Interview (Written): Terry Rossio One of the most commercially successful screenwriters in Hollywood, Terry Rossio has co-written some of Hollywood’s biggest hit movies over the last two decades including Aladdin, The Mask of Zorro, Shrek, and The Pirates of the Caribbean franchise of films. In this lengthy interview with John Robert Marlow,
Daily Dialogue — August 15, 2015 “I gotta have you, Frank. Just us. Where it’s just you and me.” — The Postman Always Rings Twice (1981), screenplay by David Mamet, novel by James L. Cain The Daily Dialogue theme for the week: Adultery. Trivia: This is the fourth version of “The Postman Always Rings Twice” novel.
September: Classic 40s Movie Month Every several months since 2013, we’ve had a Classic Movie Month in which I invite GITS readers to volunteer writing up an overview of one of their favorite movies. We’ve moved through this process decade by decade, the idea being to create an online resource for writers to
Writing and the Creative Life: “Believing is seeing” As writers, we do everything we can to enable our characters to come to life. Whether it’s questionnaires, biographies, interviews, monologues, anything we can do to engage our characters and immerse ourselves in their lives can help us eventually to hear their voices… and have them lead us into
Script Analysis: “Birdman” — 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: Sequences Thursday: Themes Friday: Takeaways Today: Takeaways. This week,
Great Character: Karl Childers (“Sling Blade”) In the 1996 movie Sling Blade (written and directed by Billy Bob Thornton), the story’s Protagonist is a remarkable character named Karl Childers, also played by Thornton: Here is a plot synopsis per IMDB: A partially handicapped man named Karl is released from a mental hospital, about 20 years
Daily Dialogue — August 14, 2015 INT BAINES’ HUT DAY He turns to her about to speak, but stops unmanned by a new fragility to her strength. He blinks rapidly BAINES: Ada, I am unhappy because I want you, because my mind has seized on you and thinks of nothing else. This is how I suffer,
Screenwriting Podcast Links Before Wendy Cohen heads off to her MFA program in screenwriting, she found time to compile a list of screenwriting podcast links: List of Screenwriting Podcasts 3rd & Fairfax (WGA) A Writer’s Life BAFTA: The Guru BAFTA: Screenwriters’ Lecture Series Black List Table Reads Broken Projector Chicks Who Script
Videos: Academy Originals Screenwriter Interviews Featuring John August, Ava DuVernay, Paul Haggis, Eric Roth, and more. Just about a year ago, the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences began a terrific new series of video interviews called Creative Spark. I have featured each of the ones involving screenwriters and thought it would be nice
Script Analysis: “Birdman” — 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: Sequences Thursday: Themes Friday: Takeaways Today: Themes. I have
The Business of Screenwriting: Everything you wanted to know about specs [Part 20] Spec scripts, that is. I’m guessing that perhaps 90% of the people who follow this blog at some point in their lives will write a spec script. And the other 10% are involved in buying and selling them. In light of that fact, last year I interviewed a top
Daily Dialogue — August 13, 2015 “I should have had you in your white before the wedding. I should have blackened you in your white wedding dress. Blackened in your bridal dress before ushering you in as your best man.” — Betrayal (1983), screenplay by Harold Pinter based on his play The Daily Dialogue theme for the
Twitter Rant: Jake Thornton on His First Two Years as a Hollywood Screenwriter Tweetstorm: Jake Thornton on His First Two Years as a Hollywood Screenwriter A series of tweets detailing one writer’s experience breaking into Hollywood. Last week, Scott Beggs at the stellar site Film School Rejects did the screenwriting community a solid by featuring an excellent Twitter rant from screenwriter Jake
Script Analysis: “Birdman” — Part 3: Sequences 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: Sequences Thursday: Themes Friday: Takeaways Today: Sequences. A sequence
Great Scene: “The Exorcist” Adapted for the screen by William Peter Blatty from his best-selling novel and directed by William Friedkin, the 1973 movie The Exorcist grossed an astonishing $441M in worldwide B.O. receipts. Safe to say, it became a cultural phenomenon. And speaking personally, when I saw it in a theater
Daily Dialogue — August 12, 2015 INT. SMILEY’S — CONTINUOUS A FEW people stand IN line at the counter. Carolyn enters with Leonard. He whispers something to her and she LAUGHS uproariously. IN the KITCHEN, which is separated from the counter By a partition made up of various food service equipment, we see Lester, in a
Reader Question: During rewrites, how can I tell if something is lacking in my story? Reader question via Twitter from @SupportTheCos: Cosmo, by lacking, I take it you mean this: Is something missing from my story? Is it not all it could be? Is there something more I could do with the story, but I’m just not seeing it? Good questions. I’ll oftentimes
Black List writers on the craft: Story Concepts (7 Part Series) Over the years, I have interviewed over 40 Black List screenwriters. This month, I am running a series featuring one topic per week related to the craft of writing. Last week: How do you come up with story concepts? Black List writers on the craft: Story Concepts (Part 1) — Waiting
Script Analysis: “Birdman” — Part 2: Major Plot Points 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: Sequences Thursday: Themes Friday: Takeaways Today: Major Plot Points.
Screenwriting 101: Whit Stillman “I find scriptwriting pretty painful until enough of the world and characters are in motion — which can be a very long time. At the start, I find it’s all lame and bad — it’s just bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, and then more bad. I don’t like to
Daily Dialogue — August 11, 2015 Cass: Straighten up a bit for me will you, Tex? Joe Buck: Say Cass, sure have enjoyed being here. I believe this is as fine a time I’ve ever had in my damn life. Cass: Me too, lover. Joe Buck: Well that’s good it is, cause..uh, well
Break your story in prep Have you ever started a script and not finished it? Has it ever taken you 6 months, 1 year, or more to finish a script? Have you ever gotten so lost when writing a story, you became incredibly frustrated, and gave up? Chances are you did not do enough story
Movie Analysis: “Trainwreck” Last week, we analyzed and discussed the movie Trainwreck, written by Amy Schumer. IMDb plot summary: Having thought that monogamy was never possible, a commitment-phobic career woman may have to face her fears when she meets a good guy. Our discussion last week: General Comments Plot Characters Themes Takeaways
Script Analysis: “Birdman” — Part 1: Scene By Scene Breakdown 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: Sequences Thursday: Themes Friday: Takeaways Today: Scene-By-Scene
Daily Dialogue — August 10, 2015 CONNIE: Talk to me. Tell me what you did. EDWARD: No, you tell me what you did! How you fucked him over and over and over, you lied to me over and over and over. CONNIE: Edward, please. EDWARD: No, you don’t talk to me now. I gave everything…
