# Style & Substance

1985 gave us three such movies blending commerciality, narrative discipline, and daring—their scripts a marvel to behold.

“Doing good research” means doing more than parroting Twitter talking heads and Washington Post articles in a political drama.

Being uncaged or unencumbered isn’t really freedom in writing, it’s absurdity.

Too many writers try to reinvent the narrative formula. They think we, as readers, are bored with well-executed, simple stories. Well, let me tell you this, y’all: we ain’t.

One of the key insights for crafting characters that feel real is determining what weighs on their mind as they go about their day – their burdens.

We throw obstacles into their paths that they cannot hope to overcome with these particular flaws. Merciless creators! Is this the way to treat someone you love?

I know what I know, and what I know is that I predicted the Kremlin’s actions and Ukraine’s subsequent eruptions before they happened.

“We’ve been through, like, nine rounds of notes on this thing. I’m starting to feel like this idea simply isn’t gonna work, no matter how hard I try.”

Being bad is a state of mind, and in the 1970s, being bad was very, very good.

Just like last time, I’ve tried to stay away from the blatantly obvious here and instead give you some under-the-radar tips.

One of the most vital yet least discussed aspects of effective storytelling is the ability to execute potent setups and payoffs.

There are perhaps no other elements used more often in these early stories than the celestial bodies people saw when they stared into the sky.

There’s no magic secret to success in Hollywood as a scribe. It all comes down to the same boring, monotonous tasks that everyone knows they should do but nobody wants to.

Please, please PLEASE do not hesitate to inject your personality into your deck. This isn’t a technical manual, it’s a freakin' movie!

Raise your hand if you’ve ever been personally victimized by "The Hero’s Journey." Now that every screenwriter’s hand is up ...