To prepare for his upcoming appearance on our show, TSL is proud to rebroadcast a classic, Michael Ardnt's Act 1 Masterclass. Little Miss Sunshine's script, written by our guest Michael Arndt, won almost every major industry award, and for good reason. Its warmth, humor, and surefooted commitment to its themes makes it one of the finest scripts written this century. And SO many of those themes show up in Act 1. Michael has become a bit "obsessed" with act 1's lately, because it's our chance...

The Morning Show is one of TV's most discussed shows, and season 3 showrunner Charlotte Stoudt recognizes it's cultural foothold. For her, the idea of incorporating real world events is all about character, and a chance for both the characters and their discussion of the world around them to illuminate each other. Charlotte also discusses how she runs the morning show room, works with her powerhouse cast, and looks back on her impressive career. PATREON: www.patreon.com/thescreenwritinglife

In our time time-honored tradition of asking the same three questions at the end of every show, we wanted to put together a supercut of some great guest responses to be enjoyed in one fell swoop. New episodes Featured in today's supercut: - Nora Twomey - Eirene Tran Donohue - Constanza and Domenica Castro - Allison Tolman - Dustin Lance Black - Dana Stevens - Jeremy Doner - Joe Robert Cole - Kelly Edwards - John Lee Hancock - Jane Anderson - Julia Cho and Domee Shi - Rafael Casal - Kelly...

In our time time-honored tradition of asking the same three questions at the end of every show, we wanted to put together a supercut of some great guest responses to be enjoyed in one fell swoop. Part two coming Monday! Featured in today's supercut: - Matt Lieberman - Monique N. Matthews - Sean Presant - Stacy Rukeyser - Sam Bain - Nicole Perlman - Stephen Karam - Anna Drezen - Jenny Lumet and Alex Kurtzman - David F.M. Vaughn - Dan O'Shannon - Jen Grisanti - Patrick Osborne  JOIN OUR...

We're back for another story workshop, plus some amazing suggestions for writing exercises to help crack act 2. Join our patreon: www.patreon.com/thescreenwritinglife

Believe it or not, documentary filmmaking has lots in common with traditional narrative feature filmmaking...tune in today to learn why, with two award-winning documentarians! TO SEE MONIQUE'S DOC (screening this week!): https://www.birthingjustice.com/screenings/ FOR MORE ON LINDA: https://ladylikefilms.com/ TO JOIN OUR PATREON: www.patreon.com/thescreenwritinglifea

Throughout the 21st century, video games have become one of pop cultures most valuable mediums, and their narrative ambition grows with each passing year. Today we feature two of the industries top writers, Shanon M. Ingles (Batman: A Telltale Series) and Stephan Bugaj (Tales From the Borderlands) to discuss how the industry has evolved from a writing standpoint, and how you can break in.

Today, we do one of our favorite things: answer YOUR questions. As is always the case, a theme emerged across your questions and our conversation, which boils down to one of the hardest and most important questions we face as artists. How are we supposed to feel validated in our work, especially when it's hard? Don't forget to join us for our FINAL DRAFT in Austin this year on Saturday evening at Stephen F's Bar & Terrace after our workshop. We are so exciting to be partnering with Final...

TSL was on set this week! (Exciting - more soon)...but because our bandwidth was stretched a bit thin, we're going to be rebroadcasting a fan favorite: the lava episode! There may be no topic we discuss more on this show than lava, so we decided to put an episode together unpacking the entire volcano.

The Austin Film Festival is many things, but one if its most infamous opportunities is the annual 90-second pitch competition, where writers join to do just that: pitch their story in JUST 90 seconds. In the industry, we call this "the elevator pitch" and its more important now than ever. To help us unpack the nature of elevator pitching, we're featuring an amazing roster of guests: TSL veteran and super producer Sheila Hanahan Taylor, Austin Film Festival Screenplay Department Director...

There is nothing worse than writer's block when facing a rewrite, but there's hope! Today we discuss 6 Essential Strategies To Tackle a Rewrite. JOIN OUR PATREON: www.patreon.com/thescreenwritinglife

We're back for part two w/ super producer Ted Hope! This week, we talk about some of Ted's top pieces of advices for living a successful creative life, and spend a long time talking about the importance of balancing multiple projects as a creative.

You finally get the meeting, make the connection, and a bigshot producer is excited to read your script. But you panic. Is it good enough? Is it READY? Today, award-winning independent film producer Ted Hope walks us through those always complicated questions, and answers TONS more along the way. FOR MORE: https://tedhope.substack.com

Every writer can point to a movie that made them say: "THIS. This is what I want to do." And today, Meg, Lorien, and Jeff share the movies that turned THEM into writers. Yep, we're movie nerds too. JOIN OUR PATREON: www.patreon.com/TheScreenwritingLIfe

Though it can sometimes feel like a prison, screenplay structure is actually a very freeing element of the story process. Jill Chamberlain, a veteran script consultant, is obsessive about structure, to the point where she has created a popular technique to re-consider how we approach our work. On her technique, producer Callum Greene (Star Wars Episode 9) offers “the Nutshell Technique is like the Rosetta Stone: it cracks the code behind why we love the movies that we love. It goes way beyond...

As collaborators and showrunners, Kat Likkel and John Hoberg know that shutting down ideas is never helpful. This was only emphasized when they joined Pixar's Elemental team as writers. Today we discuss how to collaborate well with others (and ourselves), how to bring our personal experience into our work, and duckboat. Yes, you read that right: duckboat. Join Our Patreon: www.patreon.com/TheScreenwritingLife

**PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS EPISODE WAS PRE-RECORDED & PRECEDED THE 2023 WGA STRIKE.** In today's TSL epsiode, Meg gets personal about her lava, and how a recent production of Stephen Sondheim's Sunday in the Park with George is helping her to rethink the beauty of moving on from a creative project. JOIN OUR PATREON: www.patreon.com/thescreenwritinglife

Despite being a multiple Academy Award winner, celebrated producer, and feature/TV director, Jodie Foster is still aiming for a singular goal: to tell truthful stories. On today's show, we discuss how Jodie processes her work, how she collaborates with others, and what Robert De Niro taught her on the set of Taxi Driver. Join Our Patreon: www.patreon.com/thescreenwritinglife

Though she got her start in multi-cam sitcoms, it was a bold sci-fi dramedy rom-com that made Pixar interested in hiring Brenda Hsueh to co-write Elemental. On today's show, Brenda discusses how her voice has evolved as a writer over the course of her career, how she brought her own experience into her work as a writer for Elemental, and how she has learned to elegantly argue for what she believes in when collaborating. JOIN OUR PATREON: www.patreon.com/thescreenwritinglife This episode is...

With hits like BRING IT ON and STICK IT, writer/director Jessica Bendinger is known for her subversive and surprising takes on female girlhood, using archetypes in a way that audiences have celebrated. Today what discuss what archetypes are, how we can use them, and what the future of our industry looks like. FOR JESS' BOOK/PODCAST: http://www.jessicabendinger.com/ TO JOIN OUR PATREON: www.patreon.com/thescreenwritinglife

Hi all! Today, Savana and Jeff revisit their conversation from part one of their conversation about SET! Today we discuss some of the most essential vocabulary and set dynamics that you need to understand before you take the plunge! For internship inquiries, email [email protected] with the subject line INTERN, and include a cover letter and resume. Please note that we are only considering credit-eligible students! To join our Patreon: www.pateron.com/thescreenwritinglife

We bring our "beginning" miniseries to a close with this instant TSL classic, wherein Meg gives many pep talks. JOIN OUR PATREON: www.patreon.com/TheScreenwritingLife

In our continued conversation about where and how to begin as a screenwriter, we take your (excellent) questions! We talk about outlining, cards, character development, and how to quiet our inner critic. TO JOIN OUR PATREON: www.patreon.com/TheScreenwritingLife

So you want to be a screenwriter. Now what? Today we discuss some of these important questions to ask before you jump into a draft - questions that are JUST as valuable for emerging writers as they are for professionals.

Emmy-winning TV super-producer Javier Grillo-Marxuach is back. This time, he chats about his wonderful essay "WHAT I DO ON THE PAGE." clarifying that ultimately, the basic mechanics or writing are also the advanced mechanics of writing. HERE is the essay we're discussing: http://okbjgm.weebly.com/uploads/3/1/5/0/31506003/script_essay.pdf HERE is Javi's first appearance on our show:...