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.

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.

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

Social Security's 2026 COLA Has an Unpleasant Surprise in Store for Retirees - The Motley Fool

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

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

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

Is it safe to say that China is at least 30 years ahead of India?

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

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

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.

Final AIDS/LifeCycle Travels Through Santa Barbara County - Noozhawk

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

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

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

Aldi vs Oreo: Oreo maker sues Aldi over 'copycat' packaging - BBC

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

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.

Sean 'Diddy' Combs trial day 22 recap: Witness says Combs participated in 'hotel nights' as late as August 2024 - ABC News

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

Make sure to pack enough explosives into the rocket.

Research the facts and then throw away the research.

All international travelers should get measles vaccinations, CDC says - AP News

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

Actors give better feedback than writers do.

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

My stepdaughter’s mom tells her I’m not a real dance teacher, but my stepdaughter has seen me in action. Why does she still question my abilities?

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.

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

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

Do you even realise that NASA could've hid or bury every single piece of evidence for a flat-earth and exaggerate their evidence? Have you ever question materialist scientific narratives?