# Read

There’s an energy to riffing off other writers and navigating a narrative together that has the potential to produce something great.

The only way I've found happiness in this crazy business is to build a solid friend circle of people who genuinely want to see me succeed and vice versa.

John Bucher continues the discussion on story’s past, present, and future with Robert McKee.

You stand at the front of the room and begin talking. You lay out a brief overview, a bunch of plot points, dozens of characters, etc. You’re right in the thick of your spiel when you notice something alarming.

Who’d have thought that Jerry Seinfeld and Larry David, the creators of Seinfeld in 1989, would create a series that would come to foreshadow all the worst impulses and instincts evident in “the American experiment” in 2021?

pretend you don’t know me ... is that impossible? ... pretend it’s not ... i want to be unknown—

"Where the humor comes out of is not from the tragedy itself, but how we react to it. It's probably sad to say, but this documentary might have relevance for a very long time because there's always going to be a tragedy to deal with." - Nick Scown

Was there money in it? No. But there was that other thing, possibility, which over time, can end up being worth a whole lot more.

If you’re going to make this into a short, why not just write 85 more pages and make it a micro-budget feature?

If you cannot effectively or efficiently communicate, every part of the creative process will take twice as long and be ten times as frustrating as it needs to.

Structure will provide your protagonist with a goal or destination from day one. This goal will enable you to keep moving forward … and keep you from getting stuck in a situation.

You want your portfolio to be a good demonstration of your skills and overall brand as a creator.

If a story is a journey not only for the reader but also for the writer (and it is), why would we choose to tie our fabricated narrative to the humdrum existence of our own life?

There was a time when I was on the path to become a clinical neuropsychologist. But while I love learning about the brain and human psychology, I'm a storyteller at heart and, ultimately, had to follow my passion.

Ideas are like assholes: everyone’s got ‘em. So, what makes your idea worthy of becoming a book, or a film, or a TV series?