Gerald HanksReviews of geraldehanks.com

Gerald Hank's VOTE method proved to be a game changer for me. I have spent time with other screen writing courses and read several books, and still had not made much progress. My characters were not dynamic and I didn't know how how to correct it until I tried this course.

Gerald Hank’s’ Character Building Blueprint is wonderfully easy to follow, immediately applicable, and truly gets you bursting with ideas that improve your characters and therefore improve your stories. I highly recommend it.

This is a valuable resource. I have worked with Gerald for several years now and his knowledge of the screenwriting process is incredible. You will benefit from any knowledge he shares with you. Specifically this guide gives you a wealth of information on the most basic level that you can follow like a blueprint to develop your characters to bring them to life and get your audience engaged in the story you are telling. Best of all are the activities and resources he provides that you can use to develop your characters and stories.

Most dramatic writing teachers and books focus on structure. These are important. But when you really think about what you love about a film or a dramatic piece is character and relationship through which transmit emotion and the human condition. The truth is you could have a mediocre story and still be riveted to characters. The reverse isn't true and will lead to total boredom. Here we have a guide for writing on a far more productive path. It's astonishing how character and relationship is overlooked. This is a huge void in the education of dramatic writing. Structure is logic. Character requires a connect with our truth. It's harder, but the conduit to human communication. So good to have a starting point to inspire this all important element to the creative writing process. I believe with this skill you will never run out of ideas. Nothing worth paying attention to occurs without character. Ask any accomplished actor what they are looking for in a script.

I've read many articles/courses about character development, and the VOTE system is one of the clearest, concise systems that I've seen. Starting with a good introduction on why our scripts are lacking (the core problem), he then presents the step-by-step instructions on how we can improve our character's motivations, scenes, and dialogue. I used my current screenplay to see if this works, and I was blown away with results. For example, in one scene, I had no goal or tension for the character to face. And realizing this (through the system), I could fix this to produce a scene worth reading and keeping. No more flat characters! And this works for your main characters, the protagonist and antagonist, and for your secondary characters. The rubrics (grids) are straightforward, and really helps the writer complete the VOTE system. There are also great examples from movies that anyone will recognize. While the program is pretty packed (at 128 pages), it provides a great set of tools that I can refer back to time and again. Not too complicated, it's perfect for both the beginner and the seasoned writer. I have this out with my other resources that I use constantly, like the Hollywood Standard, the Screenwriter's Bible, and the Emotion Thesaurus. In addition to Final Draft, it's the next best tool to have.

Definitely a great workbook for beginner writers. Characters are everything to a story, if you don't get them right your stories going to be completely off, then you're stuck with writer's block. If you know your characters (who they are, where they're going) you know your story. That's when the magic happens.

Gerald's classes and handouts have made a great difference in my writing. I'm working on my second book and his teaching has focused my writing and streamlined my character descriptions and their actions in the story. And I'm working on turning my first novel into a screenplay! You rock, Gerald! Thank you. Raven Raye

Mr. Hanks has gone out of his way to ensure that he has answered all my my questions to the best of his abilities and has provided me with invaluable insight regarding the screenwriting process as well as provided me a great deal of feedback for my screenplay in this amazing course!