Studying Aristotle’s “Poetics” — Part 5: Comedy and Epic Poetry As I’ve been interviewing screenwriters, I typically ask what some of their influences are. One book title comes up over and over again…
Writing and the Creative Life: “In great attempts, it is glorious even to fail” When legendary football coach Vince Lombardi would speak in public, he rarely strayed far from two closely related subjects: success and…
“The Aeronauts” —Scene-By-Scene Breakdown The practice of reading scripts is critical to learn the craft of screenwriting. One key to this practice is to work with a scene-by-scene…
Studying Aristotle’s “Poetics” — Part 4: Poetry and the Development of Tragedy As I’ve been interviewing screenwriters, I typically ask what some of their influences are. One book title comes up over and over again…
The Business of Screenwriting: The Value of Three Scripts You write, you learn. And three scripts is a minimum for knowing the craft.
Page One: “Dune” (2021) Screenplay by Jon Spaihts and Denis Villeneuve and Eric Roth, based on the novel by Frank Herbert
Theme = Meaning More than just the moral or premise of the story, theme can best be understood to be about what a story MEANS.
2021–2022 Award Season Screenplay Downloads — 1 New Script (“Dune”), 6 Total It’s that time of year again when studios and production companies make available PDFs of movie scripts for award season.
“A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood”: Scene By Scene Breakdown The practice of reading scripts is critical to learn the craft of screenwriting. One key to this practice is to work with a scene-by-scene…
Studying Aristotle’s “Poetics” — Part 3: Medium, Objects, Manner As I’ve been interviewing screenwriters, I typically ask what some of their influences are. One book title comes up over and over again…
What is your daily writing “workout” routine? Some advice from A Quiet Place screenwriters Scott Beck and Bryan Woods.
“1917”: Scene By Scene Breakdown The practice of reading scripts is critical to learn the craft of screenwriting. One key to this practice is to work with a scene-by-scene…
Studying Aristotle’s “Poetics” — Part 2: Moral Character, Types, Tragedy and Comedy As I’ve been interviewing screenwriters, I typically ask what some of their influences are. One book title comes up over and over again…
Screenwriting 101: Quentin Tarantino “When I read Hard Times, then I could see what a script could be. It was exciting, it was fun, and it wasn’t just the dialogue … It wasn’t…
Page One: “Before Sunset” (2004) Screenplay by Richard Linklater & Julie Delpy & Ethan Hawke, story by Richard Linklater & Kim Krizan, characters by Richard Linklater & Kim…
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…
“12 Years a Slave”: Scene By Scene Breakdown The practice of reading scripts is critical to learn the craft of screenwriting. One key to this practice is to work with a scene-by-scene…
Studying Aristotle’s “Poetics” — Part 1: Structure and Imitation As I’ve been interviewing screenwriters, I typically ask what some of their influences are. One book title comes up over and over again…
On Writing “The whole ‘Can I call myself a writer?’ question I found so odd, as if it’s some sort of identity that is separate from the actual act of…
Page One: “Beetlejuice” (1988 Screenplay by Michael McDowell and Warren Skaaren, story by Michael McDowell & Larry Wilson
Sundays with Stephen King’s “On Writing” A series featuring reflections on writing from the famed author’s memoir.
The Theology of Cinema: Temptation “By extracting the notion of temptation from its conventional religious trappings, we open it up for all sorts of uses in our storytelling…
