It’s a simple question: “How do you write an effective, engaging story?”Ask Lisa Cron. An accomplished author and story coach, she has just published her second book, Story Genius (subtitle: How to Use Brain Science to Go...

Every screenwriter has toiled for years on their film and TV scripts. They’ve written, got screenplay feedback and rewritten their scripts. You may have even attracted the interest of a literary agent or manager who’ve helped your polish...

As you probably know, the best way to master any creative craft is to study and learn from the best.In the way Picasso’s early work owes a massive debt to Van Gogh, Woody Allen based his persona on Bob Hope, and Jimi Hendrix learnt all he...

The Nice Guys follows private detective Holland March (Ryan Gosling) and thug-for-hire Jackson Healy (Russell Crowe) as they team up on the trail of a missing girl – a case which leads them deep into the seedy underworld of 1970s Los...

Write what you know - AnonymousThis quote has been an old saw for writers for as long as I can remember, but its meaning has always been obscured.I’m currently a judge for the screenwriting competition at the Austin Film Festival and others,...

Aaron Sorkin has one of the most distinctive voices in the business. From A Few Good Men to The Social Network and The West Wing, he is best known for his intelligent and witty dialogue. His latest venture is an online...

I’ve often wondered what makes a successful writer. I’ve tossed around many attributes like talent and connections but the one thing I keep coming back to is productivity. A successful writer is one who writes. Who actually writes....

Lane Shefter Bishop isn’t kidding when she laughs, “I have such an eclectic background.” Not only is she a multi-award winning producer and director (including an Emmy and six Telly Awards), but she’s also the CEO of Vast Entertainment, a...

Another incredible Fast Track Week has come and gone! This season, our Fellows, Vandon Gibbs and Elena Perez, spent a week being mentored by eight top-level agents, managers and producers, including reps from CAA, Endless Media, 1993 & more. They...

Daniel P. Calvisi is a writing coach and former Story Analyst for Twentieth Century and Miramax Films. His book, Story Maps: TV Drama: The Structure of the One-Hour Television Pilot, follows his earlier Story Maps: How to Write a GREAT...

“Bad for glass,” mutters private eye Jake Gittes in Robert Towne’s Chinatown. When the statement is first heard in the story, it is merely Jake’s culturally insensitive remark about the inability of Evelyn...

As a practiced script consultant, Jill Chamberlain has read more scripts than most individuals have seen movies. In her research, she has discovered that 99 percent of first-time writers are missing the fundamental step in writing: to tell a...

Reverse Cause and Effect is a unique development tool that enables you to wade into a complex mix of story material and pull it together into a tight sequence of events. Cause and effect is a crucial part of good screenwriting because Plot Point A...

Imagine that there was one foolproof way to come up with a story for your screenplay.Well, keep dreaming. It’s all well and good to think up incredible ideas. In the end, though, a screenwriter has to turn them into something.Workable story...

Jack Garman went to film school at Los Angeles Valley College and then, five years ago, began to read scripts for various production companies. He has read and given notes on hundreds of scripts. He has worked with Gallagher Literary as a Reader and...

With over twenty-five years of professional story development and screenwriting experience, and nearly two decades of teaching screenwriting at the MFA level, I’ve had the opportunity to collaborate on hundreds of screenplays and films. During...

Quentin Tarantino’s The Hateful Eight had a notoriously difficult route to the screen. In January 2014, barely two months after the writer/director had announced he was working on a second Western after 2012’s Django...

Another successful Pitch Challenge and Panel has come and gone! We were so impressed by the quality and diversity of all of the submissions we received. It was definitely difficult to narrow it down to our three winners.At our Virtual Pitch Panel,...

Comparing two drafts of a script can be hugely instructive, revealing point-by-point how a writer went about improving the story. When I stumbled upon an earlier draft of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, I discovered a dazzling, glittering...

Having been in the script consultancy business for some time, if I had to name the single most significant factor as to why a spec screenplay does or doesn’t get picked up, there’s one in my opinion that towers head and shoulders above...