flying wrestler

I'm a fan of the Save the Cat books by the late Blake Snyder. I especially love the ten "genres" he came up with. I think these genres are a crucial...

If you're writing a series pilot you probably view it as an introduction to your series. A prologue. A first chapter. Where you set up all the...

In the weekly live session in our online community recently, I gave my thoughts and took questions about Netflix's hit Baby Reindeer.  It's been a...

I recently watched an interview with Friends co-creators David Crane and Marta Kauffman (I think it was here). In it, Crane commented on how they...

The happiest and most free I ever felt as a writer was with some of my earliest scripts. They were the work of a beginner and didn’t go anywhere but I enjoyed them.

Aaron Sorkin says he "worships at the altar of Intention and Obstacle." What does that mean? In his Masterclass he defines it as: "Somebody wants...

Double Mumbo Jumbo is a term in the original Save the Cat book. Blake Snyder used it to caution against including two different types of unrelated...

When we write action and description in a script, we’re telling the reader what the viewer would see, hear and clearly understand from that.
Nothing else.

Five years ago this week my book was released.  I'm proud to say it's been translated into Complex and Simplified Chinese and Russian. (See the...

"Will Michael Jordan agree to sign a shoe deal with Nike, so their basketball division can survive?" This is essentially the main dramatic question...

What is your story really about? I know it's about certain characters and plot events. But what's it examining, behind all that, which could...

SPOILER ALERT: This post reveals some elements of the plot of Barbie. Greta Gerwig's Barbie movie has a lot of wonderful elements. I think most can...