Screenwriters I Love: 2023 List

Happy New Year and Happy National Screenwriters Day!

If you've never read my blog before, I love reading scripts to improve my own writing. I've read hundreds of scripts (produced and unproduced) as personal research, for client work, and as a screenplay competition juror.

As far as I’ve seen, a filmmaker can take a good script and turn it into a bad movie, but it seems nearly impossible for a bad script to become a good movie.

Why? Filmmaking is a collaboration. 

A good script can get ruined by any of the people who bring it to life. The choices made by the director, casting director, actors, costume designer, makeup artists, visual FX, soundtrack, visual or sound editors, budget, production leadership, and marketing (and many others) can each make or break the film.

But if the first link in the chain—the script—is weak, well, there’s not much that can be done to save the project. (All of this is the same for turning a book into a movie, but that's a discussion for another day.)

So, I’ve decided to dedicate my 2023 blog to exploring screenwriters I love. I've made a list of screenwriters, in no particular order of talent or success. I'll drop a link here as I post each writer.

I plan to share their best known filmography, their journey to success, and how they inspire me and my own writing.

SCREENWRITERS I LOVE:
Ron Bass
Daniel Kwan & Daniel Scheinert
Martin McDonagh
Sarah Polley
Todd Field
Steven de Souza
Tony Kushner
Kazuo Ishiguro
Leslie Dixon
Amy Holden Jones

Whether you’re a fellow screenwriter, filmmaker, or a movie fan, hopefully you’ll find inspiration and humor this year on my 2023 #LauraAtTheMovies journey.

Thanks for joining me at the movies,