Go Into The Story

Daily Dialogue — May 30, 2018

Margot Robbie: [In a bubble bath with a glass of champagne] Basically, Lewis Ranieri’s mortgage bonds were amazingly profitable for the big…

Reader Question: How to handle a character who changes names?

When in doubt, check out actual movie scripts to see how the pros handle it — and we do with the screenplay for Tootsie.

Interview (Part 2): Amy Berg

My Q&A with a top Hollywood TV showrunner.

Go Into The Story Resource: The Story Behind Script Coverage

Script readers are Hollywood’s threshold guardians, so it behooves writers to try to understand their mindset.

Screenwriting 101: Liz Hannah

“Read everything you can. Read every script you can bad, good. Read Paddy Chayefsky’s collected works. That’s probably the best place to…

Daily Dialogue — May 29, 2018

Mr. Potter: [on the telephone] George, there is a rumor around town that you closed your doors. Is that true? [pause] Oh, well, I’m very…

Pound Out That First Draft!

Go from FADE IN to FADE OUT in my upcoming online writing workshop. Starts June 11th!

Interview (Part 1): Amy Berg

My Q&A with a top Hollywood TV showrunner.

Go Into The Story Resource: The Spirit of the Spec

Creativity meets Productivity in the 5 stages of writing a spec script.

On Writing

“Think of your main characters as dinner guests. Would your friends want to spend ten hours with the characters you’ve created? Your…

Daily Dialogue — May 28, 2018

Grumpy: That’s a lot of money. If this Joker guy was so smart, he’d have had us bring a bigger car. [promptly draws his gun and points it a…

Mark, people who do NOT analyze scripts and movies to depth do themselves a disservice when it…

So you, Dave, and others who take the time to do script and movie breakdowns, then reflect on the story’s inner working, that’s a leg up…

Screenwriting News (May 21-May 27, 2018)

The week’s writing deals and movie project news.

Go Into The Story Movie Analysis: “The Silence of the Lambs”

The entire 6 part series delving into this critically acclaimed movie.

Interview (Video): Edgar Wright

An extended conversation with the writer-director of Baby Driver

Daily Dialogue — May 27, 2018

Gust Avrakotos: Promises were made! Cravely: Not by me. Gust Avrakotos: I’ve been with the company for twenty-four years. I was posted in…

Great to hear and appreciate your comments during the week.

Re ‘masks’: This is yet another reason why working with character archetypes can be so helpful in both character development and…

Saturday Hot Links

Time for the 343rd installment of Saturday Hot Links, your week’s essential reading about movies, TV, streaming, Hollywood, and other…

Movie Analysis: “The Silence of the Lambs” — Part 6: Takeaways

Watch this critically acclaimed movie and analyze it all week.

Go Into The Story Resource: An Argument Against Screenplay Formulas

We end up with a ceaseless cesspool of formulaic crap carving its way into and ultimately out of Hollywood movie and TV development…

Daily Dialogue theme next week: Bank

Join the Daily Dialogue crew: 3,663 consecutive days and counting.

Daily Dialogue — May 26, 2018

“You know what makes you feel okay about losing? Winning.”

Interesting observations, Dave, and clearly Clarice is trying to put some distance between herself…

Your comments made me think even more about the connection between Clarice and Buffalo Bill. While he is sewing a physical female body…

Reader Question: Are there differences between seeking representation with a manager versus and…

The answer is yes. As one manager put it to me: “Agents wear suits, managers wear blue jeans.” Why that makes a big difference to you.

Go Into The Story Resource: Character Introductions

Everything you need to know about the subject… and probably more.