What goes into writing a great movie script?

Research the facts and then throw away the research.

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

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

How do atheists explain the fact that when I pray to God, I feel better and I get a feeling of comfort? Doesn’t this prove that a God exists?

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

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

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

Why did Lord Shiva lust after Mohini - how can he be the supreme and worthy of devotion if he did such a thing?

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

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

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

Most people obey arbitrary rules even when it's not in their interest to do so, experiments show - Phys.org

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.

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

What's the most sordid activity you've ever seen or heard about at a bachelorette party?

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

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.

Make sure to pack enough explosives into the rocket.

2025 NHL Draft: Reactions to the Penguins stocking up the cabinets in a big way - PensBurgh

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

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

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.

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

The DSM 5 is a wonderful character compendium.

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.

Triple H: WWE bringing R-Truth back after backlash to departure is ‘all part of the show’ - Awful Announcing

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

Actors give better feedback than writers do.

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.

If the United States leaves the EU to fend for themselves in the economy and NATO, could Europe become irrelevant in the global economy compare to China and America dominance in the world stage in AI and semiconductors? Will Europe become cash poor?