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Articles
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Top Reads Spring 2025

The ISA Top Reads list for Spring 2025 has been announced! The writers' projects have been evaluated by multiple ISA readers, advancing through multiple stages of the Writing Gig consideration process, contests, and fellowship applications.After being heavily considered for our gig mandates and other submissions, these writers a...
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Creative Screenwriting
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What Filmmaker Mohammad Rasoulof Endured for “The Seed Of The Sacred Fig"

The international film landscape is essential in shaping a global approach to cinema. Oftentimes, it isn’t simply the types of stories or the way they are told by specific voices that excite audiences, but also the way in which they were made.Mohammad Rasoulof’s The Seed Of The Sacred Fig is astonishing in its raw truthfulness, ...
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Magazine
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The Facets of Tribalism: A Conversation with ‘Opus’ Writer-Director Ma...

  • Sadie Dean
  • .March 14, 2025
Mark Anthony Green discusses his approach to filmmaking, focusing on thematic anchors, like tribalism and character development, particularly Ariel’s character. As well as his overall mission to engage with audiences, his dream collaboration with music artists Nile Rodgers and The-Dream and praises his crew for giving it their a...
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Moviemaker
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Hollywood Ads Are Crumbling on Contact

  • Sebastian R
  • .May 13, 2025
Once upon a time, slapping a movie star’s face on your product was like printing money. It didn’t matter if they knew what they were selling. If George Clooney looked at the camera and nodded while holding a coffee, the masses followed. But now? Followers are vanishing, engagement’s tanking, and celebs are starring in ad campaig...
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Film Inquiry
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ISA TOP 25 SCREENWRITERS TO WATCH Interview With Adam Karlson

Each year, The International Screenwriters’ Association compiles a list of the 25 screenwriters to watch. This year, Film Inquiry is here to guide you through the incredible list of gifted individuals! Our next writer is Adam Karlson. Film Inquiry spoke with Adam about his writing process, the details of his script Choke, tips f...
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The Wrap
TheWrap
TheWrap

Jimmy Fallon Jokes Trump Thinks America’s Worst Enemies Include Bruce Springsteen,...

  • Ross A. Lincoln
  • .May 20, 2025
Jimmy Fallon had a little fun on Monday’s “The Tonight Show,” imagining the conversation between Donald Trump and his advisers before speaking to Russian autocrat Vladimir Putin on Monday.“President Trump had a two hour phone call with Vladimir Putin. Two hours at a certain point Putin is like this meeting could have been a half...
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ISA ARTICLES

The Relentless Road to “Back to the Future”

There’s one trait every successful screenwriter must have, and it’s not just talent. It’s not even just hard work. It’s persistence. Grit. The ability to keep pushing forward when every door slams shut in your face. I was thinking last night about how to talk to emerging screenwriters about the necessity of more than just hard w...
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ISA ARTICLES

‘Yes, And’-ing Your Story Into Existence: The Sixth Sense Edition

Let’s do some more “Yes, and’ing” of movie stories, shall we? This time, I’ve looked at a screenplay that I originally covered on the job as a professional Reader, then watched it sell in a huge $3+ million deal for M. Night Shyamalan to write and direct the film that not only went on to become a huge hit, but at the time it bec...
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ISA ARTICLES

‘Yes, And’-ing Your Story Into Existence: The Hunger Games Edition

When watching a movie or TV show, I’m always thinking about how and why a story works, and how and why the writer made those particular story choices. I’m also intrigued by how the concept began. How small was the kernel of the idea when they began to formulate the story and how did they go about expanding on the original premis...
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ISA ARTICLES

The Art of Selling Without Selling Your Soul

Today is all about pitching. I worked with one of my coaching clients last week and he needed help with his pitch. It prompted me to really dive in and get into the nitty-gritty of how a pitch should be written and developed. You’ll notice that the process of developing a pitch is quite similar to the process of developing a sto...
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CS MAGAZINE

What Makes High School Movies Work? (Part 2)

ArchetypesParents (good and bad), teachers (good and bad), friends, teammates, and classmates (good and bad), and siblings all form the basis of an archetypal character set.In The Edge of Seventeen:Nadine’s mother: a bit unraveled and trying to cope with her own life as well as her two children. Nadine’s father is dead and that’...
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CS MAGAZINE

What Makes High School Movies Work? (Part 1)

High school movies span decades. There are thousands covering most of film and TV history. This is mainly for one reason: the themes in them are universal.The stories of high school are the stories of life. Of joy, sadness, yearning, accomplishment, and all things in-between.On The Edge of Seventeen is a prime example of the com...
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CS MAGAZINE

6 Helpful Things To Consider To Make An Impactful Short Film

Short films have been an effective way for many screenwriters to showcase their storytelling skills. They can be shown at film festivals, industry screenings and events, and online to help promote your screenwriting career.Here are some pointers that screenwriters might consider when writing a short film script:1) Make It ShortA...
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CS MAGAZINE

Halina Reijn Wrestles With Control In Erotic Thriller “Babygirl”

Erotic thrillers are back.In an electric explosion of passion, sexuality, and gender dynamics, Dutch filmmaker Halina Reijn (Red Light, Bodies Bodies Bodies) tracks two super-charged and vulnerable characters Romy (Nicole Kidman) and Samuel (Harris Dickinson) who break most corporate and relationship norms when CEO Romy and her ...
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SCRIPT MAGAZINE

Interview with Director Catherine Gund about Her New Film 'Meanwhile'

  • Susan Kouguell
  • . March 13, 2025
In this wide-ranging interview, Susan Kouguell discusses with filmmaker Catherine Gund their respective work and shared artistic sensibilities in terms of employing nontraditional filmmaking structures, the inclusion of poetry in film, tackling challenging subject matter, and how to make it the most honest. It was a pleasure to ...
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SCRIPT MAGAZINE

What Happens in the Field, Stays in the Field: David Koepp Discusses His New Thriller 'Black Bag'

  • Andrew Bloomenthal
  • . March 12, 2025
David Koepp talks about penning this crackling thriller, writing on spec, and utilizing a MacGuffin that’s simple and powerful. Espionage films are notoriously delicious. Black Bag--the new spy thriller written by David Koepp, is no exception. In this taut tale of British intrigue, National Cyber Security Centre agent George Woo...
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SCRIPT MAGAZINE

Make Your Script's Opening Pages Stand Out

  • Script Magazine
  • . March 11, 2025
This live webinar will explore why these pages matter so much, and how you can entice a reader to stay with your script.The opening pages of a script matter far more than you think. They are the chance a busy Literary Manager/Agent/Producer/Actor gives you to impress them with your command of craft, story and above all, characte...
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SCRIPT MAGAZINE

Writing the Sci-Fi Screenplay

  • The Writers Store
  • . March 11, 2025
When writing the Sci-Fi script, audiences are looking for entertaining stories with interesting, developed characters that take them out of this world and into another. The Writer’s Store staff created this bundle of ten products to help Sci-Fi writers take their script to the next level and get it sold. With examples from block...
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MOVIEMAKER

Alison Brie, Dave Franco Accused of Ripping Off Idea for Their Film Together

  • Tim Molloy
  • . May 13, 2025
A lawsuit filed Tuesday accuses Dave Franco and Alison Brie of stealing the idea for their new body-horror film Together, which NEON purchased out of the latest Sundance Film Festival for a reported $17 million.Production company StudioFest, created by Jess Jacklin and Charles Beale, says in the lawsuit that Together is "blatant...
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MOVIEMAKER

13 Classic Cars in Classic Movies

  • Tim Molloy
  • . May 13, 2025
Classic cars and classic movies go together like gas stations and squeegees.Here are 13 classic cars that turned up in classic movies.How do we define classic? It's in the eye of the beholder. So if you think we missed anything, let us know in the comments.The 1963 Aston Martin DB5 in GoldfingerUnited ArtistsLet's start with per...
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MOVIEMAKER

Young Frankenstein: 12 Stories of How Mel Brooks’ Monster Hit Came Alive

  • Tim Molloy
  • . May 14, 2025
The Mel Brooks classic Young Frankenstein turns 50 this month. Here are 12 stories of how it came alive.... alive! Young Frankenstein Was Born From Blazing SaddlesCleavon Little (L) and Gene Wilder in Blazing Saddles. Warner Bros.Brooks, who turned 98 in June, first met Wilder in 1963 when Wilder appeared in a play with Brooks' ...
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MOVIEMAKER

The 15 Funniest TV Shows We’ve Ever Seen

  • Tim Molloy
  • . May 14, 2025
Here are the funniest TV shows we've ever seen. Here we go.But FirstScreenshot - Credit: NBCYour list is probably different — so please share your own choices. Comedy is subjective, after all.Also, you'll notice some bias here toward more recent shows. Since comedy is so much about breaking rules, it's hard for older shows to st...
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FILM INQUIRY

Glasgow Film Festival 2024: THE G

There seems no end to the vulturous nature of late-stage capitalism. Just when it seems every crevice of society has been mined for content, a fresh new subject crops up waiting to be explored. In this wintery cold noir from Karl R. Hearne, the subject is elder care facilities and the way they’re used to exploit the elderly and ...
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FILM INQUIRY

SKIN DEEP: A Body Swap Romance Exploring The Modern “Self”

Skin Deep opens as a disoriented man totters through a bedroom. There’s a catatonic figure lying in the bed nearby as light streams through the window. His befuddlement is ours as well. It sets a perturbing mood against the Gregorian undertones of the music. There’s something strikingly beautiful in another subsequent image: a y...
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FILM INQUIRY

Scream Dreams Podcast Interview

In the world of horror podcasts, some can be a nightmare. Or, in the case of Scream Dreams, AMP’s podcast, the horrors are actual nightmares, as the podcast dives into them in a compelling and unique fashion. With a myriad of guests from within the horror genre, co-hosts Catherine Corcoran and James A Janisse interview and get i...
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FILM INQUIRY

TAYLOR SWIFT: THE ERAS TOUR: A Lightning In A Bottle Cultural Phenomenon

In her ongoing quest for world domination, Taylor Swift made a quick detour at the gates of cinema last year with her uniquely marketed concert film. Being released in tandem with her ongoing Eras Tour, which the film documents, Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour was a box office juggernaut that defied expectations. And while the film ...
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THE WRAP

Salt-N-Pepa Sue UMG for Rights to Their Catalogue, Say Label Is Holding Music Hostage

  • Sharon Knolle
  • . May 19, 2025
Sandra Denton and Cheryl James of legendary hip-hop group Salt-N-Pepa are suing Universal Music Group for the rights to their catalogue, saying that the label is holding their music “hostage.” In a suit filed Monday in New York, the plaintiffs, whose hits include “Push It” and “Whatta Man” with En Vogue, say they “will not toler...
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THE WRAP

‘Alpha’ Review: Julia Ducournau’s Mournful Horror Drama Cuts Through Body and Soul

  • Chase Hutchinson
  • . May 19, 2025
The term “body horror” is one that carries with it a lot of expectations. If you were to hear it at last year’s Cannes, it would have likely been used in reference to the breakout hit “The Substance,” with its gallons of bloody viscera being splashed all over the screen. But there are also the works of body horror that rely less...

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