Go Into The Story

What is a movie script’s denouement?

It answers this question: What do you want the audience to feel when they walk out of the theater at the end of your movie?

Scene Description Spotlight: “Ed Wood”

A period piece. A bio-pic of an enigmatic character. A drama with absurd comic elements. The 1994 movie Ed Wood is all of these — and more.

Page One: “In Fabric” (2018)

Written by Peter Strickland

My Favorite Five Films at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival

Amidst a strong slate of movies, these five films stood out.

Screenwriting 101: Rita Mae Brown

“Character is destiny. The resolution of any plot must come from within the character. The redemption or destruction of any character is…

Page One: “I Think We’re Alone Now” (2018)

Written by Mike Makowsky

Scene Description Spotlight: “The Deer Hunter”

During the Vietnam War, two American prisoners are forced to play Russian roulette.

On Writing

“Plot is what keeps you going when you first read a story, and character is what stays with you after you have finished reading it.”

Page One: “I Love You, Man” (2009)

Screenplay by John Hamburg and Larry Levin, story by Larry Levin

Go Into The Story Interview: Alysha Chan and David Zarif

My interview with the 2024 Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting winners.

Writing and the Creative Life: Mind Wandering

“What no [spouse] of a writer can ever understand is that a writer is working when he’s staring out of the window.”

Page One: “I Don’t Feel at Home in This World Anymore” (2017)

Written by Macon Blair

Interview (Part 6): Alysha Chan and David Zarif

My interview with the 2024 Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting winners.

Scene Description Spotlight: “The Dark Knight”

Today we shine the spotlight on a great piece of screenwriting, the screenplay for The Dark Knight, co-written by Christopher & Jonathan…

Page One: “Tucker and Dale vs Evil” (2010)

Written by Eli Craig & Morgan Jurgenson

Interview (Part 5): Alysha Chan and David Zarif

My interview with the 2024 Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting winners.

The Business of Screenwriting: Movies are a director’s medium

“But that’s the whole point of the God damn movie!”

Page One: “Memory” (2023)

Written by Michael Franco

A Zero Draft Thirty Success Story

You can use the month of March to pound out a screenplay. Maybe it will lead to a movie getting made … like this writer!

Interview (Part 4): Alysha Chan and David Zarif

My interview with the 2024 Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting winners.

Page One: “In the Tall Grass” (2019)

Written by Vincenzo Natali, based on the novella by Stephen King and Joe Hill

Interview (Part 3): Alysha Chan and David Zarif

My interview with the 2024 Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting winners.

Scene Description Spotlight: “Chinatown”

The screenplay for the 1974 movie Chinatown is considered one of the best scripts ever written. Its writer Robert Towne received an Academy…

Page One: “The Hustler” (1961)

Screenplay by Sidney Carroll and Robert Rossen, based on the novel by Walter Tevis

Screenwriting 101: Raymond Chandler

“The challenge of screenwriting is to say much in little and then take half of that little out and still preserve an effect of leisure and…