What goes into writing a great movie script?

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.

Make sure to pack enough explosives into the rocket.

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

Why do most men think that feminism is about dominance and not equality? I'm here for a male perspective. I'm a female.

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

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.

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

Yankees will have to find ninth-inning serenity in Luke Weaver’s absence - New York Post

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

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

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

What is the general opinion of psychologists on Donald Trump's presidency?

Research the facts and then throw away the research.

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

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

Why doesn't California have the tools, people, means to put out these fires even though they know there will be fires every year?

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.

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

Actors give better feedback than writers do.

Gene mutation found in the bacterium behind the Black Death helped plague conquer the world, scientists say - CNN

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

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

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

Jane Birkin’s original Hermès bag goes on sale - CNN

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

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

MLB investigating abuse claims from Giants pitcher’s wife - KRON4

The DSM 5 is a wonderful character compendium.

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.

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

What kind of person does a narcissist hate?