What goes into writing a great movie script?

The DSM 5 is a wonderful character compendium.

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

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

‘I Couldn’t Stop Crying’: Swifties React as Taylor Swift Reveals She Finally Owns Her Music - Rolling Stone

Research the facts and then throw away the research.

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

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

macOS Tahoe Name Leaked Ahead of Apple's WWDC Event Next Week - MacRumors

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.

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.

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

Security Camera Footage Reveals How Dog Puts Away His Toys After Playing - AOL.com

Actors give better feedback than writers do.

Make sure to pack enough explosives into the rocket.

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.

Panama Canal boss warns MSC ports deal threatens principle of neutrality - ft.com

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

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

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

Im happy but there is a heavy feeling of sadness in my heart that I just can't remove. Why am I like this?

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.

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

If a cat is feminine in German, what article do you give to a male cat?

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.

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

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

How can a native English speaker say "it was nice talking to you" in French without using that exact phrase?

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

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

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

Recovering from surgery isn’t easy. Exercising in the water can help. - The Washington Post