What goes into writing a great movie script?

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

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

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.

Why do people believe that global warming is man made?

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.

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.

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

How does Bollywood influence Indian culture?

The DSM 5 is a wonderful character compendium.

Actors give better feedback than writers do.

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

Are you happy that soon we will never hear from Kamala Jones again?

Make sure to pack enough explosives into the rocket.

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

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

Are there many people here who suffer from schizophrenia?

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

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

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.

Why do people say African Americans act the way they do because they're poor, when the ones with money act the same?

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

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

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

Is a monthly salary of 47,000 SEK before tax considered adequate for a C# .Net developer with over 7 years of experience in Sweden?

Research the facts and then throw away the research.

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

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

Who is the most trusted person in your life, and do they have the same trust on you?

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

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.

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

I've tried to write a Kindle eBook and have published it on Amazon. But the thing is that I haven't made any sales yet even though I published it nearly 6 months ago. How do I get people to purchase it?