Go Into The Story

Daily Dialogue theme next week: Killing

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Daily Dialogue — October 12, 2019

Rob: How many strokes? Mike: I don’t know. Eight or Nine. Rob: I’ll give you an eight. Mike: What’d you get? Rob: An eight. Mike: Looks…

Meet the Writer of ‘Gemini Man’ (Who Didn’t Actually Write ‘Gemini Man’)

“Despite having his name in the credits, despite walking the red carpet, Lemke had nothing to do with the movie currently playing…

Songwriters on Songwriting: Tom Petty

The late singer-sonwriter talks about how long he waited to write “The Waiting”.

Writing and the Creative Life: Why Creative People May Feel More Anxiety

I’m even nervous posting this…

Daily Dialogue — October 11, 2019

“Oh, bad luck. You’re in the rough.”

Writing Mantra: Set aside your attachments

“All too often, attachments get in the way of our writing. When you should be inside your story universe, your mind is outside thinking…

Script To Screen: “A Quiet Place”

The horrifying opening incident is a master class in demonstrating how to use individual paragraphs of scene description to individual…

The Business of Screenwriting: Everything You Wanted to Know About Specs [Part 2]

“With multiple seven-figure deals in 1980s and 1990s, spec scripts became sexy and screenwriters hot commodities. During the next two…

Daily Dialogue — October 10, 2019

Pat Pemberton: Mrs. Beminger, if you could possibly lift the needle from that long-playing phonograph you keep in your face… [forcing Mrs…

Spec Script Deal: Untitled Elliott San Project

New Line Cinema acquires untitled Elliott San spec script. Via Deadline:

Successful Screenwriters Have A Consistent Daily Routine

A 6-minute video featuring… me, reflecting on the importance of a writer locking down a specific time of day to get feedback from readers.

Great Scene: “Zorba the Greek”

First… disaster. Next… dancing. And then… Nietzsche.

Daily Dialogue — October 9, 2019

Carl Spackler: So I jump ship in Hong Kong and I make my way over to Tibet, and I get on as a looper at a course over in the Himalayas…

Make Words Your Friend

“Putting one right word after another” — that is so right. When you bust it all down, writing is about choosing words. A writer can choose…

Script to Screen: “Zombieland”

The very beginning of the movie Zombieland (2009), screenplay by Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick.

Screenwriting 101: Jessica Bendinger

“There are three different movies, as the saying goes. There’s the one you write, the one you shoot, and the one you cut. They’re all…

Daily Dialogue — October 8, 2019

Roy ‘Tin Cup’ McAvoy: Well, I tend to think of the golf swing as a poem. Clint: Ooh, he’s doing that poetry thing again. Roy ‘Tin Cup’…

The Importance of Persistence in a Writer’s Life

“PERSIST on telling your story. PERSIST on reaching your audience. PERSIST on staying true to your vision.”

Reader Question: What if you fall out of love with a script?

“What about a script you fall out of love with after 2–3 drafts, and just can’t finish? Put it aside for now or just push through?”

On Writing

“It’ll be bad before it’s good. Keep writing through the bad.”

Daily Dialogue — October 7, 2019

“Put your eyes on Bobby Jones. Look at his practice swing, almost like he’s searchin’ for something. Then he finds it. Watch how he settle…

The Coen Brothers and the Long Shadow of Authority Figures

If there is one thing about the craft writers hear ad nauseam, it’s this: There is no drama without conflict. And there is no story…

Movie Story Type: Buddy Picture

In Hollywood movie circles, there are genres like Horror or Science Fiction, cross genres like Action-Thriller or Drama-Comedy, and…

Interview (Video): Taika Waititi

From TIFF Talks: