Go Into The Story

Writing and the Creative Life: The Mundane and the Marvelous

“Creativity is piercing the mundane to find the marvelous.”

Daily Dialogue — January 17, 2020

“Excuse me, ma’am. May I ask which direction you’re heading? See, I’m trying to get back to school and my ride fell through and, well, I’m…

Go Into The Story: Screenwriting 101

The entire 90+ minute Film Courage interview with yours truly.

Interview (Part 4): Walker McKnight

My interview with the 2019 Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting winner.

2020 Dialogue-Writing Challenge: Day 12

A chance for you to work on your dialogue chops and win free prizes!

The Business of Screenwriting: Everything You Wanted to Know About Specs [Part 16]

“When a studio has a strong interest in a spec script or other type of literary material, and they want to avoid getting into a bidding war…

Daily Dialogue — January 16, 2020

Hitchhiker: You heard of this thing, the 8-Minute Abs? Ted: Yeah, sure, 8-Minute Abs. Yeah, the excercise video. Hitchhiker: Yeah, this is…

Empathy: A Writer’s Superpower

As writers, when we empathize with our characters and plunge ourselves into their lives, we can do something no one else can…

Interview (Part 3): Walker McNight

My interview with the 2019 Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting winner.

2020 Dialogue-Writing Challenge: Day 11

A chance for you to work on your dialogue chops and win free prizes!

Download 2020 Oscar Nominated Screenplays

9 of the 10 nominated scripts are available as PDFs — for free!

Daily Dialogue — January 15, 2020

Scott: Let me handle this, I speak better German. Hello! Truck Driver: Hello! Scott: [in German] My German is ill, but I can understand on…

Interview (Part 2): Walker McNight

My interview with the 2019 Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting winner.

2020 Dialogue-Writing Challenge: Day 10

A chance for you to work on your dialogue chops and win free prizes!

Screenwriting 101: James DiLapo

“I think act structure is extremely important. The midpoint is very crucial. It doesn’t have to be as overt as it is in the middle of this…

Daily Dialogue — January 14, 2020

Jay and Bob are walking backwards on the road, hitching still.

Interview (Part 1): Walker McNight

My interview with the 2019 Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting winner.

2020 Dialogue-Writing Challenge: Day 9

A chance for you to work on your dialogue chops and win free prizes!

On Writing

“I’m a full-time believer in writing habits, pedestrian as it all may sound. You may be able to do without them if you have genius but most…

Daily Dialogue — January 13, 2020

“How long could we maintain? I wondered. How long until one of us starts raving and jabbering at this boy? What will he think then? This…

The central theme of The Farewell aligns with this observation by Francis Ford Coppola: “Always try…

So that’s a good takeaway, Kinshuk: Find that central theme in its simplest form and use that as a lens through which to craft and…

The Theology of Cinema: Hell

“What if we think of Act Two as Hell?”

2020 Dialogue-Writing Challenge: Week 2

Writing prompts #4–8. Practice writing dialogue. Win a free class with me.

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

The entire 6 part series delving into the acclaimed drama comedy.

Daily Dialogue — January 12, 2020

“I think we should have a drink to the new Mrs. Rusty Trawler.”