What goes into writing a great movie script?

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

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.

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

Corrupti suscipit aliquid odit totam.

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.

The DSM 5 is a wonderful character compendium.

What are some very specific groups of people you just cannot stand?

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

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

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

What do you CPAP users do to keep your mouth closed during sleep using a nasal pillow?

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

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

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

An unexpected Seahawks player appears in Madden 26 reveal trailer - Field Gulls

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

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.

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

What's at the center of Mars? Maybe the stench of rotten eggs - Space

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

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

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.

Do you share your food easily? With whom, and why?

Actors give better feedback than writers do.

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

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

Summer McIntosh Posts 4:23.65 400 IM to Break Her Own World Record - SwimSwam

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

Research the facts and then throw away the research.

Make sure to pack enough explosives into the rocket.

Your Ear Wax Might Hold Clues to Early Parkinson's, Study Finds - ScienceAlert