Screenwriting 101: Justin Marks
“Sometimes you’re swinging your way through a first draft like a blind miner with a pick-axe. That’s OK. Get it done, nothing else…Continue reading on Go Into The Story »
ScriptIdiot!
The Business of Screenwriting: Anatomy of a Deal (Part 3)
“Bottom line: That single idea which we worked up as a pitch results in a sale and what eventually turns out to be a three-year overall…Continue reading on Go Into The Story »
On Writing
“There is always a sheet of paper. There is always a pen. There is always a way out.”Continue reading on Go Into The Story »
The Business of Screenwriting: Anatomy of a Deal (Part 2)
“Warner Bros. They want to buy ‘Mr. President’.”Continue reading on Go Into The Story »
Screenwriting 101: Frances Marion
“It is true, of course, in an important sense, that a character exists only in his emotions and sensations. Without the expression of…Continue reading on Go Into The Story »
The Business of Screenwriting: Anatomy of a Deal (Part 1)
I’ve sold several pitches in Hollywood. This was the first.Continue reading on Go Into The Story »
On Writing
“It is better to fail in originality than succeed in imitation.”Continue reading on Go Into The Story »
The Coen Brothers and the Long Shadow of Authority Figures
If there is one thing about the craft writers hear ad nauseam, it’s this: There is no drama without conflict. And there is no story without drama.But why is conflict innate to drama and at the foundation of good storytelling?· Conflict generates tension: Whether the nature of the conflict is internal or external, as long as it is unresolved, it puts characters — and by extension script readers — into a state of stress and apprehension.·
Tweetstorm: Daniel Kunka on the one thing a Hollywood writer can control
“What I have excelled at (and what keeps me from having to find a real job) is doing the one thing that you have total control over —…Continue reading on Go Into The Story »
Screenwriting 101: Kelly Marcel
“Every scene has to be doing something. It has to be moving the story along, peeling off a layer of the onion so to speak. The goal in its…Continue reading on Go Into The Story »
Go Into The Story interview: Tze Chun
My conversation with the film and TV writer, director, producer, and showrunner.Continue reading on Go Into The Story »
On Writing
“Strong characters act despite their fear, not because of it.”Continue reading on Go Into The Story »
The Business of Screenwriting: Don’t stand in water where you should be fishing
I use fishing as a metaphor for one’s approach to screenwriting. Seriously.Continue reading on Go Into The Story »
Screenwriting 101: Michael Mann
“All right, let me try an example. A story about a guy who’s been a bootlegger and a gunman who’s retiring to a rural part of the Midwest…Continue reading on Go Into The Story »
Tweetstorm: Melissa Hilfers on the attitude to have when taking a meeting
“No matter how many times you get knocked down not only must you get up, you must hold up your head knowing that last guy was a fool for…Continue reading on Go Into The Story »
On Writing
“A writer has to have some kind of compulsive drive to do his work. If you don’t have it, you’d better find another kind of work, because…Continue reading on Go Into The Story »
Go Into The Story interview: Michael Arndt
My conversationwith the screenwriter of Little Miss Sunshine and Toy Story 3 about his video: “Endings: The Good, the Bad and the Insanely Great”.As any longstanding Go Into The Story reader is likely aware, I am a big fan of screenwriter Michael Arndt. Not only are Little Miss Sunshine and Toy Story 3 some of my favorite movies, but Michael is one of those writers who actually cares about people engaged in learning the craft.His educational outreach includes creating videos. You may recall one
Screenwriting 101: David Mamet
“I suggest that everyone get Francis Ferguson’s edition of Aristotle’s Poetics. Read it once — it’ll make the point — and then retire to…Continue reading on Go Into The Story »
The Business of Screenwriting: Do you know your stuff?
It’s one thing to write a script. It’s another thing to understand the craft.Continue reading on Go Into The Story »
The Business of Screenwriting: Do you know your stuff?
It’s one thing to write a script. It’s another thing to understand the craft.For over a decade, I have taught screenwriting at a major university, first part-time at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, now full-time as an assistant professor at the DePaul University School of Cinematic Arts.Every year at least some of the graduating seniors, busily working on a feature length screenplay or original TV pilot script, ask me about how they should go about trying to sell t
