Go Into The Story

Go Into The Story

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Go Into The Story Interviews

Go Into The Story Interviews

Conversations with screenwriters, TV writers, authors, and Hollywood professionals. FILMMAKERS (Screenwriters, Writer-Directors, Directors) 2011 Screenwriters Roundtable: Chris Borrelli, F. Scott Frazier, Jeremiah Friedman, Nick Palmer, Justin Rhodes, Greg Russo, John Swetnam. 2012 Screenwriters Roundtable: Chris Borrelli, F. Scott Frazier, Chris McCoy, Justin Rhodes, Greg Russo, John Swetnam. 2013 Screenwriters

Screenwriting Tweetstorms

Screenwriting Tweetstorms

Once upon a time, Twitter was a perfect social medium for screenwriters. To waste time, of course, but the impulse to dash off a thought here or there was pretty common to writers who traffic in words pretty much all the time. Occasionally something wonderful happens: A professional writer would

Spec Script Deals: 1991-2025

Spec Script Deals: 1991-2025

A Go Into The Story eBook... and it's free! Recently, I floated the possibility in social media that I might aggregate the 2,500+ spec script deals I had tracked since 1991 into a readable resource. The response was overwhelming! So, I set a kick off date (September

Screenwriting 101

Screenwriting 101

Hundreds of observations about the craft from professional screenwriters. Abrams, J.J.: “The idea that this world we know isn’t just this world we know but that a package might arrive at your door…” Acker, James: “I usually just do a scribble draft and take it scene by scene.

On Writing

I am a fan of inspirational quotes. Here are hundreds of them: Writers on writing. Aaron, Jason: “If you want to be a writer, then just be a writer. Be one every day, all day.” Achebe, Chinua: “I believe myself that a good writer doesn’t really need to be

Go Into The Story interview: Greg Wayne

Go Into The Story interview: Greg Wayne

My conversation with the 2025 Black List writer about his script Lords of the Dance. Greg Wayne has written screenplays which have landed on the annual Black List two times. He is also a alumni of my 24-week online screenwriting program called The Quest. It was great reconnect with

Movie Script Scene-By-Scene Breakdowns

Movie Script Scene-By-Scene Breakdowns

A great way to analyze screenplay structure is by studying a script’s scene-by-scene breakdown. Go Into The Story followers are contributing breakdowns of contemporary screenplays to an ongoing script analysis series. Here are links to 128 articles which include downloadable PDFs of each breakdown. 12 Years a

Spec Script Deal: "Wildman"

Spec Script Deal: "Wildman"

Badlands acquires action spec script "Wildman" written by Jacob Rainer. Via the Hollywood Reporter: For a great many years, spec scripts of a certain action nature were described as “Die Hard but on a….” In more recent years, spec scripts of a certain action nature have found themselves

Archive Links

In 18 years of hosting Go Into The Story, the site has accumulated 34,000+ posts covering just about every subject related to screenwriting. Here are links to help you search for information. And it's all free! 1, 2, 7, 14 10 Screenwriting Skills and Traits You Need

Tweetstorm: Justin Marks on Exposition

Tweetstorm: Justin Marks on Exposition

A series of tweets on the best way to handle exposition: Seduction! Screenwriter Justin Marks has been described at Ain't It Cool News as the “most gainfully employed professional fanboy on the planet.” Understandably so given the fact Justin has written such projects The Raven, Super Max, Suicide

The Business of Screenwriting: Anatomy of a Deal (Part 4)

The Business of Screenwriting: Anatomy of a Deal (Part 4)

“A majority of studio projects do not get made. Is it considered a strike against a writer if their project dies on the vine? Not…

Screenwriting 101: Justin Marks

Screenwriting 101: Justin Marks

“Sometimes you’re swinging your way through a first draft like a blind miner with a pick-axe. That’s OK. Get it done, nothing else…

The Business of Screenwriting: Anatomy of a Deal (Part 3)

The Business of Screenwriting: Anatomy of a Deal (Part 3)

“Bottom line: That single idea which we worked up as a pitch results in a sale and what eventually turns out to be a three-year overall…

On Writing

“There is always a sheet of paper. There is always a pen. There is always a way out.”

The Business of Screenwriting: Anatomy of a Deal (Part 2)

The Business of Screenwriting: Anatomy of a Deal (Part 2)

“Warner Bros. They want to buy ‘Mr. President’.”

Screenwriting 101: Frances Marion

Screenwriting 101: Frances Marion

“It is true, of course, in an important sense, that a character exists only in his emotions and sensations. Without the expression of…

The Business of Screenwriting: Anatomy of a Deal (Part 1)

The Business of Screenwriting: Anatomy of a Deal (Part 1)

I’ve sold several pitches in Hollywood. This was the first.

On Writing

“It is better to fail in originality than succeed in imitation.”

The Coen Brothers and the Long Shadow of Authority Figures

The Coen Brothers and the Long Shadow of Authority Figures

If there is one thing about the craft writers hear ad nauseam, it’s this: There is no drama without conflict. And there is no story without…

Tweetstorm: Daniel Kunka on the one thing a Hollywood writer can control

Tweetstorm: Daniel Kunka on the one thing a Hollywood writer can control

“What I have excelled at (and what keeps me from having to find a real job) is doing the one thing that you have total control over —…

Screenwriting 101: Kelly Marcel

Screenwriting 101: Kelly Marcel

“Every scene has to be doing something. It has to be moving the story along, peeling off a layer of the onion so to speak. The goal in its…

Go Into The Story interview: Tze Chun

Go Into The Story interview: Tze Chun

My conversation with the film and TV writer, director, producer, and showrunner.

On Writing

“Strong characters act despite their fear, not because of it.”

The Business of Screenwriting: Don’t stand in water where you should be fishing

The Business of Screenwriting: Don’t stand in water where you should be fishing

I use fishing as a metaphor for one’s approach to screenwriting. Seriously.

Screenwriting 101: Michael Mann

Screenwriting 101: Michael Mann

“All right, let me try an example. A story about a guy who’s been a bootlegger and a gunman who’s retiring to a rural part of the Midwest…