The Screenwriting Life with Meg LeFauve and Lorien McKenna

You finally get the meeting, make the connection, and a bigshot producer is excited to read your script. But you panic. Is it good enough? Is it READY? Today, award-winning independent film producer Ted Hope walks us through those always complicated questions, and answers TONS more along the way. FOR MORE: https://tedhope.substack.com

Every writer can point to a movie that made them say: "THIS. This is what I want to do." And today, Meg, Lorien, and Jeff share the movies that turned THEM into writers. Yep, we're movie nerds too. JOIN OUR PATREON: www.patreon.com/TheScreenwritingLIfe

Though it can sometimes feel like a prison, screenplay structure is actually a very freeing element of the story process. Jill Chamberlain, a veteran script consultant, is obsessive about structure, to the point where she has created a popular technique to re-consider how we approach our work. On her technique, producer Callum Greene (Star Wars Episode 9) offers “the Nutshell Technique is like the Rosetta Stone: it cracks the code behind why we love the movies that we love. It goes way beyond tired old beat sheet ‘formulas’ and instead guides you to organically write the story you want to tell.” FOR MORE ON JILL (& FREE NUTSHELL WORKSHEETS): https://www.jillchamberlain.com TO JOIN OUR PATREON: www.patreon.com/thescreenwritinglife

As collaborators and showrunners, Kat Likkel and John Hoberg know that shutting down ideas is never helpful. This was only emphasized when they joined Pixar's Elemental team as writers. Today we discuss how to collaborate well with others (and ourselves), how to bring our personal experience into our work, and duckboat. Yes, you read that right: duckboat. Join Our Patreon: www.patreon.com/TheScreenwritingLife

**PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS EPISODE WAS PRE-RECORDED & PRECEDED THE 2023 WGA STRIKE.** In today's TSL epsiode, Meg gets personal about her lava, and how a recent production of Stephen Sondheim's Sunday in the Park with George is helping her to rethink the beauty of moving on from a creative project. JOIN OUR PATREON: www.patreon.com/thescreenwritinglife

Despite being a multiple Academy Award winner, celebrated producer, and feature/TV director, Jodie Foster is still aiming for a singular goal: to tell truthful stories. On today's show, we discuss how Jodie processes her work, how she collaborates with others, and what Robert De Niro taught her on the set of Taxi Driver. Join Our Patreon: www.patreon.com/thescreenwritinglife

Though she got her start in multi-cam sitcoms, it was a bold sci-fi dramedy rom-com that made Pixar interested in hiring Brenda Hsueh to co-write Elemental. On today's show, Brenda discusses how her voice has evolved as a writer over the course of her career, how she brought her own experience into her work as a writer for Elemental, and how she has learned to elegantly argue for what she believes in when collaborating. JOIN OUR PATREON: www.patreon.com/thescreenwritinglife This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/SCREENWRITERS and get on your way to being your best self.

With hits like BRING IT ON and STICK IT, writer/director Jessica Bendinger is known for her subversive and surprising takes on female girlhood, using archetypes in a way that audiences have celebrated. Today what discuss what archetypes are, how we can use them, and what the future of our industry looks like. FOR JESS' BOOK/PODCAST: http://www.jessicabendinger.com/ TO JOIN OUR PATREON: www.patreon.com/thescreenwritinglife

Hi all! Today, Savana and Jeff revisit their conversation from part one of their conversation about SET! Today we discuss some of the most essential vocabulary and set dynamics that you need to understand before you take the plunge! For internship inquiries, email thescreenwriting@gmail.com with the subject line INTERN, and include a cover letter and resume. Please note that we are only considering credit-eligible students! To join our Patreon: www.pateron.com/thescreenwritinglife