Creative Principles

In this collection of interviews, the screenwriters and directors behind 'I.T.,' 'Lavender,' and 'Rupture' discuss the horror genre. These writers talk about collaboration, writing to direct, the realities of showbusiness, haunting as a metaphor, when the genre misfires, writing for female leads, Hitchcock-level tension, captivity movies, the power of fear, and why filmmaking is a disease.

In this collection of interviews, the screenwriters and directors behind 'The Diabolical,' 'Reversion' and 'Backtrack' talk about making horror films, the power of technology, the writing process, learning what you need or don't need, why smaller budgets mean greater freedom, original takes on old tropes, and when to let go of ideas.

Director Joe Lynch talks 'Mayhem,' starring Steven Yeun ('The Walking Dead') and Samara Weaving ('Ash Vs. Evil Dead'). In this interview, Lynch discusses his influences like 'A Clockwork Orange' and 'The Blob,' how he didn't storyboard for this new film, bad advice in the movie business, and the evolution of a director, along with his ongoing love for the horror-comedy genre.

Canadian Director Jordan Canning discusses creative guilt, shooting on film versus digital, little achievable bites of work in a day, and getting started on shorts to create a tone on set as a director. In her new film, 'Suck It Up,' she takes on an emotional story with an energized, all-female cast.

In Episode 10, Cary Fukunaga discusses his love for screenwriting from an early age. The director behind 'True Detective' Season 1 talks about his Netflix film, 'Beasts of No Nation,' which stars Idris Elba. Currently, Fukunaga is also working on 'The Alienist' and 'Maniac' for television and he also has a writing credit for the new Stephen King adaptation 'It.'

Director Greg McLean talks about his love for the original 'Star Wars' trilogy, Martin Scorsese's filmmaking techniques, and what led to his film, 'The Belko Experiment.' In his newest film, 'Jungle,' actor Daniel Radcliffe ('Harry Potter') is put to the test mentally and physically in an unbelievable true story.

Bombadil musician James Phillips talks about chipping away at songs, creative influences and collaborations, personnel changes and the future of the band, performing in Durham, North Carolina, and how one of their songs made it into Judd Apatow's movie, 'Trainwreck.' Stay tuned after the interview to hear the single "Amy's Friend" from the film.

Author Jill Chamberlain tells us about her book, 'The Nutshell Technique.' Specifically, she dives into story versus situation, the importance of studying movies, infinite possibilities within restraints, difficult choices in storytelling, the writer's secret, and what's wrong with 99 percent of failed screenplays. The book is available on Amazon and the charts mentioned plus the transcription are available on Creative Screenwriting Magazine's website.

While working in demolition, Bryan Sipe realized that once you tear everything apart, you can see how it's put together. After a few self-proclaimed "failures," Sipe got serious about writing and learned how to become a screenwriter at UNC Wilmington. Similarly, in the film, 'Demolition,' Jake Gyllenhaal suffers loss and discovers who he is along the way. In this interview, Sipe talks non-linear storytelling through letters, the connective tissue of the film, and working with 'Big Little Lies' director Jean-Marc Vallee and his love of music in real-time.

In this episode, Dan DeFilippo tells us about his new film, Dementia 13. This is Dan's first credit as a writer on IMDB, but he's read over 30,000 scripts while working in the business. In this interview, he tells us about the difficulties of writing an 8-act structure, what makes a horror film believable, the importance of working a day job in the business, and how to reimagine a Francis Ford Coppola film, as this movie was based on the 1963 film by the same name.