Go Into The Story

Daily Dialogue — October 25, 2018

“This Hollandaise smells like burnt rubber.”

Reader Question: How do I handle characters speaking in a foreign language?

Indicate the foreign language, but use English instead.

Black List Writers on the Craft

Some of Hollywood’s top screenwriters share insights from my interviews.

Movie Story Type: Chick Flick

“Slang term for a film mainly dealing with love and romance designed to appeal to a female target audience.”

Script To Screen: “The Kids Are All Right”

A scene from the 2010 movie The Kids Are All Right, written by Lisa Cholodenko, who also directed, and Stuart Blumberg.

Daily Dialogue — October 24, 2018

“It was not my intention to do this in front of you. For that I’m sorry. But you can take my word for it, your mother had it comin’. When…

The Power of Death in Stories

There is no more emotionally compelling narrative dynamic than death.

Update: 2018 Award Season Screenplay Downloads — 2 New Scripts, 6 Total!

It’s that time of year again when studios and production companies make available PDFs of movie scripts for award season.

Great Scene: It’s A Wonderful Life

George Bailey and Mary Hatch have an intense telephone conversation.

Screenwriting 101: David Hedges

“I think the thing I hate about writing is you have this piece of mashed, bleached wood pulp that you’re going to make these black marks…

Daily Dialogue — October 23, 2018

“Have you eaten? Not yet? Just throw together some noodles for lunch. That fish is excellent. Don’t roast it, that would be a pity. It just…

Private Script Workshops

On a limited basis, I work one-on-one with writers on their script projects.

Tweetstorm: Daniel Kunka on OWAs (Open Writing Assignments)

“A lot of time is wasted by young writers chasing the holy grail of OWAs and it’s just not statistically a good idea. I want to control my…

How To Read A Screenplay: Parts 1–7

If you’re serious about learning the craft, here are some ways to dig into scripts.

On Writing

Sequential causality is generally considered to be very important in plotting. It is often thought to be the difference between a simple…

Daily Dialogue — October 22, 2018

Donnie Azoff: [laughing hysterically] Jordan, it’s fucking good, right? It’s fucked up.

Screenwriting News (October 15— October 21, 2018)

The week’s writing deals and movie project news.

How To Read A Screenplay (Part 7): Style and Language

There are multiple layers to any story. The more you dig, the deeper your understanding.

Great Scene: “Halloween”

This is one of the iconic scenes in the history of horror movies: Laurie (Jamie Lee Curtis) versus Michael Myers (Tony Moran) in the Final…

Interview (Video): Tom Schulman

An hour-long conversation with the Academy Award winning screenwriter of Dead Poets Society.

Daily Dialogue — October 21, 2018

Whenever I get gloomy with the state of the world, I think about the arrivals gate at Heathrow airport. General opinion’s starting to make…

Saturday Hot Links

Time for the 364th installment of Saturday Hot Links, your week’s essential reading about movies, TV, streaming, Hollywood, and other…

How To Read A Screenplay (Part 6): Themes

There are multiple layers to any story. The more you dig, the deeper your understanding.

Daily Dialogue theme next week: Kitchen

Join the Daily Dialogue crew: 3,810 consecutive days and counting.

Interview (Video): Bo Burnham

A 50-minute conversation with the writer-director of the movie Eighth Grade.