What goes into writing a great movie script?

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.

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

Make sure to pack enough explosives into the rocket.

What’s something you’ve learned that you think everyone should know, but nobody talks about?

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.

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

Can you provide a list of cities named after animals and the animals they were named after?

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.

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

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

What is a challenge you never want to face?

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

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

The DSM 5 is a wonderful character compendium.

How can I effectively remove vocals from a song without affecting the music quality?

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

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.

Actors give better feedback than writers do.

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

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

Research the facts and then throw away the research.

What are your thoughts on Italian nationalist poet Gabriele D'Annunzio, who was the subject of the documentary "Fiume o morte!"?

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

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

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

Is it still wrong to spread misinformation even if it's only to troll people rather than harming them?

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.

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

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.

Circle’s buzzy IPO was a big hit. Now comes the hard part. - MarketWatch