Podcast

When Daddys Away Sarah Banks May 2026

Get My New Book

Features (Posts Are in Backwards Order)

Reveries
8liam.7z
78875x
Ma.7z
Breast

Book Annotations

A Game of Thrones
A Wrinkle in Time
Beloved
Born a Crime
Educated
Gone Girl
Harry Potter
Holes
Killing Floor
Little Fires Everywhere
The God of Small Things
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
The Hunger Games

Checklists and In-Depth Posts

Alien
An Education
Blazing Saddles
Blue Velvet
Bridesmaids
Casablanca
Chinatown
Do the Right Thing
Donnie Brasco
Frozen
Get Out
Groundhog Day
How to Train Your Dragon
In a Lonely Place
Iron Man
Lady Bird
Raising Arizona
Rushmore
Selma
Sideways
Star Wars
Sunset Boulevard
The 40 Year Old Virgin
The Babadook
The Bourne Identity
The Farewell
The Fighter
The Fugitive
The Shining
The Silence of the Lambs

Pilot Checklists and In-Depth Posts

24
Black-ish
Breaking Bad
Cheers
Community
CSI
How I Met Your Mother
Mad Men
Master of None
Modern Family
Scandal
Stranger Things
The Good Place
The Sopranos
Transparent
Weeds

Underrated Movies

49th Parallel
5000 Fingers of Dr. T, The
Act of Violence
Alice's Restaurant
Antz
Apartment Zero
Artists and Models
Atomic Cafe, The
Ball of Fire
Ballad of Cable Hogue, The
Barcelona
Be Kind Rewind
Before the Devil Knows You're Dead
Below
Big Easy, The
Black Narcissus
Blast of Silence
Bob and Carol and Ted and Alice
Bright Young Things
Brother From Another Planet
Caught
Cedar Rapids
Charley Varrick
Clockwatchers
Closer
Court Jester, The
Dark Days
Dead Man
Defending Your Life
Destry Rides Again
Diva
Doubt
Downhill Racer
Easy Living
Electra Glide in Blue
Encounters at the End of the World
Every Little Step
Falcon and the Snowman, The
Fallen Idol, The
Fireman's Ball, The
For a Few Dollars More
Fort Apache
Frenzy
Funny Bones
Funny Ha Ha
Girl Can't Help It, The
Gold Diggers of 1933
Great McGinty, The
Hamlet 2
Happy Go Lucky
Hero
High and Low
Holiday
Hopscotch
Human Desire
Il Posto
In the Loop
Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion
It's Always Fair Weather
Jump Tomorrow
Junebug
Kansas City
Killer of Sheep
Killer's Kiss
Killing, The
Kind Hearts and Coronets
King of Kong
Kiss Me, Stupid
Kontroll
La Ronde
Landlord, The
Letters From Iwo Jima
Lineup, The
Little Fugitive, The
Little Murders
Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner, The
Lost in America
Love and Death on Long Island
Love Me Tonight
Lover Come Back
Man in the White Suit, The
Manhattan Murder Mystery
Metroland
Metropolitan
Miami Blues
Mickey One
Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy, A
Mirage
Monkey Business
Monsieur Hire
Mr. and Mrs. Smith (1941)
Murder By Contract
Murder of Fred Hampton, The
My Favorite Wife
Never Cry Wolf
Next Stop, Greenwich Village
Nobody's Fool
Nothing But a Man
One False Move
One Two Three
Peeping Tom
Prick Up Your Ears
Pulp
Queen Christina
Real Life
Red Eye
Red House, The
Reprise
Ride Lonesome
Ronin
Saboteur
Safety Last
Salesman
Salvador
Scarlet Street
Secret Lives of Dentists, The
Shattered
Shoot to Kill
Simple Men
Slums of Beverly Hills
Small Back Room, The
Smile
Sniper, The
Son of Paleface
Stage Door
Summer of Sam
Tension
The Informant!
Thin Blue Line, The
To Live and Die in L.A.
Trading Places
Two For the Road
Unfaithfully Yours
Vera Cruz
Victim
Walkabout
Waterland
Wendy and Lucy
Went the Day Well?
Where The Sidewalk Ends
White Sheik, The
Who's That Knocking At My Door?

Storyteller's Rulebook

Tell Stories, Show Character
A Movie Is About A Person's Problem
Audiences Don't Want To Be Hurt
Beware Of Over-Motivation
Over-Motivation: The Proof
Talent CAN Be Taught
Movies Are Change, TV Is Fate
The Villain's Plan Comes First
Structure Was Discovered
Unhappy Endings Can't Be Easy
Sympathetic Doesn't Mean Likable
Depth is Found in Holes
Throw Away The Map
Take Away The Safe Spaces
Defying Expectation is Easy
They Call It Breaking In For A Reason
A Cell Phone Can't Solve the Problem
It's Not Just Luck and Skill
Twists Should Explain Everything
Buy The Canvas, Call The Shots
The Committee May Not Last
Be An Armchair Journalist
Listening To Real Cops and Crooks
Throw Everything Into Relief
A Screenwriter's Code of Ethics
Don't Count Liabilities As Assets
First You Have To Make A Thriller
Let It All Hang Out
Split One Person In Two
Know What They Do All Day
Be A Good God
Directors Need To Get Bored
Imagine You're On An Airplane
Be Unhateable
It Comes Right Out
Movie Heroes Can't Keep Their Cool
Thrillers are Nutty...
...But Creature Features Make Sense
Why Do Hamlet and Batman Delay?
Coping With Remake Fever
Prospectors and Alchemists
Objects Need Affection Too
Genre Is How It Feels
People Only Want What They Want
Do As They Did, Not As They Say
Leave a Question Unanswered
Kitchens are Better Than Bedrooms
Who's Chasing Who?
The Rule of Evidence, Part 1
The Rule of Evidence, Part 2
Embrace Coitus Interruptus
The First Rule of Write Club
Love Your Naysayer
Pure Isn't Always Better
You Have To Make It Wrong
What's Your Problem?
Do More Than One Thing
How to Succeed at Karaoke
Angry Minds Don't Think Alike
The Good Advice Problem...
...And the Bad Advice Solution
From Zero to Caring
Upsetting News Is the Best News
Catholics Beat Protestants Anyday
And Sweet Potato Beats Sweetheart
Find Unique-But-Universal Details
Let Them Hang Themselves
Know The Way The World Works
The Mastermind Exception
Don't Laugh Away The Danger
Be Incomprehensible
Don't Flip That Metaphor
Two Hour Movie = One Hour Plot
You Have To Be Dense To Be Lean
Screw-Ups Don't Screw Up All Day
The Dark Side of Bio-Pics
Tone is a Tool
Lovers Can't Just Be Lovers
Opposition Creates Meaning
Redemption Requires Actual Guilt
Don't Start From Scratch
Embrace Teleportation
Mentors are Overrated
Disabilities Aren't Personality Flaws
Confront the Great Hypocricy
Training Sequences Are Death
Sometimes Winning Isn't Enough
Everybody's Success Helps Everybody
Write the Emotions You Know
Huge Problems Need Huge Motivation
Outlandish Plots, Realistic Emotions
Sturgeon, Zeno, and Easy Street
Don't Misuse the Power of Humilation
Let Your Characters Object
We'll Care if the Hero Cares
You Can't Always Want What You Get
Play By The Rules
Make a Rule to Break a Rule
Money Is Too Generic
Literature Vs. Entertainment
Speak Their Language And Your Own
Polarize Your Protagonists...
...But Don't Play Favorites
To Get the Latest Rules, Click Here

Blog Archive

► 2025 (57)
- December (4)
- November (6)
- October (6)
- September (1)
- August (4)
- July (3)
- June (7)
- May (3)
- April (2)
- March (4)
- February (12)
- January (5)

► 2024 (33)
- October (3)
- September (5)
- August (1)
- June (2)
- April (1)
- March (11)
- February (7)
- January (3)

► 2023 (96)
- December (5)
- November (16)
- October (6)
- August (16)
- July (10)
- June (8)
- May (1)
- April (5)
- March (21)
- February (8)

► 2022 (66)
- December (4)
- November (17)
- June (3)
- May (17)
- April (10)
- March (5)
- February (3)
- January (7)

► 2021 (177)
- December (15)
- November (13)
- October (15)
- September (8)
- August (10)
- July (9)
- June (19)
- May (3)
- April (10)
- March (16)
- February (27)
- January (32)

► 2020 (99)
- December (7)
- November (11)
- October (10)
- September (11)
- August (15)
- July (14)
- June (11)
- May (2)
- February (7)
- January (11)

► 2019 (69)
- December (7)
- October (7)
- September (17)
- July (1)
- June (2)
- May (1)
- April (7)
- March (3)
- February (11)
- January (13)

► 2018 (88)
- December (2)
- November (9)
- October (13)
- September (14)
- June (2)
- May (13)
- April (6)
- March (15)
- February (14)

► 2017 (158)
- December (10)
- November (10)
- October (13)
- September (11)
- August (15)
- July (16)
- June (20)
- May (14)
- April (14)
- March (16)
- February (17)
- January (2)

► 2016 (106)
- December (3)
- November (9)
- October (17)
- September (15)
- August (2)
- May (1)
- April (15)
- March (17)
- February (12)
- January (15)

► 2015 (110)
- December (6)
- November (12)
- October (13)
- September (10)
- June (7)
- May (16)
- April (13)
- March (14)
- February (18)
- January (1)

► 2014 (132)
- December (6)
- November (6)
- October (18)
- September (15)
- August (1)
- July (12)
- June (6)
- May (1)
- April (12)
- March (15)
- February (19)
- January (21)

▼ 2013 (180)
- December (24)
- November (17)
- October (18)
- September (11)
- August (1)
- June (19)
- May (21)
- April (22)
- March (18)
- February (10)
- January (19)

► 2012 (200)
- December (21)
- November (20)
- October (19)
- September (18)
- August (1)
- June (10)
- May (23)
- April (22)
- March (21)
- February (21)
- January (24)

► 2011 (253)
- December (21)
- November (22)
- October (23)
- September (21)
- August (22)
- July (22)
- June (22)
- May (21)
- April (19)
- March (22)
- February (19)
- January (19)

► 2010 (304)
- December (20)
- November (21)
- October (20)
- September (21)
- August (22)
- July (18)
- June (30)
- May (31)
- April (29)
- March (31)
- February (28)
- January (33)

Stat Counter

About Me

Matt Bird: Evanston, Illinois, United States; My book "The Secrets of Story: Innovative Tools for Perfecting Your Fiction and Captivating Readers", from Writer's Digest Press, is available in all fine bookstores. I have an MFA in Screenwriting from Columbia University.

View my complete profile

Links

More info about all these movies at the Internet Movie Database
Aggregated movie reviews at Rotten Tomatoes
My lovely wife's blog at School Library Journal

Simple theme. Powered by Blogger.