Go Into The Story

The Business of Screenwriting: Net profits

“Net profit participation” sounds so nice, but…

“Conversations With Wilder”: Part 6

Billy Wilder is my all-time favorite filmmaker. Consider just some of his movies: Double Indemnity (1944), Sunset Blvd. (1950), Stalag 17…

Page One: “Burnt” (2015)

Screenplay by Steven Knight, story by Michael Kalesniko

1, 2, 7, 14

Here is a simple formula about three things — Read Scripts. Watch Movies. Write Pages. — you need to do to expand and deepen your…

Story Type: Martial Arts

In Hollywood movie circles, there are genres like Horror or Science Fiction, cross genres like Action-Thriller or Drama-Comedy, and…

“Conversations With Wilder”: Part 5

Billy Wilder is my all-time favorite filmmaker. Consider just some of his movies: Double Indemnity (1944), Sunset Blvd. (1950), Stalag 17…

Page One: “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” (1992)

Written by Joss Wheadon

Story as Psychological Journey

“The cave you fear to enter holds the treasure you seek.”

“Conversations With Wilder”: Part 4

Billy Wilder is my all-time favorite filmmaker. Consider just some of his movies: Double Indemnity (1944), Sunset Blvd. (1950), Stalag 17…

Screenwriting 101: Wes Anderson

“The project almost always begins with a character or a group of characters. Usually there’s a sort of world that’s tied in. The last film…

Page One: “Brigsby Bear” (2017)

Screenplay by Kevin Costello & Kyle Mooney, story by Kyle Mooney

“Movies don’t owe anybody a living”

The original quote is about music, but it pertains to all entertainment.

“Conversations With Wilder”: Part 3

Billy Wilder is my all-time favorite filmmaker. Consider just some of his movies: Double Indemnity (1944), Sunset Blvd. (1950), Stalag 17…

On Writing

“Creation is not a moment of inspiration but a lifetime of endurance. The drawers of the world are full of things begun. Unfinished…

Page One: “Brightburn” (2019)

Written by Brian Gunn & Mark Gunn

If you write a great script…

…Hollywood will find you.

Script To Screen: “Badlands”

A memorable scene from the 1975 movie Badlands, written and directed by Terrence Malick.

Script Analysis: “All Is Lost” — Part 1: Scene By Scene Breakdown

Reading scripts. Absolutely critical to learn the craft of screenwriting. The focus of this weekly series is a deep structural and thematic…

Page One: “Bright” (2017)

Written by Max Landis

Imagematic writing

Good screenwriting is visual writing. After all, movies are: Motion. Pictures.

Great Scene: “Dr. Strangelove: Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb”

It’s one of my five favorite movies: Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964). Directed by Stanley…

Story Type: Heist Movies

In Hollywood movie circles, there are genres like Horror or Science Fiction, cross genres like Action-Thriller or Drama-Comedy, and…

Page One: “Bride of Chucky” (1998)

Written by Don Mancini, based on characters by Don Mancini

“Don’t think… feel”

With writing, there are times to think… and times to feel.

Script To Screen: “Barton Fink”

The final scene from the 1991 movie Barton Fink, written by Joel Coen and Ethan Coen.