The Screenwriters Taxonomy

Preface

Bob Mondello and Salvador Dali saved me from drowning one day in the high desert of Arizona.

On days that I write, without fail, at three o’clock in the afternoon, my dog, Kit, takes me out for a walk. Whether I need it or not. It helps me clear my head and iron out my thoughts. Last November was no different.

I’d been thinking about this idea of a screenwriters taxonomy for more than twenty years and seriously tinkering with it for almost ten. It’s a tug of war for me. As a screenwriter, my creative impulses have been shaped by conversations with producers, directors and other screenwriters. In any given meeting when I received notes on a project, it would not be unusual for me to be told to make it “funnier,” “more serious,” “less ...