A Story Idea Each Day for a Month — Day 19 This is the 15th year in a row I’ve run this series in April. Why a story idea each day for the month? Because the best way to come up with a great story idea is to come up with a lot of ideas. And the best way to come up with a lot of ideas is to be proactive in sourcing story ideas. Today’s story: “On Her Final Trip To Hospice, Dying Woman Talked Of The Ocean. The Paramedics Made A Little Detour.” The paramedic team of Dave Moran and Ray Smythe, who work at the Wauchope, New South Wales Ambulance Service, were taking a terminal elderl ..read more

My interview with 2023 Black List writer for his script The Wolf in Chiefs Clothing. Recently, I had the opportunity to chat with Adam Best about his creative background, the craft of screenwriting, and his Black List script The Wolf in Chiefs Clothing. Today in Part 5 of a 6-part series to run each day this week, Adam provides advice to aspiring screenwriters and adds a coda to our chat: What it was like to witness this year’s Super Bowl where the Kansas City Chiefs prevailed again. Scott: How do you go about developing your characters? Are there some specific exercises or techniques? Adam ..read more

Walter Bernstein was born 1919 and thankfully is still with us, a screenwriter with a lengthy career in which he managed to survive 4 years in the Army during World War II and a stint during which he was blacklisted. Notable films for which Bernstein received credit: Fail-Safe (1964), The Front (1976) for which Bernstein won a WGA Award for best original screenplay, and Semi-Tough (1977). These interview excerpts are taken from the excellent “Backstory 3: Interviews with Screenwriters of the 1960s”, one of a 4-part series edited by Patrick McGilligan. Walter Bernstein [Photo: Universal Picture ..read more

Written by Lori Evans Taylor A trailer for the movie: https://medium.com/media/3eedef0787d16754ea21377223607798/href You may read the screenplay here. FOR EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY! Page One is a daily Go Into The Story series featuring the first page of movie and TV scripts from the classic era to contemporary times. Comparing them is an excellent way to study a variety of writing styles and see how professional writers start a story. For more Page One posts, go here. Page One: “Bed Rest” (2022) was originally published in Go Into The Story on Medium, where people ar ..read more

A Story Idea Each Day for a Month — Day 18 This is the 15th year in a row I’ve run this series in April. Why a story idea each day for the month? Because the best way to come up with a great story idea is to come up with a lot of ideas. And the best way to come up with a lot of ideas is to be proactive in sourcing story ideas. Today’s story: “Beyond the Internet: A Teenage Hacker’s Journey into the Dark Web’s Underbelly (True Story)”. Hello there, I was a teenage hacker and my real name is ██████. This is story is based on my journey into the messy underbelly of drugs, ransomwar ..read more

My interview with 2023 Black List writer for his script The Wolf in Chiefs Clothing. Recently, I had the opportunity to chat with Adam Best about his creative background, the craft of screenwriting, and his Black List script The Wolf in Chiefs Clothing. Today in Part 4 of a 6-part series to run each day this week, Adam responds to some screenwriting craft questions. Scott: From a pragmatic standpoint, you have a series of football games. I was thinking that’s helpful in terms of the structure of the story. Adam: Yeah, I thought the 2019 Chiefs schedule would give me a backbone to set thi ..read more

Screenplay by Sam Hamm and Warren Skaaren, story by Sam Hamm, characters created by Bob Kane A trailer for the movie: https://medium.com/media/597c75c72a2b71eb6b0dee168b479911/href You may read the screenplay here. FOR EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY! Page One is a daily Go Into The Story series featuring the first page of movie and TV scripts from the classic era to contemporary times. Comparing them is an excellent way to study a variety of writing styles and see how professional writers start a story. For more Page One posts, go here. Page One: “Batman” (1989) was origin ..read more

A Story Idea Each Day for a Month — Day 17 This is the 15th year in a row I’ve run this series in April. Why a story idea each day for the month? Because the best way to come up with a great story idea is to come up with a lot of ideas. And the best way to come up with a lot of ideas is to be proactive in sourcing story ideas. Today’s story: “We Have a Taylor Swift Concert Crisis. How Do We Solve It?” A letter to The Ethicist at the New York Times: Because of the challenges with Ticketmaster in the fall, three friends and I were able to buy only two tickets to the Taylor Sw ..read more

My interview with 2023 Black List writer for his script The Wolf in Chiefs Clothing. Kansas City Chiefs superfan ChiefsAholic in wolf attire [Photo: Bob Kupbens/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images] Recently, I had the opportunity to chat with Adam Best about his creative background, the craft of screenwriting, and his Black List script The Wolf in Chiefs Clothing. Today in Part 3 of a 6-part series to run each day this week, Adam reveals how and why he came up with the imaginary character Wolfie for his 2023 Black List script. Scott: We haven’t talked about one of the more influential c ..read more

Screenplay by Lawrence D. Cohen, novel by Stephen King A trailer for the movie: https://medium.com/media/f65e7da974590b9a2275dbf5b2288271/href You may read the screenplay here. FOR EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY! Page One is a daily Go Into The Story series featuring the first page of movie and TV scripts from the classic era to contemporary times. Comparing them is an excellent way to study a variety of writing styles and see how professional writers start a story. For more Page One posts, go here. Page One: “Carrie” (1976) was originally published in Go Into The Story on ..read more