Screenwriting Tricks of SELMA - to help you write your book! Act I: Sequence 1

Опубликовано: 17 Июль 2026
на канале: Screenwriting Tricks for Authors
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SELMA Part 1: Sequence 1 breakdown

It’s Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Why not celebrate this hero and work on your storytelling craft this month—by watching SELMA?

In SELMA, the filmmakers use the structural form of a war story and take storytelling conventions of great war movies to create a story line every bit as riveting as a thriller.

It’s also one of the best examples I know of the powerhouse storytelling technique of building FORCES OF ANTAGONISM.

I suggest you watch the whole film just to experience it, and then watch it again one 15-minute sequence at a time, following along with my notes.

Buy or rent SELMA here: https://amzn.to/3GNoZ3Q

If you need to catch up on how and why films tend to be structured in 15-minute Sequences and why it’s so game-changing to use the technique in novels, the Screenwriting Tricks for Authors workbooks introduce that in Chapter 5, with examples throughout the books.

Get the workbooks:
Stealing Hollywood: https://amzn.to/2zWm76k
Writing Love: https://amzn.to/2zfil7N

Get free course materials and full movie breakdowns: https://alexandrasokoloff.substack.com

Learn more about the online class: https://alexandrasokoloff.substack.com/

Read more about Story Patterns: https://alexandrasokoloff.substack.co...