I call them the triple D’s of screenwriting: DreadEvery screenwriter experiences this eventually. You get to a place where it feels like it’s all over. You’ll never get that agent. The manager will never call you back. Will anyone...

Films right now are very expensive to make, and very expensive to market. Even TV series on streaming networks such as Netflix, Hulu, and HBO are dealing with multi-million-dollar film budgets per episode. If you're trying to work in Hollywood,...

Film and TV Jessica Sharzer wrote the first episode of the Steven Spielberg, Edward Kitsis, and Adam Horowitz executive produced series Amazing Stories for Apple TV. We caught up with her to discuss her work and her advice for aspiring...

“Know Your Space” Says Peter Katz From Story Driven:Manager/ Producer Peter Katz who heads Story Driven entered the film industry as an independent producer and has worked with some industry heavyweights including Adam Wingard (Home...

“I was always really enamored with entertainment, even as a small child,” said screenwriter Liz Feldman, adding, “so much so that at the age of ten, I asked for an agent for my birthday from my parents – not at all aware that’s not how it...

Character Arc: The King’s Speech:Movies are about transformation. We want to see someone change. It’s the reason we are drawn to sit in a dark room and eat popcorn with a bunch of strangers. But this transformation has to have a larger meaning....

“Musicals Bring You To A Place Where Tragedy & Joy Are Present At The Same Time” Tony Kushner Talks “West Side Story”:West Side Story draws strong inspiration from Romeo and Juliet, both of which explore themes of...

Ishana Night Shyamalan Talks “Servant”:“There are definitely elevated emotional stakes in season 3 of Servant,” said writer/director Ishana Night Shyamalan (daughter of M. Night Shyamalan). Baby Jericho and their nanny...

Subtext – The Beauty Of What’s Left Unsaid (Or Unwritten) In Your Screenplay:A problem I frequently come across as a screenwriting consultant and instructor is the tendency of writers to overwrite and to include too much on-the-nose...

With lots of activity around the publication of my new book “Murder Your Darlings: And Other Gentle Writing Advice from Aristotle to Zinsser,” I have been fielding lots of questions about productivity. It often comes in this form:...

“I Wanted To Be The Manager I Never Had” Says Jeff Belkin From Zero Gravity Management:Jeff Belkin represents screenwriters and directors for both film and television at Zero Gravity Management (Ozark, The Accountant). His stable of...

An interview with Sofia Coppola, and an examination of her Oscar-winning screenplay.When Sofia Coppola began writing Lost in Translation, her first original screenplay after her adaptation of The Virgin Suicides, she knew there were certain...

“Not A Film About Deafness” Siân Heder Talks ‘CODA’:CODA (Children Of Deaf Adults) began its creative life as a French film called La Famille Bélier (The Bélier Family) in 2014. Several years later, writer/ director Siân Heder (Orange...

“A World Of Words With Images” TV Writer Hagai Levi Talks ‘In Treatment’ & ‘Scenes From A Marriage’:Hagai Levi (The Affair, Be’Tipul, Our Boys) is a prolific. critically-acclaimed writer who has two TV show in Golden Globes...

Most books say you doSo do many of the screenwriting seminars. One of the better known gurus says there are two types of writers – those who figure out the story before they begin writing and those who fail. Pretty strong words.But knowing this is...

The Tender Bar is based on J.R. Moehringer’s touching, best-selling memoir about a boy yearning for surrogate fatherly guidance in Manhasset, Long Island. Oscar Winner William Monahan (The Departed, The Gambler) tells the coming of age tale of...

“Female Spies With Psychological Realities” Theresa Rebeck Talks ‘The 355’:Agent 355 was a female undercover spy that George Washington used during the Revolutionary War. She was part of the Culper Ring (Ladies’ Division) from 1788 –...

A white feather floats through the air, drifting high in the afternoon sky. As it drops, fluttering through clouds, “Paramount Pictures Presents” fades in with opening titles—“A Steve Tish/Wendy Finerman Production”—“A Robert Zemekis...

“Robert Stigwood Had A Good Sense Of Smell” Says John Maggio About HBO’s ‘Mr. Saturday Night’:Saturday Night Fever was a culture-defining movie of the 1970s. Platform shoes, flares, windswept hair… and don’t forget those expressive...

At the beginning of your screenplay, your hero should be in a state of inertia — settling for a life that may be emotionally safe and tolerable, but that lacks passion, risk and fulfilment. Their life might be filled with activity and even give...