Go Into The Story

Daily Dialogue — July 28, 2019

Screenwriter Nick in the middle of a script notes meeting.

Screenwriting Advice From The Past: Cutting The Picture [Part 1]

“Yes, you read that right. A studio. Calling in the writers. To cut the movie. After the director has shot it.”

Daily Dialogue theme next week: Limousine

Join the Daily Dialogue crew: 4,090 consecutive days and counting.

Interview (Audio): Quentin Tarantino

Conversation with the writer-director of Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood.

Daily Dialogue — July 27, 2019

Marty: I don’t have a drinking problem, I just like drinking. Billy: Of course you do, Marty. One, you’re a writer. Two, you’re from…

Happy Birthday, Carl Jung: Screenwriting Guru!

Swiss psychotherapist and founder of analytical psychology Carl Jung was born today in 1875. He died in 1961 at the age of 85.

Go Into The Story Script Reading & Analysis: “Get Out”

The entire 6 part series delving into hit social thriller movie.

Writing and the Creative Life: The Joy of Running… Creatively Speaking

“Does some creative block have you feeling stuck? Go for a run. Are you deliberating between one of two potentially life-altering…

Daily Dialogue — July 26, 2019

“Don’t blame me. I’m not an executive, just a writer.”

The Importance of a Strong Story Concept

“It is impossible to overemphasize the importance of a story idea to the eventual success of a spec script.”

Spec Script Deal: Untitled Jacob Chase Supernatural Thriller

Paramount Pictures acquires an untitled supernatural thriller written by Jacob Chase. Via Deadline:

The Business of Screenwriting: Anatomy of a Deal (Part 2)

“Warner Bros. They want to buy ‘Mr. President’.”

Daily Dialogue — July 25, 2019

Charlie Meadows: And I could tell you some stories… Barton Fink: Sure you could and yet many writers do everything in their power to…

Reader Question: How to raise the stakes in the plot?

One suggestion: Focus on and elevate the Protagonist’s psychological stakes.

30 Things About Screenwriting

Free downloadable Go Into The Story eBook.

Script To Screen: “Up”

From the 2009 Pixar movie Up, screenplay by Bob Peterson and Pete Docter, story by Peter Docter and Bob Peterson & Thomas McCarthy, the…

Daily Dialogue — July 24, 2019

Laurel Gray: [on a scene in Dix’s script] I love the love scene — it’s very good. Dixon Steele: Well that’s because they’re not always…

Where did all the screenwriting forums go?

The way people interface with the online screenwriting community has changed over the last decade for better… and worse.

Reader Question: Advice for someone wanting to give writing a full-time shot?

First and foremost, you have to want it. I mean really want it. The competition is fierce. Think of it this way: Any time you aren’t…

Screenwriting 101: Sallie West

“I invent people I like, people with whom I would like to spend time. People with depth and humor and humility… If you didn’t like your…

Daily Dialogue — July 23, 2019

Niki Trumbo: We’re having birthday cake. Dalton Trumbo: When you hear me working, you don’t knock. Niki Trumbo: But it’s my birthday…

Script To Screen: “Unforgiven”

From the 1992 movie Unforgiven, written by David Webb Peoples, the movie’s Final Struggle sequence.

“Turn on. Tune in. Drop out.”

Wherein we appropriate the words of Timothy Leary for some writing advice.

On Writing

I used to outline what I was going to do. I don’t do that so much anymore. It’s part of trying to loosen up the process and not know…

Daily Dialogue — July 22, 2019

“To begin… To begin… How to start? I’m hungry. I should get coffee. Coffee would help me think. Maybe I should write something first, then…