what are the best examples of using negative space in narrative and storytelling? conveying meaning not from what is shown or said, but the subtle implications, what can be inferred by absence or emptiness?

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— jp (@excesstential)

— C.J. Prince (@cj_prin)

— Kana Felix (@kanoodle7)

So Contact is one of my favorite sci-fi movies, and part of why is about how "real" it feels. It's far less fantastic-feeling than most sci-fi.Part of that is the contemporary setting, sure, but the visual direction plays a big part of it. pic.twitter.com/ov2CY8JAxJ— foone🏳️‍⚧️ (@Foone) August 19, 2018

emerald fennell + sam levinson are similar...both have a keen visual eye which makes them not bad directors, but when it comes to writing both get bogged down in trying to subvert and/or shock + lose track of what they're trying to say which makes them both not good writers— fka 🌹 (@holyteerrain) December 25, 2023

Francis Ford Coppola's notes for the 'Restaurant' scene in 'The Godfather' (1972)

Feels so broken that we've created an ecosystem where the few people left with staff jobs are just waiting for them to disappear; the freelancers are struggling to get by on roughly $10k a year; and yet there are endless publicists in my inbox who largely seem to be living stably— Ted Davis (@tddvsss) October 16, 2023

In Barry S1, Bill Hader thought it was sweet that Barry got Sally a laptop as a gift so early in their relationship. The women in the writers room pointed out that it was too much and this is how it played in the scene. Writers’ rooms are important.

“nothing about michael keaton in the flash recalls the character or the world of the burton movies except for the casting. it’s like a reverse kuleshov effect: the audience has a reaction, so the movie must have made a choice. surreal, empty filmmaking”

I'm obsessed with how Hader is crafting this season of BARRY with a total focus on narrative economy, and instead of indulgently padding each episode to 50+ minutes, finds the fewest amount of scenes possible to tell the most amount of story and character. it's incredible.— Brendan Hodges (@metaplexmovies) May 8, 2023

1. HOW TO WRITE HORROR FOR TV. (A thread!) I've said a lot of things on the topic of scary movies, but what about scary TV shows? For the most part, everything I've posted about movies carries over, the obvious difference with TV is how you use TIME to your advantage.— Seth M Sherwood (@SethMSherwood) February 18, 2023

1. advance the plot; 2. deepen a character; 3. exemplify the genre (comedy- get a laugh; horror- have a scare, etc.); 4. build the world. So a scene between people, existing as people, int he world they live in, INSIDE your story, is legit even if there's not a plot point. BUT--— Seth Sherwood (@SethMSherwood) February 4, 2023

TEN THINGS ABOUT HOW TO FORMAT A SCRIPT. Based on questions I get after screenwriter twitter has a debate about em-dashes or whatever. (Which is charming. That’s not a criticism.) Here is what works for me and works for scripts I read when I am hiring.— Sera Gamble (@serathegamble) January 14, 2023

TEN TIPS TO BECOMING THE MASTER OF SCREENPLAY:1. Stop opening your screenplay with your character staring at themselves in the mirror, & popping a bottle of pills, “dry”. No matter how well you write your version of it, it has been done before. This goes for alarm-clocks, too. pic.twitter.com/5cJm92KrYz— Spyder Dobrofsky goes to Moonscar Island🧟‍♂️ (@spyderdobro) December 2, 2022

If you've got a great spec, treat it that way. Get it to the person or people who are closest to producers and execs and agents and managers––ideally people who like you and want to help get your great script the attention it deserves. 14/18— Jonathon E. Stewart (@JEStew3) November 21, 2022

First page of the screenplay TÁR (2022) by Todd Fieldvs.First page of the screenplay ROADHOUSE (1989) by Hilary Henkin pic.twitter.com/LuMsM36WId— Aaron Stewart-Ahn (@somebadideas) November 20, 2022

If you want to know whether your scene is bland visual description rather than compelling visual storytelling, make a list of the verbs you've chosenOpens, enters, looks, uses, takes, notices, sees, walks, sits...these are RED FLAGS because they're emotionless observations— The Process of Screenwriting by Clive Frayne (@clivefrayne) November 12, 2022

Sometimes when I don't know how to approach a scene, I think of the absolute worst thing I could write — the worst bit of dialogue, the worst thing a character could do next — and it often cracks me up. Then I think, well, anything is better than that, and suddenly it's easier.— Anna Klassen (@AnnaJKlassen) October 4, 2022