The danger of the shame I felt is that it caused a paralysis that hindered me from forward motion in every aspect of my life, not just writing.

If a screenwriter thinks that there’s little to learn from the niche because they’re writing a horror film or a thriller, they’re (ahem) way off-key.

There’s not a single writer I know worth their professional bona fides who doesn’t get regular visits from The Dream Police. And no. It’s not because we’re snowflake whack-jobs wrecked in a constant state of low self-esteem.

When you take detailed notes on how episodes unfold, you notice the reason you like certain episodes more than others is that things don’t just happen for the sake of things happening.

The artist’s response to pain is to counteract it with beauty—an urge to affirm life even as we are drowning. Sometimes we make magic. Sometimes we get it wrong.

I can’t tell you the number of times I have been told by different teachers that I should keep the direction off the page. That I am just here to write the story. That never made sense to me.

I still find it baffling when I get into a heated discussion over a plot point or dialogue with my child.

"Much of my writing has centered on historical dramas, including a short film set in 1960s Appalachia and another in 1970s New York."

Film development is an (often) indeterminate phase of creation that is crammed in between the original spark of inspiration and getting the thing produced.

The limited series really must be considered long-from filmmaking, a brilliant hybrid of the best of the big and small screens.

The life of a novelist is a very solitary endeavor. You engage the blank page on your own ... But in order for it to become a commercial product that is going to reach a wider audience, there has to be collaboration there.

Am I the only one who finds it a wee bit unhealthy we are expected to lay bare our most intimate struggles just to force a bunch of strangers to feel something?

John Bucher discusses story’s past, present, and future with the man who literally wrote the book on the subject: Robert McKee.

Remember that your reel isn’t the full conversation—it’s the start of one.

In writing, I am every character's voice—even the location's.