Screenwriting From Iowa

“I like to feel with absolute certainty that the fundamental idea for the film is, without a doubt, an exceptional premise, one that implies that a film must be made from it, without question.” Screenwriter Terry Rossio Interview with John Robert Marlow “I hear lots of concepts from new scribes and rarely do any resonate […]

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Did you know there is an interesting connection between Game of Thrones director David Nutter and Pro Football Hall-of-Fame quarterback Jim Kelly? Back in the early 80s both were students at the University of Miami. (I was there and for a fleeting moment crossed paths with both of them on their way to greatness.) Kelly went on […]

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“I love comedies, musicals, and thrillers like everybody else, but I confess to believing action pictures are what movies are most essentially all about. It’s the work they do best and uniquely best. I don’t mean action movies are better; in fact, most of them are actually a lot worse than the norm. But the […]

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“I personally don’t think that being in LA is necessary to break in as a writer, but it certainly can’t hurt. I would hesitate to advise anyone to just quit their job and throw everything into a U-Haul and drive off to LA on a wing and a prayer. There are too many sad stories […]

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“I think every writer working in the studio system secretly fantasizes about buying a couple of 7Ds and shooting their own script without any interference. I see people doing it, and man, does it look fun. I love that kids can make their own movies now. I even love that Vine exists. When I was […]

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“A warmth radiates through Ricki and the Flash like a song sung true.” NPR review/Meryl Streep Shines in ‘Ricki And The Flash’ “When I wrote [Ricki and the Flash] I was thinking micro-indie, honestly. I just wrote it on spec and I did not think there would be any interest in it. I still believe the only reason this […]

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“A warmth radiates through Ricki and the Flash like a song sung true.” NPR review/Meryl Streep Shines in ‘Ricki And The Flash’ “When I wrote [Ricki and the Flash] I was thinking micro-indie, honestly. I just wrote it on spec and I did not think there would be any interest in it. I still believe the only reason this […]

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The best advice I ever heard about writing came from Paddy Chayefsky — he, of Network and The Hospital. He also wrote Marty. (That’s three Oscars.) Chayefsky’s advice to writers was simple: Don’t think of it as art, think of it as work. Because when a writer is stuck and he or she calls in another writer for help, that second […]

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“Any novel has the advantage of being able to describe both external behavior and internal behavior, as well as any exposition that can be ladled on. Screenplays don’t have that luxury at all. It’s watching external behavior… Now that’s violated sometimes because sometimes there’s massive narrations with exposition, and [describing] where we were, and what I’m thinking. [In Fight Club] we […]

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“A logline conveys the dramatic story of a screenplay in the most abbreviated manner possible.” Christopher Lockhart The Construction of a Logline (Get this free PDF.) Today is a mash-up with screenwriter Jim Uhls (nicknamed Professor Peculiar) of comments he made about pitching years ago on The Dialogue interview with Mike De Luca and a CreativeLive […]

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