ScriptIdiot!

Go Into The Story interview: Jeffrey Lieber

My talk with screenwriter and TV writer-producer whose credits include co-writing the pilot for the series Lost.Jeffrey Lieber was early and active presence on Twitter. A Hollywood writer whose movie credits include Tangled and Tuck Everlasting, and TV credits include Miami Medical, The Whole Truth, Pan Am, Necessary Roughness, Impulse, and NCIS: New Orleans, he offered sage advice to prospective screenwriters. In 2013, I conducted a Go Into The Story interview with him. Here it is in its entire

Screenwriting 101: Garry Marshall

"There are three different drafts of a screenplay in the development process. The first screenplay is for the studio, when they say, 'Okay, we like this.'The second screenplay you write so the actors can read it, or so you can get an actor to do it. You change the screenplay so one part is better, so you can get a better actor.Then the third screenplay is, 'You can’t shoot this screenplay on this budget.' You’ve got to rewrite the whole screenplay again, fo

Tweetstorm: Zack Stentz on Rewriting Strategies

Back when Twitter was fun, screenwriters would sometimes string together a series of tweets - what came to be known as "tweetstorms." Advice, personal anecdotes, reflections on the craft. It was pretty awesome.The only problem: Once the tweetstorm came ... it went.So, I took to contacting the writers and asking if I could reprint their tweetstorm at Go Into The Story. That way, they'd at least be stored where folks could access them in the future.Here's an example: A 2016 twe

On Writing

“I love writing. I love the swirl of words as they tangle with human emotions.”--James MichenerFor 100s more On Writing posts, go here.The Protagonist’s Journey: An Introduction to Character-Driven Screenwriting and Storytellingis a #1 Best Seller in Film and Television. Endorsed by over thirty professional screenwriters, novelists, and academics, you may purchase it here.

The Importance of Movie Moments

Moments which stand out in a screenplay can not only grab a reader’s attention, they can also convey a story’s theme.Hollywood’s first great movie producer was Irving Thalberg and he was famously quoted as telling the writers he oversaw at MGM, “Just give me five great moments and I can sell that movie.”There’s a reason why producers and studio executives talk about the importance of “trailer moments.”Moments are how most of us remember mov

Go Into The Story Interview: Jack Epps

My talk with the co-writer of Top Gun, Legal Eagles, The Secret of My Success.Back in the 1980s and 1990s, there was almost no one hotter in the world Hollywood screenwriting than Cash & Epps. Their writing credits include Top Gun, Legal Eagles, The Secret of My Success, Dick Tracy, Turner & Hooch among other notable films.Transitioning into the field of academics, Jack Epps is currently chair of Writing for Screen & Television at the University of Southern California School of Cinem

Screenwriting 101: Andrew Marlowe

“Sometimes you’ll get a note, ‘This scene is boring, can we put in a car chase?’ What you should take from that note is this scene, this quiet scene you intended to be emotionally devastating is boring. That means you might not have done your work setting up the characters or the relationships, 20, 30, 40 pages earlier.”— Andrew MarloweVia “Tales from the Script”For 100s more articles in the Screenwriting 101 series, go here.The Protagonist

Tweetstorm: Jake Thornton on His First Two Years as a Hollywood Screenwriter

A series of tweets detailing one writer’s experience breaking into Hollywood.Back when Twitter was fun, screenwriters would sometimes string together a series of tweets - what came to be known as "tweetstorms." Advice, personal anecdotes, reflections on the craft. It was pretty awesome.The only problem: Once the tweetstorm came ... it went. So, I took to contacting the writers and asking if I could reprint their tweetstorm at Go Into The Story. That way, they'd at least be

Animation Movies From Spec Scripts?

My free eBook "Spec Script Deals: 1991-2025" has only been out for a week and it's already demonstrating its value. Subject: Animation movies.My response:You can go here to read my interview with Mary Coleman which provides a deep dive into the Pixar creative process: LINK.In the ensuing tweet exchange, the one project in my eBook is this one:Title: Master Mind Logline: A supervillain loses his joie de vivre after accidentally killing his archrival, Uberman. Writers: Alan Schoolcr

Great News for Go Into The Story fans!

Some exciting changes create new learning opportunities for anyone interested in screenwriting.A week ago, I created quite a stir when I released an eBook: "Spec Script Deals: 1991-2025". Clocking in at 517 pages, the book includes 2,560 individual listings of spec script sales and options over a 35 year period. 96% of the listings include loglines or story summaries which represents a gold mine for screenwriters as a resource for generating story concepts.If that wasn't enough to

Screenwriting 101: Justin Marks

“There's not a single battle a writer can win on a conference call, a notes meeting, anything. We win the battle on the page.”--Justin MarksFor 100s more articles in the Screenwriting 101 series, go here.The Protagonist’s Journey: An Introduction to Character-Driven Screenwriting and Storytellingis a #1 Best Seller in Film and Television. Endorsed by over thirty professional screenwriters, novelists, and academics, you may purchase it here.

On Writing

"I am always interested in why young people become writers, and from talking with many I have concluded that most do not want to be writers working eight and ten hours a day and accomplishing little; they want to have been writers, garnering the rewards of having completed a best-seller. They aspire to the rewards of writing but not to the travail."--James MichenerFor 100s more On Writing posts, go here.The Protagonist’s Journey: An Introduction to Character-Driven Screenwriting

Tweetstorm: Eric Heisserer on Minimalist Writing Style

“Find the most powerful word and use it.”Eric Heisserer (A Nightmare on Elm Street, Final Destination 5, The Thing, Hours, Arrival) is probably the Hollywood screenwriter most willing to go online with a tweetstorm on a specific subject related to the craft.For example: Eric’s February 2014 Twitter rant on “Minimalist Screenwriting Style”, reprinted by permission:All right my Twitter buddies, I wanna talk about a certain style of screenwriting. It will likely l

Go Into Story Interviews — Black List Writers

Over the years, I’ve interviewed dozens of writers whose scripts appeared on the annual Black List: 97 to date. Their collective insight into the craft is major resource for writers. Read, learn… and enjoy!Thomas Aguilar and Michael Ballin (2021 Black List)Matt Altman and Dave Matalon (2024 Black List)Leigh Cesiro and Erica Matlin (2021 Black List)Filipe Coutinho and Ben Mehlman (2021 Black List)Jeremiah Friedman and Nick Palmer (2010 Black List)Rajiv Joseph and Scott Rothman (2012

Go Into The Story Interviews

Conversations with screenwriters, TV writers, authors, and Hollywood professionals.FILMMAKERS (Screenwriters, Writer-Directors, Directors)2011 Screenwriters Roundtable: Chris Borrelli, F. Scott Frazier, Jeremiah Friedman, Nick Palmer, Justin Rhodes, Greg Russo, John Swetnam.2012 Screenwriters Roundtable: Chris Borrelli, F. Scott Frazier, Chris McCoy, Justin Rhodes, Greg Russo, John Swetnam.2013 Screenwriters Roundtable: Chris Borrelli, F. Scott Frazier, Chris McCoy, Justin Rhodes, Greg Russo, Jo

Screenwriting Tweetstorms

Once upon a time, Twitter was a perfect social medium for screenwriters. To waste time, of course, but the impulse to dash off a thought here or there was pretty common to writers who traffic in words pretty much all the time. Occasionally something wonderful happens: A professional writer would go off on a tweetstorm, taking on a subject at some depth, albeit in 280 characters bites.They tended to disappear down the relentless and unending Twitter feed rabbit hole, so I decided to create an arc

Spec Script Deals: 1991-2025

A Go Into The Story eBook... and it's free!Recently, I floated the possibility in social media that I might aggregate the 2,500+ spec script deals I had tracked since 1991 into a readable resource.The response was overwhelming!So, I set a kick off date (September 8) and have been hard at work editing it as an eBook. Here are some details:There are 2,560 individual listings of spec script deals.The eBook covers a period of 35 years (1991-2025).It is 517 pages long.Each listing includes (wher

Screenwriting 101

Hundreds of observations about the craft from professional screenwriters.Abrams, J.J.: “The idea that this world we know isn’t just this world we know but that a package might arrive at your door…”Acker, James: “I usually just do a scribble draft and take it scene by scene. Here’s a description what happens in this scene. Here’s one line of…”Adamson, Isaac: “Screenwriting is a kind of format where you spend six weeks or eight

On Writing

I am a fan of inspirational quotes. Here are hundreds of them: Writers on writing.Aaron, Jason: “If you want to be a writer, then just be a writer. Be one every day, all day.”Achebe, Chinua: “I believe myself that a good writer doesn’t really need to be told anything except to keep at it.”Aciman, André: “Writing opens up a parallel universe into which, one by one, we’ll move all of our…”Adams, Franklin P.: “Having imagina

Go Into The Story interview: Greg Wayne

My conversation with the 2025 Black List writer about his script Lords of the Dance.Greg Wayne has written screenplays which have landed on the annual Black List two times. He is also a alumni of my 24-week online screenwriting program called The Quest. It was great reconnect with Greg for an in-depth conversation about his creative background and his most recent Black List script: Lords of the Dance.Scott Myers: Congratulations for being named to the 2025 blacklist. This is your second time on