Write Your Screenplay Podcast

Feb 28 2025 200 ep. 33 mins 197

Write Your Screenplay Podcast artwork

Rather than rating movies and TV shows like a critic, “two thumbs up” or “two thumbs down,” WGA Award Winning screenwriter Jacob Krueger breaks down scripts without judgment (from scripts you loved, to scripts you hated) to show you what you can learn from them as screenwriters. Plus meet special guests, and get answers to your most pressing screenwriting questions! WriteYourScreenplay.com

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The Apprentice: Writing The Antihero

Feb 28 2025 39 mins

Excerpt: “This episode, we are going to be talking about The Apprentice, the 2024 film written by Gabriel Sherman, directed by Ali Abbasi, and starring my dear friend Sebastian Stan, who was just nominated for an Academy Award (so proud of you, Sebastian!), playing Donald Trump and Jeremy Strong playing his mentor, Roy Cohn. We're going to be looking

Lessons from Sundance 2025 Part 2

Feb 24 2025 26 mins

Excerpt: In this episode, we'll be analyzing two more extraordinary films from Sundance 2025, this time with a focus on genre: Together and Didn't Die. We’ll be exploring how these filmmakers use horror and zombie genres to tackle profound questions about human connection, relationships, and finding hope in challenging times. We'll explore how t

Lessons from Sundance 2025 Part 1

Feb 14 2025 38 mins

Excerpt: This is my second annual Lessons from Sundance podcast, recorded from the heart of Sundance Film Festival 2025. In this special edition, we’ll explore some of the most compelling films and episodic pilots from this year’s festival. not just as viewers, but as screenwriters, breaking down the craft behind what makes these stories so powerful.

A Real Pain: Building Characters With Vignettes

Jan 31 2025 38 mins

Excerpt: There's a beautiful teaching moment right at the start of “A Real Pain” when we meet “...Benji (Kieran Culkin) at the airport. He's sitting there with an oversized backpack, seemingly content, while people flow past him…” Meanwhile, his cousin “...David (Jesse Eisenberg) is frantically calling him over and over, convinced he'll be late

A Complete Unknown: Writing The Biopic

Jan 19 2025 46 mins

EXCERPT:“There's a beautiful exchange about 10 minutes into A Complete Unknown. Bob Dylan has just gone to see Woody Guthrie at the hospital. He's met Pete Seeger, played by Edward Norton Pete has taken him home, taken him under his wing. They have the following exchange about folk music: Pete Seeger: A good song doesn't need frills to do the job, drum

How to Prepare a 3 Minute “Elevator Pitch”

Jan 05 2025 72 mins

Need help getting your 3 minute pitch ready for our free online pitching event Jan 9 with Vanessa Johnston? Wondering how to build a short “elevator pitch” that communicates the essence of your project? Or just curious about pitching in general? Then check out this podcast recording of Jake’s recent Thursday Night Writes pitching class.EXCERPT FROM THE PODC

Keep Your New Years Resolutions: Do You Need More Discipline?

Dec 31 2024 53 mins

Do You Need More Discipline To Keep Your New Year’s Resolutions?Most writers who aren't writing believe they need more discipline. But what if everything you believed about writing discipline was working against you? For many writers, discipline isn't the answer - it's actually part of the problem. When you use discipline to force yourself to write, you can often inadver

Ensemble Pieces with Erin Brown Thomas

Dec 14 2024 59 mins

This week’s podcast is an interview with one of our newest faculty members, Erin Brown Thomas, whose indie film CHASERS (which she wrote, directed and produced) was just announced to premier at Sundance Film Festival 2025. CHASERS is an ambitious film on so many levels. Not only is it an ensemble piece, but it’s shot as a “one-er,” as one single interrupted continuous

The Penguin: What’s The Container for Your Show or Movie?

Nov 29 2024 51 mins

This week, we are going to be talking about The Penguin series on Max to explore the concept of the container for your story. As The Penguin shows us, sometimes, by finding the right container, you can tell a really complicated, character driven, small story that you otherwise might not be able to tell within the commercial framework of what's currently happening in Hollywo

How To Get The Most From Film Festivals

Nov 10 2024 40 mins

“It is festival season. And today’s podcast is going to be about how to get the most out of film festivals. But first, let’s start with a congratulations to the extraordinary success of our students at Austin Film Festival. We had four winners in three different categories!Jessica Sieff, a Workshop student of Stephen Molton, who won the Josephson Entertainment TV F