Go Into The Story

Frank, glad to hear that works for you.

Keep writing!

Dumb Little Writing Tricks That Work: Get Un-Comfortable

If your writing is feeling stale, here’s an idea: Rattle your own cage!

Screenwriting 101: Julia Hart

“My students would always get frustrated when we would talk about the themes that the author was using. They would always ask, ‘Did they…

Page One: ‘Pulp Fiction’ (1994)

Written by Quentin Tarantino, stories by Quentin Tarantino and Roger Avary

Thanks for those comments, James.

Thanks again for your thoughts!

What do we mean when we talk about a story’s ‘theme’?

And why is understanding theme so important when writing a story?

On Writing

“The only way of expressing emotion in the form of art is by finding an ‘objective correlative’; in other words, a set of objects, a…

Page One: ‘Psycho’ (1960)

Screenplay by Joseph Stefano, based on the novel by Robert Bloch

Sundays with Ray Bradbury

“I can imagine all kinds of worlds and places, but I cannot imagine a world without Bradbury.” — Neil Gaiman

60 Second Screenwriter: What is a ‘character arc?’

A video series addressing key screenwriting concerns in one minute.

Page One: ‘Patton’ (1970)

Screen story and screenplay Francis Ford Coppola and Edmund H. North

Update: 2020 Award Season Screenplay Downloads — 5 New Scripts

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

How to write if you have a long commute behind the wheel?

“Talk out your story. Record your words. Transfer to your computer. You can get a LOT done that way.”

Page One: ‘Pan’s Labyrinth’ (2006)

Written by Guillermo del Toro

Reader Question: Do you have any suggestions to ‘warm up’ for writing?

Two suggestions to help you overcome the dreaded ‘how to get my ass into the chair and writing’ conundrum.

Writing and the Creative Life: “The hard is what makes it great”

Wisdom about writing and creativity from the movie ‘A League of Their Own’.

Page One: ‘Out of Sight’ (1998)

Screenplay by Scott Frank, novel by Elmore Leonard

“Get the damn thing done!”

The one unalterable truth about writing a first draft.

“Why is it three act structure? The cycle of life.”

Story structure and the… stock market? Read on.

Page One: ‘One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest’ (1975)

Screenplay by Lawrence Hauben and Bo Goldman, based on the novel by Ken Kesey

Screenplays are stories, not formulas

William Goldman has famously written, “Screenplays are structure.” That is true in a tangible sense because at some point, a script becomes…

Dumb Little Writing Tricks That Work: “Get Off Your Ass”

Sitting. Typing. Sitting. Thinking. Sitting. Stressing. Sitting. Sitting. Sitting…

Page One: ‘O Brother, Where Art Thou?’ (2000)

Written by Ethan Coen & Joel Coen, based on the epic poem “The Odyssey” by Homer

Go Into The Story interview: Jessica Bendinger

An in-depth conversation with the screenwriter of the beloved 2000 comedy Bring It On.

Screenwriting 101: Brian Duffield

“I find that by starting with theme, you instantly gravitate towards a character who is almost at an opposite place to deal with that…