If he wasn’t an addict and a gambler, there could never have been the triumphs. But even more than that—he was in love with two women at once—and yes, I could have played that down, but I found that…

Ideas are like assholes: everyone’s got ‘em. So, what makes your idea worthy of becoming a book, or a film, or a TV series?

That’s when it clicked: filmmaking is the perfect intersection of all of my interests.

... what we think of as a novel is actually just an accident of history.

Robert Towne of Chinatown fame wrote the script with Jack Nicholson in mind. Guess where they met? Acting class.

Does the benefit of moving the cathartic moment up, hooking the audience, outweigh the emotion that will come if you steel your nerves and wait?

This is where writers often fall into the emotional trap of equating “interest” with “momentum.”

Raise your hand if you’ve ever been personally victimized by "The Hero’s Journey." Now that every screenwriter’s hand is up ...

... character decisions are rooted in their emotions. Those emotions, in turn, are rooted in the character’s core beliefs and their perspective on the world, in their backstory.

Either we start going to movies, or the movies start going away.

Shaky beginnings lead to problems down the road every time without fail.

Where Chu was truly brilliant as a director was in his innate understanding of the intimacy of film.

Before we can subtly communicate the desires of our character to the audience, we have to fully understand those desires ourselves.

They say if you can make it here, you can make it anywhere. What they don't tell you is that once you do make it here, you'll never want to make it anywhere else.

Shaky beginnings lead to problems down the road every time without fail.

Because, yes, there is merit to writing what you know—but when you’re in the middle of something, you absolutely do not know it. It isn’t over yet.

As William Goldman said about Hollywood, “Nobody knows anything.” Learn all you can but trust your instincts.

Reckless Creatives is the Pipeline Artists original podcast about nothing and everything.

Did I ever expect it to get made? Nope. Not from the minute I wrote it.

Your characters have to overcome their internal demons—and you have to stop protecting them.

If you only try to find facts to support your hopes or assumptions, you’ll miss discovering things that could inspire you or help you write an even better story.

Make no mistake, though. Just because you can't see it, doesn't mean it's not essential. It very much is.

Our malaise has ended up yielding plenty of characters who in sunnier times would most likely have been the villains in a story.

Bestselling author, book coach, and publishing strategist Rea Frey helps writers get crystal clear on their book goals, choose the best publication path, and bring their vision into the world—their…

A screenplay isn’t some mystical thing with a bazillion components. It’s something most writers can master, if you break it down to its simplest, most basic elements ...

It’s also important to not forget about the voice and tone of the story when creating your synopsis.

If Martin Scorsese doesn’t act bigger than the gods, no one should.

Reckless Creatives is the Pipeline Artists original podcast about nothing and everything.

The politics and culture of the arts. Opinions abound.

Programs like ChatGPT ... according to Noam Chomsky and others, are actually distracting us from the true goal of creating a technology that thinks.

And for a moment, they were how they once were. Ben, the protector. Mariel, the protected. But no, they weren’t the children they used to be.

The Business of Art explores ways for artists to treat their craft like a business, strategize a plan, and grow a network of supporters.

... stepping on set felt like we were walking into some shared, recurring dream.

Someone, eventually, is going to take a risk on a show they don’t have to invest heavily into. Maybe one that’s already made?

What about good, original storytelling? What about hearing what this generation of cartoonists and filmmakers and screenwriters want to say?

"Over time, I realized, you have to read between the lines."

"... we went this far, let's not leave anything unturned."

Unwilling to learn how your given industry works? Then a writing career is not for you.

... getting out of the house does you good, and it can help open up your brain to new possibilities that a search engine simply cannot.

The writers who survive longest aren’t the fastest; they’re the most adaptable.

He eats the lies she dishes to him across the space that separates, wingback chair and oxblood fainting sofa.

Stop focusing on all the things you haven't done, and start focusing on the things you have.

If the film industry was a meritocracy based solely on effort, or finding a way to make something great with limited budgets, Hollywood would look very, very different. But it doesn’t.

Robert Towne of Chinatown fame wrote the script with Jack Nicholson in mind. Guess where they met? Acting class.

Here’s the uncomfortable truth, y’all: ensemble scripts are some of the hardest reads in the entire spec market.

But to actually direct—something scripted no less—felt like a sham. People went to school for that. Or they had climbed the proverbial ladder to earn it.

The writers who survive longest aren’t the fastest; they’re the most adaptable.