Go Into The Story

2018 Dialogue-Writing Challenge: Day 20

A chance for you to work on your dialogue chops and win free prizes!

Screenwriting 101: Ben Jacoby

“A lot of scripts are minimalist now, they have a lot of white space on the page. And that can be great. But I’d rather have a few extra…

Daily Dialogue — January 30, 2018

“The horror. The horror.”

Keys to Handling Exposition

Take my 1-week online class to learn ways to make exposition entertaining.

Script Analysis: “Coco” — Part 1: Scene By Scene Breakdown

Read the script for the hit Pixar movie and analyze it all this week.

2018 Dialogue-Writing Challenge: Day 19

A chance for you to work on your dialogue chops and win free prizes!

On Writing

“First draft: Let it run. Turn all the knobs up to 11. Second draft: Hell. Cut it down and cut it into shape. Third draft: Comb its nose…

Daily Dialogue — January 29, 2018

“There’s nothing else. Just us. And the cameras. And those wonderful people out there in the dark.”

Videos: Academy Originals Screenwriter Interviews

Featuring John August, Ava DuVernay, Eric Roth, Aline Brosh McKenna, David Seidler, Dustin Lance Black, and more.

2017 Spec Script Deals

Comprehensive analysis of all the reported spec script deals in 2017.

2018 Dialogue-Writing Challenge: Week 4

Writing prompts #14–18. Practice writing dialogue. Win a free class with me.

Interview (Audio): Rian Johnson

A deep dive into the writing and making of ‘The Last Jedi’.

Daily Dialogue — January 28, 2018

“What’s in the box?”

Daily Dialogue theme next week: Whisper

Join the Daily Dialogue crew: 3,544 consecutive days and counting.

Spec Script Deals Analysis 2017: First-Timers

As we continue our analysis of spec script sales in 2017, today we check out the first-timers, writers who broke into the business by…

Saturday Hot Links

Time for the 326th installment of Saturday Hot Links, your week’s essential reading about movies, TV, streaming, Hollywood, and other…

The next Go Into The Story Reading and Analysis Script: “Coco”

Read the script for the hit animated comedy and analyze it next week.

Daily Dialogue — January 27, 2018

“Is it safe?”

Reader Question: Is it useful to read a bad script to see what not to do?

Can we learn something from slogging through bad screenplays?

Spec Script Deals Analysis 2017: Top Sales

Continuing our week long analysis of spec script sales from 2017, today we look at the deals with the biggest payoffs (at least as reported…

2018 Dialogue-Writing Challenge: Day 18

A chance for you to work on your dialogue chops and win free prizes!

Writing and the Creative Life: “Creativity-In-Action”

What exactly is creativity and how do we foster it? This is not only a question of interest to people involved in the arts. There is a lot…

Daily Dialogue — January 26, 2018

“You know how to whistle, don’t you, Steve?”

Andrew Stanton TED Talk: “Clues to a Great Story”

A 10-part series analyzing the Pixar writer-director’s TED Talk.

2017 Spec Script Deals Analysis: Agents & Managers

We continue our week-long analysis of spec script deals in 2017. Today: Agents and Managers.