Screenwriting: From the Trenches

A question for the ages, Rob & Kay, after being mired in the actions of actors, the industry and our fellow brethren this week, attempt to answer and come up with a pretty decent episode. Our Weekly Resource: The Charlie Kaufman Speech . Notes From the Episode: Zack's Original Instagram video (for our Twitter Drama Bumper) Jenna Ortega Changed Lines in 'Wednesday' Scripts  Rob's " You're...

Kay and Rob discuss the hottest thing in our industry, Adaptations. Whether it's a book, news article, or something in the public domain, we've got you covered on the steps that you need to take, what kind of material is available to Joe/Jane Screenwriter, and what you should look out for when adapting IP. Our Weekly Resource: Friend of the Show, Danny Manus , has a great article on Script Mag for...

This week, as Kay and Rob find the industry to be a dumpster fire currently, so we want to have a heart-to-heart with our listeners on the topic of, "How does one get their foot in the door?" And really...if you really want to? Our Weekly Resource: Kane Parsons , also known as Kane Pixels , made a movie about liminal spaces – spaces that supposedly are adjacent to our reality without being a part...

This week, Rob & Kay are discussing Setups &Payoffs. And while there are no 100% absolutes, but the things discussed in this episode are about as 99.999% repeating as you can get in terms of screenwriting “rules”. You MUST have setups and payoffs in your script, and the lack thereof is the sharpest indicator of a screenwriter that does not have command of their craft. Our Weekly Resource:...

Sharpen your pencils and get your money ready, cause it's contest/fellowship season (and you've got a million applications to fill out). To guide you, Kay & Rob have graciously ( 😂 ) decided to lend you their expertise on what contests are worth it, vs the ones that are scams. Our Weekly Resource: The WGA just dropped a new Writing Programs Masterlist for you to navigate this years Contest/Fe...

Rob & Kay talk to Megan Rees about pitching after she got some great advice, recently, from some Hollywood screenwriter Big Shots on her TV pilot, Hot Town . Our Weekly Resource: Megan was recently featured pitching her screenplay on the Screenwriting Life Podcast with Meg LeFauve (and guest Joe Forte ) where she, and others who participated, got great advice in a live workshop at the Austin F...

This week, inspired by a Twitter thread by Christopher Cramer (who we have on the show with us), Kay and Rob talk the everyday screenwriter, and how our stories overlap and how we interact with our family, who don't always see us for the artists/creatives that we really are. Our Weekly Resource: Found a new YouTube channel called “ The Media Insider ” and this guy has a video called “ How to Write...

This week Rob interviews producer Sev Ohanian , producer of the film " Missing " who also co-wrote the film’s predecessor, " Searching ". In it, we talk about the charges against Alec Baldwin for the shooting on the set of the film Rust , whether these screen movies qualify as "found footage", the return of the whodunnit genre,  and what brought Sev and his partner to...

This week Rob and Kay are talking adaptation, specifically via The Last of Us since Rob has played the video game and Kay has not. We also talk, in our Twitter drama segment, the backlash surrounding the Scooby-Doo prequel cartoon Velma , and how imminent a Writer's Strike could be do the current practices of the studios. Our Weekly Resource: The Last of Us companion podcast . If you want to hear...

This week Rob and Kay talk Christmas get into the topic of (sexy) Worldbuilding and how it's not just for the Star Wars's and the Avatars of the world, but even your average dramas and comedies, etc. And how you can do the leg work so that your movie doesn't feel thin. Our Weekly Resource: The Art of World Building - Immersive Screenwriting with Margaret Kerrison from (the great) Indie Film Hustle...

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 f...

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 you...

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...

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 p...

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...

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. Our Weekly Resource: For a pure resource, you could do much wors...

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...

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...

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 ! Pai...

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 f...

This week, Kay, like Backstreet , is back, and we’re talking about writing for the future! And to help us, I’ve managed to convince a guest I’ve wanted to have on for a long time, Liam O'Donnell , writer and director Beyond Skyline and Skylines to come on and tell us what it’s like. We also share some nice news about losers ( racists / incels ) losing, and Roadmap Writers taking L's on teaching wr...

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. This week, Kay was MIA (again!) so Rob sat down with Adam Mervis ( writer/director ) and Mark Stolaroff ( producer ), of the film, The Last Days of Capitalism...

Kay Tuxford and Rob are diametrically opposed as to how they come by writing their scripts, so, they decided to do full episodes on the methods to their madness to explain their processes and ultimately learn from each other...so you can too, listener. This is part one. Our Weekly Resource: Index Cards ! You can buy them at any office supply store for a few dollars and they are perfect for buildin...

"Is my screenplay going to earn me a million dollars?" Anything is possible, but Rob & Kay are back this week to expel these frequent myths and demons from screenwriter discourse. Among the things discussed, how to break the rules by Tarantino, do you have to live in LA to be a screenwriter, and the ever popular "Should I bold my slug lines?" (ugh). Amongst the screenwriting drama, we discuss...

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. This week, Kay was MIA so Rob sat down with Jay Thornton (of The Thornton Bros ) and (R) Michael Gull , the writer/director and lead actor, respectively, on t...