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Write On: A Screenwriting Podcast

Dec 30, 2025

“We try to answer two questions before we say yes to a job or embark on a spec script: Why does the protagonist need this movie? And the other is: Why tell this story other than to make money? That was our attitude going into Jurassic World. That was our attitude going into Avatar,” says screenwriter Rick Jaffa...


Dec 3, 2025

“I didn't think I'd be a good fit as a writer if they were going to do a PG version of the story. That's not where my strength lies, so the great thing is that the version Francis [Lawrence, the director] wanted to make was the version I wanted to write. A week later, we had a meeting with Lionsgate, we pitched the...


Oct 30, 2025

“I love adaptations. The beauty of adaptation, especially a classic, like Shakespeare and Chekhov or Ibsen, they’re such a gift because they give you this beautiful framework, and it’s almost like they’re begging you to take it and make it your own,” says writer/director Nia DaCosta about adapting...


Oct 20, 2025

“As you do draft after draft, it becomes shorter and rendered down. And [Keanu Reeves and I] would go through scenes going, ‘Can people say less? Can the action be tighter? Can the action sequence be shorter?’ The action is an extension of the hero’s journey and if you don’t give a sh*t about the character,...


Oct 17, 2025

“People never lie so much as after a hunt, during a war or before an election.”

–Otto Von Bismarck 

“It's funny, because when I was writing After the Hunt, I definitely wasn't like, ‘Oh, I want to write about this current socio-political moment.’ I was really just invested in the characters and the...