Reader Question: Is any exposition scene a “crock of shit”? “Exposition is critically important. However, poor handling of exposition can be lethal to creating drama and sustaining a story’s pace.”
The Business of Screenwriting: Never forget who the star is “It’s no surprise that William Goldman began his excellent book ‘Adventures in the Screen Trade’ with a chapter titled ‘Stars.’ Of…
So-Called Screenwriting Rule: Do not use ‘we see / we hear’ The narrative form we call a screenplay is an organic entity, changing radically over the years. As we have discussed, during the era of…
The Importance of Theme in Writing a Screenplay About an Historical Figure “You may very well have to shape the details and contour of your central character’s life-story to make it a movie. As they say in…
Screenwriting 101: Tess Morris “You have to be persistent, you must not give up, and you must find all sorts of ways not to give up. Because it’s a terrible job for your…
Reflections of 2020 Black List Feature Writer’s Lab Participants Writers who participated in this year’s Black List Feature Writer’s Lab reflect on their experience.
Don’t stand in water where you should be fishing I use fishing as a metaphor for one’s approach to screenwriting. Seriously.
On Writing “A narrative voice allows you to say things you couldn’t otherwise. It frees you from the prison of the ego and the limitations of…
Sundays with Ray Bradbury “I can imagine all kinds of worlds and places, but I cannot imagine a world without Bradbury.” — Neil Gaiman
The Theology of Cinema: Annunciation What the Angel’s visit to Mary can teach us about the Call to Adventure.
Page One: ‘The Lost Boys’ (1987) Screenplay by Jan Fischer & James Jeremias and Jeffrey Boam, story by Jan Fischer & James Jeremias
Great Scene: “No Country For Old Men” “You need to call it. I can’t call it for you. It wouldn’t be fair. It wouldn’t even be right.”
TEDx Talk: Pete Docter The Pixar writer-director talks storytelling and what the movie Up is really about.
Writing and the Creative Life: Mind Wandering “What no [spouse] of a writer can ever understand is that a writer is working when he’s staring out of the window.”
Go Into The Story Interview: Javier Grillo-Marxuach An in-depth conversation with the television writer and producer about story structure, narrative flow, and how a great script leads to an…
Spec Script Deal: Untitled Horror Project New Line Cinema acquires an untitled horror spec script written by Joshua Rollins. Via Deadline:
