Go Into The Story

Movies You Made: “The Morning After”

Movies You Made is an ongoing Go Into The Story series to spotlight filmmakers and promote their storytelling. Today: The Morning After…

Writing and the Creative Life: Why Staring Into Space Is an Important Strategy for Success

“In the shower we are simply staring into space, washing our hair on autopilot. We aren’t checking our messages or Twitter feed, or writing…

Daily Dialogue — November 22, 2019

Capt. Jack Aubrey: Do you see those two weevils, Doctor? Dr. Stephen Maturin: I do. Capt. Jack Aubrey: Which would you choose? Dr. Stephen…

Reader Question: How to keep from getting stuck in Act Two?

The answer is almost always this: Spend more time in story prep learning about your characters!

Update: 2019 Award Season Screenplay Downloads — 2 New Scripts, 14 Total

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

The Business of Screenwriting: Everything You Wanted to Know About Specs [Part 8]

On attaching talent: “In my experience, it’s either the agent or the producer who approaches other elements. Almost always these…

Daily Dialogue — November 21, 2019

Carmine Falcone: [feigning insanity] Yeah, Doctor Crane, I can’t take it anymore. It’s all too much. “The walls are closing in.” Blah…

Writing and the Creative Life: Wherein I embrace my messy desk!

For decades, I have waged a relentless war. The battlefield? My desk. Raised a military brat and a Southern Baptist to boot, the message I…

Handling Script Notes

We may hate them, but if they help us write a better script…

Script To Screen: “Black Swan”

The dramatic climax of the 2010 psychological thriller Black Swan, screenplay by Mark Heyman and Andres Heinz and John J. McLaughlin…

Daily Dialogue — November 20, 2019

Mrs. Christie: I’ve got nearly a thousand nurses in this hospital.  Bock: (gathering rage) And every time one of them has her period, she…

Thanks for the heads-up. Here’s a new link:

https://www.wga.org/writers-room/101-best-lists/101-greatest-screenplays

Update: 2019 Award Season Screenplay Downloads — 1 New Script, 13 Total

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

The Commuting Writer

If your commute to work is a half-hour or longer, there is every reason in the world you should use that time on your writing projects.

Screenwriting 101: Chris Borrelli

“Actors come at things, I am going to say, being very general here, more emotionally. Sometimes, as screenwriters, we get into structure…

Daily Dialogue — November 19, 2019

Woman with Glasses: There’s a blurred spot in my vision… [pointing] … there… no, there… no, no…

Thanks, Sharon.

For screenwriters (and writers generally), I think this can be a helpful way to originate, develop, and craft our stories.

From Zero Draft… to Hero Draft

“There are no mistakes. There are CHOICES. We have a scene. Or a character. Or a dialogue exchange. Whatever we’re writing, it represents…

Ending a Sequence with a Question

An effective way to drive the narrative forward by piquing the script reader’s curiosity: What’s going to happen next?

On Writing

“The writer must always leave room for the characters to grow and change. If you move your characters from plot point to plot point, like…

Daily Dialogue — November 18, 2019

The door of Bud’s apartment opens, and Bud comes out with the wastebasket full of empty bottles. Just then, DR. DAVID DREYFUSS, whose wife…

The Theology of Cinema: Conversion

A character transforming from their Old Self into a New Self is a narrative arc we see time and time again, a kind of ‘conversion’…

Script To Screen: “BlacKkKlansman”

The dramatic Final Struggle scene in the 2018 Oscar-winning movie, screenplay by Charlie Wachtel & David Rabinowitz and Kevin Willmott &…

Spec Script Deal: “Reparations”

Screen Gems acquires action heist spec script “Reparations” written by Jeff Howard. Via Deadline:

Daily Dialogue — November 17, 2019

“Listen kid, I’m not gonna bullshit you, all right? I don’t give a good fuck what you know, or don’t know, but I’m gonna torture you…