Go Into The Story

Daily Dialogue theme next week: Police

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Script Analysis: “First Reformed” — Part 6: Takeaways

Read the Oscar-nominated screenplay and analyze it this week.

Daily Dialogue — March 23, 2019

“Bombed last night and bombed the night before,  Going to get bombed tonight if we never get bombed any more.  When we’re bombed we’re…

2019 Zero Draft Thirty March Challenge: Day 22

One month. FADE IN to FADE OUT. Creativity meets Productivity.

Learn the Craft

Being a screenwriter is much more than just writing a script.

Script Analysis: “First Reformed” — Part 5: Dialogue

Read the Oscar-nominated screenplay and analyze it this week.

Writing and the Creative Life: The Curse of Shiny Object Syndrome

“It’s not quite ADD/ADHD. It’s more that a new idea captures your imagination and attention in such a way that you get distracted from the…

Daily Dialogue — March 22, 2019

“No prisoners! No prisoners!”

2019 Zero Draft Thirty March Challenge: Day 21

One month. FADE IN to FADE OUT. Creativity meets Productivity.

“Screenplays are stories, not formulas”

William Goldman has famously written, “Screenplays are structure.” That is true in a tangible sense because at some point, a script…

Script Analysis: “First Reformed” — Part 4: Themes

Read the Oscar-nominated screenplay and analyze it this week.

The Business of Screenwriting: The Value of Three Scripts

You write, you learn. And three scripts is a minimum for knowing the craft.

Daily Dialogue — March 21, 2019

Steve Trevor: This is no man’s land, Diana! It means no man can cross it, alright? This battalion has been here for nearly a year and…

2019 Zero Draft Thirty March Challenge: Day 20

One month. FADE IN to FADE OUT. Creativity meets Productivity.

There is no right way to write

Learn all you can, but ultimately it’s about your Stories and your Creative Self.

Script Analysis: “First Reformed” — Part 3: Characters

Read the Oscar-nominated screenplay and analyze it this week.

Great Scene: “The Big Lebowski”

“Donny was a good bowler, and a good man. He was one of us.”

Daily Dialogue — March 20, 2019

Col. Robinson and Major Barton communicating by telephone.

2019 Zero Draft Thirty March Challenge: Day 20

One month. FADE IN to FADE OUT. Creativity meets Productivity.

2019 Zero Draft Thirty March Challenge: Day 19

One month. FADE IN to FADE OUT. Creativity meets Productivity.

Reader Question: What’s about including specific songs in a spec script?

“There is a supposed rule that a writer cannot use a recorded song in a screenplay. Unlike many of the other ‘rules,’ at least this one is…

Script Analysis: “First Reformed” — Part 2: Plot

Read the Oscar-nominated screenplay and analyze it this week.

Screenwriting 101: Michael Arndt

On Tuesday, May 23, 2000, at 4:27 p.m., I sat down to write LMS [Little Miss Sunshine]. I wrote twelve pages the first day, thirty-seven…

Daily Dialogue — March 19, 2019

Willi von Klugermann: By the way, Stachel… there’s an impression around that… you care more about your unconfirmed kill than you do about…

Script Analysis: “First Reformed” — Part 1: Scene By Scene Breakdown

Read the Oscar-nominated screenplay and analyze it this week.