What goes into writing a great movie script?

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

Actors give better feedback than writers do.

The DSM 5 is a wonderful character compendium.

Wing and Walmart are bringing drone delivery to 100 new stores - The Verge

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

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.

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

Not just genes: After 17 years of study, scientist discovers just 1 lifestyle change that could easily ad - Times of India

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

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

Research the facts and then throw away the research.

Jonathan Anderson has been appointed sole creative director of Dior - Vogue Business

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

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

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.

Jenny from Perth writes – my partner is the life of the party, women and men adore him. But at home, he gets angry at us for the silliest reasons and never nice words me or our kids, always putting us down. Should I stay or leave him?

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

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

Make sure to pack enough explosives into the rocket.

Democrats be honest, how many of you were wishing that Musk rescue space flight blew up?

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

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.

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.

I’ve a dismissive avoidant partner who said that he’s overwhelmed by our relationship and that he wants to break up, how do I get him back?

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

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

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.

Why do liberals have a problem with masculine men like Andrew Tate?

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

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

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

Americans Could See Electric Bills Jump 4% in the Summer Heat - PYMNTS.com