Daily Dialogue — November 3, 2018 Clarence: Your brother, Harry Bailey, broke through the ice and was drowned at the age of nine. George Bailey: That’s a lie! Harry Bailey…
Reader Question: Should I try to adapt my own book? A book represents intellectual property and Hollywood is obsessed with IP, so what’s the best thing an author can do?
Screenplays are stories, not formulas William Goldman has famously written, “Screenplays are structure.” That is true in a tangible sense because at some point, a script…
Songwriters On Songwriting: Willie Dixon “How often do you write songs? / Well, whenever the various facts come to your mind that you think are interesting, it can do somebody some…
Writing and the Creative Life: Wherein I embrace my messy desk! For decades, I have waged a relentless war. The battlefield? My desk. Raised a military brat and a Southern Baptist to boot, the message I…
J, I think you’re right. There are exceptions, of course. You mention the TV series “Wallender” as an example. One could argue that Jake Gittes in Chinatown has an…
Reader Question: Do you have any suggestions to ‘warm up’ for writing? Two suggestions to help you overcome the dreaded ‘how to get my ass into the chair and writing’ conundrum.
Songwriters on Songwriting: Suzanne Vega “You’re drawing the listener into this world with very simple, basic information. And it then proceeds to state the problem without ever…
The Business of Screenwriting: The screenwriter as problem-solver Words of wisdom from legendary Hollywood producer Max Millimeter.
Daily Dialogue — November 1, 2018 Daisy Werthan: You know your letters don’t you? Hoke Colburn: Oh yeah, yeah I know my ABC’s pretty good, just can’t read. Daisy Werthan…
Tweetstorm: Jeff Willis on Writing Compensation In November 2014, studio executive Jeff Willis posted a tweetstorm about screenwriting compensation. Reprinted in its entirety by…
Songwriters On Songwriting: Leonard Cohen “I am a working stiff. It takes me months and months of full employment to break the code of the song. To find out if there can be a song…
Daily Dialogue —October 31, 2018 “There are few who’d deny, at what I do I am the best For my talents are renowned far and wide When it comes to surprises in the moonlit…
Test your story concept If your goal is to traffic in mainstream, commercial movies, I cannot overstate the importance of your spec script’s story concept. As I…
Tweetstorm: Mike Sweeney on Not Writing to Imagined Stats, Metrics, and Trends Last night, screenwriter Mike Sweeney went on a Twitter rant worthy of our attention. Mike tweets of which he knows: He co-wrote (along…
Songwriters On Songwriting: Fiona Apple I wrote my first song when I was 14 years old. Over the years, I’ve composed hundreds of songs. It was that interest — music — that led me…
Screenwriting 101: Arash Amel “Craft is discipline. I’m a professional. This is my job. You have a lot of hungry agents to feed and a lot of attorneys to feed. The way…
Daily Dialogue — October 30, 2018 Johnny: They’re coming to get you, Barbara! Barbara: Stop it! You’re ignorant! Johnny: They’re coming for you, Barbara! Barbara: Stop it…
Songwriters On Songwriting: Bob Dylan I wrote my first song when I was 14 years old. Over the years, I’ve composed hundreds of songs. It was that interest — music — that led me…
