Go Into The Story

A Story Idea Each Day for a Month — Day 1

This is the 11th year in a row I’ve run this series in April. Why a story idea each day for the month? Several reasons which I’ll work…

Script Analysis: “Minari” — Part 4: Themes

A week-long analysis of this Oscar-nominated screenplay. Download. Read. Discuss.

The Business of Screenwriting: Script readers, Hollywood’s threshold guardians

They may not get a lot of respect, but they are important to writers.

Page One: “The Fabulous Baker Boys” (1989)

Written by Steve Kloves.

Laura, interesting assessment.

I do feel confident in this: Soonja is *definitely* a Trickster. Everything about her howls of a shapeshifter, always out for her own…

Laura, you hit the high points, it seems to me, in terms of plotline points.

* The tornado: Not only a danger in and of itself, but a metaphor for the "storm" within the family. When during the storm outside, Jacob…

2021 Zero Draft Thirty March Challenge: Day 31

One month. FADE IN to FADE OUT. Creativity meets Productivity.

Script Analysis: “Minari” — Part 3: Characters

A week-long analysis of this Oscar-nominated screenplay. Download. Read. Discuss.

How They Write a Script: Billy Wilder

“In a serious pictures, you don’t hear them being bored, but in a comedy you can hear them not laughing. You tried so hard and the guy did…

Page One: “The Exorcist” (1973)

Written for the screen by William Peter Blatty based on his novel.

2021 Zero Draft Thirty March Challenge: Day 30

One month. FADE IN to FADE OUT. Creativity meets Productivity.

Script Analysis: “Minari” — Part 2: Plot

A week-long analysis of this Oscar-nominated screenplay. Download. Read. Discuss.

Screenwriting 101: Whit Stillman

“For me, there’s a bad year of getting started on something. You write bad stuff and it’s awkward to throw it out, and you wait around to…

Page One: “Erin Brockovich” (2000)

Written by Susannah Grant

Judging from the script, I'd say David is the Protagonist as the story is told through his…

As you say, it *does* feel like a "conventional narrative movie," and one thing it suggests at the script stage (I have yet to see the…

2021 Zero Draft Thirty March Challenge: Day 29

One month. FADE IN to FADE OUT. Creativity meets Productivity.

Script Analysis: “Minari” — Part 1: Scene-By-Scene Breakdown

A week-long analysis of this Oscar-nominated screenplay. Download. Read. Discuss.

On Writing

“The act of writing, when it goes well, gives me a pleasure, a joy, unlike any other. It takes me to another place — irrespective of my…

Page One: “The English Patient” (1996)

Screenplay by Anthony Minghella, novel by Michael Ondaatje

Sundays with Stephen King’s “On Writing”

A series featuring reflections on writing from the famed writer’s memoir.

2021 Zero Draft Thirty March Challenge: Day 28

One month. FADE IN to FADE OUT. Creativity meets Productivity.

Great Scene: “The Conversation”

The Protagonist’s paranoia turns out to be real when a woman is murdered.

Page One: “The End of the Tour” (2015)

Screenplay by Donald Margulies, book by David Lipsky

2021 Zero Draft Thirty March Challenge: Day 27

One month. FADE IN to FADE OUT. Creativity meets Productivity.

How They Write A Script: Anna Hamilton Phelan

“It’s the character that usually grabs me. My downfall always is the plot. That’s the hardest part for me, plot.”