Go Into The Story

Go Into The Story Interview: James Acker

My interview with the 2020 Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting winner.

Update: 2020–2021 Award Season Screenplay Downloads — 3 New Scripts, 43 Total

It’s that time of year again when studios and production companies make available PDFs of movie scripts for award season.

Page One: ‘ Captain Phillips’ (2013)

Screenplay by Billy Ray, book by Richard Phillips and Richard Phillips

2021 Zero Draft Thirty March Challenge: Story Prep — Genre Bend

A series to help prepare writers for next month’s Zero Draft Thirty writing challenge.

Interview (Part 6): James Acker

My interview with the 2020 Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting winner.

Spec Script Deal: “Parallel”

Netflix acquires science fiction spec script “Parallel” written by Ben Ripley. Via THR:

Page One: ‘Buried’ (2010)

Written by Chris Sparling

Adverbs = Bad Writing?

A seemingly innocuous Stephen King quote provokes online controversy.

Adverbs = Bad Writing?

A seemingly innocuous Steven King quote provokes online controversy.

2021 Zero Draft Thirty March Challenge: Story Prep — Gender Bend

A series to help prepare writers for next month’s Zero Draft Thirty writing challenge.

Interview (Part 5): James Acker

My interview with the 2020 Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting winner.

Page One: ‘Bring It On’ (2000)

Written by Jessica Bendinger

2021 Zero Draft Thirty March Challenge: Story Prep — Script Diary

A series to help prepare writers for next month’s Zero Draft Thirty writing challenge.

Interview (Part 4): James Acker

My interview with the 2020 Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting winner.

The Business of Screenwriting: They will pigeonhole you (and why this can be a good thing)

The co-star of K-9 was a dog named Jerry Lee.

Page One: ‘The Bridge on the River Kwai’ (1957)

Screenplay by Carl Foreman, Michael Wilson (originally uncredited), novel by Pierre Boulle

2021 Zero Draft Thirty March Challenge: Story Prep — Index Cards!

A series to help prepare writers for next month’s Zero Draft Thirty writing challenge.

Interview (Part 3): James Acker

My interview with the 2020 Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting winner.

Three Keys to Writing in a Distracting World

I become fully engaged in my writing when I am fully engaged with my characters.

Page One: ‘Bridesmaids’ (2011)

Written by Kristen Wiig, Annie Mumolo

2021 Zero Draft Thirty March Challenge: Story Prep — “What if…”

A series to help prepare writers for next month’s Zero Draft Thirty writing challenge.

Interview (Part 2): James Acker

My interview with the 2020 Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting winner.

Screenwriting 101: Nancy Meyers

“I think it’s a mistake to write something you think people will like, or a combination idea, or this year’s version of last year’s movie…

Page One: ‘Breaking Away’ (1979)

Written by Steve Tesich

First off, congratulations on your writing success.

As your comments suggest, established working screenwriters don’t have to worry about this. Great! Indeed, maybe that attitude is drifting…