Go Into The Story

Page One: “Love & Basketball” (2000)

Written by Gina Prince-Bythewood

Writing Tip: What is the connection between the Protagonist and the inciting incident?

“The inciting incident raises this question of the Protagonist’s journey: ‘Why does this story have to happen to this character at this…

Page One: “Lost Highway” (1997)

Written by David Lynch & Barry Gifford

How Professional Screenwriters Outline

A compilation of outlining approaches featuring screenwriters and filmmakers including Vince Gilligan, Quentin Tarantino, Alex Garland…

2023 Austin Film Festival & Writers Conference

I’m moderating two panels, participating in a roundtable, and leading a post-screening Q&A for the world premiere of the documentary The…

Screenwriting Tip: Tarantino, Sorkin, and Dialogue as Purpose

Analysis of long dialogue-centric scenes in The Social Network and Pulp Fiction reveals that underneath the entertaining conversations lies…

Page One: “The Lorax” (2012)

Screenplay by Cinco Paul & Ken Daurio, book by Dr. Seuss

Opening and Closing Image

Another in the terrific screenwriting series Raising the Stakes.

Screenwriting Tip: What makes a movie a big budget and a small budget

There are critical choices a writer can make at the script stage which directly influence a project’s budget… and its potential viability…

Page One: “The Lookout” (2007)

Written by Scott Frank

Why Is This Not a Movie?

Check out my podcast conversation advocating for a sequel for one of my favorite action comedies: The Nice Guys.

What are you afraid of?

The single greatest inhibitor to creativity is fear. Do you recognize any of these negative voices?

Page One: “Lone Star” (1996)

Written by John Sayles

Screenwriting Tip: A New Angle Into an Old Story

Looking for your next spec script subject? It just might be waiting for you in a history book.

Hollywood Tales

Screenwriter Ben Maddow with a great story about 1950s Hollywood producer Philip Yordan.

Page One: “Love Is Strange” (2014)

Written by Ira Sachs & Mauricio Zacharias

Script Club: “Women Talking”

An in-depth video conversation about the Oscar-winning screenplay written by Sarah Polley.

On Writing

“It’s baseball, not football — a long season, slumps, errors, humiliations, bad feelings, bad weather, jet lag, all that stuff, and you…

Page One: “Love & Friendship” (2016)

Written by Whit Stillman, based on the novella “Lady Susan” by Jane Austen

Write a Worthy Nemesis

Workshop your story’s antagonist character in my 1-week online course. Begins Monday, October 16th.

Writing Tip: The Most Needed Quote on Writing

“The writer is both a sadist and a masochist.”

Page One: “Lone Survivor” (2013)

Written by Peter Berg, book by Marcus Luttrell and Patrick Robinson

Script To Screen: “The Lost Boys”

A pivotal scene from the 1987 movie The Lost Boys, screenplay by Janice Fischer & James Jeremias and Jeffrey Boam, story by Janice Fischer…

Interview: Brian Duffield

Conversation with the writer-director of the new science fiction horror movie No One Will Save You.

Page One: “Limitless” (2011)

Screenplay by Leslie Dixon, novel by Alan Glynn