Go Into The Story Resource: Screenwriting Tweetstorms
Twitter threads uploaded by professional screenwriters, TV writers, and producers on a wide variety of subjects.
On May 16, 2019, Go Into The Story turns 11 years old — you can read the very first blog post here. I led with this paragraph:
Welcome to Go Into The Story! Right now, it’s nothing but a humble, threadbare blog, but I hope it will evolve into an active resource for aspiring screenwriters, as well as a community for anyone interested in storytelling and the creative life.
And evolve it did! To the point where it was recently named “Best of the Best” Scriptwriting Website in the 20th Annual Writer’s Digest Best Websites for Writers list.
To celebrate 11 years of blogging about screenwriting, writing, Hollywood, movies, TV, and the creative life, each day in May, I’m going to feature a piece of Go Into The Story trivia, plus a writing resource you can find in the site’s archives. This is not an exercise in self-congratulations so much as I figured readers could use some tips about how to best use the site. With — to date — 26,354 articles and over 100 archive topics, there is a LOT of content here. Hopefully, these posts for the next 31 days will clue in more recent followers and remind long-time readers about resources you can use to facilitate deepening your understanding of the writing craft.
Today’s trivia: On May 14, 2011, I received an email from Franklin Leonard. In it, he wrote, “I’ve been long been a fan of your blog, and it occurred to me recently that we should get together and talk.” Thus began a series of conversations which eventually led to Go Into The Story becoming the official screenwriting blog of the Black List.
Over the years, I’ve witnessed the Black List evolve into what it is today: The annual Black List, the website where anyone in the world can upload a script making it available to 3,500+ industry insiders, a slew of educational programs, Black List Live! staged readings and other events, and most recently a movie financing and production company.
Stretching back to 2013, I have been a mentor at every single Black List feature writers lab and mini-lab with many of those participating writers going on to sign with managers and agents, and land movie and TV writing gigs.
All of this is very much in the spirit of Franklin and I discussed in our initial conversations, how he and I share a vision of helping those outside the Hollywood system find the resources and support to find their way into the system. That common sense of purpose is why I’ve been proud to partner with the Black List for nearly 8 years now.
So here’s to Franklin Leonard and the rest of the Black List team, for all you do for screenwriters around the world, both professional and aspiring. I look forward to seeing what new Black List initiatives emerge and how I can plug in to help find new writing voices and facilitate them learning the craft.
Today’s Go Into The Story resource: Screenwriting Tweetstorms.
Twitter is a perfect social medium for screenwriters. To waste time, of course, but the impulse to dash off a thought here or there is pretty common to writers who traffic in words pretty much all the time. Occasionally something wonderful happens: A professional writer will go off on a tweetstorm, taking on a subject at some depth, albeit in 140 characters bites.
Those are great, however, they tend to disappear down the relentless and unending Twitter feed rabbit hole, so I decided to create an archive for them here.
I’ll be on the lookout for helpful tweetstorms, but also encourage GITS readers, if you see one happening, send me an email. I’ll contact the writer to see if they’re willing to let me post them on the blog, then archive them here as an ongoing resource.
To date: 67 tweetstorms.
Monica Beletsky (@MonicaBeletsky): On Writing 1-Hour TV Drama Script.
Amy Berg (@bergopolis): On TV Staffing Season and Surviving Writers’ Room Interview Process (Part 1)
Amy Berg (@bergopolis): On TV Staffing Season and Surviving Writers’ Room Interview Process (Part 2)
Amy Berg (@bergopolis): On Getting Hired Onto a TV Series Writing Staff
Carter Blanchard (@cartblanch): On Tips to Prepare for a Pitch
F. Scott Frazier (@screenwritten): On Writing Action Set-Pieces
Katherine Fugate (@katherinefugate): Black Facts About Hollywood
Katherine Fugate (@katherinefugate): On What is “Perfectly Okay” for a Screenwriter to Write
John Gary (@johngary): On How He Used Query Letters to Find New Representation
Gary Graham (@thegarygraham): On Some Keys to Screenwriting
Javi Grillo-Marxuach (@OKBJGM): On Writing Screenplay Scene Description
Paul Guyot (@Fizzhogg): On Writing Plans
Alex Hawley (@AlexiHawley): On Surviving as a Screenwriter in Hollywood
Eric Heisserer (@HIGHzurrer): On Drafts, Parenthicals and Respect
Eric Heisserer (@HIGHzurrer): On Finding the Joy in Your Writing
Eric Heisserer (@HIGHzurrer): On How to Treat a Film Crew
Eric Heisserer (@HIGHzurrer): On Loglines
Eric Heisserer (@HIGHzurrer): On Losing the Love for a Story
Eric Heisserer (@HIGHzurrer): On Minimalist Screenwriting Style
Eric Heisserer (@HIGHzurrer): On Pitching
Eric Heisserer (@HIGHzurrer): On Procrastination, Precrastination and Productivity in Writing
Eric Heisserer (@HIGHzurrer): On Story Notes
Eric Heisserer (@HIGHzurrer): On Subtext
Eric Heisserer (@HIGHzurrer): On the Challenge of Screenplay Adaptations
Eric Heisserer (@HIGHzurrer): On the Current Slate of Action Heroes
Eric Heisserer (@HIGHzurrer): On the Screenwriter’s Creative Power
Eric Heisserer (@HIGHzurrer): On When a Writer Should Walk Away From a Project
Eric Heisserer (@HIGHzurrer): On Writing and Cultural Sensitivity
Melissa Hilfers (@MelissaHilfers): On Dealing with Ego, Pride, and Script Notes
Gennifer Hutchison (@GennHutchison): On Becoming a TV Writer
Brian Koppelman (@briankoppelman): On Fear and Writing
Brian Koppelman (@briankoppelman): On Writing Advice and the Courage to Risk Failure
Daniel Kunka (@unikunka): On Being a Productive Writer
Daniel Kunka (@unikunka): On “Lincoln” and the Value of Reading Scripts
Daniel Kunka (@unikunka): On OWAs (Open Writing Assignments)
Daniel Kunka (@unikunka): On the Importance of Ideas
Daniel Kunka (@unikunka): On Writing Feature Spec Scripts in the Age of Peak TV
Geoff LaTulippe (@DrGMLaTulippe): On Avoiding Red Flags in Screenplays
Geoff LaTulippe (@DrGMLaTulippe): On Hollywood Script Development Process
Geoff LaTulippe (@DrGMLaTulippe): On Studio Script Development Process
Jeff Lieber (@JeffLieber): On How a Pilot Script Works
Justin Marks (@Justin_Marks_): On Script Page Count
Justin Marks (@Justin_Marks_) : On Exposition
Craig Mazin (@clmazin): On the Working Relationship Between Studio Execs and Writers
Craig Mazin (@clmazin): On Script Consultants
Rachael Prior (@ORachaelO): On How a Development Team Works
Rachael Prior (@ORachaelO): On Life as a Development Executive
Rachael Prior (@ORachaelO): On Movies as a Business
Rachael Prior (@ORachaelO): On the Self-Delusion Imperative
Rachael Prior (@ORachaelO): On Treatments and Outlines
Rachael Prior (@ORachaelO): On What Makes a Writer Stand Out
Rachael Prior (@ORachaelO): On Writers, Script Notes, and the “Gap”
Ed Solomon (@ed_solomon): On Pitching
Ed Solomon (@ed_solomon): On Story Structure, What It Is, and How to Find It
Zach Stentz (@MuseZack): On Being ‘Good in a Room’
Zach Stentz (@MuseZack): On Rewriting Strategies
Mike Sweeney (@Courier12): On Being More Than a Black List Writer
Mike Sweeney (@Courier12): On Focusing on the Quality of Your Spec Scripts, Not the Quantity
Mike Sweeney (@Courier12): On ‘New Screenwriting Rules’
Mike Sweeney (@Courier12): On Not Writing to Stats, Metrics, and Trends
Jake Thornton (@jakethornton): On His First Two Years as a Hollywood Screenwriter
Jeff Willis (@jwillis81): On Copyrights and Protecting Your Written Material
Jeff Willis (@jwillis81): On Query Letters
Jeff Willis (@jwillis81): On Should You Pay for a Script Consultant
Jeff Willis (@jwillis81): On the Reality of Spec Script Sales
Jeff Willis (@jwillis81): On Writing Compensation
Nate Winslow (@nate_winslow): On the Black List, Uploaded Scripts and Genres
If you catch any screenwriting tweetstorms of note, email me and I’ll get in touch with the writer in question to keep adding to this valuable resource.
