The Scriptshadow Newsletter should be hitting your Inboxes any second now. I debate with myself whether we can objectively define the difference between a professional and amateur script. I talk about what kind of franchise scripts you should be writing to stay ahead of the industry. I’ve got a couple of big screenwriting tips in […]

Over the next five Thursdays, I’m going to be talking dialogue with the Scriptshadow Community. We’re going to be exploring the five main factors that go into writing strong dialogue, and today we’re starting with scene prep. The objective of this post is to show you how to prep a scene in order to get […]

Genre: Spy Premise: When a U.S. physicist defects to North Korea carrying a mysterious suitcase, old school CIA agent Leo Diamond is tasked with helping some young CIA upstarts prevent another Snowden situation, or worse. About: This script sold in 2014 for high six figures. It was written by Ken Nolan, who scripted Black Hawk […]

Genre: Drama/Period/Conspiracy Premise: A young upstart at NASA suggests that in order to beat the Soviets to the moon, the US have Stanley Kubrick fake the moon landing. About: For those of you who caught yesterday’s post, Stephany Folsom is the co-writer of Toy Story 4. She got that job after writing this script, which […]

Is Toy Story 4 yet another unneeded sequel, like Dark Phoenix, or does this fourk-el fly like the phoenix? Genre: Animation Premise: When the toys’ new owner, Bonnie, makes a toy at her first day at kindergarten called Forky, Woody and the crew must ensure Bonnie doesn’t lose him. About: Pixar’s flagship franchise is back! […]