On Writing “Don’t bludgeon us over the head with description. A line or three about the character is good enough — and it doesn’t need to be purely…
Page One: “The Distinguished Gentleman” (1992) Screenplay by Marty Kaplan, story by Marty Kaplan and Jonathan Reynolds
Script Analysis: “Tár” — Part 6: Takeaways A week-long analysis of the screenplay for the award-winning drama. Download. Read. Discuss.
In previous responses, I’ve touched on the theme of control and how innate it is to the… There is an ancillary theme worth noting: Time. Consider this exchange at the very beginning of the script in which Adam Gopnik is…
So many sides to choose from. How about this? Lydia: You want to dance the mask, you must service the composer. You gotta sublimate yourself, your ego, and, yes, your identity. You…
Let’s see what I come up with in thinking about the characters in terms of the set of primary… Protagonist: Lydia. See the Plot response for a detailed analysis of her disintegration journey.
Tár is what I call a Disintegration Story. Such is the case with Lydia Tár. When we first meet her amidst the glowing introduction by the New Yorker’s Adam Gopnik, followed by her…
As always, one of the first things I did when opening the script for Tár was to see how long it is. Normally, the opposite is true: Long scripts with shorter run times. For example, The Social Network is 163 pages. Its run time: 2 hours.
Deadline’s Strike Talk Podcast With Billy Ray And Todd Garner Episode 5: Featured guests independent movie producers Julie Lynn & Bonnie Curtis.
Read ‘The Last Of Us’ Script “Long Long Time” With an introduction from the episode’s writer Craig Mazin.
Page One: “Disobedience” (2017) Written by Sebastián Lelio & Rebecca Lenkiewicz, based on the novel by Naomi Alderman
“The hard is what makes it great” Wisdom about writing and creativity from the movie A League of Their Own.
Screenwriting: Alexander Payne on appealing characters vs. sympathetic characters “I hate when movie people say, ‘Your lead character has to be sympathetic,’ which for them means ‘likable.’ I don’t give a shit about…
Interview (Written): Amy Holden Jones Screenwriter Cole Haddon’s in-depth conversation with writer-director-producer whose credits include Mystic Pizza, Indecent Proposal, and…
Page One: “Die Hard with a Vengeance” (1995) Written by Jonathan Hensleigh, certain original characters by Roderick Thorp
Script Analysis: “Tár” — Part 5: Dialogue A week-long analysis of the screenplay for the award-winning drama. Download. Read. Discuss.
TV’s Streaming Model Is Broken. It’s Also Not Going Away. For Hollywood, figuring that out will be a horror show.
Is the key to creativity “unlearning”? What if everything we have learned in our lives has actually diminished our creativity?
Page One: “Die Hard 2” (1990) Screenplay by Steven E. de Souza and Doug Richardson, based upon the novel “58 Minutes” by Walter Wager, certain original characters by…
What Is an “Operational Theme” and Why Don’t I Have One? An excellent article by Javier Grillo-Marxuach whose TV writing-producing credits include Charmed, Boomtown, Lost, Medium, and Cowboy…
Script Analysis: “Tár” — Part 4: Themes A week-long analysis of the screenplay for the award-winning drama. Download. Read. Discuss.
How streaming caused the TV writers strike A video featuring four writers talking about how the way scripted television is made nowadays has transformed the careers of writers.
