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Articles
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A Quick Look At Developing the Most Important Element of Your 2nd Act

Today I want to focus on developing the strength of your unique moment. What does that mean, exactly, “unique moment”? And how is your unique moment connected to the 2nd Act as a whole? It's something I stress over and over; delivering your "recurring moment." Burn that term into your brain! "Recurring moment." I've used it befo...
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December 16, 2024
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Creative Screenwriting
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Which Screenplay Should You Write Next? (Part 2)

This entry is part 2 of 2 in the series What To Write:Based On Something Else3 Body Problem was based on an award-winning book series by Chinese sci-fi writer Cixin Liu. It took the science fiction market by storm and had a lot of people scrambling for the TV rights.Netflix won the most recent rights battle and released a succes...
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Magazine
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How Do I Pick Up The Pieces with Writing After Burning Out?

  • Jenna Avery
  • .December 19, 2024
Writing coach and Called to Write founder Jenna Avery responds to a reader about getting back to writing after burning out. Welcome to “Ask the Coach.” As a writing coach, I answer questions from writers about making the work of writing happen, tackling craft, business, and personal questions along the way. (Have a question you’...
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Moviemaker
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Our 7 Favorite Christmas Movies in Disguise

  • Tim Molloy
  • .December 16, 2024
These 7 Christmas movies in disguise will entertain whether you're looking for a Christmas movie or tired of typical Christmas movies.Die Hard (1988)20th Century Fox - Credit: C/OLet's get this out of the way: Die Hard is the ultimate "is it a Christmas movie" Christmas movie. No one thought of it as one when it came out — it wa...
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Film Inquiry
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ISA TOP 25 SCREENWRITERS TO WATCH Interview With Adam Karlson

Each year, The International Screenwriters’ Association compiles a list of the 25 screenwriters to watch. This year, Film Inquiry is here to guide you through the incredible list of gifted individuals! Our next writer is Adam Karlson. Film Inquiry spoke with Adam about his writing process, the details of his script Choke, tips f...
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The Wrap
TheWrap
TheWrap

How to Watch the 47th Kennedy Center Honors

  • Andi Ortiz
  • .December 22, 2024
It’s time once again for the Kennedy Center Honors, this year celebrating its 47th class. And it’s quite the lineup.Each year, the Kennedy Center Honors “recognizes and celebrates individuals whose unique contributions have shaped the way we see ourselves, each other and our world. Recipients have each had an impact on the rich ...
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ISA ARTICLES

ISA Staff Picks: December 2024

These screenplays and their writers were selected by ISA staff members as standouts in their genres and formats for the month of December, 2024. They are being submitted to agents, managers, producers and production companies actively looking for writers to rep or projects to produce.  Staff Picks:HEAVY by Colette LeGault (Featu...
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ISA ARTICLES

"Red One" Writer Chris Morgan Rescues Kidnapped Santa in Yuletide Actioner

  • Staff Writer
  • . December 02, 2024
Thanksgiving is just around the corner. You know what that means? Christmas isn’t too far behind. So make sure you’re on Santa’s “nice list” to join the Christmas cheer.But Santa has been kidnapped and must return to the North Pole in order to deliver gifts to millions of children and save Christmas. This is the story of Christm...
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ISA ARTICLES

How Your Story's Theme Can Help You Develop Your Project

I think that we ignore the process of theme development in our projects mainly because we’ve never really been told how to define what theme really is, or how it can inform more than just meaning and sentiment.I gave this note to one of my writers this week (with regard to her thematic statement): “…I think there is a lot to say...
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ISA ARTICLES

Writing Effective Found Family Films: Part 2

This entry is part 2 of 2 in the series "Found Family."It’s A DisasterNothing forces people to form a family faster than a disaster – a plane crash, shipwreck, or a natural disaster such as an earthquake, tidal wave, or tornado. Yellowjackets tells the story of a girls soccer team whose plane crashes in the wilderness during a f...
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CS MAGAZINE

What Is Contextual Writing? (Part 2)

This entry is part 2 of 2 in the series Context:Information DumpsMany times the issues I see in my students’ work are a result of lack of experience obviously. They don’t trust their writing or their audience, or have the skills needed to push out content when it’s needed to be heard by an audience. Consequently, they have info ...
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CS MAGAZINE

What Is Contextual Writing? (Part 1)

This entry is part 1 of 2 in the series Context:Context is a small word with massive implications. Almost nothing we write, script, novel, or article, is without context. Life itself is all about context – necessary information for it to be meaningful.If I say the score of a game was 5 – 2 and a ‘blowout,’ I’d have to provide co...
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CS MAGAZINE

9 Components Of The Perfect Logline (Part 2)

This entry is part 2 of 2 in the series Logline:4) Triggering EventIn the logline, a triggering event describes the change in circumstances that creates the conflict to be resolved in the climax. Some call it the inciting incident or inciting event, others call it a catalyst. Whether a specific event, or the final straw in a seq...
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CS MAGAZINE

9 Components Of The Perfect Logline (Part 1)

This entry is part 1 of 2 in the series Logline:Many aspiring writers battle with loglines. Quite a few working writers struggle, too. Afterall, it’s a different skill from writing a script. The good news is crafting a logline becomes much easier when the writer knows what to include and, more importantly, what to leave on the c...
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SCRIPT MAGAZINE

Trust the Process: A Conversation with the Filmmakers Behind the Critically Acclaimed Film ‘Sing Sing’

  • Sadie Dean
  • . December 17, 2024
Director and co-writer Greg Kwedar, along with 'Sing Sing' co-writer Clint Bentley and producer Monique Walton, talk about their eight-year journey making this film, and share additional insight into creating a safe space for the cast and crew, melding documentary and narrative storytelling techniques, and trusting the process a...
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SCRIPT MAGAZINE

'The Lord of the Rings: War of the Rohirrim' and What It Can Teach Screenwriters

  • Bryan Young
  • . December 16, 2024
'The Lord of the Rings: War of the Rohirrim' is a beautiful addition to the canon and adds wonderful mythology to the world and offers lessons for anyone tackling these sorts of fantastical stories in their own work. This article will include spoilers for Lord of the Rings: War of the Rohirrim. HÉRA voiced by GAIA WISE in New Li...
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SCRIPT MAGAZINE

Reckless Creatives Podcast - Season 4 | Episode 9 - Donald H. Hewitt on Drawing the Reader In ... and So Much ...

  • Pipeline Artists
  • . December 13, 2024
Donald H. Hewitt, a professional screenwriter of 24 years, talks about his long screenwriting career, his new book, and even looks back at the mistakes we all make when we're naive and young...and maybe a little dumb. Sadie and Jeanne chatted with Donald H. Hewitt, a professional screenwriter of 24 years, about his long screenwr...
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SCRIPT MAGAZINE

Interview with Oscar-Nominated 'Nickel Boys' Writer and Director RaMell Ross and Editor Nicholas Monsour

  • Susan Kouguell
  • . December 12, 2024
RaMell Ross and Nicholas Monsour delve into their collaboration, discuss the film’s nontraditional structure, the unconventional screenwriting process, point-of-view, and so much more. When covering the 2024 New York Film Festival for this publication I highlighted Nickel Boys, and since then I was eager to chat with RaMell Ross...
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MOVIEMAKER

15 Moviemakers’ Predictions for the Future of Film — and Life Itself

  • Tim Molloy
  • . December 17, 2024
We recently asked some of our favorite moviemakers for their predictions for the future of film — and life itself — in their lifetimes. We reached out to film people of all ages — including current award season contenders Anora director Sean Baker and star Mikey Madison,  The Duel star Dylan Sprouse, Heretic star Sophie Thatcher...
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MOVIEMAKER

The 12 Best Serial Killer Movies Ever Made, Ranked

  • Tim Molloy
  • . December 17, 2024
Here are the 13 best serial killer movies we've ever seen, ranked in order from least to most great.12 - Freeway (1996)Republic Pictures - Credit: C/OMathew Bright's Freeway is as over the top as Henry is grounded: It's a reworking of Little Red Riding Hood with Kiefer Sutherland as Big Bad Wolf Bob Wolverton as Reese Witherspoo...
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MOVIEMAKER

Anora DP Drew Daniels Would Rather Do Things the Hard Way

  • Joshua Encinias
  • . December 17, 2024
Anora cinematography Drew Daniels likes the uncertainty of working with film stock. “It puts a little bit more faith and trust in the cinematographer because people don’t know if it will come out,” he says. “When your dailies look good, there’s always a surprise and a sigh of relief.”The cinematographer of Sean Baker’s latest — ...
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MOVIEMAKER

When Rick James Dropped a Yacht Rock Album

  • Tim Molloy
  • . December 18, 2024
The new HBO film Yacht Rock: a Dockumentary looks at the sometimes mocked, often misunderstood genre of music called yacht rock, focusing on a prominent group of white musicians who borrowed from Black artists to create polished blue-eyed soul. The film notes that Black stars were largely absent from the yacht rock phenomenon, b...
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FILM INQUIRY

Glasgow Film Festival 2024: THE G

There seems no end to the vulturous nature of late-stage capitalism. Just when it seems every crevice of society has been mined for content, a fresh new subject crops up waiting to be explored. In this wintery cold noir from Karl R. Hearne, the subject is elder care facilities and the way they’re used to exploit the elderly and ...
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FILM INQUIRY

SKIN DEEP: A Body Swap Romance Exploring The Modern “Self”

Skin Deep opens as a disoriented man totters through a bedroom. There’s a catatonic figure lying in the bed nearby as light streams through the window. His befuddlement is ours as well. It sets a perturbing mood against the Gregorian undertones of the music. There’s something strikingly beautiful in another subsequent image: a y...
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FILM INQUIRY

Scream Dreams Podcast Interview

In the world of horror podcasts, some can be a nightmare. Or, in the case of Scream Dreams, AMP’s podcast, the horrors are actual nightmares, as the podcast dives into them in a compelling and unique fashion. With a myriad of guests from within the horror genre, co-hosts Catherine Corcoran and James A Janisse interview and get i...
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FILM INQUIRY

TAYLOR SWIFT: THE ERAS TOUR: A Lightning In A Bottle Cultural Phenomenon

In her ongoing quest for world domination, Taylor Swift made a quick detour at the gates of cinema last year with her uniquely marketed concert film. Being released in tandem with her ongoing Eras Tour, which the film documents, Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour was a box office juggernaut that defied expectations. And while the film ...
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THE WRAP

‘Better Man’ Review: Eccentric, Ape-Centric Robbie Williams Biopic Is Something Beautiful

  • William Bibbiani
  • . December 22, 2024
I’d like to invite you behind the curtain for a moment. This is my last new movie review of 2024, and I’ve reviewed so many formulaic musical biopics this year that I’m pretty sure my reviews are also becoming formulaic. How many times can one critic point out that Hollywood is still unironically copying the same tired beats tha...
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THE WRAP

Francis Ford Coppola Slams ‘Absurd’ Idea Trump Would ‘Reverse Course’ on Vaccines, Recalls ‘Horror’ of 10-Day ...

  • Stephanie Kaloi
  • . December 22, 2024
Responding to mounting concerns that the second Donald Trump administration may limit the use of vaccines after tapping prominent vaccine skeptics like Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to his cabinet, filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola opened up about his childhood experience with polio and the “horror” of spending 10 days isolated in a health...

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