I'm going to do a much more in depth thread on this and build course work around it because it's so so important. Especially when nobody knows who you are and you're trying to be taken seriously. Why? Because it shows you care. It shows the reader they're in the hands of a true artist who isn't just writing down a series of events they're hoping to pass off as a screenplay. @Chad Desrochers hooked me up with some software that will hopefully allow me to rip some of my fave openings, so I can pontificate on them here for your edification. While I learn to use it, I was just thinking about the opening of one of my desert island movies and wanted to get this discussion started about all time greats that hit home with you. I'm posting just one below. Because it still absolutely delights me 40 years after it came out. I started to describe it, but dug up the script instead do you could see exactly how Joel and Ethan put it on the page. It's all there. Tight. Funny. Love set in motion, despite the odds. On page 1. Your homework. Don't just mention an opening you love, find the script. Show us how the magic happened. And we'll go from there! Raising Arizona Screenplay by Ethan and Joel Coen OVER BLACK: VOICE OVER My name is H. I. McDunnough... A WALL With horizontal hatch lines. VOICE OVER ...People call me Hi. A disheveled young man in a gaily colored Hawaiian shirt is launched into frame by someone offscreen. He holds a printed paddle that reads "NO. 1468-6 NOV. 29 79." The hatch marks on the wall behind him are apparently height markers. VOICE OVER ...The first time I met Ed was in the county lock-up in Tempe, Arizona... FLASH As his picture is taken. CLOSEUP On the paddle: "NOV. 29 79." VOICE OVER ...a day I'll never forget. A bellowing male voice from offscreen: SHERIFF Don't forget the profile, Ed! ANGLE ON THE STILL CAMERA It is mounted on a tripod. A pretty young woman in a severe police uniform peers out from behind it.

Five weeks to uncover the story your audience needs — and the one that won’t let you go. All right, people — this is our first challenge we’re doing together, in real time. Five weeks of diving into what actually makes a story great. I’ve spent thirty years writing movies — everything from talking babies to ogres in love — and I still ask the same question: Why do some stories stay with us? Not just make us laugh or cry — but haunt us, years later. Over the next five weeks inside The Writer’s Forge, we’re going to dig into that. What makes a story unforgettable? Why does an audience feel something — even in a comedy? Why does a story matter enough to live in someone’s head after the credits roll? 👉 Here’s how we start: 1. Drop your top 3 movies of all time. 2. Tell us why each one hits you — a scene, a moment, a line, a feeling. 3. Then scroll the thread and jump into at least one other person’s post. The goal isn’t to make a list — it’s to figure out what moves us. And to BUILD COMMUNITY so we can SUPPORT each other in this process. I’ll be in here reading, responding, and pulling examples as we go — breaking down what these films do to us and how to find that same spark in your own stories. Doesn’t matter what you write — funny, dark, spiritual, absurd — the goal is the same: Five weeks to build community. Five weeks to find the fire in you. Five weeks to discover the story you NEED to write. Who’s in?? ps... if you have friends who are serious about writing, send this to them. Let's build this together.