COMEDY: Chris Parnell on screenwriting (Archer, SNL, Suburgatory, Lazy Sunday 2, Anchorman)

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Poop mouth

Chris Parnell is a veteran comedic actor who honed his skills in The Groundlings and on Saturday Night Live, before moving to films like Anchorman and Hot Rod. Lately, he’s appeared in 21 Jump Street, The Five-Year Engagement and he’s a regular cast member on the sitcoms Suburgatory and Archer. Those two shows had already finished for the season when Parnell popped up on the season finale of Saturday Night Live (Kristen Wiig’s final episode) in the sequel to one of the great viral videos of all time, Lazy Sunday 2. Read more

The Dark Knight Rises Pre-Cog Story Map or “How I would write the Dark Knight Rises screenplay”

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The Dark Knight Rises Script

In anticipation of The Dark Knight Rises opening in theaters on July 20, I’ve been analyzing Christopher Nolan’s films, especially the first two chapters in his Batman trilogy, Batman Begins and The Dark Knight. I’ve found myself buried so deep into Nolan’s complex story structures that it’s been impossible for me to watch the trailers and not start mapping the story in my head. It’s been keeping me up at night. Even before this latest one, The Dark Knight Rises – Official Trailer #3 [HD], I started to write a Full Story Map for The Dark Knight Rises, sight unseen, based solely on the limited clips and information available on the web.

There’s a lot of speculation online as to the story, but no one has attempted to break down the entire film.

Until now. Read more

Mad Men Images | Mad Men 501-502 “A Little Kiss”

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Anyone who knows me knows I’m a huge, huge, huge fan of Mad Men. After each episode, I comb the web for any and all Mad Men-related material, and since there’s many other nutjobs out there who are also mad for Mad Men, the blogosphere never disappoints.

But most high-profile sites only feature one still photo from each episode, and since I’m on the AMC press list and have access to various publicity materials, I decided I’d work harder to bring you guys more images for your scrapbooks, including ones you might not see anywhere else yet (like the pic above). Read more

The Hunger Games story could only be written by a woman?

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I’m almost done reading The Hunger Games trilogy of books on my trusty Kindle and I’m seeing the movie in a few hours (as it unleashes a Quarter Quell on the box-office in its opening weekend), so until I can offer an analysis of the screenplay or movie, I thought I’d share one of my first impressions of the story when I read the book. Read more

Andrew Stanton on Story

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I came across this TED talk by writer/director Andrew Stanton, whose credits include Toy Story 1-3, Finding Nemo, Wall-E and the upcoming John Carter. He’s got some really interesting things to say about the emotional connection between screenwriter (storyteller) and audience (listener), touching on WHY we love a great story, what we expect and how the storyteller should meet these expectations. Read more

Fox Searchlight proves that audiences want original stories

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A few months back, I was preparing a proposal that listed the box-office performance of several films, including The King’s Speech. I knew that the film did quite well, but I was shocked to learn that it grossed a whopping $440 million worldwide! To put that into perspective, this quiet, character-driven period drama with stuffy British accents outgrossed Tron: Legacy, Star Trek (2009) and The Adventures of TinTin! Read more

Seven screenplay analysis and free download offer

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What’s in the box?!

Seven, written by Andrew Kevin Walker and directed by David Fincher, is one of the great thrillers of the 1990s, a decade with several exceptional thrillers. Walker’s screenplay for Seven shot him to the Script Doctor A-list, establishing him as a hot writer of dark material on spec, like 1999’s 8mm, as well as garnering him uncredited rewrites on films such as Fight Club, The Game (also Fincher-directed films) and Stir of Echoes (directed by Walker’s mentor, David Koepp). Read more

The Black List 2011 highlights the best spec screenplays of the year

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The 2011 Black List is here! Congratulations to all of the writers who made the list.

For those who don’t know, the Black List compiles the “most liked” unproduced (as of voting time) screenplays of the year, as voted on by studio, agency and production company executives in Hollywood. What began as an underground project has become a major announcement for the development community that is reported on by sources such as The Hollywood Reporter.

Past winners like Juno and The Social Network have proven the list as a prescient judge of quality film storytelling. Read more

Download free Oscar screenplays

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The major studios are once again posting their “For Consideration” screenplays online for Academy Award season. Some of these titles may become Oscar nominated screenplays, for Best Original Screenplay or Best Adapted Screenplay. So far, we’ve got free pdf script downloads from Universal, Fox Searchlight, Focus and Lionsgate. Read more

The Future of 3D with Peter Jackson, The Hobbit, Martin Scorsese and Hugo

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This behind-the-scenes video on the set of The Hobbit in New Zealand is a must-see for 3D lovers and haters, alike. If you’re doubting the need for 3D (like Roger Ebert) or if you’re a Tolkien purist who thinks the two-part Hobbit saga is a calculated cash grab, I ask you to watch this video because it really shows how much the dedicated filmmakers behind films like this are melding artistry and brilliant technology to create a truly unique cinematic experience.

If Roger Ebert thought his letter from Walter Murch (see the link above) closed the case against 3D, I’d say this video tears the letter and the envelope it came in to shreds. Read more

Spec Script Market is booming!

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"What's an iPhone?"

It seems like I can’t turn around lately without seeing an article about how the spec screenplay market in Hollywood is at its highest level in 5 years!

October 2011 saw 18 sales, [correction: 20 sales!] the biggest month for sales in years, including three from relative newcomers. Read more

Gladiator screenplay

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Gladiator (screenplay by David Franzoni and John Logan and William Nicholson; story by David Franzoni) is a true Hollywood epic that breathed new life into the swords-and-sandals genre, made Russel Crowe a star and gave director Ridley Scott another opportunity to make a brilliant, large scale Hollywood masterpiece.

The film runs at just under 2.5 hours but the story never slows, due to a rock-solid structure that’s focused on a hard-charging throughline and an ever-present controlling theme. Read more

Story Maps book review on Slingwords.com

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Story Maps: How to Write a Screenplay has received another glowing review, from best-selling author Joan Reeves on her site, Slingwords.com. Here’s some excerpts from the review…

“In truth, I found this book to be brilliant.”

-Joan Reeves

Keep reading, and, by the end of the book, it’s as if you absorbed the structure. There’s a harmonic resonance between the story map structure and your writer’s consciousness.
Read more

Actor Elijah Wood tells Dan Calvisi what he looks for in a script

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I’m more interested in being a part of an entire piece that I think is brilliant, even if it’s a small part to play.

Read more

Dexter Season 6

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Dexter season six premieres on Sunday, October 2 on Showtime. Once again, we will get the opportunity to watch some strong dramatic writing at work. Dexter has always been a good example of the use of a dynamic character and the technique of dramatic inevitability. Both devices contribute to dramatic character and plot arcs over the course of a season. Read more

script screenplay

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Are you writing a “script” or a “screenplay?” Is there a difference between the terms script and screenplay?

Screenplay vs. script. Which is it?

Exhibit A: “Script”

Exhibit B:”Screenplay”

Read more

The Shawshank Redemption Screenplay

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The Shawshank Redemption screenplay by Frank Darabont, based on the novella by Stephen King, is a powerful character-driven drama that covers many years in the lives of multiple characters, all tied together around the theme of “preserving hope in the most hopeless of situations.”

Read more

Story Maps book review in Script Magazine

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Story Maps: How to Write a Screenplay has received high marks from Script Magazine’s book reviewer, Heather Hale. Here’s some excerpts from the review…


Calvisi uses both contemporary commercial blockbusters and critical successes as well as the old stalwart classics the average reader is sure to be familiar with as examples. This grounds and contemporizes the readers’ communal frame of reference. Read more

Elijah Wood wants a great script, not just a character (Video)

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Dan’s 2-Minute Screenwriting School strikes again, this time with a short interview with actor Elijah Wood (the Lord of the Rings trilogy, The Ice Storm, Green Street Hooligans, Sin City, and the American version of the single-camera sitcom “Wilfred”).

I’m equally attracted to just simply a great script and not necessarily great character.

I asked Elijah the same question I’ve been asking of other actors/filmmakers, like Louis C.K., Vincent Kartheiser and Graham Yost, and his answer was quite intriguing… Read more

Book to Script Part II

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<–Back to Part I

What initially caught my eye about this page of text from Mario Puzo’s novel The Godfather, with hand-written notes by Francis Ford Coppola, was that this is the scene in The Godfather that I have mentioned for years to my students and clients and one that I highlight in my book, Story Maps: How to Write a GREAT Screenplay: Read more