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How 'Space Cadet' Writer Turns Headlines into Female-Centric Comedy

July 2, 2024

Space Cadet is a new coming-of-age comedy starring Emma Roberts as Rex, a spunky young woman who’s always dreamed about becoming an astronaut and going into space. Unfortunately, her trajectory is thwarted when her mother passes away. Feeling a deep ...

What ‘Dune: Part Two’ Teaches You About Writing a Sequel

March 8, 2024

Rare is it that a movie will have a studio backing its sequels before the filming of the first frame of the first film. But when visionary director Denis Villeneuve is building the epic world of Dune, based on the 1965 novel by Frank Herbert, the sto...

5 Ways To Write a Modern Biopic

March 1, 2024

Hollywood has been producing biographical films or biopics since the earliest days of the movie business. Due to changing times and tastes, some film genres come and go with varying popularity in the screenwriting marketplace. With more and more focu...

What ‘Poor Things’ Can Teach Us About Embracing Uniqueness

January 12, 2024

Poor Things is unlike any movie in theaters. Directed by visionary filmmaker Yorgos Lanthimos and written by Tony McNamara, this strange fantastical comedy tells the story of a woman who is brought back to life by a mad scientist using her own baby's...

How ‘Godzilla Minus One’ Creates a Fresh Take on a Familiar Story

December 13, 2023

As Godzilla turns 70 years old, the classic monster of mayhem is getting a series of films and TV shows dedicated to its destructive force. Monarch: Legacy of Monsters premiered on Apple TV in November, Godzilla Minus One, a Japanese language film, b...

Lessons from Coppola’s Character-Driven 'Priscilla'

November 7, 2023

From Muhammed Ali to Napoleon to Elvis Presley, most movies about historical or culturally significant people have that particular person at the center of the story. In Sofia Coppola’s latest film, Priscilla, the focus of the story is not on one of t...

Writing a Family-Friendly Tale? The Little Mermaid Has Lessons for Screenwriters

June 2, 2023

The Little Mermaid is about a young woman who falls in love with someone who doesn’t know she exists, the dynamic of a father who wants to protect his daughter and how she overcomes impossible odds after being tricked by a sea witch.

5 Things ‘Air’ Can Teach You About Screenwriting

April 11, 2023

Nike and basketball seem like a foregone conclusion, but in the new movie Air, the filmmakers look back to the 1980s when a fledgling basketball division at an Oregon-based running shoe company teetered on the brink of disaster. What makes the story ...

5 Lessons Shazam 2 Teaches Screenwriters About Defining Characters and Destroying Cities

March 22, 2023

Kids love superheroes. For decades, kids have read comic books, dressed up like their favorite superheroes and forced their parents to buy toys, lunchboxes and shirts that show off their pride for epic crimefighters. Shazam! is the type of comic book...