Script To Screen: “The Elephant Man” A scene from the 1980 movie The Elephant Man, screenplay by Christopher De Vore & Eric Bergren & David Lynch.
Page One: “The Accidental Tourist” (1988) Screenplay by Frank Galati and Lawrence Kasdan, novel by Anne Tyler
Writing Dialogue Nothing catches the eye of a script reader or actor more than distinctive, entertaining dialogue. Up your dialogue-writing chops in this…
Script To Screen: “The English Patient” A moment of obsessed love explored in this scene from the 1996 movie The English Patient, screenplay by Anthony Minghella, novel by Michael…
Screenwriting 101: Aaron Sorkin “I love writing but hate starting. The page is awfully white, and it says, ‘You may have fooled some of the people some of the time, but…
2024 Zero Draft Thirty March Challenge: Story Prep — Character Development A series to help prepare writers for next month’s Zero Draft Thirty writing challenge.
Character-Driven Storytelling Read the entire Twitter thread of my conversation with the #scriptchat community.
On Writing “Simply this: you sit down and make a list of the ten things that have to happen in your novel — the character actions or physical events…
Page One: “1408” (2007) Screenplay by Matt Greenberg and Scott Alexander & Larry Karaszewski, short story by Stephen King
Thanks for that appreciation of Logan's Run ... Like the movie "Mad Max: Fury Road." So much of those eye-popping moments are practical effects, which makes the movie all that more…
Reader Question: What makes a movie a big budget versus small? There are choices a writer can make at the script stage which directly influence a project’s budget … and its potential viability for…
The Theology of Cinema: Purgatory “If we look at purgatory metaphorically, a circumstance in which the visitor must suffer in the ‘furnace of affliction in order to…
Page One: “22 Jump Street” (2014) Screenplay by Michael Bacall and Oren Uziel and Rodney Rothman, story by Michael Bacall & Jonah Hill
Reader Question: Are there any script rules that really shouldn’t be broken? Or this: “How can you break screenwriting rules if there are none?”
Script To Screen: “Erin Brockovich” A compelling scene from the 2000 movie Erin Brockovich, written by Susannah Grant.
Page One: “2010: The Year We Make Contact” (1984) Screenplay by Peter Hyams, novel by Arthur C. Clarke
2024 Zero Draft Thirty March Challenge: Story Prep — Genre Bend A series to help prepare writers for next month’s Zero Draft Thirty writing challenge.
Reader Question: Should I write a science fiction script on spec or not? I get this question occasionally, something like this:
Script To Screen: “Excalibur” A key early scene in the 1981 movie Excalibur, screenplay by Rospo Pallenberg and John Boorman, book by Thomas Malory.
2024 Zero Draft Thirty March Challenge: Story Prep — Gender Bend A series to help prepare writers for next month’s Zero Draft Thirty writing challenge.
Read all 10 WGA Award Nominated Scripts Original Screenplays: Air, Barbie, The Holdovers, May December, Past Lives. Adapted Screenplays: American Fiction, Are You There God? It’s…
