Daily Dialogue theme next week: Military Join the Daily Dialogue crew: 4,048 consecutive days and counting.
Daily Dialogue — June 15, 2019 Jimmy: You stay under water for three minutes. If you can do it, I’ll just nick you. [brandishes switchblade] But if you can’t, I’ll poke…
On Writing: The Difference Between Personal History and Backstory As writers, we immerse ourselves in the lives of our characters. We get curious and ask questions about them and to them, searching for…
Great Scene: “Source Code” The 2011 movie Source Code, written by Ben Ripley, is a good example of a ‘big’ science fiction movie wrapped in a ‘small’ context. No…
Set-up and Payoffs One of the most important narrative elements screenwriters have available to us is set-ups and payoffs. The basic idea is this: We…
How to Generate and Critique Story Ideas (Part 10): Challenge Yourself Challenge yourself to come up with a killer story concept. Set a timer. Lock yourself in a room with no distractions. Go away for the…
Writing and the Creative Life: Perspiration and Inspiration Sometimes it’s all about the work. Sometimes it’s all about the un-work.
Daily Dialogue — June 14, 2019 “Yes, this is Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles, California. It’s about 5 0'clock in the morning. That’s the homicide squad, complete with…
The Business of Screenwriting: Your first big check It is March, 1987. I am here, the Hamburger Hamlet on Sunset Blvd. It’s 1PM. I am meeting one of my agents for lunch. For dessert: My…
Go Inward, Go Onward “As you unfold as an artist, just keep on, quietly and earnestly, growing through all that happens to you. You cannot disrupt this process…
The Pomodoro Technique: Write More Efficiently I often get asked how I manage to handle all the stuff I do. I write. I teach, both as an assistant professor at the DePaul University…
How to Generate and Critique Story Ideas (Part 9): Test Your Concept Here are five questions you can ask about any idea you come up with to help determine if it’s something worth pursuing as a script.
The Business of Screenwriting: You always need more than one in your gun We are seated in the reception area at the sprawling office of two TV producers. They have a new show in production for CBS and we’re…
“Effective Feedback: The Little Known Secret To Pixar’s Creative Success” Four keys to feedback which can help move a project forward.
Spec Script Deal: “Bad Dog” Lionsgate acquires comedy spec script “Bad Dog” written by Jeff Bushell. From Deadline:
How to Generate and Critique Story Ideas (Part 8): Franchise If there is one word that is almost assured of getting a Hollywood movie studio president of production all aglow, it is probably the word…
Script To Screen: “The Talented Mr. Ripley” From the 1999 movie The Talented Mr. Ripley, screenplay by Anthony Minghella, novel by Patricia Highsmith.
When I broke into the business back in the Paleolithic era (1987), the rule of thumb was 2 pages… I think a lot of this has to do with digital technology. For the last three decades, digital filmmaking allows for super easy editing. No…
Joseph Campbell word for word on The Hero’s Journey Verbatim transcript from the excellent interview series “The Power of Myth.”
Reader Question: “What about screenplay page count?” And is it okay to cheat margins and spacing to cut pages?
