What goes into writing a great movie script?

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

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.

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

How many boxes 600 x 400 x 200 go into a 20ft container?

Actors give better feedback than writers do.

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

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

Why do people keep denying the similarities between Latin and Italian by saying they are totally different languages when it’s obvious they sound similar?

Research the facts and then throw away the research.

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

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

What do you think about the NFA full auto band? Weapons built before 1986 can be transferred and registered? But we can't have an 87? But older weapons tend to be far more powerful. I think we should drop it. Input?

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

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

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

Why do people keep complaining about how some people copy and paste the question before answering it? To me, it's very disturbing and makes me want to block and mute them as annoying whiners.

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

Make sure to pack enough explosives into the rocket.

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

Over 60? Forget walking and swimming — this simple exercise builds strength and balance - Tom's Guide

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

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

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

Why does Africa have all mineral resources but she is suffering economically?

The DSM 5 is a wonderful character compendium.

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

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.

What are the key trends in AI search platforms?

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.

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.

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.

‘Wednesday’ Season 2’s Opening Scenes Introduce Us to Her Wild Summer - Gizmodo