Five Great Car-Based Dialogue Scenes—and What They Teach Screenwriters Most car scenes in movies suck. They’re static, filled with bad exposition, and often used as cheap transitions between more “important” locations. Screenwriters sometimes rely on movement or weird scenarios to make dialogue feel interesting—a strategy given the memorable name “The Pope in the Pool” by … Read more
Successful Morning Routines for Screenwriters: Writing Before the World Wakes Up Inspiration doesn’t always strike on a schedule—but deadlines and distractions arise at any time. In an industry driven by both creativity and productivity, the elusive “perfect writing routine” can provide much-needed consistency. Naturally, many screenwriters identify as night owls, including me. In fact, there’s … Read more
Five Lesser-Known Romantic Comedies — and the Lessons They Teach Screenwriters Today From the sharply-scripted screwballs of the ’30s to the high-concept, cloying, hyper-PC Netflix hits of the 2020s, the genre has continually evolved—and not often for the better. Many contemporary rom-coms sell because apparently someone–teenage girls?–will always watch them. They are plodding, paint-by-number plots, … Read more
Three-Act vs. Five-Act Structure: How Story Shapes Screenwriting Whether you’re writing a superhero epic or a dialogue-heavy indie drama, the underlying architecture of your script matters just as much as your characters and themes. Without a coherent structure, your story lacks rhythm, progression, and emotional payoff. In screenwriting, the two primary narrative frameworks are the … Read more
7 Proven Ways to Level Up Your Screenwriting Skills The craft of screenwriting is a lifelong education. Mastering it doesn’t happen overnight—it happens page by page, scene by scene, and draft by draft. Screenwriting is storytelling in architecture. Your screenplay is a blueprint–it’s not a completed work–yet this blueprint must evoke emotion, reveal character, advance … Read more
7 Lessons in Comedy Writing from Animal House “This situation absolutely requires a really stupid and futile gesture be done on somebody’s part.” — Eric “Otter” Stratton Recently, Chuck Palahniuk suggested that his subscribers rewatch the 1978 comedy classic National Lampoon’s Animal House. Not that I really need any excuse, but I hadn’t seen it … Read more
How to Handle Rejection as a Screenwriter Staying Resilient, Professional, and Creative When the Industry Says “No” Rejection is inevitable. Scripts will be passed on. Coverage will be brutal. Contests will ghost you. Even when you do everything “right,” the answer might still be no — or maybe you hear nothing — or worse, you … Read more
7 Tips for Writing a Horror Screenplay That Truly Terrifies How to Write a Horror Script That Gets Under the Skin Writing a horror screenplay is not just telling a story — it’s conjuring fear, tension, dread, and release. But crafting an effective horror script is more than just slamming doors, jump scares, and blood-soaked … Read more
Do Screenwriting Books Actually Help? An Honest Look Screenwriting how-tos such as Save the Cat, Story by Robert McKee, or John Truby’s The Anatomy of Story are staples on the shelves of emerging writers. You might even see them on the shelves of the rare professional as well! But this ubiquity raises an important question: … Read more
How to Write a Memorable Scene In every truly great film, there will be at least one–but hopefully more than one!–scene that lodges itself in the audience’s memory. The horse’s head in the bed. Marvin’s head exploding. Ash getting strangled by his own severed hand. Leo crawling down the stairs to the Lamborghini. Zuul living … Read more
