Screenwriting: From the Trenches

Kay is out this week on birthday adventures so Rob brought in his friend of many years, Brad Johnson, screenwriter, director, and proprietor of The Grey List --  a new initiative for writers over 40 -- the latter of which is discussed in this podcast 

Our Weekly Resource: The Grey List. Fighting back against ageism in HW by spotlighting the best screenplays by writers over 40. If you find yourself at the age of this program or know someone who’s perfect for it, please check out the link in the description above for more information as well as follow them on twitter (link above) for more info on how they plan to rock the new year with their awesomeness.

LINK to register for the "How to Make a Movie for $1000" Virtual Workshop!

Notes From the Episode:

Rob's YouTube Channel

This week Rob (who has a cold) and Kay talk Christmas movies and what we can take away from them as screenwriters as well as taking on the controversy of what constitutes a Christmas movie, aka The Die Hard Conundrum.

Our Weekly Resource: CIRCLE OF CONFUSION WRITER DISCOVERY FELLOWSHIP While Rob is loathe to recommend contests/gatekeepers of any kind, this is a free thing where you can submit your pilot script to potentially carve an avenue to which to find eyes or just see what state your pilot is in. The deadline is January 6th, so you can use the Christmas Break – if you have one – to polish up your pilot and get it on over to circle of confusion which always gets a beat for producing Eternal Sunshine.

LINK to register for the "How to Make a Movie for $1000" Virtual Workshop!

Notes From the Episode:

Rob's YouTube Channel

It seems odd that it's taken us 65 episodes to do one on the subject of rewriting, but here we are. Rob and Kay discuss not only the two types of rewriting (queryable vs note driven), but give out tips and tricks on how to develop a proper system that will yield you a bulletproof screenplay. Spoiler alert: it'll take you at least three drafts (and they tell you why).

Our Weekly Resource: This week’s Resource: Grammerly! Rewriting is not only about potentially making different choices to your structure or characters, but also a chance to go back through and make sure you’ve spelled things correctly or made sure that each action line serves a purpose. Not to mention that typos and bad grammar annoy readers, especially when they're in the first few pages and that’s where something like Grammerly comes in. It’s free, works through various, easy-to-use platforms for both mac and PC, via app or via desktop and it’s 100% free. I know this sounds like an ad, but we’re not getting any money to say this, we’re just recommending it, Plus, it’s christmas, and maybe you want to gift yourself or another fellow screenwriter a paid

LINK to register for the "How to Make a Movie for $1000" Virtual Workshop!

Notes From the Episode:

Rob's YouTube Channel

Rob asks Kay to don her Professor Fedora as they discuss THE MUSTS OF ACT ONE. Characters, introductions and inciting incidents -- oh my! There's also some back and forth about certain trolls being back on Twitter, Patty Jenkins talking about character arcs, and Rob is super jealous of Mike Flannigan, but that's just how we do.

Our Weekly Resource: The Binging with Babish Youtube Channel has a paperback cookbook “Eat What You Watch: A Cookbook for Movie Lovers”

LINK to register for the "How to Make a Movie for $1000" Virtual Workshop! 

Notes From the Episode:

Rob's YouTube Channel

In Episode 55, we discussed outlining, which is how Kay Tuxford likes to start. But here in part two? Rob teaches us how to write from the seat of the Pants.

Our Weekly Resource: The Moleskine Volant Journals. These are Rob's best friends for making sure that they capture his thoughts as they fall out of his head. They come in pocket (index card sized) and longer-pocket sizes, so that’s where he keeps them, just, in a back pocket, to pull out & use on rough sketches of scenes, sometimes just dialogue snippets, that may not have an immediate place in the script, but figure that out later. It's more important to watch the movie as it’s happening.

LINK to register for the "How to Make a Movie for $1000" Virtual Workshop!

Rob's YouTube Channel

The Holidays got the Best of Rob & Kay (don't be like that, don't act like we didn't see you in those Black Friday lines at Best Buy) sooooo, we're giving you a previously unaired Screenwriting Therapy episode from a few months ago. We promise to be back next week with the fresh screenwriting goodness you know and love. -- Mgmnt.

Rob's YouTube Channel

This week we’re doing our first response podcast as the No Film School Podcast – one of our favorites – put out a podcast recently that essentially was, “You’ve Written a Screenplay. Now What?” Which, after 60-some episodes We were surprised we hadn't done a full deep dive on the same topic, but today, we shall!

Our Weekly Resource: Since we’ve done a podcast in response to another podcast it only seems fair to make the No Film School Podcast our crown jewel of value goodness this week, since this podcast is chock-a-block full of it. With interviews from folks you want to hear talk about the business as well as lively debate with the editors of NFS on the issues of the industry and up-to-the-minute tech news. If you’re a podcast person – and we assume you are, you’re listening to us  – and you’re not already subscribed to these folks, what are you doing? Get on it. Make it happen. And tell em, we sent ya’.

Notes From the Episode:  

Rob's YouTube Channel

This week we have the resident expert of the Screenwriter forum on Facebook and the writer of one of the most acclaimed books on screenwriting, “That's Not The Way It Works”. He is a producer, writer of 19 produced films and a former actor, Bob Saenz is on the show. Rob & Kay talk to Bob not only about his book, but also about staving off the end of the end of democracy, Super Mario giving everyone the finger, and the unfortunate passing of legendary voice actor, Kevin Conroy.

Our Weekly Resource: Bob’s book, “That's Not The Way It Works” is a no-nonsense guide on screenwriting and the business of our craft, Bob’s book is a memoir-style look at our beloved industry with practical advice from a working professional who’s done the work, so you don’t have to wonder. It is not only best-selling, but award winning and is a worthy addition to any screenwriter’s library next to Syd Field, and Blake Snyder.

Notes From the Episode:  

Bob's Twitter

In support of Microbudget Filmmaking, Rob and Kay have started a new series where they both spotlight a film & the filmmakers in order to glean all the golden goodness for those of us in the trenches trying to make Marvels out of A24's.

Rob & Kay are back! After a few weeks of irregular guest hosting, our Dynamic Duo returns with not only their usual sass, but also a Returning Guest! Paige Feldman, author, writer/director, and YouTuber, becomes the show's first, stopping in to talk about her new indie TV series, Interrobang, as well as all the Hot Twitter Goss (you know how we do), like: Stephen King owning Elon Musk on Twitter, David Tennant being the Internet's (sexy) Boyfriend, and Screenwriting Twitter collectively freaking out (WHERE DO WE GO?!) over Elon buying our platform of choice.

Our Weekly Resource: Paige’s series, Interrobang. The age of independent TV is almost upon us, my friends. As our friend Zack Morrison said in last week’s podcast, even if you don’t sell your thing, it’s much better to have as an example of your work because as we all know in this business, PEOPLE DON’T WANT TO READ YOUR SCRIPT. So be like Paige, be like Zack. Make a thing. And support people who do, like Paige, by watching their things (and cribbing ideas as to how you want to make your thing).

Notes From the Episode:  

Guest Cohost Julia is here with Kay standing in while Rob is out of town. They talk about the medium of independent TV pilot with Zack Morrison! Y'all remember Zack, right? He's the guy that gave us our Twitter Drama Theme Song! And there was some juicy drama this week involving an assassination attempt, an asshole billionaire, and some good old FOMO regarding our favorite love-to-hate film festival.

This week’s Resource: Zack Morrison’s Youtube Channel featuring a variety of shorts/content/vlogs featuring our guest, as well as his journey on bringing CANUSA to life!