Go Into The Story

Write “Yes” pages

Advice to screenwriters from a literary manager.

Screenwriting Tip: How to Handle Blocks of Scene Description

Think of each paragraph as a camera shot… with a catch.

Page One: “The Wild Robot” (2024)

Screenplay Chris Sanders, book by Peter Brown

Screenwriting Tip: The Six Word Test

If you’re having trouble finding the focus of your story, try this test.

Spec Script Deal: “Alignment”

Fifth Season and Makeready acquire thriller spec script “Alignment” written by Natan Dotan. Via THR:

Page One: “Inside Out 2” (2024)

Screenplay by Meg LeFauve and Dave Holstein, story by Kelsey Mann and Meg LeFauve

2024 Award Season Screenplay Downloads — 6 New Scripts

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

30 Things About Screenwriting: “Go into the story and find the animals”

Writing wisdom from a three year-old boy: My son Luke.

Page One: “Heavy Metal” (1981)

Screenplay by Daniel Goldberg & Len Blum

Video: “What is subtext?”

Another in the excellent screenwriting series Raising the Stakes.

30 Things About Screenwriting: “The only way out is through”

Imagine the process of writing a story as being a journey. Perhaps as you embark on your adventure, you have a map — an outline or beat…

Page One: “Heaven Can Wait” (1978)

Screenplay by Elaine May and Warren Beatty, based upon a play by Harry Segal

30 Things About Screenwriting: The Spirit of the Spec

The creative empowerment of writing a spec script.

Screenwriting 101: Carter Blanchard

“Writing a script is like running a marathon. But it’s also about training for that marathon. Research, plotting, character work…”

Page One: “The Hate U Give” (2018)

Screenplay by Audrey Wells, based upon the novel by Angie Thomas

30 Things About Screenwriting: Minimum Words, Maximum Impact

I know the source of this mantra. It was one of my online screenwriting students. During a weekly live-chat session. I was going on and on…

On Writing

“There are so many different kinds of writing and so many ways to work that the only rule is this: do what works. Almost everything has…

Page One: “Harriet” (2019)

Screenplay by Gregory Allen Howard and Kasi Lemmons, story by Gregory Allen Howard

30 Things About Screenwriting: Test Your Story Concept

Five questions to ask about a story idea to assess its viability as a scripted project.

Spec Script Deal: “Test Drive”

Twentieth Century Studios acquires action spec script “Test Drive” written by Matt Venne. Via Deadline:

Page One: “Harlem Nights” (1989)

Written by Eddie Murphy

30 Things About Screenwriting: Set-up and Payoffs

One of the most important narrative elements screenwriters have available to us is set-ups and payoffs. The basic idea is this: We…

“Fear”

A poem by Khalil Gibran describes both the Protagonist’s journey … and the writer’s journey.

Page One: “The Happy Prince” (2018)

Written by Rupert Everett

30 Things About Screenwriting: 1, 2, 7, 14

Here is a simple formula about three things — Read Scripts. Watch Movies. Write Pages. — you need to do to expand and deepen your…