Blog

There is a romantic image of the screenwriter at work: a typewriter, a stack of paper, a pot of coffee, and nothing else. For much of the twentieth century, that image was not just romantic, it was accurate. Writing meant sitting down with an idea and a blank page. Research happened in libraries. Revisions happened by hand. Feedback came from other people, often weeks or months later.

How long does it take for you to decide whether you care about a character? Not whether you find them interesting. Not whether you want to know what happens to them. Whether you genuinely "care" the kind of care that makes you lean forward in your seat, that makes the stakes feel real, that keeps you invested for two hours even when the plot gets complicated.

Characters are the story. Plot is simply what happens when particular people, with particular desires and particular contradictions, come into contact with the world around them.

A writer's guide to the two forces that drive every story — and why most people misunderstand both.

One sentence stands between your screenplay and the desk it lands on. Here's how to make it count.

A complete reference for the vocabulary of the craft from the first slug line to the final fade out.