What goes into writing a great movie script?

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

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

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

Reddit sues Anthropic, alleging its bots accessed Reddit more than 100,000 times since last July - The Verge

Actors give better feedback than writers do.

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

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

Former Nintendo Duo Fear We Might Be Waiting A While For A 3D Mario On Switch 2, Thanks To Donkey Kong - Nintendo Life

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

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

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

Im happy but there is a heavy feeling of sadness in my heart that I just can't remove. Why am I like this?

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

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

Research the facts and then throw away the research.

Is Taylor Swift aware of the fact that she’s naturally seductive?

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.

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

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.

Could Patriots cut Stefon Diggs and owe him nothing? It’s complicated. - NBC Sports

Make sure to pack enough explosives into the rocket.

The DSM 5 is a wonderful character compendium.

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

Tom Aspinall wishes Jon Jones well in retirement, declares himself ‘undisputed’ UFC champion - MMA Fighting

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.

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.

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.

Now that Nigel has imploded his centre right U.K. Reform Party, in a fit of capricious impulse, do we have a credible alternative other than the RIGHT WING Rupert Lowe M.P. to save the impoverished British from the multicultural `benefits hugging`?

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

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

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

What are the most important skills a fine artist should develop in today's art world?