What goes into writing a great movie script?

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

Make sure to pack enough explosives into the rocket.

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

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

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

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

How can the citizens of Russia accept the enormous difference between people? The richest 500 Russians own more than the poorest 99.8% of the entire Russian population combined. Why don't we see any protests?

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

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

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

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

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.

The DSM 5 is a wonderful character compendium.

Is it common for Americans to feel "trapped" due to the size and distance of their country from other countries/continents? Is this feeling an exaggeration or a reality?

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.

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.

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

Do Republicans realize that the power of the people is invested in 'representative government'? If so, why did they elect a pathological liar?

Actors give better feedback than writers do.

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.

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

Is it possible for doctors to diagnose prostate cancer just by looking at a patient?

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

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

Research the facts and then throw away the research.

Why does it itch on my vulva, uterus, and sides of my vagina, but it doesn't itch inside the vagina?

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

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.

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

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