We asked Lisa Drostova, critic turned actor, her thoughts on great dialogue. Take it away, Lisa!

Write things that are exciting or powerful to say, things that make an actor hyperventilate with desire to speak your words out loud. Actors are sweet on writers who pay attention to this point. There are plays that get performed for years, decades, even centuries after they're written because actors want to do them . Not just because directors feel they're "important" or subscribers find them satisfying, but because actors agitate to get them staged. Hang around with actors for any length of time and you'll hear them delivering lines they love, even from plays they've never done. Last month I shared a dressing area with a woman who sings Gilbert and Sullivan's A Modern Major General between acts of a completely different show just because she loves lines like "I know the croaking chorus from the Frogs of Aristophanes." Meanwhile out in the parking lot, other castmates were wandering around quoting each other's lines from shows

We asked award-winning director, Nathan Marshall, to break down the new rules of television writing. Take it away, Nathan!

Television writing used to be a pretty straight-forward affair. By the mid-1990s, the sitcom had reach the height of its form with shows like Seinfeld and Friends, and the hour-long drama had found an acceptable balance between soap opera plotlines and edgy camerawork in episodics such as ER and NYPD Blue. There was a place for everything, and everything was in its place. Sitcoms used the decades-old double-line-space writing format, and dramas stuck to the tv/screenplay hybrid style that had been hammered out in the 1960s. It all made sense!

And then came HBO. Sure–we’d all wasted evenings watching the tired B-movie fare of the old Home Box Office. The movies you’d never rent at the video store were bound to show up on the afternoon schedule eventually, and there they’d play, over and over again, until bored viewers stood virtually no chance of

We asked screenwriter and story doctor, Jill Chamberlain, the secrets of great stories. Take it away, Jill!

If you find yourself blocked and can't figure out what to write next, the problem may lie not in the scene you're stuck on but in your story as a whole.

Take a look at these three secrets of great storytelling, and see if they help you reimagine your story in a fresh light. With a few tweaks, you can usually manipulate your tale to work within these three frameworks. Then, your story should be rock solid, and hopefully you'll never find yourself at a loss for words again

1. Every story is a version of "be careful what you wish for."

At the beginning of a screenplay, usually within the first 10 pages, the protagonist is introduced, and we find out what the protagonist wants.

Here at the middle of Script Frenzy 2008, we asked screenwriter and producer, Blake Snyder, for his advice on conquering the middle of any story. Take it away, Blake!

In both my Save The Cat! books and also the Save the Cat! Story Structure software, I have stressed the vital importance of figuring out what the midpoint of a screenplay is. I like to say that if you can crack the midpoint, you can crack the story. And it may not be until you do that you truly know what your story is really about!

To me, the day I discovered there is a secret to what happens at the midpoint in EVERY story, I was rocketed into a whole new dimension in my abilities as a writer.

We ask Daniel Heath, an award-winning playwright, for his ideas on minor characters. Take it away Daniel!

Writer's block is not a metaphysical condition. Writer's block just means there's something wrong with your story: either your plot is lousy, or your main characters aren't up to snuff, or the characters don't fit the plot, or all of the above. Recognizing this is not especially helpful, however. It's like saying, "The thing you did wrong on your math test was that you suck at math."

So, what do we do? And I say 'we,' because believe me, I've run more stories off the rails than I can count. But the Frenzy is underway, and we have neither the time nor the artistic temperament to go back to the beginning and make sure the tracks are straight. So, how do we get this thing moving again?

Think small.

Minor character can make a major difference.

We asked Will Bigham, winner of On The Lot, for his thoughts on writing a winning short. Take it away, Will!

Writing is writing, whether your script is 5 pages or 205 pages (please don't let it be 205 pages). Everything you know about character, structure, tone and format in regards to writing a feature, the same rules apply when writing a short. The only difference is SCOPE. Here are a few quick tips for those of you who have a story to tell and only a few minutes to tell it.

1. Keep it simple. If you have an idea that takes place in ancient Rome, where the newly appointed Caesar must win favor of the Senate, while his sister is courting the son

Now that the WGA writers strike is over, many writers are gearing up to meet the 100-page Script Frenzy quota by writing two TV pilots in a month. We asked Los Angeles-based TV writer Jonathan Abrahams to lay out the Top Five plot questions pilot writers should ask themselves before the writing begins.

First of all, let me say to those who have decided to take this on: You’re out of your minds. It takes most professional TV writers a month at the very least just to write one 60-minute original pilot, and many more weeks of planning and researching and taking notes and obsessing before that. But that’s because most of us live in fear: Fear that our imagination has dried up, that our agents are apathetic,

As we near our final days of scriptwriting, one question remains: How will it all end? Since we love surprises, we asked award-winning writer Nicholas Turner to share some of the most famous twist endings around. Nick's stage plays have been performed in Washington, Chicago, San Diego, and San Francisco and he has sold three screenplays—one of which, Fissure is in post-production. Take it away, Nick!

Ending a story with a satisfying twist is one of the most challenging tasks in scriptwriting. Not because it’s hard to surprise your audience—that’s easy. Just kill off your main character, or have him turn into a hippopotamus. The reason twist endings are hard is because they have to be a surprise without being a surprise.

The best compliment a writer can get isn’t: “I never saw that ending coming.” It’s: “I can’t believe I didn’t see that coming—it was so obvious.” In order for a twist to be

Whether you’re writing a rom-com, a fantasy, or a horror flick, nearly every script can benefit from more levity. So we asked Fred Rubin, veteran writer/producer of such TV classics as “Different Strokes," “Mama’s Family," “Family Matters,” and “Night Court,” to share his side-splitting secrets. Besides writing dozens of sitcom episodes, pilots, and TV movies, Fred teaches at the UCLA film school and spends a great deal of time punching up scripts for other writers. Take it away, Fred!

Learning to be funny is one of the most difficult writing skills to master. Most everyone is born with the sensibilities to be scared, confused, serious, moody, frustrated, conflicted, and angry—all elements that contribute to great writing. But “funny?” Well, if it’s not in your environment as you grow up, it’s often not on hand when you create. Still, I believe anyone who at least possesses a sense of humor, anyone who likes jokes and

Is your story stuck or running out of juice? We asked screenwriter David Warfield to share his top-secret weapon against flagging momentum: the Set Piece. With over 20 years of Hollywood experience, David has sold screenplays to MGM, written for Warner Bros., and analyzed countless scripts via his story consulting website, storysolver.com. Take it away, David!

Most of us find at some point, despite all our careful plotting and well-developed character motivations, that some section of the script (usually in Act II) feels flat. We sense the audience will perceive the trajectory of the story too easily and we’re waiting patiently (or not so patiently) for

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