Go Into The Story

Daily Dialogue — November 4, 2018

Dr. Frederick Frankenstein: What a filthy job. Igor: Could be worse. Dr. Frederick Frankenstein: How? Igor: It could be raining.

Thanks, Larissa.

Anyhow, this was my 4th AFF as a panelist and moderator, and I guess I’ll keep doing it as long as the Festival continues to invite me.

Spec Script Deal: “Genesis”

Make Pictures and Bad Idea acquire science fiction thriller spec script “Genesis” written by Brian Michael Scully. Via Deadline:

Saturday Hot Links

Time for the 365th installment of Saturday Hot Links, your week’s essential reading about movies, TV, streaming, Hollywood, and other…

Great Scene: “Network”

“I’m as mad as hell and I’m not going to take this anymore!”

Daily Dialogue theme next week: Support Group

Join the Daily Dialogue crew: 3,824 consecutive days and counting.

Interview (Video): Alex Cox

A 1-hour conversation with the writer-director of Repo Man and Walker.

Daily Dialogue — November 3, 2018

Clarence: Your brother, Harry Bailey, broke through the ice and was drowned at the age of nine. George Bailey: That’s a lie! Harry Bailey…

Reader Question: Should I try to adapt my own book?

A book represents intellectual property and Hollywood is obsessed with IP, so what’s the best thing an author can do?

Screenplays are stories, not formulas

William Goldman has famously written, “Screenplays are structure.” That is true in a tangible sense because at some point, a script…

Songwriters On Songwriting: Willie Dixon

“How often do you write songs? / Well, whenever the various facts come to your mind that you think are interesting, it can do somebody some…

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…

Daily Dialogue — November 2, 2018

“Arch Stanton.”

J, I think you’re right.

There are exceptions, of course. You mention the TV series “Wallender” as an example. One could argue that Jake Gittes in Chinatown has an…

Reader Question: Do you have any suggestions to ‘warm up’ for writing?

Two suggestions to help you overcome the dreaded ‘how to get my ass into the chair and writing’ conundrum.

“Get the damn thing done!”

The one unalterable truth about writing a first draft.

Songwriters on Songwriting: Suzanne Vega

“You’re drawing the listener into this world with very simple, basic information. And it then proceeds to state the problem without ever…

The Business of Screenwriting: The screenwriter as problem-solver

Words of wisdom from legendary Hollywood producer Max Millimeter.

Daily Dialogue — November 1, 2018

Daisy Werthan: You know your letters don’t you? Hoke Colburn: Oh yeah, yeah I know my ABC’s pretty good, just can’t read. Daisy Werthan…

Know your genre

If you want to write in a genre, you’re wise to immerse yourself in it.

Tweetstorm: Jeff Willis on Writing Compensation

In November 2014, studio executive Jeff Willis posted a tweetstorm about screenwriting compensation. Reprinted in its entirety by…

Songwriters On Songwriting: Leonard Cohen

“I am a working stiff. It takes me months and months of full employment to break the code of the song. To find out if there can be a song…

Great Scenes: “The Natural”

“He swings — violently and perfectly — the ball exploding off his bat.”

Daily Dialogue —October 31, 2018

“There are few who’d deny, at what I do I am the best For my talents are renowned far and wide When it comes to surprises in the moonlit…

Test your story concept

If your goal is to traffic in mainstream, commercial movies, I cannot overstate the importance of your spec script’s story concept. As I…