What goes into writing a great movie script?

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

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.

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

Whenever I write a novel, I struggle with the end, should I make it open? Should the good win or the bad win? Sometime I don't even have an ending, what should I do?

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.

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

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

If the United States leaves the EU to fend for themselves in the economy and NATO, could Europe become irrelevant in the global economy compare to China and America dominance in the world stage in AI and semiconductors? Will Europe become cash poor?

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

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

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

Why does my mother care about my sister more than me?

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

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.

Research the facts and then throw away the research.

What is your opinion on the belief that one can change their life by changing their thoughts and having a positive mindset?

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

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

Make sure to pack enough explosives into the rocket.

Xbox Continues Quietly Abandoning Physical Games - Kotaku

Actors give better feedback than writers do.

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

The DSM 5 is a wonderful character compendium.

How do we know that Taylor Swift was originally a brunette?

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.

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

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.

Japan's 10,000-Year-Old Underwater 'Pyramid' Is Still One of the World’s Biggest Unsolved Mysteries—No One Knows Who Built It - The Daily Galaxy

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

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

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

PS5 shooter goes from 5 players to bestseller after devs defend game - Polygon