If you want to know about screenwriting, the first thing most people will tell you is this: Read screenplays. Lots of screenplays. And don’t just read them – analyze them..

I want to know about screenwriting, so I read and analyze a lot of screenplays. And since I was doing this, I decided to share my analysis with the world. Thus the Storylanes Podcast.

Every episode, I do a deep dive into a screenplay. I look at how it is structured, how the pieces fit together, and what makes it special. And I look at how closely each screenplay follows some of the more popular screenwriting models, things like three act structure, Save the Cat, and the Hero’s Journey. (And spoiler warning: a lot of great movies follow those models, but a lot don’t too.)

And because I’m a computer-geek by trade, I developed a tool to help me analyze the screenplays. I use it to produce a chart that maps key elements of the screenplay. You can find each of these charts here on this blog.

I’ve learned a lot about screenwriting from doing this podcast. I hope that it will help you learn too.

The Storylanes Podcast is the creation of Joe Dzikiewicz.  Joe is an amateur filmmaker and screenwriter who has made several short films and who is still looking for his big break to let him do this stuff professionally.

Some of Joe’s films have played at film festivals.  Some have won awards.  You can see them at http://crimesoftheart.com.

 Some of Joe’s screenplays have placed in major screenwriting contests, like the Austin Film Festival contest.  If you want to read one, drop Joe a note at joe@crimesoftheart.com – he loves having people read his stuff.

Until he gets his big break, Joe falls back on his tech career: he has a PhD in computer science, which gives him skills to both analyze structures of all sorts and to build the tools to help with that analysis.  (And making a film bears a striking resemblance to building a piece of software!)