# Style & Substance

Our malaise has ended up yielding plenty of characters who in sunnier times would most likely have been the villains in a story.

Your characters have to overcome their internal demons—and you have to stop protecting them.

Remember, no one in Hollywood knows anything. But everyone knows sex sells.

... how-to guides, tutorials, FAQs, listicles—they’re all often considered evergreen. But what about evergreen scripts?

Consider them positive thoughts, helpful suggestions, and a few cautionary warnings regarding the pursuit of cinema in Hollywood.

At the end of the day, concept really is king.

Having your entire story take place in one location is indeed limiting. However, it can yield extremely impressive results.

Did I ever expect it to get made? Nope. Not from the minute I wrote it.

Are we being noted to death by fear-stricken development execs who are too timid to put something up on screens that swings for the fences ... ?

... one kind of stakes towers above all the rest: the stakes of life-or-death.

Make no mistake, though. Just because you can't see it, doesn't mean it's not essential. It very much is.

It might be the most clichéd of statements, but “if it’s not on the page, it’s not on the stage.”

Where Chu was truly brilliant as a director was in his innate understanding of the intimacy of film.

What happens if you protect your characters from anything bad that could ever happen to them?

The tough part when starting out is figuring out what kind of preparation will turn into luck when the right opportunity comes along.