What goes into writing a great movie script?

Research the facts and then throw away the research.

Write in reverse time. Major characters need to change polarity; minor characters may remain the same at the end.

To develop a unique voice for each character, try interviewing your characters.

Top 1% Biotech, A Merck Rival, Plummets On A Surprise Failure - Investor's Business Daily

Make sure to pack enough explosives into the rocket.

The DSM 5 is a wonderful character compendium.

What you leave unwritten is as important as what you write. SUBTEXT.

The High Stakes of Kevin Durant’s Closing Act - The Ringer

Maintain a slush pile/idea file. When you are ready to write, choose the best seeds to plant.

Only God gets it right the first time. Rewrite everything.

Cut everything that is not a payoff, or a setup for a specific payoff. “Omit needless words.” Think about the sparseness of joke telling, or Grimm Brothers.

Anxiety and anger may explain how parenting styles shape life satisfaction - PsyPost

Audiences are smarter than you think. Something about turning down the house lights makes their IQs go up.

Don’t direct from the page. Everyone, from the director on down, wants to be part of the process of making movies. Let them do their work.

A critical function of storytelling is wish fulfillment. This is why video games are so popular. “That protagonist is JUST LIKE ME.”

6 Foods You Should Be Eating for Bone Health, According to Dietitians - Yahoo

Conflict is your power source; without it you have no drama and hence no script.

People choose what to see based on the high concept. Make sure to deliver an ending consistent with the high concept -- it is what the audience paid for.

Learn to tell a story orally and not through writing. Try telling your story to a friend.

What kind of person makes you think "how come there are people like that"?

Get up there yourself. Be in a movie. Take some acting (not writing) classes. Learn how a trained actor approaches a text. Learn why actors take roles. They do as much if not more than the writer does.

Outline everything. Use story beats. Keep character’s mouths taped up, until they absolutely MUST speak. Write the script and the dialogue at the last minute, after you’ve revised the hell out of the outline.

Use status to help drive conflict. King Lear/fool. Upstairs/downstairs.

What is the sum of X+XX+XXX+XXXX?

Leave holes. Write and unwrite. Put it in, take it out.

A scene should change valence from beginning to end. Up to down, down to up.

All rules are made to be broken, but you damn well better know WHY you’re breaking them.

Daniela Ruah Flaunts 'Legs for Miles and Miles' in 'Stunning' New Photo - Yahoo

Primary characters must change polarities. Secondary characters can change less.

Your primary job is to create situations. Modern actors will fuck up your dialogue, despite whatever your contract says.

Actors give better feedback than writers do.

Opinion: The secret to a longer life could be this old-fashioned English breakfast - MarketWatch