When we look back at an artwork that has become known as a work of genius, it often seems as if this work innovated a bunch of new conce...

The 3-8 pages regime has worked really well, but , alas, I just missed my first day after  13 days straight.  The problem is that I finis...

Last time , I talked about the need to understand the hero’s goal and primary motivation, early on, even if the hero is withholding other ...

If you read the “Amateur Friday” scripts that Carson gamely posts and reviews on Scriptshadow , one thing you see over and over is scripts w...

You’ve heard me say that I loathed Dark Knight Rises , and that I liked Avengers for the most part.   Another recent action movie that I ...

I’ve been praising a lot of comedies recently, which may make you think that I’m only interested in light-hearted cheesiness these days. ...

Sweet Liberty is the story of a history professor who undergoes the indignity of watching his historical novel turned into a ludicrous H...

I’ve talked before about many different types of storytelling irony , and how you should employ as many as possible.   Irony is the hear...

Guys like Luke Wilson and Ron Livingstone thought that they would have long healthy careers playing “everyman” roles in comedies, but the...

In the world of writing advice, there are certain maxims which get repeated ad nauseum: “Show, Don’t Tell”, “Be Specific, Not Generic”, “...

All right, people, it’s time for another  epic “putting it all together” piece.   In  light of what I’ve subsequently figured out, I went...

Following up on Tuesday’s post, once you know how to recognize assets and liabilities , you’re one big step closer to the turning point in...

When my wife held her big “ Top 100 Chapter Books ” poll, the most recent book in the top ten was “Holes” by Louis Sachar.   Since being r...

M ovie buyers are especially skittish these days , and it’s hard to get challenging movies made, unless you have a lot of clout.  Neverthele...

Sometimes a trailer comes along that is so revolting that you can actually hear an involuntary hiss start to rise from the audience. The ...

In each of the first three seasons of “The Sopranos”, Tony got stuck in a rut until a crisis was forced upon him by the death of someone i...