As screenwriters, we probably all have some variation of this dream—to make a film, and get accepted into a prestigious festival like Sundance or SXSW, and stand on the stage afterward to face an applauding crowd. It’s a great dream. But how do you c...

Michelle Nader is one of the most accomplished multi-cam and comedy writers working today.

If there’s one writer/director whose work I’ve been consistently excited by and whose name at festivals promises a project both heartbreakingly raw and funny, it’s Cooper Raiff. He was a SXSW breakout in 2020 with college comedy Shithouse, which snag...

For his feature debut and Sundance premiere Rabbit Trap, writer/director Bryn Chainey took what might seem like an unconventional path to develop the period horror story. After drafting two unproduced features with the goal of trying to fit industry ...

For Julia Stiles, years of performing as an actor have provided a unique advantage in her latest creative venture—screenwriting and directing.

James Mangold has carved out a fascinating place in Hollywood as a director and writer who really can do it all—he’s elevated genre films into compelling character studies and tackled everything from Westerns to hard-hitting dramas to romantic comedi...

As a storyteller, David Lowery has a flair for the formidable. His films are often steely and stern, even as his characters find themselves in fantastical situations—becoming a ghost, befriending a dragon, or pursuing a medieval knight. Lowery is the...

If you want to learn how to write for animated films, there is probably no better person to learn from than Chris Sanders. He’s a veritable titan in the industry, with story credits on Disney classics like Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, and The Lion ...

Writer/director Parker Finn has mastered a specific brand of horror with 2022’s Smile and this year’s Halloween hit, Smile 2. It’s dour, it’s high-concept, it’s ghastly and gory and great. The story might lead viewers to ask certain questions. How do...