Go Into The Story

Reader Question: Does a story absolutely need an antagonist?

Reader question from Manwhit: hey scott, does a script absolutely need an antagonist character? is it possible to just create obstacles to what a character wants and not have them emanate from antagonists? for example, can there just be obstacles created by the circumstances of the outside world or even

“Writing Strong Female Characters: What You’re Doing Wrong”

If you look at movies currently in theaters, there are several with female leads: Furiosa (Mad Max: Fury Road), Casey Newton (Tomorrowland), Susan Cooper (Spy), and Pitch Perfect 2 which features several roles played by women. With that in mind, I was interested to read a blog entry by author

Script Analysis: “All Is Lost” — Part 4: Psychological Journey

Reading scripts. Absolutely critical to learn the craft of screenwriting. The focus of this weekly series is a deep structural and thematic analysis of each script we read. Our daily schedule: Monday: Scene-By-Scene Breakdown Tuesday: Major Plot Points Wednesday: Sequences Thursday: Psychological Journey Friday: Takeaways Today: Psychological Journey.

2015 Scene-Writing Challenge: Day 14

For the third straight year, June is Scene-Writing Month here at Go Into The Story. Every Monday-Friday at noon Eastern / 9AM Pacific, I will upload a post with a scene-writing prompt. Each day, write a scene per those guidelines. Upload your scene here in the comments section

The Business of Screenwriting: Everything you wanted to know about specs [Part 12]

Spec scripts, that is. I’m guessing that perhaps 90% of the people who follow this blog at some point in their lives will write a spec script. And the other 10% are involved in buying and selling them. In light of that fact, last year I interviewed a top

Daily Dialogue — June 18, 2015

OOGWAY: I see you have found the sacred peach tree of heavenly wisdom. PO: Oh, is that what this is? I’m so sorry, I thought it was just a regular peach tree. OOGWAY: I understand. You eat when you are upset. PO: Upset? I’m not upset. Why…why…

Reader Question: Are there no “great scripts,” only “great films”?

Mark, for purposes of context, I visited Mr. McDowell’s IMDb page. And just as I suspected: Whereas he has 245 acting credits, he has only 1 for writing and that for something called Rag Tale (3.8 rating), script by Mary McGuckian with McDowell receiving a “devised in collaboration

“Mad Max: Fury Road” and moments

Yesterday I posted A Story’s “Second Music”. In it, I featured a poem by Annie Lighthart, focusing on these words: “Now I understand that there are two melodies playing, one below the other, one easier to hear, the other… lower, steady, perhaps more faithful for being less heard yet

Script Analysis: “All Is Lost” — Part 3: Sequences

Reading scripts. Absolutely critical to learn the craft of screenwriting. The focus of this weekly series is a deep structural and thematic analysis of each script we read. Our daily schedule: Monday: Scene-By-Scene Breakdown Tuesday: Major Plot Points Wednesday: Sequences Thursday: Psychological Journey Friday: Takeaways Today: Sequences. A

2015 Scene-Writing Challenge: Day 13

For the third straight year, June is Scene-Writing Month here at Go Into The Story. Every Monday-Friday at noon Eastern / 9AM Pacific, I will upload a post with a scene-writing prompt. Each day, write a scene per those guidelines. Upload your scene here in the comments section

From the GITS Archives: A connection between WALL-E and ALIEN?

Following up on an interview featured here, another interview with WALL-E writer-director Andrew Stanton. Here’s an interesting note about the approach to scene description Stanton adopted for this script: “The only thing I did that was a little unconventional, is the manner in which I formatted the

Daily Dialogue — June 17, 2015

The Schofield Kid: Was that what it was like in the old days Will? Everybody riding out, shooting, smoke all over the place, folks yelling, bullets whizzing by? Will Munny: I guess so. The Schofield Kid: Shit, I thought they was going to get us. I was even scared a

Twitter Rant: Brian Koppelman on Writing Advice and the Courage to Risk Failure

Brian Koppelman is a writer, director and producer whose movie credits include Rounders, Ocean’s Thirteen, and Runaway Jury. He is also known for his excellent podcast “The Moment” and a popular Vine series on writing and the creative life. Recently Brian went on a Twitter rant in three parts.

Script Analysis: “All Is Lost” — Part 2: Major Plot Points

Reading scripts. Absolutely critical to learn the craft of screenwriting. The focus of this weekly series is a deep structural and thematic analysis of each script we read. Our daily schedule: Monday: Scene-By-Scene Breakdown Tuesday: Major Plot Points Wednesday: Sequences Thursday: Psychological Journey Friday: Takeaways Today: Major Plot

2015 Scene-Writing Challenge: Day 12

For the third straight year, June is Scene-Writing Month here at Go Into The Story. Every Monday-Friday at noon Eastern / 9AM Pacific, I will upload a post with a scene-writing prompt. Each day, write a scene per those guidelines. Upload your scene here in the comments section

Screenwriting 101: Norman Krasna

“When you are committed to the skeleton of a beginning, a middle and an end, the cleverness is in concealing the skeleton. This is a cliche, but you have to surprise them with what they expect. It has to be an odd way of telling it, but they want to

Daily Dialogue — June 16, 2015

Martin and ancient Sister Hildegard are arguing as Philomena enters the room. Philomena: Stop, stop! I’m sorry. I didn’t want to bring him in here like this to make a scene. Martin: Why are you apologizing? Anthony was dying of AIDS, and she still wouldn’t tell him

Why haven’t you finished that script?

You know, that story you’ve been kicking around for months. Maybe it’s pretty well worked out, but you just can’t summon up the energy to type FADE IN. Or you have a partial draft and you’re stuck, not sure which way to go. Or a story

Interview: TJ Cimfel and David White

Recently I had the opportunity to interview TJ Cimfel and David White, screenwriters of the horror movie Shut In, starring Martin Starr, Beth Riesgraf, and Rory Culkin, and directed by Adam Schindler. Here are links to the seven installments of the entire interview: Part 1: “Creativity to me is a

Script Analysis: “All Is Lost” — Part 1: Scene By Scene Breakdown

Reading scripts. Absolutely critical to learn the craft of screenwriting. The focus of this weekly series is a deep structural and thematic analysis of each script we read. Our daily schedule: Monday: Scene-By-Scene Breakdown Tuesday: Major Plot Points Wednesday: Sequences Thursday: Psychological Journey Friday: Takeaways Today: Scene-By-

Spec Script Deal: “Free Fall”

Universal Pictures acquires spec script “Free Fall” written by Gregg Maxwell Parker and Sean Finegan. From Deadline: When a man joins his estranged daughter on a mountain climb in an attempt to repair their relationship, a tragic accident leaves them stranded hundreds of feet in the air. As a storm

2015 Scene-Writing Challenge: Day 11

For the third straight year, June is Scene-Writing Month here at Go Into The Story. Every Monday-Friday at noon Eastern / 9AM Pacific, I will upload a post with a scene-writing prompt. Each day, write a scene per those guidelines. Upload your scene here in the comments section

On Writing

“Curiosity is the most powerful thing you own.” — James Cameron

Daily Dialogue — June 15, 2015

Miyagi: Oh, missed spot. Daniel: What spot? Hey, hey, how come you didn’t tell me you were going fishing? Miyagi: You not here when I go. Daniel: Well maybe I would have wanted to go. Ever think of that? Miyagi: You karate training. Daniel: I’m what? I’m

Go Into The Story Week In Review: June 8-June 14, 2015

Links to this week’s most notable posts: 2015 Scene-Writing Challenge: Week 2 Daily Dialogue theme for next week: Wisdom Go Into The Story Movie Analysis: Mad Max: Fury Road Interview (Audio): Frederick Mensch, Elliott Lester, David Oyelowo (“Nightengale”) Interview (Video): Richard Matheson Interview (Written): Tess Morris Knock out