What goes into writing a great movie script?

Only God gets it right the first time. Rewrite everything.

Outline everything. Use story beats. Keep character’s mouths taped up, until they absolutely MUST speak. Write the script and the dialogue at the last minute, after you’ve revised the hell out of the outline.

Leave holes. Write and unwrite. Put it in, take it out.

Why is Matt Gaetz being investigated but not Sarah (Tim) McBride? Why do we only care about grooming when it's the Republicans doing it?

A scene should change valence from beginning to end. Up to down, down to up.

Conflict is your power source; without it you have no drama and hence no script.

People choose what to see based on the high concept. Make sure to deliver an ending consistent with the high concept -- it is what the audience paid for.

Who would win in this boxing matchup between these two, Dillian Whyte or Samuel Peter?

Use status to help drive conflict. King Lear/fool. Upstairs/downstairs.

A critical function of storytelling is wish fulfillment. This is why video games are so popular. “That protagonist is JUST LIKE ME.”

Primary characters must change polarities. Secondary characters can change less.

What are the best examples of reverse psychology?

Don’t direct from the page. Everyone, from the director on down, wants to be part of the process of making movies. Let them do their work.

The DSM 5 is a wonderful character compendium.

Get up there yourself. Be in a movie. Take some acting (not writing) classes. Learn how a trained actor approaches a text. Learn why actors take roles. They do as much if not more than the writer does.

Do you think Taylor Swift will pay a price in the marketplace for endorsing Democrats?

Make sure to pack enough explosives into the rocket.

All rules are made to be broken, but you damn well better know WHY you’re breaking them.

Actors give better feedback than writers do.

How did you cope when someone you love, dealing with hyper-independence and trauma, felt they needed space to heal alone? Were you able to support them without overstepping, and did you eventually reconnect? How did that journey unfold?

Audiences are smarter than you think. Something about turning down the house lights makes their IQs go up.

Maintain a slush pile/idea file. When you are ready to write, choose the best seeds to plant.

Your primary job is to create situations. Modern actors will fuck up your dialogue, despite whatever your contract says.

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Write in reverse time. Major characters need to change polarity; minor characters may remain the same at the end.

Cut everything that is not a payoff, or a setup for a specific payoff. “Omit needless words.” Think about the sparseness of joke telling, or Grimm Brothers.

Learn to tell a story orally and not through writing. Try telling your story to a friend.

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Research the facts and then throw away the research.

To develop a unique voice for each character, try interviewing your characters.

What you leave unwritten is as important as what you write. SUBTEXT.

Since NATO is badly losing in Ukraine to the Russian forces, should NATO soldiers and commanders find a new job given their incompetence? Do they expect pushing different versions of the same disinformation every few months to help them win?