Exploring the Art of Screenplay Writing

Topics covered include: Steven Soderbergh’s greatest commentary tracks, the first Mission Impossible as a perfect film, writing movies for actors not executives, Ari telling Bill the idea for Eddington outside of an Italian restaurant, Bill laughing at the sound of Toni Collette’s head falling off in Hereditary, being intuitive and impulsive, David Lynch as a great spiritual teacher, using genre film as a shield, Ari’s deep research process in New Mexico before making Eddington, the genius comedy of Christopher Morris, walking into the meat grinder, unmade horror scripts, Bill’s cameo in Beau is Afraid, going beyond the breaking point, Steven Spielberg as the king of shot sequencing, childhood obsession with screenplays, Sturges on Sturges, Bill filming shorts as a kid with his sister in Tulsa, meeting Scorsese at SNL, and 50+ films that shaped them.