Do you really need to pick a genre?
Twenty-nine years as a professional screenwriter, and I have never once been asked to pick a genre.
Tom Vaughan
The magic of sequence throughlines.
While ALIEN was not written in 8 sequences, it is a superb example of the 8-sequence approach.
When it is time to attach actors.
Movie-making is star-driven.
Keep the writing simple.
The most common bad habit of all is to write a more complicated sentence than is necessary.
Choosing the next step when writing.
At each stage there is the question, “Should I move on, or rework what I just finished?”
Always find the truth of the moment.
The audience must accept what they see before they can be affected by it.
The quick pitch (to yourself)
Best performed in the outline phase, the quick pitch is a “verify” button for your structure,
Scene work: One moment generates the next.
The best screenwriting class I ever took was Jose Quintero’s acting class at the University of Houston.
Does your screenplay need a promise?
The Promise takes advantage of a simple truth: if we get a taste of something we want, we will likely want it more.
How do you want the audience to feel at the end?
"I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel."
The “right” script vs the phenomenal script.
The only thing better than writing a phenomenal script is writing the "right" script. Unfortunately, you don't have any control over that.
Pay attention to page count.
It can feel like page count is the enemy. It isn't. It's a limitation that often forces you to be better.