What goes into writing a great movie script?

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.

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

Actors give better feedback than writers do.

Short story writers, what is your favorite character you've created and do they appear in more than one of your works?

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.

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

Why is Luigi Mangjone being seen as courageous if he was too cowardly to look his victim in the eyes? Don't Hollywood heroes look their victims in the eyes when shooting/stabbing/choking them?

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

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.

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

What were some of the unforgettable incidents from your school life?

Research the facts and then throw away the research.

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.

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

Ford's CEO says China's EV progress is 'the most humbling thing' he's ever seen - Business Insider

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

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

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.

What was your embarrassing moment in front of your father-in-law as an Indian daughter-in-law?

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

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

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

What do you think about Vivian Jenna Wilson's decision to speak out against her father, Elon Musk, in a public interview with NBC News?

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

Make sure to pack enough explosives into the rocket.

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.

Why is Harley-Davidson dropping diversity initiatives after the right-wing anti-DEI campaign?

The DSM 5 is a wonderful character compendium.

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

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

Why does my sister want to have sex with me? What should I do?