What goes into writing a great movie script?

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.

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

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

How are Hinduism and Sikhism related, considering they both originated in Punjab, India?

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

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

Make sure to pack enough explosives into the rocket.

Is there a correlation between being a medium and mental health?

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.

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

Research the facts and then throw away the research.

With long courtship behind him, Aaron Rodgers learning the Steelers ropes on 'first day of school' - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

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

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

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

Infrared contact lens enables humans to see in dark - DW

Actors give better feedback than writers do.

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

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.

Global pandemic warning: Aspergillus deadly fungus mirrors HBO’s ‘The Last of Us’ - Times of India

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.

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.

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

Humans have evolved and become hairless and odor free. How do other races learn about evolution since evolution does not apply to them?

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

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

The DSM 5 is a wonderful character compendium.

The International Boxing Association said that Khelif and Lin competing in Paris Olympics were disqualified from the tournament for testing positive for XY chromosomes which give an unfair advantage in the women’s division. What do you think?

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

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

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

Why do liberals and Democrats think it’s “ironic” for Donald Trump to say “We have to get back to law and order”?