by Diane Drake | May 25, 2025 | News
“So often times it happens that we live our lives in chains, and we never even know we have the key.” ~ “Already Gone” – The Eagles Some time back, I wrote a piece about the hero’s most transformational moment and how important it can be in creating a...
by Diane Drake | Aug 1, 2023 | News
I’m currently teaching a course called “Get Your Story Straight” for the UCLA Writers Program, and one of my students recently commented on how helpful he found the connection that I emphasize between the Inciting Incident and Plot Point #1, the turning point at the...
by Diane Drake | Sep 20, 2019 | News
A problem I frequently come across as a screenwriting consultant and instructor is the tendency of writers to overwrite and to include too much on-the-nose exposition. This can quickly mark as script as amateurish, whereas its opposite—effective use of subtext— almost...
by Diane Drake | May 18, 2019 | News
I recently had a lot of fun doing this interview with Michael & Brad at Film Reverie. In it, I talk about screenwriting as well as some of my experiences– good and… well, let’s say “challenging”– in the movie business. You can...
