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Craft, process, and what we're learning. Posts about screenwriting, about building tools for writers, and sometimes about the decisions behind Arqo. No launch announcements — just what we're thinking about.
From 'import mostly works' to 'export is production-safe' — the parser fights, the PDF fights, and the one Final Draft quirk that ate a Thursday.
Six outline shapes — beat sheet, index cards, sequences, treatment, mini-movie, eight-sequence — and when each one helps. Free .arq + .fdx + PDF pack at the bottom.
The logline is not a marketing exercise. It's a structural test. If you can't write yours, the script has a hole.
Fifteen beats, page by page, with what each one is actually doing — plus where Snyder is wrong and why working writers still use it.
What each registration actually protects, what it costs, and which one you want. (Hint: it's not the one most beginners pick.)
The asterisk gutter, the coloured-page rotation, the locked scene number. A complete reference for production-ready revisions.
When to use (MORE), when to use (CONT'D), what your software is doing automatically, and the one rule that's actually contested.
INT. / EXT., DAY / NIGHT, secondary headers, sub-sluglines, and the mini-slug that working writers actually use to control pace.
Three structural jobs of a teaser — and how the openings of Breaking Bad, The West Wing, and Whiplash do them in under three pages.
Acts, teasers, tags, double-spaced scenes, half-hour vs hour, single-cam vs multi-cam. The format differences that matter and the ones that don't.
Margins, fonts, sluglines, action, dialogue, transitions, page numbers — every rule in industry-standard screenplay format, with examples.