Screenwriters are the foundation of your favorite movies, TV shows, and scripted series, but many people don’t realize that they are the masterminds behind some of the best concepts, stories, and dialogue. This oversight is one of the reasons film journalist, ScreenCraft Winter Writers Summit host, and Script Apart podcast host Al Horner is dedicated to showcasing screenwriters and the process behind their creation.
Horner’s mission to give writers the respect they deserve has transformed his journalism career by educating them through thoughtful conversations with some of the industry’s most prominent voices and supporting those that are often overlooked.
Horner shared with ScreenCraft the lessons he’s learned from years of conversations with emerging and established screenwriters alike, offering insights ranging from advice on reshaping the way he thinks about writing to tips that influence every screenwriter struggling to craft a screenplay. Industry trends.
The 2024 Winter Writers Summit will be held December 6-9, 2024.
You’ve supported screenwriters over the years through Script Apart and numerous interviews. What first sparked your interest in exploring the writer’s work, from independent films to blockbusters?
I think it started when I first got into film journalism in 2018 (previously, I’d mostly written about music) and noticed that screenwriters were almost completely missing from the conversation surrounding movies.
Al Horner
As a journalist, I never had the opportunity to work with a screenwriter on a new film. actor? certainly. director? Absolutely. But what about the screenwriter? Rarely. In press releases about new movies, I often need to scroll into the body of the email to see who wrote the movie and whether that information is included (often, I have to do a Google search myself to find out). This makes me feel a little crazy.
Screenwriters are job creators. There would be no movies without the stories and characters conceived and jotted down by screenwriters on a blank page (the starting point for nearly every film since the birth of the medium). However, few screenwriters are household names unless they are writer-directors. Stand up in a bar or coffee shop and ask who made it jurassic park. Everyone there will tell you that Steven Spielberg directed it. How many people can tell you that this book was written by the great David Cope? I bet there aren’t many.
That’s been the mission statement for a lot of the journalism I do interviewing writers—to bring attention to what I feel is an important part of the filmmaking ecosystem that’s been overlooked and lacks respect.
Read more: Screenwriting insights from ‘Jurassic Park’ screenwriter David Koepp
From your interviews, are there any tips or advice that have really changed your approach to writing?
so much! Lily Wachowski [The Matrix] After she talked about this when she appeared on the show in 2023, it inspired me to dig out a part of myself even more brutally and put it on the page. [Russian Doll, The Acolyte] I was recently told: “The first draft is a dangerous community,” which is advice I wrote in all caps on a post-it note and carried with me (she meant, when it came to the first pass) in and out of the script. Like you venturing through the shady parts of town because wandering around won’t end well for you).
moonlight’s Barry Jenkins gave me a masterclass in weaving your own experiences and emotions into other people’s stories during our conversation about how he adapted moonlight. Aaron Sorkin [The West Wing, The Social Network] Taught me the importance of writing dialogue like your characters are yelling at God.
The list is really long and it’s probably what I’m most proud of because so many people contact me every week, either by email or by sliding into my Instagram DMs, explaining how they heard something on the show A new thing is unlocked.
What is the most rewarding moment you have experienced while hosting the ScreenCraft Summit?
Chatting with Sofia Coppola [The Virgin Suicides, Priscilla] It will be an absolute honor to attend the 2022 Summit. The same goes for Michael Schur – whom I previously invited to talk about his writing experience on Script Apart good placebut his career is as extensive as his co-creation brooklyn nine-nine and parks and recreation areas, To name a few, there’s not much we don’t have time to cover on the podcast. It was really inspiring to have that conversation shift away from one specific piece of his work and focus more on his general approach to storytelling.
But really, and this may sound cheesy, the biggest reward is hearing from other emerging writers at the summit and hearing how they were inspired by the conversations I was a part of.
Screenwriting can be a fairly solitary passion – unless you have a writing partner, it takes a long time and is just you and the page. The sense of community that comes with the annual summit is a great antidote to this, knowing that there are many others in your shoes trying to tell their stories.
Read more: How to make the most of the Film Screenwriters Summit
Al Horner hosts Script Apart
What’s the one piece of advice you often hear industry professionals give to aspiring screenwriters during these events?
Keep reading, keep watching, keep writing. This is the main thing. There’s no substitute for these three things: reading scripts to give you an idea of what a great story feels and looks like on the page, and watching great movies (and sometimes not-so-great movies!) to keep expanding your imagination’s reference library Place and write as much or as little as possible every day.
No great writer can achieve this goal by investing a lot of time and energy in front of a blank page every day, even if they don’t want to.
The film and television industry continues to evolve. What major shifts have you noticed in writers’ approach to writing or the opportunities they’re given?
During the time I was writing and broadcasting, two things happened simultaneously.
First, there has been an incredible expansion of educational resources, online tools, and inspiration. Decades ago, podcasts couldn’t demystify Hollywood. YouTube videos don’t exist, ruining the craft of writing. Streaming exists not to increase their exposure to film history, but to provide them with all kinds of new inspiration and reference points. For emerging writers who learned enough from these resources to make short films, social media and video platforms like YouTube didn’t exist to get their work out into the world. It’s pretty mind-boggling when you think about it, right?
The second thing that happened was that filmmaking’s place at the level of the culture that people were willing to take the time to participate in was drastically reduced. It’s no secret that filmmakers are currently competing for attention with TikTok, YouTube, and other content. So your work has to work harder to stand out in the film industry, which is making less and less money and, therefore, has fewer opportunities to take risks than ever before.
As the industry changes with streaming, artificial intelligence, and changing audience expectations, what skills or trends should new writers focus on?
In my opinion, and from all the conversations I’ve had with screenwriters over the years, the skills I’m talking about that help emerging writers break through are not a matter of technique. It’s not about following any one particular trend, either. It’s about your relationship with yourself. One thing that artificial intelligence can never replicate is human emotion.
Every movie or TV show I cover on Script Apart comes from an emotion stemming from some experience the author has gone through: edward scissorhands Caroline Thompson spent her adolescence feeling like an “outsider” looking at society; something to keep From David Hemingson’s memories of his idolized uncle; Montenegro family David Chase’s close relationship with his late mother.
Great writing—the type people will become hungry for when the first emotionally malnourished movies and shows written by artificial intelligence start to hit theaters—come from writers with a strong emotional self-awareness.
So, my advice is to make an effort to listen to your feelings. Develop a good connection between yourself and the inner voice telling you how you are feeling and why.
Storytelling has been a fundamental part of human life since we stomped around in caves wearing loincloths, because it helps us make sense of the world, makes us feel less alone, and able to share each other’s experiences and emotions. We’ve always had an interest in it – it’s in our DNA. So strive to be authentic and incorporate the emotions you are expressing into your work. Because when artificial intelligence comes, it’s inevitably going to suck, and I sincerely believe that’s what audiences crave.
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Dedicated to providing flowers for emerging and established screenwriters, Horner continues to host his podcast Script Apart and will serve as moderator for ScreenCraft’s upcoming Winter Writers Summit, providing insightful conversations to help screenwriters hone their craft and discover new and exciting ways to improve their skills.
Read more: 5 Lessons from Past Screencraft Summit Speakers
