You want to relax.

You want to watch a movie.

You don’t want to waste an hour browsing each streaming platform.

Have no fear! I’ve got you!

I have PRE-PICKED the perfect thing. Don’t have Netflix? No problem, check out the Kanopy pick. Don’t like Kanopy? Check out Prime. And! Make sure to scan the whole list, some movies are available on more than one platform.

I’m offering two picks for each streamer to account for ‘vibe’ - sometimes you don’t want to watch someone kick an insane amount of ass, likewise, sometimes you don’t want to watch a cute rat teach a dummy how to cook. Whatever the mood, there will be something that fits.

So… here we go! (If people end up liking this type of post, I’m happy to add more streamers to the list - just let me know!)

NETFLIX

Nope

(Sci-fi / horror / comedy / western?)

While everyone has seen Get Out, and for good reason, it’s amazing, Nope seemed to slip past some people. Seeing it in the theater, I was struck by the scope of it - Jordan Peele went so much BIGGER. He was aiming even HIGHER. And I found it to be something totally original - which as we know is extremely rare. Entertaining and weird, in that order. Also, I could stare at Daniel Kaluuya’s face forever. That man can act.

Netflix only

Kindergarten Cop

(comedy / action)

“It’s not a tumor!” I have probably said this line a million trillion times in my life, and every time has been in my best Arnold accent. I loved this movie as a kid and I’m guessing it stands up. Why? Because Arnold always knew what it was the audience wanted from him, and he was always so happy to give it. This is a perfect example of him doing all the things we love - the silly one-liners, the action, the fish out of water. Whoever thought to put Arnold Schwarzenegger in a classroom of five year olds was really eating their Wheaties that morning.

Netflix only

HULU

The Raid

(action / action / action)

I saw this at its premiere at SXSW in 2012 and let me tell you… I was PUMPED. The whole theater was charged with the hyper energy of this movie. It just never stops. In the best way. If you like fighting, this one’s a gem.

Hulu, Disney

Ratatouille

(animation / comedy / drama)

Like Wall-E, this one holds up, guys. It’s just a good movie, animated or not, for kids, or not. For all the people who just feel like watching something nice.

Hulu, Disney

PEACOCK

Chinatown

(mystery / suspense / noir)

If you’ve never seen this movie, stop what you’re doing and watch it. If you have seen this movie, watch again. One of the very first movies I bought on VHS and the first movie I bought on DVD. The underlying tension in this one creeps up on you in a way that you don’t notice and then by the end of the movie you are clutching the arm of the couch.

Paramount, Peacock, Kanopy

Stranger Than Fiction

(romance / comedy / drama)

I am incredibly fond of this movie and it is one of the very very few movies I have purchased for myself on physical media in the last 10 years (there was a long period where you couldn’t stream it for some reason). It’s both whimsical and melancholy. It’s romantic and devastating. Fantastic performances by all. Gets me in the feels.

Prime, Peacock, Roku, Kanopy

HBOMAX

The Rock

(ACTIONNNNN)

In my best Sean Connery accent (which is… terrible): “Welcome… to the Rock.” Damn, was this a fun idea or what? Get the one guy who escaped Alcatraz to BREAK BACK IN! And who thinks to pair Nic Cage with Sean Connery? Total dream team. This is a movie I’ve seen a million times and yet if someone right now asked me if I wanted to watch it I would be SO DOWN. Never gets old.

HBOMax only

This Is Spinal Tap

(r/mockumentary)

We recently rewatched this after Rob Reiner’s passing and it did not disappoint. Still haven’t caught the sequel because… well… we all know it can’t possibly compare and I’m not ready for that disappointment. Although, the DVD is supposed to have commentary by the cast while in character, which sounds like a gas. It’s a classic for a reason, folks.

HBOMax, Kanopy

KANOPY

Sunset Boulevard

(drama / noir?)

One of the best films ever made, no fooling. That it also happens to be a look at the dark side of Hollywood and fame makes it speak to me all the more. Oh, to be a struggling screenwriter in Los Angeles…

Kanopy only

Tropic Thunder

(spoof / comedy / action)

The jokes just don’t stop. Which is great because not all of them land, but who cares because before you even notice you’re laughing at the next one. Definitely pushing the envelope on what might be seen as socially acceptable these days. But if that’s not something that worries you, you will be highly entertained.

Kanopy only

AMAZON PRIME

Memento

(mystery / thriller)

How long has it been since you’ve seen this one? Seeing this in the theater when it came out blew my little film student MIND. It was so dark and twisty and smart. All of that AND Joey Pants? I’m so in.

Prime, Peacock Kanopy

The Birdcage

(comedy / farce)

This will just make you feel good. Especially these days, when everyone feels so far apart, this somehow makes it seem like there could be a way forward. Fairy tale? Probably. But I’ll take it. Laugh out loud hilarious. One of Robin Williams’ best.

Prime, Peacock Kanopy

DISNEY

The Prestige

(psychological thriller / sci-fi? / drama)

Another Christopher Nolan pick, The Prestige is my all-time favorite of his films. It’s incredibly complex and yet he manages to make it easy to follow, Hugh Jackman is devastating and Christian Bale disappears into his character. More importantly, you never have any idea where it’s going so when it gets to the end… it’s special.

Disney, Hulu

Spy

(comedy / spoof)

This movie makes me laugh so hard. I think because I grew up on the James Bond movies - we made our way through them all at the video store - my favorite, of course, was Moonraker - this just really landed for me. It makes fun of all the tropes but with love. They clearly loved those movies, too. I bet Paul Fieg is a Moonraker fan.

Disney, Hulu

Movies I Can’t Believe My Husband (Who Has Seen Every Movie Ever) Somehow Has Never Seen

This category had a shocking amount of Patrick Swayze in it that we have slowly been remedying. Somehow he had missed both Roadhouse and Red Dawn!

Thankfully, at this point, I think it’s safe to say he is a fan of the Swayz.

Dirty Dancing

What: a romance/drama (teen adjacent) about dancing (no one ever says it’s dirty, though, for the record) and love at a family resort in the early 60’s.

When released: 1987

Who was involved: The Swayz, of course, Jennifer Grey, and Law & Order’s very own Jerry Orbach (I kid, he’s done more than that. Wikipedia says, in fact, that he’s been, “ described as "one of the last bona fide leading men of the Broadway musical". (!)), it also has the guy who plays Newman on Seinfeld (Wayne Knight) who every time I see in something I yell, “Newman!” Oh, and cranky grandma from Gilmore Girls!

First time I saw it: A year or so after it came out. 1988ish. I was def in the fifth grade, I remember that.

Impression it made:

• This was definitely the first time I think I was exposed to the concept of abortion. I remember finding that whole part of the plot fairly confusing at the time. So, that was pretty significant.

• I had BOTH soundtracks on cassette and listened to them obsessively on my Sony walkman. I’m pretty sure I saw this BEFORE Adventures in Babysitting, thus, it was my first exposure to the classic “Be My Baby.”

• As a 10 year old-ish, I thought it was VERY romantic.

• I was also totally uninterested in Jennifer Grey’s character (although I was intrigued by her in Red Dawn, I think because she was less awkward) - Patrick Swayze was all I cared about, thank you very much.

• That summer we all practiced doing the lift in the pool.

Last time I saw it: Last weekend with my husband and our friends.

Impression it made: Honestly, I hadn’t seen it in years and years, despite having watched it at a billion sleepovers as a kid and on VHS and cable… and I had warned my husband that I didn’t know if it held up at all. I was guessing it would probably be pretty cheesy and dated and we’d all have a nice laugh.

I WAS WRONG.

You guys, it was SO good.

• First, we all decided if this movie came out today it would be put out by A24 and Jennifer Grey would get nominated for an Oscar. Her performance is spectacular. Truly.

• The chemistry between her and Swayze is unreal (apparently he requested her to play the part opposite him).

• The dancing is so fun to watch.

• The music has you bopping.

• And what an ending!

I was truly shocked at how good this thing was.

Best part: What a difference 40 (cough) years make, but damn did I fall in love with Jennifer Grey’s character.

She is truly inspiring. Not only does she always do what is right, what is kind, but she does it even when it’s really hard, even when it could affect her negatively. She’s brave as hell, principled, and tells people how she feels. And yet, it’s not like she’s a robot, she’s clearly terrified to do ALL of these things. She’s scared, but she does it anyway.

Therefore, as is often the case when you watch a movie with me, I started randomly shouting things such as: “You guys, she’s so good.” “She’s amazing!” “What a character!”

Thankfully my husband and friends accept this about me and still let me watch movies with them (sometimes).

Second best part: Swayze. My God, what a star. I think I inadvertently exclaimed multiple times, “HOT!”

Third best part: her sister’s performance at the final show. IYKYK.

Worst part: Johnny’s cousin, the one who brought Baby to the staff party to begin with… I’m not sure if he is properly thanked for his role in the whole affair. I mean, without him everyone would really be miserable.

Lines to remember:

• “Nobody puts Baby in a corner.” — I mean… who hasn’t said this a million times? It is truly fantastic when Johnny says it.

• “I carried a watermelon.” — The first words Baby says to Johnny, which she instantly regrets for being lame.

• “Where is my beige iridescent lipstick?” — Lisa says this and it is awesome.

• “I think she gets this from me.” — Baby’s mom says this at the end when the whole family suddenly realizes Baby can dance.

Worth Watching Again (or for the first time)?: Oh yes.

“I WANT MY TWO DOLLARS!” I will shout. To no one in particular.

I have been doing this for more decades than I want to admit to and one can presume that I will still be doing this, most likely, until the day I die. God help me if, …

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It’s more of a workshop than a course, really. I kept the enrollment size small and we’re actually working on everyone’s scripts in class each week as we go. I was hoping this would be more useful than a series of general lectures and I think I was right - last night’s class felt ext…

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Baaa

I first heard about The Sheep Detectives several months ago when an executive mentioned it to me during a general meeting. I had just said how much I’d always wanted to write a murder mystery but that it was hard to find an angle that felt fresh. That’s when he asked me if I was excited about this new movie coming out about a flock of sheep who in…

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• watched some of our Inspired Screenwriters pitch their projects to members of the Alliance of Women’s Directors. I’m incredibly proud of them and of the community and I have created this past year. We’ve been dedicated to getting our finalists out into the world and meeting people in the industry and it f…

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Now it’s May 1. How has 2026 played out so far?

Let’s take a look:

1. Community

January: Thirteen Lives

Well, I had chosen Thirteen Lives to represent community. When you watch that film it’s hard to …

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My Weird Tribe

Why do I love weird things so much?

Maybe because I’m weird. And I like weird people.

Maybe because weirdness is how us weirdos recognize other weirdos out in the wild, how we find our tribe.

We are the minority, we know it, and there’s safety in numbers. But it’s more than that, I think. It…

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And with every shot show a little improvement, to show it all would take too long!

First, do yourself a favor and watch the Team America training montage clip below. Even if you’ve seen it a million times before, it’s still spot on.

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This week has been… a LOT.

• I had a ton of work to do that was not only tedious but also on a tight deadline,

• I was having a lot of “what am I even doing with my life?” thoughts about my writing and career,

• people I care about were going through a helluva time with a lot of crap that isn’t fair which makes me feel helpless and inept at basic things like…

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I have said some dumb things in my life. Shocking, I know. But one of the dumb things I said was in high school when my friends and I were trying to choose a movie to watch and I said, “I don’t like movies in jungles.”

Which, first of all, was not even r…

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Movies have inspired me my whole life.

So much so that I:

• worked at a video store

• went to film school

• worked as a personal assistant to an Oscar-nominated director

• went to film school again for my masters

• graduated in 6 figure debt

• worked grueling jobs in just about every part of the film and tv business for years

• never stopped trying

• finally had a huge script sale

• became a professional screenwriter

• started a newsletter to write about movies

On Fridays I write about:

• movies I won’t watch out of spite

• movies I’ve watched at 2am while lying on someone else’s carpet

• movies my dad has seen more than the people who made them

• movies about greedy bastards

• movies that make me wish there were more movies about female geniuses

• movies where the dog doesn’t die

• movies I used to rent at the video store as a kid

• movies that made me not want to be a lawyer

• movies that made me want to make movies

• movies

• movies

• movies

Long story short:

I am a professional screenwriter and I write about movies that INSPIRE ME because I AM INSPIRED BY MOVIES - even the terrible ones (sometimes, especially the terrible ones).

I LOVE MOVIES.

If I could dive into a big pile of Blurays and just roll around… that would be heaven. Uncomfortable, yes. But still! Wonderful!

Wait… you too?

Well then, welcome to my substack: Inspired. I think you’ll like it here.

Subscribe now

Why should you become a Paid Subscriber?

1. Once a month I’ll be posting ‘Watch with me’ posts where I take Paid Subscribers (that’s you!) through a movie as I watch it (these are so fun, especially if the movie is bad, and I LOVE bad movies). Remember The Fog?

2. Paid Subscribers (you!) also have access to all the archives (over 200 posts!), including all of my previous screenwriting content where I shared insights from my career.

3. Paid Subscribers (ahem… YOU!) will be helping to bolster the tumultuous finances of a professional screenwriter in an ailing film industry. (where’s my tiny violin? I know it’s somewhere…)

Subscribe now

There was a time in my life when throwing on a movie at 2am at someone else’s house while I laid on their dirty carpet was a startlingly common occurrence.

This could happen on a Saturday or a Tuesday.

It could be 11pm or 5am.

It could be 3 months since someone vacuumed or a year.

The thing was, my friends and I, we all loved movies. Watching movies …

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I’m Molting!

Here’s the thing, and I’ve secretly known this for a long time but didn’t want to face it because well, sometimes it’s more fun to ignore foundational problems… this substack is split in two.

It has two focuses. Foci.

It wants to be about fun movie times but it also wants to be about instructional writing times.

But! I already talk about inst…

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The Soundtrack of Our Lives

Not to sound like a cranky old person but… remember when soundtracks meant something? Remember when they had their own lives after the movie?

The first albums (let’s be honest, they were tapes, not albums) I owned as a kid were all soundtracks. The Back to the Future soundtrack. The Dirty Dancing soundtrack. The Top Gun soundtrack. Movies were how I learned about music. I bought soundtracks to movies I never even saw - they were like these impossible mixtapes that were filled with exciting gems. As I grew up, they just got better and better. The Singles soundtrack. The Trainspotting soundtrack. The Lost Highway soundtrack.

I mean, of course capitalism exploited this by releasing albums ‘inspired’ by movies that had songs that WEREN’T EVEN IN THE MOVIE, just to make more money and of course movies shoehorned popular songs by popular musicians into their scores just to make more money off soundtrack sales and it was all about money money money.

Which explains how once music became less about albums, less about ‘collections’, soundtracks were no longer big moneymakers. With streaming you could just cherry pick songs and why would you commit to a whole album with one song you knew and a bunch you’d never heard of?

And that wonderful path to the discovery of new-to-you music was closed.

No 8 year olds with their Sony Walkmen bopping along to Earth Angel or She’s Like the Wind.

I plan to do a more in-depth post on soundtracks but for now I want to focus on the filmmaker who gave me the last soundtrack I purchased and then listened to front to back constantly:

Wes Anderson.

The guy loves a needle-drop. I can only imagine what the music budgets are on his films - they must be ginormous. But his soundtracks aren’t memorable just because they have The Rolling Stones or The Who, they are memorable because HOW PERFECT THE SONG IS IN THE MOVIE.

I cannot hear these songs without watching the scenes they are in in my head. They are now married together forever for me and… I love that. I love that a movie can do that. I miss that movies used to do that all the time.

So, here are a bunch of songs that have married scenes in Wes Anderson movies that I hope never ever get a divorce.

From: Isle of Dogs

‘I Won’t Hurt You’ - The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band

This is the only needle drop in the movie. And it’s from an obscure 60’s band that didn’t really amount to much and broke up by 1970.

This is actually the inspiration for this post - we re-watched this movie a few weeks ago and this song, and the feeling it invokes in the film, have stuck with me ever since.

It’s beautiful. In the movie, it captures such an incredible feeling of love and care. Unforgettable.

From: The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou

‘Search and Destroy’ - The Stooges

I’ve been a huge fan of The Stooges for ages, long before this movie came out. This song is one of their biggest hits and I already knew and loved it. I would blast it when I was driving with my windows down and scream along and let it all out.

But after seeing it in The Life Aquatic - seeing Bill Murray explode with violence in hopes of saving his crew - this is now what this song means to me. It’s letting it all out - with a very important purpose - one that is driven by rage and anger and revenge and pain.

From: Moonrise Kingdom

‘The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra Op 34’ - Benjamin Britten

This… is just pure cinema to me. It’s the definition of it. The music is a key part of the language of this scene and it wouldn’t work without it.

The different pieces of the orchestra are the different members of this family, of this small community, and they all work together to build the music of their lives. And you intrinsically feel this from this opening scene. It’s what you carry into the rest of the movie and it’s just… amazing.

‘Le temps de l’amour’ - Françoise Hardy

Two young people discovering/exploring physical attraction - what does it sound like? It sounds like this.

From: Royal Tenenbaums

‘Judy is a Punk’ by The Ramones

Again, it’s not like I had never heard this song before seeing this movie. But I will never hear it again without playing this sequence in my head. As we flip through the pages of Margot’s missing years, we feel the unfocused angst of her wandering, experimenting, through the music. She isn’t happy - she isn’t sad - she’s… uncomfortable. Striving to find meaning, to understand… and coming up with nothing over and over again.

‘Needle in the Hay’ - Elliott Smith

A devastating scene paired with a devastating song that transcends to something full of profound sadness, bereft of hope, drowning.

‘The Fairest of the Seasons’ - Nico

A sendoff for Royal - melancholic but not melodramatic - it encapsulates the complicated feelings of a family mourning the loss of an incredibly complicated man. He was a legend and a myth and a terrible father and a selfish husband and friend. He also loved them in the end. What do you do with all of that? It’s all in this song.

From: Rushmore

‘Here Comes My Baby’ - Cat Stevens

Happy, sad, bittersweet, growing up, letting go, starting something new… it’s all in here. The song is about not being able to be with a girl because she’s always with someone else, chooses someone else, but he still celebrates her with a song. Our hero Max is going through something similar - moving on from what he wanted to embrace what he has.

'A Quick One While He's Away' - The Who

Epic. It’s just… one of the best montages ever and this song is what takes it up to 11. Escalation to the point of the wheels coming off the tracks - my favorite revenge sequence.

‘Ooh La La’ - Faces

Another ending that has a mix of feelings - bittersweet. Complicated.

That’s what so incredible about all of Wes Anderson’s song choices, is that they communicate something that is more layered, more… indefinable than just one note. It’s tone and meaning and emotion and it’s so hard to communicate and music is one of the mediums that can really deliver the things that don’t fall easily into words.

The Inspired Screenwriting Competition

Now in our second year, the Inspired Screenwriting Competition is doubling down on our mission to amplify bold and unique new voices and disrupt the status quo of the film industry.

In an effort to make this opportunity more accessible to everyone, we’re lowering our entry fee and asking writers to submit only the FIRST 20 PAGES of their screenplays. Af…

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NonDē Uprising

Ep 017 - Jen Harrington on *Microbudget Filmmaking*

jen harrington is an exemplar of the NonDē movement. She wrote and directed the horror movies Shook and Housekeeping, and has sold her scripts Hell’s Belles to Amazon Studios and The End of Liz As We Know It to Sony Pictures. She’s also had an impressive documentary career, editing…

Listen now

4 months ago · 12 likes · Avi Setton and jen harrington

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The above scene in Goodfellas is famous for a reason. And it’s not because it has a catchy phrase, or an amazing stunt… it’s because it makes me you feel like something horrible is about to happen in such an intense way that you can barely stand it.

It’s hard for me to watch the whole thing straight even now, even though I’ve seen it a million times.

Joe Pesci feels DANGEROUS. So dangerous that I’m sitting here in my apartment decades later watching on my computer and I’m STILL SCARED OF WHAT HE’S GOING TO DO.

Is it because of his performance? Well, yes, obviously his performance has a lot to do with it. But performances don’t just spill forth from an actor - they are directed. Last by the director, but, I’d argue, first by the script.

It’s the script that places this moment in time, that chooses THIS moment to show, that decides what’s important about this moment, what it reveals about the character and how much and how the other characters react to him.

The Rewrite Course is going to focus on scene work today, so I wanted to look at a scene that gets so many things right. And, yes, I know that a lot of this scene actually ended up being improvised, but the choices made are still made, whether on the page or not, and it shows how effective those choices can be.

Arrive Late and Leave Early

A classic tenet we learn as editors. Almost always when I would edit a scene in the editing bay, the first thing I’d do is chop off the beginning and end. Why? Because there’s usually a lot of ‘business’ there.

By ‘business’, I mean things that aren’t essential to the characters or the plot and are just the mundane workings of life. The ‘hello’s’ and ‘goodbye’s’, the walking across the parking lot into the store, the closing the door when you leave. These are momentum killers and they should always be the first thing to go in a rewrite. After awhile you get so you don’t even bother writing them in the first place, but you’d be surprised how often they can still sneak in even when you know better.

In the Goodfellas scene, we start with Joe Pesci already mid-story, holding court, reveling in the attention. We don’t need his whole story because what he’s saying is unimportant. What’s important is how much he clearly loves being in the spotlight and how his friends are all encouraging him.

We end with a few almost ‘gotcha’ moments. I think of it as like the end of a horror movie. You stabbed the bad guy and then suddenly… HE RISES UP AND CHARGES AT YOU! You stab him again! In the eye! And he dies. You’re safe. But YOU’RE NOT! HE’S ALIVE AND DIVING FOR THE GUN! So you stab him again…

We are so scared of what Joe Pesci might do and we are so relieved when he seems to have calmed down. But then maybe he’s still mad? No, okay, he’s fine. But is he? This reinforces just how unpredictable this guy is, even the filmmaker doesn’t seem to know what he’ll do. Then, going out on that final laugh, reinforces that his friends will not be the ones to stop him, but only to encourage him. Leaving in that moment, we get the sense that the back and forth could go on forever, and his friends will let it, forever.

Imagine then seeing him pay the bill, get his coat, wait for his car at the valet… who cares? What does that have to do with anything? We got what we came for, time to move on.

Three Questions

David Mamet wrote a sort of manifesto about scene work a long time ago and I did a post on it here:

He writes in ALL CAPS and comes off very scream-y but he makes some good points.

The takeaway for me, is that you should be able to ask yourself these three questions about every scene in your script:

1. Who wants want?

2. What happens if they don’t get it?

3. Why now?

In the scene above:

1. Who wants what? Joe Pesci’s character wants to be the center of attention and have everyone think he’s cool. The people who work there just want to do their jobs and go home.

2. What happens if they don’t get it? He’s going to go apeshit. Hence the massive amounts of tension.

3. Why now? First, as far as its placement in the script, this scene happens early in the film around the introduction of the whole crew of guys. It’s vital in establishing the razor’s edge they live on individually and collectively, towards each other and towards outsiders, and how they choose to deal with that level of tension - they laugh. Second, as far as why this happens in the story, in general? We look at who this character is, where is he at in his life? How far to the edge has he been pushed until now? How much has he been denied what he wanted? How desperate has he gotten? How much secret hurt/resentment has he built up? This happens here because he is exactly at the moment in his life where it would. His ranking in this crew, his low/middle level power, his aspirations/expectations for more would inevitably display itself in an unpredictable moment of violence, an opportunity to assert authority over someone he knows he can, bolster how his peers see him.

If nobody wants anything or if it’s not clear? No tension. Flat scene.

If there are no consequences for not getting something? No stakes? No tension. Flat scene.

If there’s no reason for why this didn’t happen ages ago or not at all? No rules governing this world that make some things inevitable? No tension. Flat scene.

CAST

Some last things that are important to remember for scene work:

C

Conflict.

There must be conflict. That doesn’t mean it has to be overt like in this scene, it can be present in the form of an obstacle, a belief, or even one’s own self. The conflict here is obvious, but even a happy love scene, if its a good one, has some conflict looming somewhere in the background.

A

Advancement of story.

Don’t repeat what we already know. Don’t spend time on things that don’t matter. This scene is showing us for the first time who a lot of these characters are and how the dynamics of their group operate. I haven’t seen this yet and the next time I see something like this in the movie, it will build on top of what is learned here, show me how it’s progressing, rather than just repeat it.

S

Setup.

Establishing Joe Pesci’s character’s temperament is key to a major story point later on. Without this scene, later when he shoots a guy for a dumb reason it wouldn’t make sense. If you can remove a scene and the rest of the script plays exactly the same, then it’s missing something

T

Theme / Character Arc.

Where are the characters in terms of their emotional journey? Are they closer to or further away from what they need? Are they accepting? Resisting? How does where they are reflect the theme? As I pointed out above, Joe Pesci’s character is a live wire, trying to prove himself, posturing for others. Henry, goes with it, despite the danger, and then when the danger has passed, pretends like it never happened. Just like he does with this whole criminal way of life. He rides out the sticky stuff and then moves on, makes light of it. It’s how they make it work. As we move forward in the film, Henry’s ability to not react lessens, his ability to move on deteriorates, his ability to keep himself at arm’s length from the insanity is gone.

Now, let’s get into this week’s installment of the Rewrite Course!

Jump in below or…

… if you’re not ready for a rewrite just yet, check out the first 3 courses in our / Inspired Screenwriting’s screenwriting program that take you step by step through the entire script-writing process, from getting the idea to finishing your first draft:

The Idea, The Outline and The First Draft! You can purchase individually or bundle all three and save .

Previously, on The Rewrite:

If you’re just now joining us, go back and check out steps 1-9 first.

Steps 1-3 - Setting Goals

Steps 4-6 - Evaluating Your Map

Steps 7-9 - Character Arc

Steps 10-12 - Character Intros, Tone/Genre, World Building

Step 13 -

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