What goes into writing a great movie script?

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

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

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.

With 'I Love Lucy' and beyond, Desi Arnaz helped shaped TV as we know it - NPR

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

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

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

What can I do to deal with disrespectful children?

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.

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

Boy, 8, dies hours after complaining of headache when infection spread to brain - The US Sun

The DSM 5 is a wonderful character compendium.

Research the facts and then throw away the research.

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.

What did Rama tell Sita about Kaliyug?

Make sure to pack enough explosives into the rocket.

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

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

What are the basic human needs according to psychology? What are the consequences of not meeting these needs?

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

Actors give better feedback than writers do.

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.

Is it really a good idea for Taylor Swift to publicly endorse Kamala Harris? Most probably inferred it anyway. But, by making a statement, it will likely alienate Republican fans. It seems wiser for entertainers to be politically neutral.

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

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

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

What’s a mistake most guys make when trying to get a girlfriend?

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.

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

Is it possible for computers to eventually eliminate the need for programming? If so, what would happen to programmers?