Go Into The Story

2021 Spec Script Deal List

Every year since I launched the blog in 2008, I do a week-long analysis of the recent year in terms of spec script deals. This week, we…

Script Analysis: “The Tomorrow War” — Part 1: Scene-By-Scene Breakdown

A week-long analysis of the science fiction script and movie. Download. Read. Discuss.

On Writing

“The character on the page determines the prose — its music, its rhythms, the range and limit of its vocabulary — yet, at the outset at…

Page One: “Go” (1999)

Written by John August

Some folks on Twitter have provided push back to the point where movies or TV which alter…

That said, I go back to the OP and the point about the emotional truth of a story. One could argue that a filmmaker may have gotten all of…

Pixar and Visual Storytelling

A tiny bit of business in the movie Up reminds us that movies are primarily a visual medium.

Go Into The Story Interview: Daniel Hanna

My interview with the 2021 Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting winner.

Screenwriting and Historical Accuracy

When writing a movie based on actual historical events, how accurate does a screenwriter have to be?

Video: 20 Screenwriting Tips from Paul Thomas Anderson

The writer-director of Boogie Nights, Magnolia, There Will Be Blood, The Master, Inherent Vice, Phantom Thread, and Licorice Pizza.

Page One: “Giant” (1956)

Screen play by Fred Guiol and Ivan Moffat, novel by Edna Ferber

Reader Question: Are there any script rules that really shouldn’t be broken?

Or this: “How can you break screenwriting rules if there are none?”

Interview (Part 6): Daniel Hanna

My interview with the 2021 Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting winner.

Video: “The Art of Creativity” — Taika Watiti

A 2010 TEDx talk which foretells some of the writer-director’s future projects including the Oscar-winning movie Jojo Rabbit.

Video: 2022 Hollywood Writers Roundtable

The annual Hollywood Reporter event which this year features the screenwriters of CODA, The Harder They Fall, King Richard, The Lost…

Page One: “Ghost” (1990)

Written by Bruce Joel Rubin

Hollywood Writing Fellowships

List and links to multiple writing and mentoring programs.

Interview (Part 5): Daniel Hanna

My interview with the 2021 Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting winner.

Script Analysis: “Nebraska” — Scene By Scene Breakdown

Here is my take on this exercise from a previous series of posts — How To Read A Screenplay:

Writing and the Creative Life: Why Your Brain Loves Good Storytelling (Part 5)

“We like to be engaged and entertained by what transpires in the plot, but more important we want to find meaning in the characters’…

Page One: “The Getaway” (1972)

Screenplay by Walter Hill, novel by Jim Thompson

Three Keys to Writing in a Distracting World

I become fully engaged in my writing when I am fully engaged with my characters.

Interview (Part 4): Daniel Hanna

My interview with the 2021 Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting winner.

Script Analysis: “Mudbound” — Scene By Scene Breakdown

Here is my take on this exercise from a previous series of posts — How To Read A Screenplay:

The Business of Screenwriting: Hip pocket representation

The gray area between being signed by an agent… and kinda signed.

Page One: “Get Him to the Greek” (2010)

Written by Nicholas Stoller, characters by Jason Segel