Guy Hibbert is a BAFTA-winning screenwriter and playwright. He has written numerous stories for film and television with a particular focus on conflict and compassion in some of the most troubled areas of society. In this episode we talked about his screenplay ‘Eye in the Sky’ which is about the ethics of drone warfare, released as a film directed by Gavin Hood in 2015. Additionally we cover his route into becoming a writer after leaving school with little formalised education, his thoughts...

Writers' Workshop - How do you write a film with a twist ending? This week, William takes a look at M. Night Shyamalan's 'The Village', a film that was released with high audience expectations from a writer-director who had notoriously become so associated with the 'twist ending' that the anticipation and predictions possibly undermined the story he was trying to tell. This episode covers the allegory at the heart of this story, thoughts about how to build terror and suspense in writing,...

'Insightful Interview' episode with Todd Komarnicki: a writer, director and producer best known for writing ‘Elf’, ‘Sully’ and ‘The Professor and the Madman’. We talk about Todd’s path into becoming a writer, getting feedback, and screenwriting as a craft. The second half of our conversation focuses on the modern-day classic 'Sully', turning a real-life event into a compelling narrative, the responsibilities a writer has towards the real person who the story is based on, and the themes of...

Writers' Workshop - Why write a film designed to be made in the 'one-shot style? What can '1917' teach us about the storytelling benefits that can result from this approach? This week's intro contains some thoughts on joining a writers' group. The main topic is a screenplay breakdown of Sam Mendes and Krysty Wilson-Cairns' '1917', exploring how the narrative rules work in a real-time sequential story, the themes of remembrance and the metaphor of the unknown soldier, and plenty of...

It's the 21st Rewrite's annual breakdown of the screenplays that the Academy considers the best of the year, and what a strange and difficult year it has been! William is joined by some great guests, Adam Azulay (Apple TV+), Ralph Leonard (UnHerd) and Eposi Litumbe (Mayflower) to talk to you all about ‘Promising Young Woman’, ‘The Father’ and the other nominees for the two screenwriting categories.  *** Which was your favourite screenplay of the last year, did it make the list? Join the...

Why is writing a single location screenplay a good idea for new writers? How does 'Locke' illustrate how this can be done? This is another solo writing analysis and writing workshop. The intro includes tips on how to beat writer's block! Today's main topic is a screenplay breakdown of Steven Knight's 'Locke', exploring its themes, its structure and is concluded with William's theory on single location screenplays - they need to be four dimensional. Follow up and 'What to do next'...

For the first time on the podcast, this is a solo episode, which is a brave experiment for a podcast that has, until now, been purely conversational! This week's screenplay topic is Steven Spielberg's 'A.I. Artificial Intelligence', a project that was largely developed by Stanley Kubrick until it was finally passed on to Spielberg and finally put into production shortly after Kubrick passed away. By testing out the solo podcast format, William tries to cover two major concepts for you:...

This week Zosha Millman, senior editor at Bright Wall/Dark Room, makes a guest appearance to discuss the recent, and largely overlooked, science-fiction film 'Ad Astra'. We talk about the the major differences between the earlier version of the screenplay and the final film, the power of pacing and when to use silence, and the parent-child relationship that is the heart of the story.  Want to comment, get news and join episode discussions? Follow our instagram @21st_rewrite. Letterboxd film...

You may have been told your characters are too 'flat', not 'rounded' or 'believable' - that's an important note, but how do you actually go about fixing that? Kira-Anne Pelican, the author of 'The Science of Writing Characters', has written extensively about this very question. Using the latest research from the major branches of psychology to explain how to make a character interesting, we combine this in typical '21st Rewrite style' to look at a screenplay through this lens, focusing this...

This week we're talking about adaptation again, in the context of how to bring a first-person, ruminating narrative about memory and loss into the detached and visual realm of film. Alistair Owen, who has published various books on screenwriting, calls in from England to talk about this interesting adaptation of Julian Barnes' novel 'The Sense of an Ending' which was directed by Ritesh Batra and written by Nick Payne. We use examples from the film to discuss the whether there is such as thing...

This year’s Austin Film Festival may have been held virtually, but the screenwriting competition was a strong as ever and brought our attention to some great writers. Edward Drake, whose latest project ‘The Young Woman’ won the Dramatic Screenplay category, calls in to talk to William about how he first heard about the true story the script is based on, his approach to writing and filmmaking, and he thoughts on getting things made following all of the necessary adaptations the film industry...

Kieran Hurley calls in this week to discuss his first film, 'Beats', which was released to a good deal of acclaim in 2019. It's a fun and often hilarious story of two teenagers in Scotland in the mid-nineties figuring out who they are and what they want to be, all set to the backdrop of the then-popular rave subculture. Learn how Kieran adapted his original stage performance into a screenplay with director Brian Welsh, and listen to his thoughts on regional representation in British cinema,...

We have a history, language and screenwriting conversation like no other for you this week, as Dr. Christine Schreyer and writer Dan Wiedenhaupt talk about their work on the 2018 film ‘Alpha’. Dan is the screenwriter who wrote the script for the film’s director Albert Hughes, and he shares his experiences researching and writing a story set in the distant past. Christine has now worked on creating languages for three films, and she explains about how she got involved in this work, her...

This week, William is joined by writer Ralph Leonard to discuss one of his favourite films, Paul Thomas Anderson's magnificent 'There Will Be Blood'. They start the conversation by talking about the history of California and Upton Sinclair's novel 'Oil' which served as the inspiration for the screenplay - then they discuss their interpretations of the film, the Biblical and Marxist concepts in the story and the fascinating character of Daniel Plainview. You can read Ralph's essays on...

Screenwriter John Collee is joining William this week on a very socially-distant recording, calling in from 7,511 miles away! We discuss John’s thoughts on living an exciting life that gives you the inspiration to write, collaborating and building relationships, and his ideas about story structure, and then talk about the screenplay to ‘Hotel Mumbai’, which he co-wrote with director Anthony Maras. Want to comment, get news and join episode discussions? Follow our...

We celebrate another run of 21 episodes with the latest edition of ‘The 21st Recap’! The first part of this episode is intended as an introduction to to listeners who are unfamiliar with the show and who want a guide to what we do and what we talk about. This summary of our latest episodes including clips highlighting some of the great guests that have been on the show recently. For our veteran fans, we also present the second round of ‘Rewrite’ awards, with every screenplay up for...

In this episode, William and Alan discuss Martin McDonagh's powerful exploration of anger, blame and the drive for taking revenge. The inhabitants of a small rural town are brought into conflict as a result of a bereaved mother putting up three billboards directly attacking the police chief of failing to investigate her daughter's murder. Having read the full version of the screenplay we share some of the details of scenes that were taken out from the film, explore how McDonagh made the...

What happens when a visionary director chooses to adapt a novel, without actually reading the whole book? ‘Children of Men’ is one of the greatest science fiction films of the early twenty-first century, and results from a collaboration between Alfonso Cuarón and no less than four other writers (all of whom, presumably, did read the book). William and Alan take a look at this remarkable screenplay and its origins in the pages of P. D. James’ 1992 novel ‘The Children of Men’, while drawing out...

A project ten years in the making, ‘Black Swan’ tells a compelling story of a ballerina striving to achieve perfection in her performance and to synthesise the two sides of her personality. As the lockdown continues, William is joined by Alan again over a video call in order to bring you this regular episode, and together they trace the evolution of the story and break down why they think this screenplay is so enjoyable. Want to comment, get news and join episode discussions? Follow our...

We have a podcast crossover this week with the host of ‘The Age of Napoleon’, Everett Rummage, calling in to discuss one of his favorite historical films: ‘Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World’. Together we take a detailed look at the mentality of the early nineteenth-century; talking warfare, culture and science, and discuss what we thought of the screenplay, which does not hold back and actually emulates the complex vocabulary used in Patrick O’Brien’s original ‘Aubrey-Maturin’...

Wes Anderson is a filmmaker with such a recognisable style on the big screen, but we were interested to see how his stories appear on the page too. Written in collaboration with Owen Wilson, 'The Royal Tenenbaums' was the film that really turned Anderson into a household name, and it is an endearing, complex tale of a disintegrating family. William and Alan speak this week over a video call, as a result of the worldwide lockdown, but we hope the content is just as informative and insightful...

‘Looking For Eric’ is a pretty unique film. A postal worker from Manchester in the middle of a personal crisis suddenly finds himself talking to the apparition of the legendary French player Eric Cantona, and attempts to turn his life around in order to have another shot at happiness. Paul Laverty’s screenplay is a reflection on aging, memory, mistakes, community, family and football. There was plenty to discuss in this episode, and I was joined by Andrew Graves, the author of the new book...

We are back to one of our regular discussion episodes this week, this time taking a look at ‘Casino Royale’. The film was intended to be a complete reboot of the James Bond franchise so we read the screenplay in that light, comparing it to Ian Fleming's 1952 novel of the same name, which first introduced the character of international secret agent James Bond to the world. There is plenty to talk about here, including how to write an ending to a screenplay when you intend it to be the first...

For this special episode William and Alan met with David Rabinowitz, one of the Academy-Award winning writers of ‘Blackkklansman’, based on the memoir by Colorado Springs detective Ron Stallworth. We’re sure this film needs no introduction! We talk about how David got into writing for film, his writing partnership with Charlie Wachtel, working with Jordan Peele, Spike Lee and Kevin Willmott, the surreal few years working on ‘Blackkklansman’ and what he learnt over this time. This was an...