Go Into The Story

Page One: “The Devil’s Advocate” (1997)

Screenplay by Jonathan Lemkin and Tony Gilroy, novel by Andrew Neiderman

How to Write a Marketable Screenplay: Part 2 (Character)

Tips from a presentation at the Pittsburgh Shorts Filmmaker Conference.

Update: 2021–2022 Award Season Screenplay Downloads — 2 New Scripts, 30 Total

It’s that time of year again when studios and production companies make available PDFs of movie scripts for award season.

Script Analysis: ‘I’m Your Woman’ — 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 2)

The intriguing thing here is that while we, as writers, are thinking about emotions and psychology, much of it apparently boils down to a…

Page One: “Despicable Me” (2010)

Screenplay by Cinco Paul & Ken Daurio, based on a story by Sergio Pablos

The Spirit of the Spec

The creative empowerment of writing a spec script.

Script Analysis: “I, Tonya” — Scene By Scene Breakdown

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

Dumb Little Writing Tricks That Work: Snacks

It’s like maybe fifteen years ago and I’m reading an interview with noted playwright and screenwriter Neil Simon. And in this interview…

The Business of Screenwriting: The screenwriter as problem-solver

Words of wisdom from legendary Hollywood producer Max Millimeter.

Page One: “Devil in a Blue Dress” (1995)

Screenplay by Carl Franklin, book by Walter Mosley

Dumb Little Writing Tricks That Work: Read your dialogue aloud

This is truly one of the easiest things you can do to improve your dialogue writing: When you finish a draft of your script, read aloud…

Script Analysis: “Hustlers” — Scene By Scene Breakdown

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

Screenwriting Mantra: Minimum Words, Maximum Impact

The origin and importance of one of the best screenwriting mantras… ever!

60 Second Screenwriter: What’s a log line?

A video series addressing key screenwriting concerns in sixty seconds.

Page One: “The Mitchells vs the Machines” (2021)

Written by Mike Rianda and Jeff Rowe, Peter Szilagyi (story coordinator), Alex Hirsch (story consultant)

Update: 2021–2022 Award Season Screenplay Downloads — 1 New Script, 28 Total

It’s that time of year again when studios and production companies make available PDFs of movie scripts for award season.

Script Analysis: “Honey Boy” — Scene-By-Scene Breakdown

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

Why You Should Write Three Pages of Garbage Every Morning

“Freewriting forces you to keep moving forward, keep creating, without a thought given to quality.”

Screenwriting 101: Rob Meyer

“It’s easy to spend a lot of time worrying about how other people are doing, why you’re not succeeding, and so on. That stuff’s a real…

Page One: “The Lost Daughter” (2021)

Written by Maggie Gyllenhaal, based on a novel by Elena Ferrante

When in doubt, just write.

Just. Write.

Hero’s Journey as Psychological Journey

When we think of the Hero’s Journey, what comes to mind is a geographical adventure. The Heroine starts out in their Ordinary World…

Script Analysis: “Hell or High Water” — Scene By Scene Breakdown

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

How They Write A Script: Nancy Meyers

“My first draft was exactly 250 pages. I didn’t have brads deep enough, long enough to get through the script.”