Genre: Crime-Thriller Premise: A former rodeo star turned motel owner helps his town heal after a triple-homicide, having no idea that the killer is one of his customers. About: This script finished on the 2012 Black List and is just now coming together with one of my favorite actors, Jon Bernthal (The Walking Dead). The […]

Genre: Biopic/Drama Premise: The unbelievable fallout after Larry Hillblom, a self-made billionaire, died in a plane crash, and it was revealed he’d used numerous Third World Asian countries as his own personal pedophilia playground. About: This script finished on the low end of last year’s Black List. You could say this is Matt Portenoy’s breakthrough […]

Okay, a big reminder that your Scriptshadow Tournament scripts are due in 15 days. And that got me thinking. Is there anything you can do to massively improve a script in 15 days? At first I thought, no. But then I was reading a consult script the other day and the writer, while having a […]

Genre: Crime-Thriller Logline (from writer): When a Minnesota homeowner exploits the state’s self-defense law to get away with the murder of two teenage girls, their parents start looking for various hitmen to break into his fortified safehouse and kill him. Why you should read: “Castle Doctrine” is a topsy-turvy “Fargo”-esque small-town thriller that plays around […]

One of the common issues I run into when I consult for screenwriters is when writers pursue the most boring version of their concept. One might say that they’ve chosen the “indie” version of their idea. Now, there’s nothing wrong with writing an indie film, but you have to realize that the indie world operates […]