What goes into writing a great movie script?

Get up there yourself. Be in a movie. Take some acting (not writing) classes. Learn how a trained actor approaches a text. Learn why actors take roles. They do as much if not more than the writer does.

Primary characters must change polarities. Secondary characters can change less.

Learn to tell a story orally and not through writing. Try telling your story to a friend.

Are there any more 'nun' jokes?

People choose what to see based on the high concept. Make sure to deliver an ending consistent with the high concept -- it is what the audience paid for.

Outline everything. Use story beats. Keep character’s mouths taped up, until they absolutely MUST speak. Write the script and the dialogue at the last minute, after you’ve revised the hell out of the outline.

Research the facts and then throw away the research.

Why are flat Earthers made fun of when they seemingly don't exist? I have only met one flat Earther in 18 years.

Only God gets it right the first time. Rewrite everything.

Audiences are smarter than you think. Something about turning down the house lights makes their IQs go up.

Actors give better feedback than writers do.

Microsoft lays off hundreds of WA workers, weeks after companywide cuts - The Seattle Times

Maintain a slush pile/idea file. When you are ready to write, choose the best seeds to plant.

Write in reverse time. Major characters need to change polarity; minor characters may remain the same at the end.

A critical function of storytelling is wish fulfillment. This is why video games are so popular. “That protagonist is JUST LIKE ME.”

Power Rankings: RBC Canadian Open - PGA Tour

A scene should change valence from beginning to end. Up to down, down to up.

To develop a unique voice for each character, try interviewing your characters.

Your primary job is to create situations. Modern actors will fuck up your dialogue, despite whatever your contract says.

Meta Agreed to Pay up for Scale AI but Then Wanted More for Its Money - The Information

Make sure to pack enough explosives into the rocket.

All rules are made to be broken, but you damn well better know WHY you’re breaking them.

Use status to help drive conflict. King Lear/fool. Upstairs/downstairs.

What are some healthy ways to start losing weight without risking starvation mode or extreme food restriction?

Don’t direct from the page. Everyone, from the director on down, wants to be part of the process of making movies. Let them do their work.

Leave holes. Write and unwrite. Put it in, take it out.

The DSM 5 is a wonderful character compendium.

Gen X, millennials are about three times more likely than their parents to be diagnosed with appendix cancer, study finds - CNN

What you leave unwritten is as important as what you write. SUBTEXT.

Cut everything that is not a payoff, or a setup for a specific payoff. “Omit needless words.” Think about the sparseness of joke telling, or Grimm Brothers.

Conflict is your power source; without it you have no drama and hence no script.

The Silent Virus Behind Mono Is Now a Prime Suspect in Major Diseases - Bloomberg