On Writing “Every great or even every very good writer makes the world over according to his own specifications. It’s akin to style, what I’m talking…
Hollywood studios are already proving they learned nothing from the writers’ strike From the Los Angeles Times, a great column by Culture Critic Mary McNamara.
Screenwriting Tip: 5 Keys to the Craft Think Concepts. Watch Movies. Read Scripts. Write Pages. Live Life.
Writing Tip: What is the connection between the Protagonist and the inciting incident? “The inciting incident raises this question of the Protagonist’s journey: ‘Why does this story have to happen to this character at this…
How Professional Screenwriters Outline A compilation of outlining approaches featuring screenwriters and filmmakers including Vince Gilligan, Quentin Tarantino, Alex Garland…
2023 Austin Film Festival & Writers Conference I’m moderating two panels, participating in a roundtable, and leading a post-screening Q&A for the world premiere of the documentary The…
Screenwriting Tip: Tarantino, Sorkin, and Dialogue as Purpose Analysis of long dialogue-centric scenes in The Social Network and Pulp Fiction reveals that underneath the entertaining conversations lies…
Screenwriting Tip: What makes a movie a big budget and a small budget There are critical choices a writer can make at the script stage which directly influence a project’s budget… and its potential viability…
Why Is This Not a Movie? Check out my podcast conversation advocating for a sequel for one of my favorite action comedies: The Nice Guys.
What are you afraid of? The single greatest inhibitor to creativity is fear. Do you recognize any of these negative voices?
Screenwriting Tip: A New Angle Into an Old Story Looking for your next spec script subject? It just might be waiting for you in a history book.
Hollywood Tales Screenwriter Ben Maddow with a great story about 1950s Hollywood producer Philip Yordan.
Script Club: “Women Talking” An in-depth video conversation about the Oscar-winning screenplay written by Sarah Polley.
On Writing “It’s baseball, not football — a long season, slumps, errors, humiliations, bad feelings, bad weather, jet lag, all that stuff, and you…
Page One: “Love & Friendship” (2016) Written by Whit Stillman, based on the novella “Lady Susan” by Jane Austen
Write a Worthy Nemesis Workshop your story’s antagonist character in my 1-week online course. Begins Monday, October 16th.
