Go Into The Story

During the last WGA strike, TV writers Charles “Charlie” Craig and Thania St. John started a blog called Why We Write. They posed that question to a number of writers and over a period of several months, posted their answers on the site. As far as I can tell, the

We continue our analysis of the script “Gladiator” today by considering the primary characters in the story. Here is a list: Maximus (soldier, gladiator, warrior) Commodus (emperor, murderer) Marcus (emperor) Juba (slave, gladiator) Proximo (gladiator owner / trainer) Lucilla (Commodus’ sister) Lucius (Lucilla’s son) Quintus (soldier) Titus (soldier) Vibius (gladiator)

Eleanor: Your cat died. Steve: Which one? Eleanor: Marmalade. Steve: Well, how did it die? Eleanor: A rattlesnake bit it in the neck. Steve: Goddammit, Eleanor. Couldn’t you have broken it to me a little easier than that? Ned: What kind of cat was it? Steve: Who gives a

During the last WGA strike, TV writers Charles “Charlie” Craig and Thania St. John started a blog called Why We Write. They posed that question to a number of writers and over a period of several months, posted their answers on the site. As far as I can tell, the

You may have read about this summer setting a B.O. record. Don’t be fooled: There is something rotten in the state of Hollywood. Per the NYT: It was the summer that North American movie attendance continued to slide, Hollywood’s reliance on overseas ticket sales intensified, the Smurfs

Welcome to Go Into The Story: The Screenwriting Blog of the Black List! For some perspective, consider this: It all started with this post on May 16, 2008. Back then I had no idea what to expect. Along the way I met you: The GITS community. Then I crossed paths

We began our analysis of the script “Gladiator” yesterday here, some absolutely terrific insights and comments. If you haven’t checked it out, you really should. If this is the level of discourse we can maintain each week with this series, we are all in for a real treat and

Doctor: I tell you what, kids, it’s, uh, odd thing here. Your wrist, uh, far as I can tell, is, uh, fractured in three places. Uh, and you’ve shattered, uh, two vertebrae, though I can’t be certain without an X-ray… The bone protrusion through the skin

More later today. For now, bump around the site and enjoy! While you’re here, you can offer a big thanks to Dino who managed this whole transition process. Thanks, Dino! Comment Archive

Every other month or so, I open things up for reader questions. You can go here and see the archives. I haven’t counted lately, but I’m guessing there are over 200 questions and answers. If you have a question about screenwriting or working in Hollywood, I suggest you

During the last WGA strike, TV writers Charles “Charlie” Craig and Thania St. John started a blog called Why We Write. They posed that question to a number of writers and over a period of several months, posted their answers on the site. As far as I can tell, the

We kick off this new GITS series with the 10.22.1998 draft of “Gladiator,” your choice for the Action genre. If you haven’t had a chance to read the script yet, you can go hereto access it as we will be discussing the script throughout the week.Let’

A new short story from Popcorn Fiction, the excellent site hosted by screenwriter-novelist Derek Haas: For the first time ever on Popcorn Fiction, we have a writing team who collaborated on a short story. Teams are prevalent in Hollywood, and are becoming more so in literature… and when the

For those of you who may have missed this announcement, let me remind you about the GITS Script Reading and Analysis Series: As longtime GITS readers may remember, in the past we have done a variety of script reading and analysis series including 40 Days of Screenplays, 6 Days of

This Variety article is perhaps the best thing I’ve read about how major film festivals like Toronto and Telluride work: After “Black Swan,” “The King’s Speech” and “The Social Network” erupted from last fall’s festivals to share eight Oscars and gross nearly $1 billion worldwide, the stakes

Darabont secured the film adaptation rights from author Stephen King after impressing the author with his short film adaptation of The Woman in the Room in 1983. Although the two had become friends and maintained a pen-pal relationship, Darabont did not work with him until four years later in

“For the last couple of months, Senator Rumson has suggested that being president of this country was, to a certain extent, about character, and although I have not been willing to engage in his attacks on me, I’ve been here three years and three days, and I can tell

As we wrap up a week of speeches, I opened up the floor for a whole new slate of theme suggestions, and boy did you folks respond! Here was my response in that thread: Here’s an example of a theme that I figure will not only have some entertainment

Last Sunday’s New York Times magazine had an expansive feature on screenwriter Aline Brosh McKenna (The Devil Wears Prada, 27 Dresses, Morning Glory). Here’s how it begins: If Aline Brosh McKenna were to write a script about her life, it might open with McKenna, wavy-haired and underdressed,

A fantastic Vulture Q&A this week with Michael Schur, showrunner for the TV series “Parks and Recreation.” What’s so great about it is the dissection Schur does of his favorite sit-com “Cheers,” drilling down into the minutiae of why that series worked so incredibly well for

Today’s interview is with screenwriter Allan Loeb (21, The Dilemma, Just Go With It) who had the unusual distinction of having two scripts on The Black List simultaneously. Interview with Deborah Schoeneman at the Huffington Post: DS: How much importance do you place on the list now that you