MM on Monday · 6 min

Sex in Screenwriting (6)

In Boys Don’t Cry, you may recall the moment when Teena is arrested and in jail Candace discovers her secret. Then Candace tells Lana who quickly…

Best of the Web · 1 min

Best o/t Web 22 Aug

:: Joss Whedon discusses Captain America :: Facebook meddles with Social Network script :: In praise of Toy Story 3 (and Pixar as a whole) ::…

Story & Structure · 5 min

Structure: Elephant In The Room (3)

The physical structure of screenplays does “the carrying” up on the surface or plot level in any grouping of components which the writer deems necessary and…

Book Reviews · 3 min

Writing Drama (12)

Yves Lavandier's book Writing Drama currently rates as the absolute favorite of our book reviewer Jack Brislee. To give you the opportunity to delve into Lavandier's…

Video · 1 min

Video: Save The Cat

If you've heard of Blake Snyder but never read any of his books, you might wonder what that Save The Cat phrase really is about. Using four examples…

MM on Monday · 6 min

Sex in Screenwriting (5)

Okay, a couple of thoughts about Eyes Wide Shut. We know that with Kubrick, his movies aren’t always about the lead character’s journey. He doesn’t write…

Best of the Web · 1 min

Best o/t Web 15 Aug

:: The future of Story in Bollywood. :: Writing with a partner. :: "310" the secret to screenwriting success. :: Screenwriting is like gambling: Spec vs. OWA.…

Story & Structure · 4 min

Structure: Elephant In The Room (2)

You've got to bear with me here. Computer networks are designed according to topologies: notions of the layout of the computers on the network in relation…

Book Reviews · 6 min

Writing Drama (11)

Yves Lavandier's book Writing Drama currently rates as the absolute favorite of our book reviewer Jack Brislee.To give you the opportunity to delve into Lavandier's amazing…

Video · 1 min

Video: David Mamet

Here is an interview from a few years back in which Mamet explains what drama is all about. And it's not character development. It's about "Get…

MM on Monday · 6 min

Sex in Screenwriting (4)

Screenwriter David Freeman’s wrote a great book The Last Days of Alfred Hitchcock. David worked with Hitch on what would’ve been his final film, called The…

Best of the Web · 1 min

Best o/t Web 8 Aug 10

:: Martin Scorcese on story versus plot. :: Stuck for ideas? Look around you in everyday life. :: The psychological process from disunity to unity, Inception's…

Story & Structure · 4 min

Structure: Elephant In The Room

Story structure has become a riddle. We have bona fide experts, people with solid credentials, telling us story structure is critical. Many argue that story structure comes…

Book Reviews · 3 min

Writing Drama (10)

Yves Lavandier's book Writing Drama currently rates as the absolute favorite of our book reviewer Jack Brislee. To give you the opportunity to delve into Lavandier's…

Pitching & Selling · 1 min

Michael Wiese teaches script pitching

Most questions I receive from screenwriters are about how and where to pitch. In fairness, their scripts are rarely ready for pitching. But for those few…