What goes into writing a great movie script?

All rules are made to be broken, but you damn well better know WHY you’re breaking them.

What you leave unwritten is as important as what you write. SUBTEXT.

Write in reverse time. Major characters need to change polarity; minor characters may remain the same at the end.

Bitcoin fans aren’t all sold on Trump’s meme coin - NBC News

Your primary job is to create situations. Modern actors will fuck up your dialogue, despite whatever your contract says.

Make sure to pack enough explosives into the rocket.

Cut everything that is not a payoff, or a setup for a specific payoff. “Omit needless words.” Think about the sparseness of joke telling, or Grimm Brothers.

10 Albums Out This Week You Should Listen to Now - Pitchfork

Primary characters must change polarities. Secondary characters can change less.

Actors give better feedback than writers do.

Use status to help drive conflict. King Lear/fool. Upstairs/downstairs.

Former MLB Star Suffers Serious Injury in Savannah Bananas Game - Sports Illustrated

A scene should change valence from beginning to end. Up to down, down to up.

To develop a unique voice for each character, try interviewing your characters.

Get up there yourself. Be in a movie. Take some acting (not writing) classes. Learn how a trained actor approaches a text. Learn why actors take roles. They do as much if not more than the writer does.

Unannounced And Petty: Southwest Fired Their Skycaps, Now Charges $3 To Check Bags At The Curb—After Saying They Wouldn’t - View from the Wing

A critical function of storytelling is wish fulfillment. This is why video games are so popular. “That protagonist is JUST LIKE ME.”

People choose what to see based on the high concept. Make sure to deliver an ending consistent with the high concept -- it is what the audience paid for.

Outline everything. Use story beats. Keep character’s mouths taped up, until they absolutely MUST speak. Write the script and the dialogue at the last minute, after you’ve revised the hell out of the outline.

How do individuals become targeted individuals? Is it solely due to experiencing stalking or harassment, or are there other factors involved?

Conflict is your power source; without it you have no drama and hence no script.

The DSM 5 is a wonderful character compendium.

Research the facts and then throw away the research.

People Who Have Been Stuck In A Coma Are Sharing What Happened, And Whoa - BuzzFeed

Leave holes. Write and unwrite. Put it in, take it out.

Don’t direct from the page. Everyone, from the director on down, wants to be part of the process of making movies. Let them do their work.

Audiences are smarter than you think. Something about turning down the house lights makes their IQs go up.

Why are women attracted to ugly guys?

Maintain a slush pile/idea file. When you are ready to write, choose the best seeds to plant.

Only God gets it right the first time. Rewrite everything.

Learn to tell a story orally and not through writing. Try telling your story to a friend.

What ESPN’s Football Power Index is projecting for Big 12 rivals BYU and Utah in 2025 - Deseret News