What goes into writing a great movie script?

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.

The DSM 5 is a wonderful character compendium.

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

Orton advances in the King of the Ring after the Paul Heyman Guys screw LA Knight - Cageside Seats

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

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.

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

Stock futures rise after S&P 500 notches a fresh record high: Live updates - CNBC

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

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.

In your opinion, what is the worst rock band in history and why do you think they gained a large following?

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

Make sure to pack enough explosives into the rocket.

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

Shelved Europa Lander mission concept could be used to explore Enceladus instead - Phys.org

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

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

Actors give better feedback than writers do.

CRISPR gene editing in blood stem cells linked to premature aging effects: Study offers solutions - Medical Xpress

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

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.

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.

ESA’s new asteroid hunter opens its eye to the sky - European Space Agency

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

Research the facts and then throw away the research.

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

Random: Mario Kart World Player 'Breaks' The Game, Takes Flight Over Mario Circuit - Nintendo Life

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

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

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

What is the lowest probability event you have personally witnessed?