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Discover why 90% of screenplay sales hinge on two crucial elements - and it's not what most writers think. Professional screenwriter Tom Vaughan exposes the industry's best-kept structural secrets, including the game-changing 8-sequence method that outperforms traditional 3-act structure. Learn why the story-vs-plot distinction separates amateur scripts from professional ones, and discover how proper structure actually unleashes creativity instead of constraining it.

Tom Vaughan has written screenplays professionally for 28 years and taught the subject for 22.

He has written for, among others, Phoenix Pictures, TNT, MTV Films, Castle Rock Entertainment, ABC, NBC, CBS, Warner Brothers, Sony Pictures, Disney, and others. He has also developed screenplays for Matthew McConaughey, Nicolas Cage, Barry Sonnenfeld, Chow-Yun Fat, Ruben Fleischer, David Gordon Green, and many more.

WINCHESTER, the film he co-wrote starring Helen Mirren and Sarah Snook, about the infamous Winchester Mystery House, opened nationwide in 2018 and his eighth film, THE HAUNTING OF THE QUEEN MARY was released in 2023.

One of his big life goals was to teach screenwriting at my beloved alma mater, The University of Houston.

Which he now does.

Check out the video of this interview on our new YouTube Channel.

Useful links:

Michael Arndt's incredible screenwriting videos

Trailer to Tom's recent film, WINCHESTER

Interview with playwright Edward Albee - Tom's teacher