on action directing. He also did great commentaries on Seven Days in May and The Manchurian Candidate. Every great director should be forced to record these before they die! William Friedkin has excellent commentaries on The French Connection and To Live and Die in L.A.

The William Goldman/ David Koepp commentary track on PANIC ROOM is fantastic.

For a crash-course in critically-acclaimed international action films, I recommend these indexes of films and essays from Criterion Collection : Heist Movies Noir and Neonoir War Films Samurai Cinema Yakuza (You can also explore their other themed collections HERE.)

Awesome, I'll check those out. The Elliott/Rossio commentary from Pirates of the Caribbean 1&2 are excellent as well. They're all about writing a character driven action film. Junger has a commentary track on The Perfect Storm as well...he showed up on the Nonfiction Action reading list. He's a really interesting person, so I'm sure he'd have lots of good insight. (I haven't heard it yet) There's also a DVD commentary rating site: http://www.ratethatcommentary.com/top100.php which might be helpful to some...

Here's a recap of the suggestions so far. (I've stripped out the links so this won't wedge in spam filters, but I have emailed the full list, with links intact, directly to Scott.) Articles Two good posts from John August: - on Writing Fight Scenes - on Writing Better Action The Film International interview with Walter Hill (pdf) For a crash-course in critically-acclaimed international action films, I recommend these indexes of films and essays from Criterion Collection: Heist Movies Noir and Neonoir War Films Samurai Cinema Yakuza (You can also explore their other themed collections HERE.) DVD Commentaries Richard Donner & Tom Mankiewicz: Superman - They cover a lot of great stories about not only developing the project but the difficult process of getting it made. Ted Elliott & Terry Rossio: The Elliott/Rossio commentary from Pirates of the Caribbean 1&2 are excellent as well. They’re all about writing a character driven action film. John Frankenheimer: The late John Frankenheimer’s commentary on Ronin is the absolute best commentary on how to direct I’ve ever heard, and luckily it’s focuses on action directing. He also did great commentaries on Seven Days in May and The Manchurian Candidate. Every great director should be forced to record these before they die! William Friedkin: William Friedkin has excellent commentaries on The French Connection and To Live and Die in L.A. William Goldman & David Koepp: The William Goldman/ David Koepp commentary track on PANIC ROOM is fantastic. Sebastian Junger: Junger has a commentary track on The Perfect Storm as well…he showed up on the Nonfiction Action reading list. He’s a really interesting person, so I’m sure he’d have lots of good insight. (I haven’t heard it yet) Mark Rosenthal: Superman IV –an autopsy on everything that doesn’t work about the film and why. Joel Schumacher: Batman & Robin (where he flat-out apologizes for the film) There’s also a DVD commentary rating site: http://www.ratethatcommentary.com/top100.php which might be helpful to some… Non-Fiction Action Films Mike Boles comments: Documentaries are a great research tool for giving a realistic background to a script or characters. Restrepo is the first thing to come to mind (co-directed by Junger and Tim Heatherington who was killed last year covering another war-which is sad ’cause he was a cool guy). 1/2 Revolution is a great doc about the Arab Spring as told by a participant/witness. Touching the Void kept me on the edge of my seat..it’s more of an action/thriller doc. Murderball is a great doc about wheelchair rugby, which I had never heard of before seeing this film. Dust to Glory is about a 1000 mile desert race called the Baja1000. I never thought I’d get into a doc about racing, but it’s really interesting and exciting. Websites William Martel’s Script Secrets website has great tips on screenwriting in general and action script writing in particular. TV Tropes Action Adventure Tropes Page Want to know how many times that scene you have in mind has been done? Look it up on TV tropes. Then, want to make a fresh choice that hasn’t already been done to death? Run it through the Playing with a Trope process. This is a great brainstorming tool and writing exercise (very good for the brain). Workshops If you want to write fantastic fight scenes, do yourself a favor and attend the Paddy Crean Stage Combat Conference. It’s held in North America once every three years, and it’s here this winter (2012/2013) in Banff, Alberta. The workshops bring in the best stage and film fight choreographers, teachers, and stunt people from around the world. An incredible experience, full of amazing-generous-brilliant-talented people, that will open your eyes to a new appreciation of viewing and writing combat scenes. (And for the value you receive, it’s cheap like borscht!) Best vacation you’ll have in your life and you’ll come out of it a better writer and a far more interesting person.