Go Into The Story Script Reading & Analysis: The Wolf of Wall Street This week, we have been reading, analyzing, and discussing the script and movie The Wolf of Wall Street. Screenplay by Terence Winter, book by Jordan Belfort. IMDb plot summary: Based on the true story of Jordan Belfort, from his rise to a wealthy stock-broker living the high life to
Interview (Video): Richard Curtis 2013 BAFTA screenwriting lecture by Richard Curtis (Love Actually, Bean, Notting Hill). From BAFTA.
Daily Dialogue — October 25, 2015 “Then I saw it. I saw a mom who would die for her son, a man who would kill for his wife, a boy, angry and alone, laid out in front of him, the bad path. I saw it and the path was a circle, round and round. So I
Daily Dialogue theme for next week: Embarrassment The Daily Dialogue theme for next week: Embarrassment. A Fish Called Wanda (1999) Consecutive days of Daily Dialogue posts: 2,718. Embarrassing moments on film. Surely we can come up with 7 great suggestions! The usual drill: * Copy/paste dialogue from IMDb Quotes or some other transcript source. * Copy/paste
Zero Draft Thirty: Write a Script in a Month Challenge T minus 8 days. On November 1, the Zero Draft Thirty challenge kicks off! Zero Draft is what some writers call the vomit draft… or muscle draft… the just-get-the-damn-thing-done draft. And thirty is… well… the number 30 which is… oh, yeah… the number of days
Saturday Hot Links Time for the 209th installment of Saturday Hot Links. ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ Fans Blast Movie Ticket Sites for Presale Crashes. ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ Shatters Ticket Sales Records. Please Don’t Pay $400 for Star Wars Tickets: Tales of the Force Awakens Ticketpocalypse. A Handy Guide to
Rod Serling on Writing: Parts 1–16 16 videos with excerpted writing quotes from a master storyteller. Ever since I launched Go Into The Story, I have regularly gone down the Internet’s rabbit hole in search of unique video clips featuring renowned writers. In 2010, I hit the Mother Lode: A series of 16 clips featuring
Interview (Written): Matt Charman (“Bridge of Spies”) An Awards Daily interview with Matt Charman, screenwriter, Bridge of Spies. Awards Daily: How did Bridge of Spies happen? Matt Charman: I feel like it’s a bit of a miracle in my life. I’m a bit of a history buff, especially for the Cold War and Kennedy Administration.
Daily Dialogue — October 24, 2015 “You stay. I go. No following.” — The Iron Giant (1999), screenplay by Tim McCanlies, screen story by Brad Bird, book by Ted Hughes The Daily Dialogue theme for the week: Selflessness. Trivia: Excluding the yells and groans, the Iron Giant only said a total of 53 words. Dialogue On Dialogue:
Go Into The Story Movie Analysis: “Back to the Future” Starting Monday, the classic film in our bi-weekly Go Into The Story Movie Analysis series: The 1985 movie Back to the Future. What a great excuse to watch this movie again, which you can do here for as little as $2.99. But I’ll bet you own a
Zero Draft Thirty: Story Prep — Script Diary T minus 8 days. On November 1, the Zero Draft Thirty challenge kicks off! Zero Draft is what some writers call the vomit draft… or muscle draft… the just-get-the-damn-thing-done draft. And thirty is… well… the number 30 which is… oh, yeah… the number of days
Script Analysis: “The Wolf of Wall Street” — Part 5: Takeaways Reading scripts. Absolutely critical to learn the craft of screenwriting. The focus of this weekly series is a deep structural and thematic analysis of each script we read. Our daily schedule: Monday: Scene-By-Scene Breakdown Tuesday: Major Plot Points Wednesday: Characters Thursday: Themes Friday: Takeaways Today: Takeaways. This week,
Rod Serling on Writing: Part 16 Part 16 of a 16 part series featuring the master storyteller on video. Ever since I launched Go Into The Story, I have regularly gone down the Internet’s rabbit hole in search of unique video clips featuring renowned writers. In 2010, I hit the Mother Lode: A series of
Daily Dialogue — October 23, 2015 Forrest Gump: (V.O.) I ran and ran, just like Jenny told me to. I ran so far and so fast that pretty soon I was all by myself which was a bad thing. Forrest Gump: Bubba. Forrest Gump: (V.O.) Bubba was my best, good friend, I had to
Zero Draft Thirty: Story Prep — Character Development T minus 9 days. On November 1, the Zero Draft Thirty challenge kicks off! Zero Draft is what some writers call the vomit draft… or muscle draft… the just-get-the-damn-thing-done draft. And thirty is… well… the number 30 which is… oh, yeah… the number of days
Update: Award season screenplay downloads — 4 new scripts / 13 total It’s that time of year again when studios and production companies make available PDFs of movie scripts for award season. As in years past, we will be tracking them and posting links as they become available. UPDATE: Current total of 2015 scripts for download: 13. Newly added scripts (4)
Script Analysis: “The Wolf of Wall Street” — Part 4: Themes Reading scripts. Absolutely critical to learn the craft of screenwriting. The focus of this weekly series is a deep structural and thematic analysis of each script we read. Our daily schedule: Monday: Scene-By-Scene Breakdown Tuesday: Major Plot Points Wednesday: Characters Thursday: Themes Friday: Takeaways Today: Themes. I have
Rod Serling on Writing: Part 15 Part 15 of a 16 part series featuring the master storyteller on video. Ever since I launched Go Into The Story, I have regularly gone down the Internet’s rabbit hole in search of unique video clips featuring renowned writers. In 2010, I hit the Mother Lode: A series of
Writing and the Creative Life: Writing as Pilgrimage I am a pilgrim and a stranger Traveling through this wearisome land I’ve got a home in that yonder city, good Lord And it’s not, not made by hand — Music and lyrics by Merle Travis Perhaps because I am a military brat, having been transferred so often from
Daily Dialogue — October 22, 2015 During this scene Mary has come up behind the counter. Suddenly, as the people once more start moving toward the door, she holds up a roll of bills and calls out MARY: How much do you need? George jumps over the counter and takes the money from Mary. GEORGE: Hey!
Zero Draft Thirty: Story Prep Fun With Index Cards! Here I thought I was crazy committing to write an entire first draft of an original comedy in November — FADE IN to FADE OUT in 30 days — especially how freakin’ busy I am. But as it turns out… THERE’S WHOLE CRAPLOAD OF WHACKO WRITERS WANDERING AROUND THE INTERNET! Go
Script Analysis: “The Wolf of Wall Street” — Part 3: Characters Reading scripts. Absolutely critical to learn the craft of screenwriting. The focus of this weekly series is a deep structural and thematic analysis of each script we read. Our daily schedule: Monday: Scene-By-Scene Breakdown Tuesday: Major Plot Points Wednesday: Characters Thursday: Themes Friday: Takeaways Today: Characters. Characters are
Rod Serling on Writing: Part 14 Part 14 of a 16 part series featuring the master storyteller on video. Ever since I launched Go Into The Story, I have regularly gone down the Internet’s rabbit hole in search of unique video clips featuring renowned writers. In 2010, I hit the Mother Lode: A series of
Great Scene: “Annie Hall” The movie Annie Hall (1977) has a scene that is perhaps the best pedagogical tool to convey what subtext is. Alvy Singer is having a drink with Annie Hall. This is basically their first time alone together and there are definitely some undercurrents going on in with what they’re
Daily Dialogue — October 21, 2015 GUNMAN 1: Sheriff, we ran into some trouble on the road. Al here’s hurt. His horse threw him. Your deputy said we could find a doctor. CHANCE: Around the corner, about three or four doors to the right. GUNMAN 1: Stay away from that rifle, Sheriff. You can see
