Go Into The Story

Spec Script Deal: "This Land Is Our Land"

Sony Pictures acquires thriller spec script "This Land Is Our Land" written by Casey Giltner. Via Deadline: Screenwriter Casey Giltner has sold elevated thriller spec This Land Is Our Land to Sony Pictures, Deadline has learned. Plot details are being kept under wraps. You may wonder what "

On Writing

“What the budding artist needs is the privilege of wrestling with problems in solitude—and without a master. He must learn to think and feel for himself, to trust his own impulses, and to be brave enough to make mistakes.” --Henry Miller For 100s more On Writing posts, go here.

Go Into The Story interview: Neil Drumming

My conversation with the writer-director of the feature film Big Words. Neil Drumming is a filmmaker, screenwriter, and journalist. He is a former staff writer and editor at Entertainment Weekly, and his work has appeared in Wired, The Washington Post, Vibe, Rolling Stone, Essence, and Vanity Fair. He wrote

Screenwriting 101: Chris McCoy

"Good dialogue comes from character development . The better you know your character, the more specific the dialogue is going to feel." --Chris McCoy Go Into The Story interview, November 2015 For 100s more articles in the Screenwriting 101 series, go here. The Protagonist’s Journey: An Introduction to

Tweetstorm: Eric Heisserer on the Screenwriter’s Creative Power

"The spec script gives you freedom to do whatever you want." Back when Twitter was fun, screenwriters would sometimes string together a series of tweets - what came to be known as "tweetstorms." Advice, personal anecdotes, reflections on the craft. It was pretty awesome. The only problem:

The Importance of the Mentor Moment

In a movie, the Mentor's primary function is tied to the Protagonist's intellectual growth, their ability to incorporate insights into their inner nature and move toward Unity. Like all character archetypes, Mentors come in all shapes and sizes. We may tend to think of Mentors as

On Writing

“Writing is its own reward.” --Henry Miller For 100s more On Writing posts, go here. The Protagonist’s Journey: An Introduction to Character-Driven Screenwriting and Storytelling is a #1 Best Seller in Film and Television. Endorsed by over thirty professional screenwriters, novelists, and academics, you may purchase it here.

Spec Script Deal: "Bleed the Night"

Fox Entertainment Studios acquires horror spec script "Bleed the Night" written by Keith Cooper and Zoe Cooper, story by Keith Cooper and Justin Dyck. Via Deadline: Bleed the Night opens with a lonely teenager answering a mysterious ad reading “MUST LOVE BLOOD.” She then meets a charismatic young

Interview: Reckless Creatives

The popular podcast hosts Sadie Dean and Jeanne Veillette Bowerman in conversation with yours truly. It's always a delight to talk with Jeanne and Sadie as both have been an integral part of the online screenwriting community. Also, they're just fun human beings! Recently, we discussed

Go Into The Story interview: Meghann Artes and Anna Hozian

My conversation with the writing-directing-producing team for the short film drama Stronghold. Meghann Artes and Anna Hozian are two talented filmmakers. They are also my colleagues at the DePaul University School of Cinematic Arts where we all teach. The duo collaborated on a short film project Stronghold which

Screenwriting 101: Tim McCanlies

“That second act, for me, is the most fun, because the first and third act have such clearly defined functions. The first act you have to set up the problem or problems, introduce all your characters — there are so many things that you’ve got to do, there just isn’

Tweetstorm: Mike Sweeney 0n ‘New Screenwriting Rules’

Back when Twitter was fun, screenwriters would sometimes string together a series of tweets - what came to be known as "tweetstorms." Advice, personal anecdotes, reflections on the craft. It was pretty awesome. The only problem: Once the tweetstorm came ... it went. So, I took to contacting the writers

On Writing

“There really are no characters in plays. There are relationships.” --Arthur Miller For 100s more On Writing posts, go here. The Protagonist’s Journey: An Introduction to Character-Driven Screenwriting and Storytelling is a #1 Best Seller in Film and Television. Endorsed by over thirty professional screenwriters, novelists, and academics,

Go Into The Story interview: Jeffrey Lieber

My talk with screenwriter and TV writer-producer whose credits include co-writing the pilot for the series Lost. Jeffrey Lieber was early and active presence on Twitter. A Hollywood writer whose movie credits include Tangled and Tuck Everlasting, and TV credits include Miami Medical, The Whole Truth, Pan Am,

Screenwriting 101: Garry Marshall

"There are three different drafts of a screenplay in the development process. The first screenplay is for the studio, when they say, 'Okay, we like this.' The second screenplay you write so the actors can read it, or so you can get an actor to do it.

Tweetstorm: Zack Stentz on Rewriting Strategies

Back when Twitter was fun, screenwriters would sometimes string together a series of tweets - what came to be known as "tweetstorms." Advice, personal anecdotes, reflections on the craft. It was pretty awesome. The only problem: Once the tweetstorm came ... it went. So, I took to contacting the writers

On Writing

“I love writing. I love the swirl of words as they tangle with human emotions.” --James Michener For 100s more On Writing posts, go here. The Protagonist’s Journey: An Introduction to Character-Driven Screenwriting and Storytelling is a #1 Best Seller in Film and Television. Endorsed by over thirty

The Importance of Movie Moments

Moments which stand out in a screenplay can not only grab a reader’s attention, they can also convey a story’s theme. Hollywood’s first great movie producer was Irving Thalberg and he was famously quoted as telling the writers he oversaw at MGM, “Just give me five great

Go Into The Story Interview: Jack Epps

My talk with the co-writer of Top Gun, Legal Eagles, The Secret of My Success. Back in the 1980s and 1990s, there was almost no one hotter in the world Hollywood screenwriting than Cash & Epps. Their writing credits include Top Gun, Legal Eagles, The Secret of My Success,

Screenwriting 101: Andrew Marlowe

“Sometimes you’ll get a note, ‘This scene is boring, can we put in a car chase?’ What you should take from that note is this scene, this quiet scene you intended to be emotionally devastating is boring. That means you might not have done your work setting up the

Tweetstorm: Jake Thornton on His First Two Years as a Hollywood Screenwriter

A series of tweets detailing one writer’s experience breaking into Hollywood. Back when Twitter was fun, screenwriters would sometimes string together a series of tweets - what came to be known as "tweetstorms." Advice, personal anecdotes, reflections on the craft. It was pretty awesome. The only problem: Once

Animation Movies From Spec Scripts?

My free eBook "Spec Script Deals: 1991-2025" has only been out for a week and it's already demonstrating its value. Subject: Animation movies. My response: You can go here to read my interview with Mary Coleman which provides a deep dive into the Pixar creative

Great News for Go Into The Story fans!

Some exciting changes create new learning opportunities for anyone interested in screenwriting. A week ago, I created quite a stir when I released an eBook: "Spec Script Deals: 1991-2025". Clocking in at 517 pages, the book includes 2,560 individual listings of spec script sales and options

Screenwriting 101: Justin Marks

“There's not a single battle a writer can win on a conference call, a notes meeting, anything. We win the battle on the page.” --Justin Marks For 100s more articles in the Screenwriting 101 series, go here. The Protagonist’s Journey: An Introduction to Character-Driven Screenwriting and

On Writing

"I am always interested in why young people become writers, and from talking with many I have concluded that most do not want to be writers working eight and ten hours a day and accomplishing little; they want to have been writers, garnering the rewards of having completed a