Go Into The Story

Screenwriter John Swetnam sold two spec scripts in 2011, “Evidence” and “Category Six”, both of them “found footage” projects. ScreenRant did an interview with Swetnam about this particular sub-genre: Screen Rant: Why are found footage movies so popular in Hollywood right now? Is it mostly related to their smaller

Genre: Comedy / Drama Release Date: April 6, 2012 (NY, LA) Director: Whit Stillman Screenwriter: Whit Stillman Studio: Sony Pictures Classics MPAA Rating: N/A Cast: Greta Gerwig, Adam Brody, Analeigh Tipton, Megalyn Echikunwoke, Carrie MacLemore, Hugo Becker, Billy Magnussen, Ryan Metcalf, Jermaine Crawford, Aubrey Plaza Synopsis: A trio of girls

Stan Chervin is one of the credited writers on the screenplay for the movie Moneyball along with Steve Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin. In the third part of my Q&A, Chervin provides some insight into the script development process for that movie: How did you first get involved with

Harry: You realize of course that we could never be friends. Sally: Why not? Harry: What I’m saying is — and this is not a come-on in any way, shape or form — is that men and women can’t be friends because the sex part always gets in the

That’s a saying I’ve heard in conversations with Hollywood screenwriters. Dates, facts, figures, backstory, nothing kills a story’s momentum quicker than a scene with two talking heads swapping information. And yet, every story we write by necessity has exposition. Typically lots of it… Actually I almost dozed

Here’s another in a series of 10 posts about how I approach writing a script. Previous posts: Part 1: Story Concept Part 2: Brainstorming Part 3: Research Part 4: Character Development Part 5: Plotting Part 6: Outline Today, Part 7: SCRIPT DIARY The last thing I do before I

Hank Pena has been a GITS reader for a long time. So when he alerted me about a recent blog post — “How I Got My Work Read At NBC & SyFy… Without An Agent” — I knew his instincts were spot-on: This would be something we’d all like to

There are a ton of screenplay competitions. The Nicholl is the most well-established and highly visible one in Hollywood. I know some writers who won and they told me as soon as the word went out, within hours they had been contacted by dozens of managers and agents. Beverly

Franklin sent me this item with a note: “I can’t help but think this has lessons for screenwriting…” I suspect he’s right. From the WSJ this article: “Why does Adele’s ‘Someone Like You’ make everyone cry? Science has found the formula.” On Sunday night, the British singer-

Stan Chervin is one of the credited writers on the screenplay for the movie Moneyball along with Steve Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin. In the second part of my Q&A with Chervin, he discusses how he transitioned into screenwriting and a number of movie projects he’s written: When

INT. TRUNK — SAME As Foley plays the light down the length of her… FOLEY: You don’t seem all that scared. KAREN: Of course I am. FOLEY: You don’t act like it. KAREN: What do you want me to do? Scream? I don’t think it would help much.

Here’s another in a series of posts about how I approach writing a script. Previous posts: Part 1: Story Concept Part 2: Brainstorming Part 3: Research Part 4: Character Development Part 5: Plotting Today Part 6: Outline I start by transcribing the content of the cards into a new

A Tweet today from @carnojoe aka Joe Carnahan: Start writing ‘Death Wish’ this week. Have the entire thing outlined but that means bupkis if the script starts steering it someplace else. Another example of what I’ve been saying since about Day 1 of this blog: Professional screenwriters work out

Remember this question from Matt: Hi Scott- Long time listener, first time caller here. I love your blog. It’s the one of the most helpful, fun, inspiring screenwriting sites around. I read and fell in love with a sci-fi short story by [name omitted to protect Matt] from

Warner Bros. acquires supernatural thriller spec script “The Waiting” from first time screenwriters Mark Bianculli and Jeff Richard. From Deadline: Described as Rear Window meets Paranormal Activity, mysterious events occur when two high school filmmakers decide to create the illusion of a haunting on an unsuspecting neighbor. Preemptive purchase by

Another in the series “Movies You Made” from Margie Kaptanoglu: Marjory Kaptanoglu wrote DEAD IN THE ROOM, a short screenplay that won the 2010 Slamdance short script contest and was then produced by them. The film premiered at Slamdance 2011 and was invited to many other film festivals, including Nashville,

Screenplay by Seth Grahame-Smith and Simon Kinberg, based on the novel by Seth Grahame-Smith Release date: June 22, 2012 IMDB site Comment Archive

One of the best movies of 2011 is Moneyball. It has been nominated for many awards including Best Screenplay [Golden Globes] and Best Adapted Screenplay [WGA]. Screenwriters Aaron Sorkin and Steve Zaillian have received the lion share of attention for their involvement in the project, but here are the exact

INT. APARTMENT An older apartment; a series of halls connects a chain of small high-ceilinged rooms lined with heavy casements. Smoke hangs like a veil, blurring the few lights there are. Dressed predominately in black, people are everywhere, gathered in cliques around pieces of furniture like jungle cats around

The 2012 BAFTA Award for Best Original Screenplay goes to Michel Hazanavicius for The Artist. The 2012 BAFTA Award for Best Adapted Screenplay goes to Bridget O’Connor & Peter Straughan for Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. The Artist takes most of the major awards. The entire list of winners is

Warner Bros. has tapped Chewie scribes Van Robichaux and Evan Susser to rewrite its bigscreen version of TV toon The Jetsons. Zak Penn (X-Men: The Last Stand) rewriting the sequel to Karate Kid remake. Steven Knight (Dirty Pretty Things) hired by DreamWorks to write the remake of Rebecca. Commencement