My Accidental Hiatus

Turns out I took an accidental hiatus. I kept thinking I would get back to posting, but things kept getting in the way. I was teaching and writing my own stories. I wrote a bible for a television show which took up a lot of time. I am working on a graphic novel as well as a couple of other projects. All of those things spread me pretty thin.

The other thing is that every time I tried to

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How Stories Work – Everything Old is New Again

A few months ago, I heard a
story on NPR about a study that found reading literary fiction, rather than
popular fiction, could help people be more empathetic. I have no doubt that this could be true. But I

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Movies I Like: Ace in the Hole

final draft script writing screenwriting software screenwriting contests filmmaking books





















I am unsure just how many posts of mine mention legendary
writer/director Billy Wilder, but here is

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Why a deus ex machina doesn’t make a satisfying story.

Before I start this post I want
to apologize for the long gap between this post and the last.  I was deep in a project that took up a
lot of my time and mental energy. That project is more or less done—more

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Yes, Documentaries Also Use Story Structure

One of the questions I get most is about story structure and
is, “Is it different for documentaries?” No. In fact one of the best
structuralists working in film of any kind is documentarian Ken Burns. I watch
his work in awe. If you want to know how stories work, you should become
familiar with what he does.



There is something I often urge people to do, but

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Movies I Like: Double Indemnity

 “The two most
important words in motion pictures are Billy and Wilder”
– Alfred Hitchcock



“It was a hot afternoon, and I can still remember the smell
of honeysuckle all along that street. How could I have known that murder can
sometimes smell like honeysuckle?” – Walter Neff in Double Indemnity





I could have done an entire post by now on how cool Billy
Wilder is, instead

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What I Learned From Reading E.T.

 

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