Go Into The Story

2018 Dialogue-Writing Challenge: Day 17

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

The Business of Screenwriting: Everybody gets rewritten in Hollywood

And by ‘everybody’, I mean EVERYBODY!

Daily Dialogue — January 25, 2018

“You’ve gotta ask yourself a question: ‘Do I feel lucky?’ Well, do ya, punk?”

Reader Question: Are shorter feature spec scripts a trend?

Are spec scripts shrinking in terms of page count?

2018 Dialogue-Writing Challenge: Day 16

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

2017 Spec Script Sales Analysis: Buyers

Yesterday we looked at 2017 spec script deals by genre. Today we break down the numbers per major studios, mini-majors, subsidiaries…

Script To Screen: “Dead Poet’s Society”

The ending scene of the movie Dead Poet’s Society (written by Tom Schulman).

Daily Dialogue — January 24, 2018

“Shall we play a game?”

The Existential Questions of ‘Star Wars’

Three questions pulse within the heart of the Star Wars universe.

2017 Spec Script Deals Analysis: Genres

By my count, Hollywood studios, production companies, and financiers acquired 61 spec scripts in 2017. During this week, I’ll be breaking…

2018 Dialogue-Writing Challenge: Day 15

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

Screenwriting 101: David Guggenheim

“I think in a spec you need to make sure you’re hooking your reader in that first fifteen pages, and that it has a strong enough concept…

Daily Dialogue — January 23, 2018

“Aren’t you a little short for a stormtrooper?”

Private Script Workshops

On a limited basis, I work one-on-one with writers on their script project.

2017 Spec Script Deal List

Every year since I launched the blog in 2008, I do a week-long analysis of the recent year in terms of spec script deals. This week, we…

2018 Dialogue-Writing Challenge: Day 14

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

On Writing

“Talent is helpful in writing, but guts are absolutely necessary.”

Daily Dialogue — January 22, 2018

“Hey, Dad. You wanna have a catch?”

Franklin Leonard’s advice on screenwriting

The Black List founder gives his take on what the biggest mistake people make when writing a screenplay.

Go Into The Story Script Reading & Analysis: “The Big Sick”

The entire 6 part series delving into hit romantic drama-comedy.

2018 Dialogue-Writing Challenge: Week 3

Writing prompts #10–14. Practice writing dialogue. Win a free class with me.

Interview (Video): Abraham Polonsky

A hour-long conversation with the writer of classic movies ‘Body and Soul’, ‘Force of Evil’, and ‘Tell Them Willie Boy is Here’.

Daily Dialogue — January 21, 2018

“Let me tell you the story of Right Hand, Left Hand. It’s a tale of good and evil. Hate: it was with this hand that Cane iced his brother…

Daily Dialogue theme next week: Question

Join the Daily Dialogue crew: 3,537 consecutive days and counting.

Script Analysis: “The Big Sick” — Part 6: Takeaways

Read the script for the hit romantic comedy and analyze it all this week.