Go Into The Story

Interview (Written): Martin McDonagh

Conversation with the writer-director of the new movie ‘Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri’.

Daily Dialogue theme next week: Celebration

Join the Daily Dialogue crew: 3,467 consecutive days and counting.

Saturday Hot Links

Time for the 315th installment of Saturday Hot Links, your week’s essential reading about movies, TV, streaming, Hollywood, and other…

Interview (Written): Greta Gerwig

The filmmaker discusses her career and her directing debut ‘Lady Bird’.

Daily Dialogue — November 11, 2017

Legolas: Final count, forty-two. Gimli: Forty-two? Oh, that’s not bad for a pointy-eared elvish princeling. Hmph! I myself am sitting…

Reader Question: What pitfalls to avoid when writing a script?

A list of 10 Dont’s… accompanied by a list of 10 Do’s.

Video: Mastering the Screenplay: Exposition in Film

A short video spotlighting some keys to handling exposition.

Greta Gerwig on “Lady Bird”

The actor-screenwriter turned director reflects on her new movie.

Script To Screen: “All About Eve”

A scene from the 1950 movie All About Eve, written by Joseph L. Mankiewicz and featuring one of the most famous lines of dialogue in movie…

Writing and the Creative Life: Three Types of Creators

Perfecter. Innovator. Synthesizer. Which type of creative are you?

Daily Dialogue — November 10, 2017

“Take the draw.”

Great, Andrew!

Thanks!

Saul, you will likely find some posts I’ve done way back when about the Hill & Giler drafts…

Link

Reader question: What should be on a one sheet?

There’s a traditional one-sheet. And a one sheet. I talk about both.

Spec Script Deal: “The New Mrs. Keller”

Lakeshore Entertainment acquires thriller spec script “The New Mrs. Keller” written by Mark Hogan. From Variety:

Indie Directors Roundtable: Andrew Haigh, Janus Metz, Rob Reiner, Lisa Langseth and Luca Guadagnino

Part of The Hollywood Reporter’s annual sit-downs with Hollywood players.

Script to Screen: “Alien”

Here is a memorable scene from “Alien,” screenplay Dan O’Bannon, story by Dan O’Bannon and Ronald Shusett.

The Business of Screenwriting: Sometimes you’re just going to get it wrong

In which I got it completely and utterly wrong about a movie project which went on to win 6 Oscars.

Daily Dialogue — November 9, 2017

Helen: I went to Thailand recently with my husband, Perry, and there’s a beautiful saying that I learned there. [Speaking Thai] It means…

Screenwriting as Scene-Writing

My unique 1-week online course begins Monday, November 13.

Update: 2017 Award Season Screenplay Downloads — 9 New Scripts, 12 Total!

Get these PDFs now before the links disappear.

Writers for Puerto Rico

An initiative launched by screenwriters Brian Duffield and Liz Hannah.

Script To Screen: “Airplane”

A scene from the 1980 comedy Airplane [written by Jim Abrahams & David Zucker & Jerry Zucker].

That Quint speech is perhaps the single best example of exposition that fundamentally WORKS.

Thanks for posting that, David. Watched it again… for the zillionth time.

Tweetstorm: Jeff Willis on Copyrights and Protecting Your Written Material

On December 18, studio executive Jeff Willis went on a tweetstorm about writers legally protecting their stories. Reprinted in its entirety…