Screenwriting 101: Park Chan-Wook “A common beginner’s mistake would be to try and be perfect about everything that you write, and each line that you write you want to make…
Screenwriting Tip: The Nemesis as the Protagonist’s ‘Shadow’ Want drama? Ask your Protagonist: What do you fear the most? Then put them in a story where they have to confront that fear: Their Nemesis.
Page One: “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” (2000) Screenplay Jeffrey Price & Peter S. Seaman, based on a book by Dr. Seuss
Scene Description Spotlight: “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” The ending sequence includes a most interesting sentence…
On Writing “I have come to see this fear, this sense of my own imperilment by my creations, as not only an inevitable, necessary part of writing…
Screenwriting 101: John Cassavetes “People who are making films today are too concerned with mechanics — technical things instead of feeling. Execution is about eight percent…
Screenwriting Tip: The Value of Three Scripts You write, you learn. Three scripts is a good minimum number for starting to understand the craft.
Scene Description Spotlight: “Avatar” There are many reasons to read and analyze the script to Avatar (2009), at last count about 2.7 billion of them by one measure.
On writing “To do your very best work as an artist, whatever the discipline, takes complete immersion in the work. You need to get caught in the…
Is there a rule as to how many “cuss words” can be used in a script? Delving into the sometimes mysterious world of the MPA ratings system.
Go Into The Story Interview: Ward Kamel My interview with the 2024 Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting winner.
Page One: “Horrible Bosses 2” (2014) Screenplay by Sean Anders & John Morris, story by Jonathan Goldstein & John Francis Daley and Sean Anders & John Morris, characters by…
Interview (Part 6): Ward Kamel My interview with the 2024 Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting winner.
Page One: “Horrible Bosses” (2011) Screenplay by Michael Markowitz and John Francis Daley & Jonathan Goldstein, story by Michael Markowitz
Interview (Part 5): Ward Kamel My interview with the 2024 Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting winner.
Scene Description Spotlight: “The African Queen” Today a blast from the past: An excerpt from the shooting script for the movie The African Queen (1951), adapted from the C.S. Forrester…
Page One: “Honey, I Blew Up the Kid” (1992) Screenplay by Thom Eberhardt and Peter Elbling & Garry Goodrow, story by Garry Goodrow, characters by Stuart Gordon & Brian Yuzna & Ed Naha
Interview (Part 4): Ward Kamel My interview with the 2024 Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting winner.
The Business of Screenwriting: “Everyone is here because of us” It is late spring 1988. I am in San Diego where K-9 is being shot. It’s my first day on a movie set. Ever. The scene the crew is shooting…
Page One: “Honey, I Shrunk the Kids” (1989) Screenplay by Ed Naha and Tom Schulman, story by Stuart Gordon & Brian Yuzna & Ed Naha
“Raising the Stakes” video series The entire four-season series of screenwriting videos from Black List screenwriter Jonathan Stokes.
