What goes into writing a great movie script?

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

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.

Modern Diesel Engines Still Outsell Gas In Heavy-Duty Trucks: Here's Why - Jalopnik

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

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

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

Family scapegoats with years of healing: what events or thoughts precipitated your full acceptance of your family's narcissistic dynamic? Can you share your inner thoughts as you reached it? How do we know when we have reached full acceptance?

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.

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.

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

Grandfather's simple changes reversed pre-diabetes diagnosis that left him 'petrified' - AOL.com

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

Research the facts and then throw away the research.

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.

How will the 2026 delimitation affect India as a whole keeping the new count of 888 seats in mind (not the current 543)? I’m looking for genuine answers with facts and not rhetoric. I will only listen to answers and not reply to any of them.

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

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

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

No Deposit Casino 2025: Uptown Aces Launches No Deposit Bonus - GlobeNewswire

Actors give better feedback than writers do.

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

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.

What’s the best way to monetize email subscribers?

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

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

Make sure to pack enough explosives into the rocket.

Sapiente nemo autem perspiciatis.

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

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

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

US tycoon pours $100mn into Trump crypto project after SEC reprieve - Financial Times