Go Into The Story

Character Development for Writing TV

Writing episodic television is its own unique thing and different in many respects to feature-writing. However, when it comes to character…

Script Analysis: “Aftersun” — Part 2: Plot

A week-long analysis of the screenplay for the critically acclaimed horror-thriller. Download. Read. Discuss.

Spec Script Deal: “Seismic”

Netflix acquires thriller spec script “Seismic” written by Greg Russo. Via Deadline:

Screenwriting 101: John Swartzwelder

This insight comes from longtime The Simpsons writer John Swartzwelder.

Page One: “20th Century Women” (2016)

Written by Mike Mills

I just got done reading the script while watching the movie.

One comment I can make in reference to the scene-by-scene breakdown: There are several scenes, moments, even characters cut from the film…

Style = Voice

Style goes beyond mere “scene description.” My one-week online class focuses on expressing your voice on the page. It begins February 27th.

Script Analysis: “Aftersun” — Part 1: Scene-By-Scene Breakdown

A week-long analysis of the screenplay for the critically acclaimed horror-thriller. Download. Read. Discuss.

Great Scene: “Sunset Blvd.”

It’s one of the most famous endings in Hollywood film history: Sunset Blvd. (1950), co-written by Charles Brackett & Billy Wilder, their…

On Writing

“You can’t write for other people. You can’t write for the left or the right, this religion or that religion, or this belief or that…

Page One: “A League of Their Own” (1992)

Screenplay by Lowell Ganz & Babaloo Mandel, story by Kim Wilson & Kelly Candaele

Dumb Little Writing Tricks That Work: Read your dialogue aloud

This is truly one of the easiest things you can do to improve your dialogue writing: When you finish a draft of your script, read aloud…

Go Into The Story Interview: Callie Bloem and Christopher Ewing

My interview with the 2022 Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting winners.

Character Type: Advocate

“The Advocate taps into powerful psychological and emotional strains at work in our collective psyche. The hope there are good people out…

Interview (Video): M. Night Shyamalan

An hour-plus conversation with the writer-director of Knock at the Cabin.

Page One: “A Dangerous Method” (2011)

Screenplay Christopher Hampton, play by Christopher Hampton, book by John Kerr

Hollywood Tales

“The Conversation was an original screenplay written probably in the mid-sixties. It’s difficult for me sometimes to place these scripts…

Interview (Part 6): Callie Bloem and Christopher Ewing

My interview with the 2022 Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting winners.

Great Scene: “The Silence of the Lambs”

Two flashbacks to Clarice as a young girl are critical to the narrative. Plus, the script for a third flashback which was never shot.

Video: 10 Screenwriting Tips from Ruben Östlund

Insights into the craft from the writer-director of Triangle of Sadness.

Page One: “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood” (2019)

Written by Micah Fitzerman-Blue & Noah Harpster, inspired by the article “Can You Say… Hero?” by Tom Junod, based on the work of Fred…

Reader Question: How to convey a character’s emotional state in scene description?

How much latitude does a screenwriter have to editorialize in scene description?

Interview (Part 5): Callie Bloem and Christopher Ewing

My interview with the 2022 Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting winners.

Great Scene: “The Shawshank Redemption”

Red’s parole board scenes — three of them — are their own mini-story.

Writing and the Creative Life: 4 Tips On Creativity From The Creator Of Calvin & Hobbes

I saw this article in Fast Company a while back and in reading it, I realized how important comic strips have been in my adult life…