Script To Screen: “Five Easy Pieces” The famous ‘hold the chicken’ scene from Five Easy Pieces, screenplay by Carole Eastman, story by Carole Eastman and Bob Rafelson.
Reflections of 2023 Black List Feature Writer’s Lab Participants Writers who participated in last year’s Black List Feature Writer’s Lab reflect on their experience.
Screenwriting 101: Scott Frank “It has to come from character. I’m always going back to the people. Why character? It’s about what makes a person a person. What do they…
Page One: “12 Strong” (2018) Written by Ted Tally and Peter Craig, based on the book, “Horse Soldiers” by Doug Stanton
Writing Tip: The Value of Three Scripts You write, you learn. Three scripts is a good minimum number for starting to understand the craft.
On Writing “‘Character is Fate,’ said Heraclitus in 500 B.C. or thereabouts. But ‘Our characters are the result of our conduct,’ added Aristotle a…
Page One: “The Cotton Club” (1984) Screenplay by William Kennedy & Francis Coppola, story by William Kennedy & Francis Coppola and Mario Puzo
The Hero’s Journey as a Short Film Pixar shows it’s possible to adapt the Hero’s Journey in short form storytelling.
What about the Protagonist and the inciting incident? “Something. Happens. In my view, that is the essence of an inciting incident.”
Script To Screen: “Frozen” A scene from the 2013 animated movie Frozen, screenplay by Jennifer Lee, inspired by the story “The Snow Queen” by Hans Christian Andersen…
Is there a rule as to how many “cuss words” can be used in a script? Delving into the sometimes mysterious world of the MPAA ratings system.
Script To Screen: “Galaxy Quest” A fun early scene from the 1999 movie Galaxy Quest, screenplay by David Howard and Robert Gordon, story by David Howard.
Script To Screen: “Get Shorty” A scene from the 1995 movie Get Shorty, screenplay by Scott Frank, book by Elmore Leonard.
Page One: “Red Heat” (1988) Screenplay by Harry Kleiner & Walter Hill and Troy Kennedy Martin, story by Walter Hill
Five Primary Character Archetypes Learn about a story’s Family of Characters in my upcoming one-week online course which begins Monday, February 13th.
Screenwriting and Historical Accuracy When writing a movie based on actual historical events, how accurate does a screenwriter have to be?
Page One: “Mean Streets” (1973) Written by Martin Scorsese and Mardik Martin, story by Martin Scorsese
160 Scene-Writing Prompts At a fundamental level, screenwriting is scene-writing. Use these prompts to improve your scene-writing chops.
Screenwriting 101: Daniel Kunka Screenwriter Daniel Kunka wrote a spec script called “Lift” which sold to Netflix and made the 2021 Black List.
