Jim Uhls is not your average screenwriter. For one thing, his nickname is “Professor Peculiar.” For another, as this exclusive off-kilter discussion of his craft demonstrates, Uhls is eager to break the first rule of Fight Club: He talks about Fight Club. A lot. That seminal film, directed by David Fincher (Se7en, Panic Room), pushed every boundary possible for a studio movie, and Uhls’ darkly funny script, adapted from the Chuck Palahniuk novel, is a wickedly subversive example of how to successfully adapt an “unadaptable” book. Step inside the mind of the man who figured out how to do it, as Professor Peculiar explains how to use a newspaper story approach to build a brilliant pitch, why you should interview your characters, how to know when to “stick a fork” in your screenplay, and the macabre particulars of how and why he had to murder his brother’s cat. For more info, visit TheDialogueSeries.com

Callie Khouri’s seminal, Oscar-winning® screenplay for Thelma & Louise, released in 1991, gave voice to a profound cultural moment and became one of the most provocative cinematic landmarks of the …

David S. Goyer has a deliciously twisted mind. (They don’t call him “The Prince of Darkness” for nothing.) And he knows how to bring comic book characters and superheroes to kicking, screaming, vengeful life, as he did in The Crow: City of Angels, the Blade series, and Batman Begins. His intense Batman screenplay, written with director Christopher Nolan (Memento, Insomnia), resurrected the moribund Dark Knight franchise and confirmed his writing voice as a go-to source for a green light. Here, in this wry and surprising dialogue, Goyer reveals his tricks of the trade for how to intimidate a room full of studio executives, when to stand on principle, how to hook an actor’s ego with killer character descriptions and dialogue, and why fear can pay the bills.

Acclaimed writer-director Paul Haggis has been a fixture of television and film for over 25 years. In this wide-ranging interview, the Oscar®-winning co-screenwriter, director, and producer of Cra…

Sheldon Turner is the prototype for the smart, brash, ambitious young screenwriter – only he’s also got a law degree from NYU and has had his fiction published in the New Yorker. Turner recently br…