Story Grid Writers' Room

This week Leslie goes 15 rounds in the ring arguing that tough guy Rocky is a Virgin’s Promise story at heart, while the opposition brings some heavyweight counterarguments. This 1976 Best Picture wa…

Anne Hawley pitched the 2002 meta-comedy Adaptation this week, as proof that you can break some big story rules and still succeed—but maybe only if you’re screenwriter Charlie Kaufmann. His wild adap…

This week the Roundtablers succumb to the selkie’s call with Song of the Sea, Kim’s pick for a story that combines Virgin’s Promise and Hero’s Journey structures. This 2014 animated fantasy based on …

In the premiere of season three, the Roundtablers debate Valerie’s assertion that Manchester by the Sea exemplifies the story principle of Surprising But Inevitable Ending. This haunting 2016 Oscar w…

This week the Roundtablers bring the the Morality genre in for a rough landing with Flight, the 2012 film by Robert Zemeckis starring Denzel Washington.

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This week the Roundtablers sneak into the Crime genre and make off with a rather poor impression of the 2007 caper comedy Mad Money, written by Glenn Gers and directed by Callie Khouri.

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The Roundtable team touches down into the Worldview genre this week with the 2016 science fiction revelation drama Arrival, written Eric Heisserer and Ted Chiang, based on Ted Chiang’s “The Story of …

The Roundtablers trace the outlines of the Status genre this week with Real Women Have Curves, directed in 2002 by Patricia Cardoso from a script by Josefina Lopez and George LaVoo.

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The Roundtable team marches into the Society genre this week with the 2014 historical drama Selma.

This is a show dedicated to helping you become a better editor. Each week Story Grid Editors Jarie B…

This week the Roundtablers throw the Lasso of Truth around the 2017 superhero Action movie Wonder Woman, making it tell the truth about its story, directed by Patty Jenkins with screenplay by Alan He…

It’s East meets Western this week as the Roundtable team crosses the Pacific and the decades to look at Akira Kurosawa’s 1960 samurai classic,Yojimbo.

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It’s the chaos of war this week as the Roundtable team goes into The Hurt Locker, Mark Boal’s Oscar-winning war drama directed by Kathryn Bigelow.

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This week the Roundtable team disappears into Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl, and comes back with a verdict of Psychological Thriller, with an extra dose of disturbing.

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It’s Story Grid 101: The Editor’s Six Core Questions. What do they mean? Why do you need them? How do they help you edit your novel? The Roundtable team stacks it all up for you in this special episo…

It’s bucket-o-blood time as the Roundtable team tackles the Horror genre with Kimberly Peirce’s 2013 remake of the Stephen King classic Carrie. Screenplay by Lawrence D. Cohen and Roberto Aguirre-Sac…

This week we embrace the Love Story once again as we camp out on Brokeback Mountain, Ang Lee’s 2005 multiple-Oscar-winning masterpiece about the love affair between two cowboys in Wyoming. The screen…

The Roundtablers soar this week into Ang Lee’s 2003 “Wung-fu” Action + Society mashup Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, the story of a secret young woman warrior and her attempts to be free of all her …

The Roundtablers lift off into the Performance genre this week with the 2015 Oscar nominee Hidden Figures, which tells the story of three remarkable African-American women and their real-life achieve…

This week we put food on the Roundtable as we study the 2015 Big Idea Nonfiction documentary In Defense of Food, by Edward Gray based on the book by Michael Pollan. Visit us on Twitter @StoryGridRT a…

This week the Roundtable team investigates the claims of Double Indemnity, the 1944 film noir classic about murder and insurance fraud, with screenplay by Raymond Chandler and Billy Wilder. Visit us …