The other symbol, ><, denotes conflict. To understand what the conflict is, I always like to think of a scene like this: As the lights come up, two people walk into a room from opposite doors, meet in the middle, and begin to struggle past each other to reach the door on the other side.

The point is that amping up a great logline with the hero who makes the idea work best is how the idea comes to life. And let’s be clear, the trick is to create heroes who: > Offer the most conflict in that situation > Have the longest way to go emotionally and… > Are the most demographically pleasing!

liking the person we go on a journey with is the single most important element in drawing us into the story.

No matter who is encouraging you on the friend side of your life, it’s the strangers you really need to impress.

I like to think of movies as divided into three separate worlds. Most people call these three acts, I call ’em thesis, antithesis, and synthesis

You can probably run most of these films without the soundtrack and still “get it.”

The worst thing that can happen in screenwriting is to not finish. Half-written screenplays never sell,

and do what needs to be done.

he has to choose to go.