Scriptshadow Secrets (500 Screenwriting Secrets Hidden Inside 50 Great Movies)

If you’re just beginning, stay close to the basics: “Guy wants something badly and has trouble getting it.”

Just because you have a bedroom scene doesn’t mean one person has to be on the bed and another next to it. Why can’t you put both characters underneath the bed,

Every genre has its own eccentricities. Every writer has his or her own voice. Every story has its own challenges.

Good dialogue comes from characters talking AROUND their issues, not ABOUT their issues

They play with language through slang, sarcasm, exaggeration, manipulation, and evasiveness.

It shifts the movie onto a different path, which is what a good midpoint will do.

whenever you break a rule, do it in modesty!

When you introduce a bad guy in an action movie, make sure to show us he’s bad right away

“Voice has to do with how an author interprets the world on the page. It has a lot to do with language choice, the rhythm and flow of words. Sometimes it has to do with the author's point of view (John Hughes) or sense of humor (Shane Black, William Goldman) or the creative dialogue (Quentin Tarantino) or quirky characters (most of the above). If y