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

A Story Idea Each Day for a Month — Day 16 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: “Cats Filled the Prison. Then the Inmates Fell in Love.” Some say they were first brought in to take out the rats. Others contend they wandered in on their own. What everyone can agree on — including those who have lived or worked at Ch ..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 2 of a 6-part series to run each day this week, Adam talks about the real-life inspiration for The Wolf in Chiefs Clothing and movies which influenced the writing of his Black List script. Scott: I don’t think so either. It’s just we live in crazy times, man. [laughs] All right, so let’s talk about your 2023 Black List scrip ..read more

Photo by Yusuf Evli on Unsplash “Writing that scene … I had to run a lot that day. I would write a little bit, go for a run, and come back. It helped me get rid of that extra stuff: those extra voices, those extra judgments. If you have a perfectionist streak — and who doesn’t? — running can kill the perfectionist inside you.” — Lucy Alibar Via Vulture IMDb: Lucy Alibar For 100s more Screenwriting 101 articles, go here. Screenwriting 101: Lucy Alibar was originally published in Go Into The Story on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighti ..read more

A Story Idea Each Day for a Month — Day 15 This is the 14th year in a row I’ve run this series in April. Why a story idea each day for the month? Several reasons which I’ll work my through during this series of posts. Last week, I provided a daily explanation about why you should make it a habit to generate story ideas. This week, I’ll give you some tips on how to come up with stories. Tip: Public domain. Laws vary from country to country, but if a person, event, book is considered to be in the public domain, then from a writer’s perspective, it is free content, you don’t n ..read more