Go Into The Story

Writing and the Creative Life: Think Psychologically

What makes a story resonate emotionally with a reader or viewer?

Daily Dialogue — May 29, 2020

“What kind of example do we want to set here? I mean, can’t we just sit down and eat a piece of pizza together?”

The External and Internal Worlds of a Screenplay Universe

When something happens…something *else* happens.

Go Into The Story Resource: Great Scenes

When you boil it down, screenwriting is scene-writing. Hone your scene-writing ability by studying these scenes.

Script Analysis: “Honey Boy” — Part 4: Themes

Read and analyze the script for the acclaimed drama written and starring Shia LeBouef.

The Business of Screenwriting: Page Count

The mysterious science of what happens when and where in feature film screenplay.

Daily Dialogue — May 28, 2020

“Are you crazy? We can’t have pizza and beer.”

Thanks, everyone, alerting me to those Sony Classic scripts which have gone away.

As always, best to download scripts ASAP to avoid them disappearing.

Steven, your thoughts echo mine (or mine yours!) very much. For example this:

I think the reason your character approach (inside-to-out) works better than the paradigmatic approach is that paradigms impose a structure…

I just now saw this thread of responses and agree with the other suggestions.

Thanks for the feedback, everyone!

Yeah, Max had a way with words.

I’ll be sure to pass along your sentiments, Debbie!

Real World Screenwriting: Know Movies

You hear this a lot in script meetings: “It’s like that scene in…”

Go Into The Story Resource: Screenwriting 101

Hundreds of observations about the craft of screenwriting from professional writers.

Script Analysis: “Honey Boy” — Part 3: Characters

Read and analyze the script for the acclaimed drama written and starring Shia LeBouef.

Great Scene: “Halloween”

This is one of the iconic scenes in the history of horror movies: Laurie (Jamie Lee Curtis) versus Michael Myers (Tony Moran) in the Final…

Daily Dialogue — May 27, 2020

“My friend? Would you like me to show you how to eat that properly, so you don’t waste any?”

Reader Question: How to handle a character who changes names?

When in doubt, check out actual movie scripts to see how the pros handle it — and we do with the screenplay for Tootsie.

Go Into The Story Resource: The Story Behind Script Coverage

Script readers are Hollywood’s threshold guardians, so it behooves writers to try to understand their mindset.

Script Analysis: “Honey Boy” — Part 2: Plot

Read and analyze the script for the acclaimed drama written and starring Shia LeBouef.

Screenwriting 101: Jessica Bendinger

“You can totally lose your voice when you are playing what I call My Little Pony. At least I do. I have to watch becoming a performing…

Daily Dialogue — May 26, 2020

“I’m in love. I’m having a relationship with my pizza.”

Laura, I have not seen the movie, although it's high atop my To Watch list.

There are a lot of choices LaBoeuf makes that defy conventional wisdom, the most notable one: that father and son would heal themselves and…

Pound Out That First Draft!

Go from FADE IN to FADE OUT in my upcoming online writing workshop. Starts July 27th!

Go Into The Story Resource: An Argument Against Screenplay Formulas

We end up with a ceaseless cesspool of formulaic crap carving its way into and ultimately out of Hollywood movie and TV development…

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

Read and analyze the script for the acclaimed drama written and starring Shia LeBouef.