Go Into The Story

Script Analysis: ‘1917’ — Part 2: Plot

Read the script for the award-winning war drama and analyze all week.

Screenwriting 101: Steve Zaillian

“I don’t try to build empathy. I don’t need to, since a character’s behavior will do that for me, if there’s any to be had. Neither do I…

Daily Dialogue — February 11, 2020

“Her name’s Sarah Thomas.”

Milt, you have to go into a project like this knowing that if you include a bunch or even a few…

As noted in the OP, the best use of a song is if the specific lyrics match up with the specific events of the story’s plot, thereby…

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.

Script Analysis: ‘1917’ — Part 1: Scene-By-Scene Breakdown

Read the script for the award-winning war drama and analyze all week.

On Writing

“Writing isn’t about making money, getting famous, getting dates, getting laid, or making friends. In the end, it’s about enriching the…

Daily Dialogue — February 10, 2020

“Of all the cabbies in L.A. I get Max, Sigmund Freud meets Dr. Ruth.”

The Theology of Cinema: Purgatory

“If we look at purgatory metaphorically, a circumstance in which the visitor must suffer in the ‘furnace of affliction in order to…

Go Into The Story Script Reading & Analysis: “Parasite”

The entire 6 part series delving into the award-winning foreign film.

2019 Spec Script Market Analysis

Comprehensive analysis of all the reported spec script deals in 2018.

Interview (Video): Stella Meghie

Conversation with the writer-director of the upcoming film The Photgraph.

Daily Dialogue — February 9, 2020

Lew Harper: [placing a crank call to his wife, imitating English accent into phone] Mrs. Harper? Mrs. Lewis Harper? Susan Harper: [puzzled…

Script Analysis: “Parasite” — Part 6: Takeaways

Read the script for the award-winning foreign film and analyze all week.

2019 Spec Script Deals Analysis: First-Timers

As we continue our analysis of spec script sales in 2019, today we check out the first-timers, writers who broke into the business by…

Daily Dialogue theme next week: Taxi

Join the Daily Dialogue crew: 4,286 consecutive days and counting.

THR 2020 Screenwriters Roundtable

A 50-minute conversation with the screenwriters of Bombshell, Harriet, Hustlers, Jojo Rabbit, Just Mercy, and The Two Popes.

Daily Dialogue — February 8, 2020

Easy Rawlins: What do you prefer to use… as your weapon? Daphne: Why don’t you search me and find out?

I want to highlight two sides of dialogue. First, father to son:

You know what kind of plan never fails? No plan. No plan at all. You know why? Because life cannot be planned. Look around you. Did you…

Script Analysis: “Parasite” — Part 5: Dialogue

Read the script for the award-winning foreign film and analyze all week.

Spec Script Deals Analysis 2019: Top Sales

Continuing our week long analysis of spec script deals from 2019, today we look at the biggest payoffs (at least as reported by various…

Writing and the Creative Life: The Curse of Shiny Object Syndrome

“It’s not quite ADD/ADHD. It’s more that a new idea captures your imagination and attention in such a way that you get distracted from the…

Daily Dialogue — February 7, 2020

Joe has just found out that Mike was sleeping with his wife.

An obvious theme is The Haves vs.

The Park family is wealthy and because of their wealth, they have a skewed perspective of reality. They live in cloistered comfort and…

Script Analysis: “Parasite” — Part 4: Themes

Read the script for the award-winning foreign film and analyze all week.