Hollywood, California, is the home of the famous American movie studios. Hollywood was founded in 1886 by H.J. Whitley, a businessman and real estate developer known as the “Father of Hollywood.”

Hollywood is home to some of the best and most well-known movie studios.

These studios include Columbia Pictures, Paramount Pictures, Walt Disney Pictures, Warner Bros. Pictures, and Universal Pictures.

These big five film studios distribute hundreds of films globally every year.

Essential writing lessons you can learn from Hollywood

You can learn a lot from Hollywood. You can learn two essential writing lessons.

• How to be interesting
• How to tell great stories

Let’s dive into these two topics so you can steal great ideas from Hollywood and become a better writer.

1. How to be interesting

No one will read your writing unless they find your stories interesting. You need to communicate in your writing what others can’t.

As writers, we have mastered taking ideas from our brains and writing them down into stories.

We often forget that this process is challenging for some people. Eloquently expressing your ideas helps make you valuable as a writer.

Hollywood sells tons of movies because it can communicate what others are trying to say.

That’s why we turn to movies, art, and entertainment. Movies communicate what we are trying to say, but we can’t.

As a writer, you need to communicate what others think about but not write about.

Surprise them

Another way to be interesting is to take a cue from Hollywood to develop a surprising idea. Sometimes, big film studios create and distribute unexpected films. They do this so people will stop and pay attention.

Surprise your readers with different ideas to set yourself apart from other writers.

Make them laugh

Another way to be interesting is to make people laugh. Comedy is a series of mini-stories with surprise endings that make people smile and laugh.

Comedy is entertainment with funny content. When you add humor, you’ll get your audience to pay attention.

Sex sells

Another secret that you can learn from Hollywood is that sex sells.

Have you ever noticed that movies feature scantily clad women? Why do they do it? It works. It attracts both men and women.

Determine how much “skin” you will show with your writing.

You may be willing to talk about old boyfriends or girlfriends. However, you won’t talk about your family, especially your children.

Draw a line with your writing about what you feel comfortable sharing.

You can use a pseudonym if you are worried about sharing too many personal details. Examples include Woody Allen (Allan Stewart Konigsberg), Billie Holiday (Eleanora Fagan), and Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens).

2. Storytelling structure

Understanding the common storytelling structure is key to telling great stories. In 1863, German playwright and novelist Gustav Freytag wrote Die Technik des Dramas about the five-act dramatic structure.

It’s an analysis of ancient and classic dramas. It says that stories have a common structure with five stages of action.

This storytelling structure is known as Freytag’s pyramid. The five stages are exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution. Let’s examine each one.

Exposition

The first act is called exposition. It sets the scene.

It’s where a writer identifies the main characters, their relationships, and what type of world they live in.

It’s the background information about events that happened before the story began.

Simply, if you have seen any of the Star Wars movies, it’s opening crawl of the rolling yellow sentences.

Rising action

The second act is rising action. This is the part that builds tension. Rising action is where the main characters can’t resolve their problems.

Why?

They don’t have the skills. The characters are not in the right state of mind to overcome their challenges.

The biggest part of a story is the rising action.

In Little Red Riding Hood, the rising action consists of everything that happens before meeting the Big Bad Wolf. These events build suspense and lead to the climax.

Climax

The climax is the turning point of the story. It is the highest point of tension. It is also the time when the action turns into the solution.

It’s when things come to a point where a decision or action is taken that determines what happens next. For example, Jack works hard to try out for the school football team.

The coach posts a list of the team members, and Jack heads over to look at it.

Falling action

This is the part of the story that ties up loose ends. The falling action reduces tension as the story moves toward a conclusion.

For example, it’s like it fits after Cinderella tries on the slipper. All the action leads to their wedding and living happily ever after.

Resolution

This is how the story ends. Questions are answered, problems are solved, and the characters gain a new sense of themselves.

It’s the ending of the story. This is the point at which people remember all the challenges and difficulties. These challenges led them to this resolution.

The storytelling structure is how one tells a riveting story. It’s how Hollywood organizes its plot or storyline. It’s the framework for the story.

When you organize your stories, you can tell compelling stories. Your readers will want to read them through.

Essential writing lessons: bringing it all together

Understand these key elements of storytelling. Learn how to be interesting. You’ll draw your audience in and drive them to take action.

Hollywood has learned how to tell a great story. It creates movies that show how people overcome challenges to succeed.

You can steal a lot from Hollywood, learn essential writing lessons, and become a better writer.

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