Go Into The Story

Spec Script Sale: “Endangered”

Lionsgate acquires action adventure spec script “Endangered” written by Ryan Belenzon and Jeffrey Gelber. From ComingSoon: “Endangered” is said to follow a group of scientists on a quest to locate the fountain of youth. Belenzon and Gelber are repped by Paradigm and Zero Gravity Management. By my count, this is

115 Words for “walks”

Movies are primarily a visual medium. Therefore as screenwriters, we need to think visually… and write visually. Take the verb “walks”: He walks into the room. She walks away from him. How about these instead: amble, shuffle, staggers, paces, speeds, lurches, leaps, skips, bounds, sprints, stumbles. On and on and

Movie Trailer: “Red 2”

Frank Moses and his motley crew of retired assassins return for a second outing. Screenplay by Jon Hoeber & Erich Hoeber, characters by Warren Ellis and Cully Hamner IMDB site Release Date: 2 August 2013 (USA)

Billy Wilder: “The Art of Screenwriting” [Part 7]

My favorite writer-director is Billy Wilder. Consider just some of his movies: Double Indemnity (1944), Sunset Blvd. (1950), Stalag 17 (1953), Witness for the Prosecution (1957), Some Like It Hot (1959), The Apartment (1960), an oeuvre that demonstrates an incredible range in a filmmaking career that went from 1929

The Business of Screenwriting: Bidding War

If you traffic in the realm of spec scripts, this pairing of words is your wet dream: Bidding. War. Technically it’s when two or more buyers make offers on your script. When that happens, for those brief, hectic hours, your story becomes the story in Hollywood’s movie development

Daily Dialogue — February 7, 2013

INSPECTOR: You saw him, then? BRIONY: Yes, I saw him. INSPECTOR: Just as you see me. BRIONY: I know it was him. INSPECTOR: You know it was him, or you saw him? BRIONY: Yes, I did. I saw him. INSPECTOR: With your own eyes? BRIONY: Yes. I saw him, I

Reader Question: Should we be careful about the genre of movies we watch while writing a script?

Question from Zachary: I know you always say we need to read scripts, watch movies and tv, and write pages. It brings me to a question. Should you be watching and reading the subject matter you are currently writing. For instance i am writing a comedy at the moment and

Screenwriters Roundtable, Part 3: Chris Borrelli, F. Scott Frazier, Chris McCoy, Justin Rhodes, Greg Russo, John Swetnam

A special treat this week as each day I will be posting excerpts from a screenwriter’s roundtable I did with a group of talented Hollywood screenwriters: Chris Borrelli, F. Scott Frazier, Chris McCoy, Justin Rhodes, Greg Russo, and John Swetnam. How good are they? Between them, they have sold

Spec Script Sale: “Pantheon”

Solipsist Film acquires science fiction thriller spec script “Pantheon” from writer Spenser Cohen. No information available on the storyline. Cohen is repped by WME and Energy Entertainment. The deal went down January 24, 2013. By my count, this is the 6th spec script sale in 2013. Last year at this

Spec Script Sale: “Surrounded”

Incognito Pictures acquires western spec script “Surrounded” from writers Andrew Pagana and Justin Thomas. From Variety: “Surrounded,” described as a “Reservoir Dogs” story set in the Old West, focuses on a single day in the life of a young man who holds a notorious outlaw captive as his gang closes

Movie Trailer: “Oblivion”

A court martial sends a veteran soldier to a distant planet, where he has to destroy the remains of an alien race. The arrival of an unexpected traveler causes him to question what he knows about the planet, his mission, and himself. Screenplay by Joseph Kosinski and Karl Gajdusek and

Billy Wilder: “The Art of Screenwriting” [Part 6]

My favorite writer-director is Billy Wilder. Consider just some of his movies: Double Indemnity (1944), Sunset Blvd. (1950), Stalag 17 (1953), Witness for the Prosecution (1957), Some Like It Hot (1959), The Apartment (1960), an oeuvre that demonstrates an incredible range in a filmmaking career that went from 1929

Script To Screen: “The Insider”

For you Michael Mann fans, a dialogue-driven scene which crackles with life from this 1999 movie. From the 1999 movie The Insider, screenplay by Eric Roth & Michael Mann, based on an article by Marie Brenner. Setup: A research chemist comes under personal and professional attack when he decides

Daily Dialogue — February 6, 2013

Willem: Why do you wanna get all dressed up for anyway? You’re not going nowhere. You’re under arrest. Josef K: You’re making a formal charge? Willem: Oh, I couldn’t do that, mister. Josef K: Just exactly what is it I’m charged with? Willem: You’ll

Why do you write?

As you may know, I have been interviewing a slew of screenwriters recently and I’m always fascinated to hear the variety of ways writers go about their craft. Also, too, I have enjoyed researching each writer, reading their scripts, watching their movies, and coming up with what I hope

Screenwriters Roundtable, Part 2: Chris Borrelli, F. Scott Frazier, Chris McCoy, Justin Rhodes, Greg Russo, John Swetnam

A special treat this week as each day I will be posting excerpts from a screenwriter’s roundtable I did with a group of talented Hollywood screenwriters: Chris Borrelli, F. Scott Frazier, Chris McCoy, Justin Rhodes, Greg Russo, and John Swetnam. How good are they? Between them, they have sold

“A 5-Step Technique for Producing Ideas circa 1939”

Somehow bumped into this Brain Pickings post about a 1939 book called “A Technique for Producing Ideas,” by James Webb Young: Young — an ad man by trade but, as we’ll see, a voraciously curious and cross-disciplinary thinker at heart — lays out with striking lucidity and clarity the five

Movie Trailer: “Stoker”

After India’s father dies, her Uncle Charlie, who she never knew existed, comes to live with her and her unstable mother. She comes to suspect this mysterious, charming man has ulterior motives and becomes increasingly infatuated with him. Written by Wentworth Miller IMDB site

Billy Wilder: “The Art of Screenwriting” [Part 5]

My favorite writer-director is Billy Wilder. Consider just some of his movies: Double Indemnity (1944), Sunset Blvd. (1950), Stalag 17 (1953), Witness for the Prosecution (1957), Some Like It Hot (1959), The Apartment (1960), an oeuvre that demonstrates an incredible range in a filmmaking career that went from 1929

Screenwriting 101: Will Beall

“The process is that I force myself to sit down and write and hope it doesn’t turn out shitty. Then if it turns out shitty, I change it.” — Will Beall Comment Archive

Daily Dialogue — February 5, 2013

Detective Kelly: So, financially, you’re not going to be hurting after this, are you? I mean, she was worth quite a bit of money. Dr. Richard Kimble: Are you suggesting that I killed my wife? Are you saying that I crushed her skull and that I shot her? How

Handling exposition

In Hollywood, there is a saying: “Exposition = Death.” Why? Because nothing can bore readers more than the delivery of setting, information, data and backstory. Yet every script, play or story you write requires you to include exposition. That’s why I created the Screenwriting Master Class course Handling Exposition. In

Screenwriters Roundtable, Part 1: Chris Borrelli, F. Scott Frazier, Chris McCoy, Justin Rhodes, Greg Russo, John Swetnam

A special treat this week as each day I will be posting excerpts from a screenwriter’s roundtable I did with a group of talented Hollywood screenwriters: Chris Borrelli, F. Scott Frazier, Chris McCoy, Justin Rhodes, Greg Russo, and John Swetnam. How good are they? Between them, they have sold

Short Film: “Noon”

THR reporting on the latest short movie to get set up as a feature film project: Chernin Entertainment, the production shingle behind Rise of the Planet of the Apes, is dipping into its discretionary fund to pick up the movie rights to Noon, a sci-fi short by Kasra Farahani.

Movie Trailer: “Evil Dead”

Mia, a young woman struggling with sobriety, heads to a remote cabin with her brother and three friends, where the discovery of a Book of the Dead leads them to unwittingly summon up demons living in the nearby woods. Screenplay by Fede Alvarez and Diablo Cody, based on 1981 screenplay