What goes into writing a great movie script?

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

Research the facts and then throw away the research.

The DSM 5 is a wonderful character compendium.

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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.

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.

How do I develop the patience to read books?

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.

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

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

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Actors give better feedback than writers do.

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.

Controversial streamer, Johnny Somali, has been arrested in South Korea for "obstruction of business". Additional charges may be on the horizon. What do you think should happen to Johnny Somali?

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

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

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

Why would a person who is educated and skillful still find it hard to get a better job?

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.

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

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

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Make sure to pack enough explosives into the rocket.

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

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.

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

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

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

Why do Trump supporters believe Trump should deport the immigrants? These people you call "illegal immigrants" have lived here for many years, they have houses, jobs, how can you think they will just go back to their country, where they have nothing?