Go Into The Story

Updated: 3:45PM CDT, September 29, 2019.

All dead links I know about have been deleted.

2019 Zero Draft Thirty September Challenge: Day 29

One month. FADE IN to FADE OUT. Creativity meets Productivity.

Confession as Narrative Device

Comparing confessions of the Protagonists in The King’s Speech and The Silence of the Lambs reveals how important they can be.

Screenwriting Advice From The Past: The Denouement [Part 3]

“Coincidence does not enter into real life every day. It is quite permissible, however, as a basis for a story, but it is bad form to base…

Daily Dialogue — September 29, 2019

“My friends and cousins. Do you remember when we were not rich, but when our poverty was different, not a thing to be ashamed of. There was…

David, did you ‘break’ your story before you started writing it?

At the very least, if you know the ending, you can use that as a point toward which you can write.

2019 Zero Draft Thirty September Challenge: Day 28

One month. FADE IN to FADE OUT. Creativity meets Productivity.

Daily Dialogue theme next week: Cooking

Join the Daily Dialogue crew: 4,153 consecutive days and counting.

Spec Script Deal: “Savior”

Oakhurst Entertainment acquires action thriller spec script “Savior” written by Todd Komarnicki. From Deadline:

Daily Dialogue — September 28, 2019

Zeke: Listen, kid. Are you gonna try and let that old Gulch heifer try and buffalo ya’? She ain’t nothing to be afraid of. Have a little…

2019 Zero Draft Thirty September Challenge: Day 27

One month. FADE IN to FADE OUT. Creativity meets Productivity.

Courier 12 Screenwriting Conference

One-day event in Chicago which will be live-streamed on YouTube.

Writing and the Creative Life: What if…

Perhaps the two most powerful words in the creative process.

Daily Dialogue — September 27, 2019

Terence Mann: Ray, there was a reason they chose me, just as there was a reason they chose you and this field. Ray Kinsella: Why? Terence…

2019 Zero Draft Thirty September Challenge: Day 26

One month. FADE IN to FADE OUT. Creativity meets Productivity.

How to Do a Scene-By-Scene Breakdown

Whether you are analyzing a movie or a screenplay, breaking it down to the granular level of its scenes can reveal much about its story…

The Business of Screenwriting: “Everyone is here because of us”

It is late spring 1988. I am in San Diego where K-9 is being shot. It’s my first day on a movie set. Ever. The scene the crew is shooting…

Daily Dialogue — September 26, 2019

“Give me back my rabbit’s foot. I got too much to do around here to go around saving your life all the time.”

2019 Zero Draft Thirty September Challenge: Day 25

One month. FADE IN to FADE OUT. Creativity meets Productivity.

The Nemesis as the Protagonist’s ‘Shadow’

“The Nemesis as a kind of mirror reflecting back the Protagonist’s shadow is a great way to think about their relationship.”

Movie Story Type: Assumed Identity

“At the deepest level of meaning for assumed identity stories, there are two questions: Who am I? Do I really know what another person is…

Script To Screen: “You Can Count On Me”

A key scene from the excellent 2000 drama You Can Count On Me, written and directed by Kenneth Lonergan.

Daily Dialogue — September 25, 2019

“Cue the deer.”

Thanks for your comments, Prisca.

Whether overtly religious or not, these themes speak to the universality of human experience and thus, as writers, we can mine them in our…

Good observation, Tom.

In a way, it is crazy to think of how many movies, even TV series feature Protagonist figures whose journey is fundamentally about…