Go Into The Story

Page One: “The Happening” (2008)

Written by M. Night Shyamalan

Hollywood is in the midst of an AI hiring boom

Even as writers and actors are pushing back against automation.

Interview (Part 4): Max Taxe

My interview with 2022 Black List writer for his script Ripple.

Creating Character-Driven Stories

Join me for a one-day online seminar on Saturday, August 26. Find out how you can get a 20% discount!

Writing Tip: Inside and Outside the Story Universe

The importance of Receptive Writing and Reflective Writing.

Page One: “The Great Muppet Caper” (1981)

Written by Tom Patchett & Jay Tarses and Jerry Juhl & Jack Rose

WGA & AMPTP Seek Path Back Toward Negotiating Table

Via Deadline:

Interview (Part 3): Max Taxe

My interview with 2022 Black List writer for his script Ripple.

Script To Screen: “Psycho”

The famous “truth about mother” scenes from the classic 1960 movie Psycho, screenplay by Joseph Stefano, based on a novel by Robert Bloch.

Writing Question: “What if I’m writing a script, but want to start another one?”

Time to stack projects… or is this simply an example of the Shiny Object Syndrome?

Page One: “Gosford Park” (2001)

Written by Julian Fellowes, based on an idea by Robert Altman and Bob Balaban

Hey, here's a grand conspiracy theory: Who's really behind the climate change deniers?

There's the next spec script!

Hollywood’s Slo-Mo Self-Sabotage

Since the streaming era, movies and television feel less special, labor conditions have plummeted, and turbulent mergers and layoffs call…

Interview (Part 2): Max Taxe

My interview with 2022 Black List writer for his script Ripple.

Script To Screen: “Rebel Without A Cause”

Perhaps the most memorable scene from the 1955 movie Rebel Without A Cause, screenplay by Stewart Stern, adaptation by Irving Shulman…

Screenwriting 101: Ted Tally

“It’s… just that you’re coming to grips with a story and characters that are not your own and that you’ve got to try to make your own, and…

Page One: “Gothika” (2003)

Written by Sebastian Gutierrez

Deadline’s Strike Talk Podcast

Episode 13: Billy Ray has a “conversation” with AI in which AI uses the voices of famous actors in their “chat.”

Interview (Part 1): Max Taxe

My interview with 2022 Black List writer for his script Ripple.

Writing Tip: The Writer as Psychologist

“It is our responsibility to understand each of characters to the core of their emotional, spiritual, and psychological being.”

On Writing

“The choice to train to be an artist of any kind is a risky one. Art’s a vocation, and often pays little for years and years — or never…

Page One: “The Good Shepherd” (2006)

Written by Eric Roth

Hollywood Actors and Writers vs. the Studios: 1933 vs. 2023

A Depression-era standoff between newly formed unions and studio moguls pivoted around a new technology: talkies! Some lessons for the age…

Script To Screen: “Rocky”

A memorable scene from Rocky written by Sylvester Stallone.

Interview: Christopher Nolan

The writer-director of the surprise box office hit Oppenheimer in a 20+ minute conversation about the movie.