For thirty years, I called San Francisco home. Then I discovered San Miguel de Allende. Returning now, amid talk of San Francisco’s “decline,” I found a city alive with motion, appetite, and possibility — and a reminder of why I once belonged here.

One week into the new year and I’m thrilled to be starting with a bit of good news (for me). I just got word that San Miguel ExMas MixUp has advanced to the Quarterfinals in this year’s ISA Emerging Screenwriters Competition. There are still 540 writers in the running (by my estimate), which is both humbling and oddly encouraging. It’s a reminder of just how many screenwriters are out there hoping for that ray of light that says: someone read it, someone responded. Somebody

I’ve been revisiting a script I wrote twenty-five years ago. Not polishing it so much as listening to it, the way you listen to an old record and hear more than the music. You remember a time, a place, who you were with. The script is Postcard From Italy . It was sparked by my travels there. Lazy afternoons. Surprising rain showers. Water taxis. Train platforms. Espresso taken standing up like a local. That particular European suspension of time where nobody seems in a hurry

A simple storytelling exercise inspired by a skeleton Santa in San Miguel de Allende, and how noticing small details is where stories really begin.

A question that I’d parked in the back of my mind finally demanded my attention: why is the only script I’ve written that strictly follows a prescribed structure the only one that’s gone nowhere in screenwriting contests? Not even a quarterfinalist nod. It’s a serial killer script called Misidentity . And it does exactly what serial killer scripts are meant to do. The structure is solid. The escalation works. Information lands where it’s supposed to. The story moves forward w

I never leave home without my phone—aka my camera. And if I do, I invariably regret it. Today, I saw magenta and orange bougainvillea exploding over walls. An orchid tree in full bloom. A canopy of green so dense it turned the street into a tunnel of shade. It struck me—again—that writing has very little to do with sitting at a desk waiting for sentences to behave. It’s about noticing. Taking in detail visually, aurally, physically. Training the eye and ear long before my fin

I told the waiter Roberto at my local café that I’m using the place as a location for the script I'm writing, Café Eterno. “What’s it about?” he asked. I said it’s the central gathering point for a group of love stories — people yearning for love, falling in love, staying in love, falling out of love, circling back, missing each other by inches. The usual human chaos. Just with better coffee — and a touch of magical realism. He didn't blink, just said, “I owned a restaurant

I learned a new word recently. Cryptomnesia. It’s a documented neurological phenomenon where a forgotten memory resurfaces and is experienced as a brand-new idea. Not plagiarism. Not déjà vu. A genuine belief that something has just been invented—when it’s actually been quietly waiting in the back rooms of the mind. Writers live inside this state more than most people. But here’s the part that caught my attention. Neurologists studying memory recall have found that people who

Some days feel like they’re winking at you — and 12.12.12 is one of them. A global portal day, a little extra voltage in the air... the perfect moment, apparently, for San Miguel ExMas MixUp  to claim a spot as a Semifinalist in The Great Pitch Competition ( showcasing outstanding creativity, originality, and commitment to the craft - their words!). From several thousand scripts down to under a hundred... and my magical-realism Christmas body-swap set in San Miguel is still

After October's whirlwind visit from Donna—where we practiced what we preach with daily roaming, rooftopping with the best of them, and of course, eating out—I’ve been inspired to leave my computer and step out more with my notebook. There’s something about San Miguel that makes you want to be in  it, not just observe it from a café window or a rooftop with a view, but on its streets, with its people, and in the little pockets of magic that surprise you around the next corner

Sometimes in the screenwriting journey, you need to pause and acknowledge the wins. Even the "small" ones that don't come with a trophy or a check. My teen supernatural horror screenplay, Before We Were Afraid, has been selected as a semifinalist in the Cleveland Arthouse Film Awards, and while it might not sound like winning a Nicholl Fellowship, here's why I'm celebrating anyway. The Numbers Tell a Story Let's put this in perspective. Reddit's screenwriting community has m

Three weeks. That's how long it's been since I last posted here, and honestly? It's been the best kind of busy. Donna was in town, and naturally, we practiced what we preach. We ate, we roamed, we wrote. Boy, did we eat . We made it our mission to hit every fabulous rooftop we could for sunset cocktails, watching the sky turn impossible colors while plotting our next creative moves. Between bites and sips, Donna was busy killing villains in her female version of the Bourne Id

You know the advice. Fix the structure. Deepen the characters. Punch up the dialogue. Make every scene count. It's like telling someone to "just play better" after they've lost a tennis match. The advice isn't wrong, it's just not actionable. What does "fix the structure" mean when you're staring at 110 pages? Where do you start? Jack Epps Jr., who wrote Top Gun  and Dick Tracy , developed a system over decades: the Pass Method. Instead of fixing everything at once, you make

I read an article recently that argued screenwriters should avoid emotional direction entirely. Instead of writing "Sarah is devastated"...

Where do stories come from? Why is it that one idea keeps returning while others fade away? What makes a certain story feel urgent, the...

I read an article recently in Script  magazine that got me thinking. Jeff Howard ( Midnight Mass , The Haunting of Hill House ) said that...

Absent an airplane, I'm not an early riser. But Donna is, and she swears San Miguel is at its best when the town is transitioning from...

Protagonists beat villains and conquer obstacles not with capes or superpowers, but with their wits, grit, and the skills and knowledge...

Every screenwriting guide will tell you the same thing: give your character an internal flaw and an external obstacle. Maybe she’s...

Let's be honest: your last draft is sitting there judging you from across the room like a disappointed parent. You know what I mean: that...