Brokeback Mountain works as well as it does because it uses the love story genre, not drama, to make its point. Had the writers done this as a social drama, they would have focused everything on the central issue at stake. They would have used a lot of moral argument in the dialogue,

The big lesson of Alfie is the difference of episodic and organic story. An episodic story is one in which the individual event or scene stands alone. An organic story is one in which all the events and scenes are connected under the surface and build to a surprising but also logicall

Kissing Jessica Stein is a good example of an independent film using its strengths in writing to make up for the fact there was little money. An independent film isn’t going to have much in the way of production values. That puts even greater pressure on the script.  Some indie

This movie knows the power of the cross-cut. Unfortunately it doesn’t seem to be aware of the cross-cut’s weaknesses.  Moulin Rouge is at its best is when it is cross-cutting within the scene. The opening and closing twenty minutes are superb. Cross-cutting within the scen

Cameron Crowe is one of the few screenwriters in Hollywood who has a voice (or, some might say, is one of the few allowed to have a voice). Voice is just one of the elements of craft that makes Almost Famous such a good film. What is even rarer in Hollywood is a film about how a write

What Women Want is a perfect example of what is good and what is bad about a Hollywood high concept comedy. Like Tootsie and Groundhog Day, this film takes a twist premise and shows a self-centered, chauvinistic man how to care about a woman and live well. The technique extends back t

The greatness of Casablanca lies not in the lines – which are superb – but in lines which support a unique and fairly powerful structure.  Casablanca seems to go against the principles of good dramatic structure.  Context or Desire: Instead of beginning with what Rick, the