We’re going to have some fun today. I want you to rank, in order of importance, these three screenwriting categories. Plot Character Concept Tell me which of them you believe is most important to a screenplay’s success. Then rank the other two in order of importance. There ARE right and wrong answers here so don’t […]

Genre: Horror Premise: (from Black List) A woman with a troubled past invites her teen niece to live with her in the family’s farm house, but the two become tormented by a creature that can take away their pain for a price. About: This script found some traction last year, allowing it to sneak onto […]

Genre: Sci-Fi Premise: In a dystopian society, a government worker recovering from a traumatic accident is rescued by a group of rebels who insist that he’s the leader of their movement. About: I have to give it to Mattson Tomlin. He’s been scrapping away for a while, occasionally getting scripts on the Black List. I’ve […]

Today’s quirky script feels like something that would’ve topped the 2010 Black List. Genre: Comedy Premise: A Jewish immigrant accidentally gets brined in a giant pickle barrel, perfectly preserving him for 100 years, after which he’s discovered and must learn to live in the year 2020. About: What’s that thing I keep telling all of […]

With all this free time in quarantine, I’ve been thinking a lot about Star Wars. I recently ran into a “video essay” – I guess these are a thing now – about what was wrong with the new Star Wars trilogy. One of the easiest things in this world is to do, by the way, […]