Go Into The Story

Spec Script Deals Analysis 2017: First-Timers

As we continue our analysis of spec script sales in 2017, today we check out the first-timers, writers who broke into the business by…

Saturday Hot Links

Time for the 326th installment of Saturday Hot Links, your week’s essential reading about movies, TV, streaming, Hollywood, and other…

The next Go Into The Story Reading and Analysis Script: “Coco”

Read the script for the hit animated comedy and analyze it next week.

Daily Dialogue — January 27, 2018

“Is it safe?”

Reader Question: Is it useful to read a bad script to see what not to do?

Can we learn something from slogging through bad screenplays?

Spec Script Deals Analysis 2017: Top Sales

Continuing our week long analysis of spec script sales from 2017, today we look at the deals with the biggest payoffs (at least as reported…

2018 Dialogue-Writing Challenge: Day 18

A chance for you to work on your dialogue chops and win free prizes!

Writing and the Creative Life: “Creativity-In-Action”

What exactly is creativity and how do we foster it? This is not only a question of interest to people involved in the arts. There is a lot…

Daily Dialogue — January 26, 2018

“You know how to whistle, don’t you, Steve?”

Andrew Stanton TED Talk: “Clues to a Great Story”

A 10-part series analyzing the Pixar writer-director’s TED Talk.

2017 Spec Script Deals Analysis: Agents & Managers

We continue our week-long analysis of spec script deals in 2017. Today: Agents and Managers.

2018 Dialogue-Writing Challenge: Day 17

A chance for you to work on your dialogue chops and win free prizes!

The Business of Screenwriting: Everybody gets rewritten in Hollywood

And by ‘everybody’, I mean EVERYBODY!

Daily Dialogue — January 25, 2018

“You’ve gotta ask yourself a question: ‘Do I feel lucky?’ Well, do ya, punk?”

Reader Question: Are shorter feature spec scripts a trend?

Are spec scripts shrinking in terms of page count?

2018 Dialogue-Writing Challenge: Day 16

A chance for you to work on your dialogue chops and win free prizes!

2017 Spec Script Sales Analysis: Buyers

Yesterday we looked at 2017 spec script deals by genre. Today we break down the numbers per major studios, mini-majors, subsidiaries…

Script To Screen: “Dead Poet’s Society”

The ending scene of the movie Dead Poet’s Society (written by Tom Schulman).

Daily Dialogue — January 24, 2018

“Shall we play a game?”

The Existential Questions of ‘Star Wars’

Three questions pulse within the heart of the Star Wars universe.

2017 Spec Script Deals Analysis: Genres

By my count, Hollywood studios, production companies, and financiers acquired 61 spec scripts in 2017. During this week, I’ll be breaking…

2018 Dialogue-Writing Challenge: Day 15

A chance for you to work on your dialogue chops and win free prizes!

Screenwriting 101: David Guggenheim

“I think in a spec you need to make sure you’re hooking your reader in that first fifteen pages, and that it has a strong enough concept…

Daily Dialogue — January 23, 2018

“Aren’t you a little short for a stormtrooper?”

Private Script Workshops

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