Scott: Congratulations! And thank you. Your blog is one of the best resources on the web. I think it has something for everyone that is trying to get into the industry. And you do it all by yourself. that's very generous. I do visit the blog on a daily basis, but unfortunately I just don't have enough time to read or comment on everything. But I wouldn't cut down the content, it's nice to have the ability to search on the archives and see what turns up. I missed the TweetCast, but that sounds fun and informative. I'd be happy to join a monthly discussion of a film. May I suggest a monthly series focused on a particular screenwriter (Sorkin, Terrio, Goldsman) so we could see how their writing and career have evolved? How they got into the business and managed to stay. Maybe even talk about unrealized projects.

Perhaps a new commenting system? I've been having fits with this one for a long time. I can't log in with Google anymore and I just tried to post a comment but it's apparently not working... Maybe this one will work? We'll see...

Yay, it worked! OK, below is my original comment I typed up. Hope this helps Scott! Happy birthday GITS! Be sure to save some of that virtual champagne for me!!! Scott, I've told you many times of my appreciation for this blog. I promise if I ever win an Oscar that I'll thank you in my acceptance speech. Sage advice however: Don't hold your breath. I honestly don't even believe or understand how you've done this for free. I just refuse to. I understand blogging for free, but the output you put out (...) is just insane. It doesn't make sense. ARE YOU A ROBOT SCOTT?!?! I DEMAND TO KNOW!!! (In this scenario the virtual champagne would make more sense...) OK, I'm fairly good at speaking my mind so here are my suggestions and thoughts: First, I'd be supportive of you trimming down the content. To be honest, there's a lot of stuff I skim through. I really prefer the in-depth articles, even the older ones (since you have so many). I also like interviews and the hands-on posts where readers get a chance to break down scripts. I think more than anything I come here to learn and this type of stuff makes it possible. I think the conversation taping thing is... interesting. I mean, if you really want to be a screenwriter you should have an ear for that already. You should be actively engaging in conversations with every type of person you can imagine and listening carefully to what they have to say and how they say it. I think if you have to tape a conversation just to listen to how people talk you're probably in trouble. That said... I do think challenging people to write more is good and productive. That always seems to be the type of post that gets the most comments. Perhaps you could set up scenarios and ask us to write the dialogue for that scene. You could ask us to rewrite dialogue from a famous movie scene, then perhaps we could compare it. You could also do competitions where you give us the basics of a character and we have to write the first line of exposition that introduces that character in the script. I don't know, these are just ideas. I'm just spitballing here, but I do think the more reader interaction the better. OK, I'm about to fall asleep but I hope this helps! If I can think of more stuff I'll drop back in later. But yeah, you pretty much kick ass Scott. I don't know how in the hell you do this, but we all greatly appreciate it for sure. And if you ever decided to get ads and make money off this site, I'd fully support you -- I think we all would. OK one last fleeting idea: A podcast. Ever thought of it? Perhaps you could do some stuff with Franklin regarding the table reads? I really think if you did something where you did commentary on a script -- why it works, why stuff is where it is, etc. -- that would be really helpful too. Keep on truckin. -- Kalen

The TweetCast may be worth testing out again, see what happens. Interesting idea about a series focusing on a popular screenwriter. Maybe float that idea and see how we could go about structuring that. One issue re scripts: I'm not comfortable providing links to illegal sites. I don't mind people using them as individuals on their own -- to each his/her own -- but I don't want GITS to be promoting what is technically an illegal act. So we'd be limited in terms of analyzing scripts. However movies, no problem. Certainly can dig up interviews and features. Yeah, that may be something to test out. Thanks for that suggestion, Alejandro.

Thanks, Kalen, and sorry about the reply issues you've had. They crop up from time to time, and we get them to work. Don't know about those damn computer gremlins sometimes. I admit I have thought about trimming some of the daily posts in order to free up time to do lengthier, in-depth posts. One thing I would love to do is more movie analysis. Can't tell you how many draft posts I have where I've started to analyze a movie that has just come out, then it got lost in the haze of my life. And that's an issue: I'm not sure if I cut back on, say, Script To Screen or Great Scenes, I'd actually free up time to do that type of long-form analysis. When I get free time, it just seems to get sucked into the vortex of everything else I have going on. I have tried to up the number of interactive series. People have been good about providing overviews of movies from the 60s-90s, scene-by-scene breakdowns and the like, but in terms of actual writing, the response only seems to be good when I offer free stuff like my SMC classes. I'm happy to do that occasionally, but it would be great to find things which didn't require freebies to get people motivated to work on their writing. Re podcast: I've thought about it, but two things. First, I just don't think I can add something like that to my plate. Second, there are so many podcasts out there already in this arena, not sure I could add anything of benefit. I suddenly remembered an idea I had awhile back: I could do a monthly or perhaps bi-weekly call with a group of GITS followers. Talk about anything screenwriting related. Then make that call available for listening here on the site. It would have to be raw as I wouldn't have time to edit it and again, it may be too much given my schedule, but there may be something there. Anyhow thanks for your feedback, Kalen. Food for thought...

Scott Thank you very much. For everything. Without GITS I wouldn’t even have tried—am being totally honest here. About the Tweetcast…not for me...when I’m watching a movie I completely am watching a movie, so tweets would be distracting. Plus the time zone difference, bleary eyed at 3 AM trying to watch/tweet. About the writing practice with conversation, oh yes. More posts that invite participation. Lesser posts? Yes. That call (with a file for download) sounds good.

Thanks, austere. More posts that invite participation. I guess it depends on what "participation" means. For example, we have those bi-weekly Script Read and Analysis posts in which I would hope people would engage in a lively dissection of scripts, but that seems to be hit or miss. Do you have any ideas about what type of initiatives would be more likely to elicit participation? One more vote for lesser posts. One vote for calls with GITS followers. Thanks for the feedback!

Congratulations, Scott, on the marathon you've been running with GITS postings. And thanks for the generosity of your time and insights. I'm a less is more kind of guy; I prefer quality over quantity. I would be keen to read more analyses of films, how they work, why they work. The most instructive feature for me has been the biweekly analysis of scripts. Alas, as you observed, it's been hit or miss. Which does not surprise me: it requires hard work. But when I participate, the insights I glean are well worth the time and effort. Again, thanks for the service you have been providing.

Dear Scott, I will try to keep this as short as possible as to not bother your readers with a long comment but I just want to give your request for input about the blog a proper response. My name is Aurélien which is, as you guessed, not an English name. I grew up in a tiny town in France where movies are awesome things that we watch, they are not made, they just appear on TV or at the cinema. It took me about 20 years and tens of thousands of backpacking kilometers to understand that writing was not the odd thing I did when nobody's looking but actually something that keeps me breathing (as a reference, [1 odd job + 2 heart breaks + 10 new friends]/25 beers = 1 backpacking kilometer). When that realization hit me full swing across the face, I was in the middle of the New Zealand countryside, wondering how I could take action. Go to university? Backpacking isn't a very lucrative thing, option's out. Try and learn on my own? Damn me if I could write anything that made sense in English. Then entered Go Into The Story. At first, it was a cool blog about screenwriting to me, a place where I could find some answers to the questions I had. Later though, it became a jungle of information where all I had to do what to Go Into The Story and look for the animals. Soon enough, it was no longer GITS, it was La Casa de Tio Scott. If I don't write, I fall into depression, the air is sucked out of me and everything turns to black. I grew up with all these stories in my head but no one around to teach me how to express them. My dad was a plumber and my mum a company manager. Working on the field was the top value in the house and I could never have told my parents that I wanted to be a writer, that was not an option. I may never be a successful screenwriter but at least, thanks to uncle Scott, I can breathe, and he's always there to give me all the advices I need. I would love to tell you that this is a thank you story but thank you doesn't even begin to cover it. Thanks to GITS, Scott, you are part of the creative family that resides in my head, along with grumpy uncle Craig Mazin and kind uncle John August. Now, I no longer sit in the mist of 'what the hell should I do' land, instead, I write, often, and I even have opinions about the craft! So to address your points: - I tried to read everything you write by putting an alarm on your tweets on my phone. I quickly removed it. To me the flow of information is overwhelming. I'd rather spend more time writing and less time reading. Less posts but more in depth? I vote yes, - Tweetcast sounds like a fantastic idea, - Writing exercises, yes yes and yes. I love those. I always try to participate when I can. I was so sad that I couldn't complete the dialogue one recently, - I agree with the podcast not being essential. There are lots of quality ones out there already, - Calling and talk with aspiring writers? That's a cool idea. If your issue might be the audio editing, I would like to volunteer to do it. I have the skills and this is the least I'd like to do to show my appreciation for this blog. To me, the key would be more in the depth of the information such as film essays, etc. Since I never went to school for writing, I feel the need to get more onion like information: the type of info that covers several layers of the film. Thank you, Scott, for writing everything everyday, and for writing this: "I get up each day and do my blogging as a commitment to aspiring writers everywhere". This is the kind of selflessness that I aspire to gain one day. Aurélien

Congrats on 7 years, Scott! Really amazing. My 2 cents: I like the "50s Movies" idea. I also second the podcast idea. I realize it is a chunk of time you don't have, but wanted to add my support if things change. I also think there are ways to make the information content on the site more searchable. I'm not sure how to do that easily though. For example, maybe tags added to the FAQ would help create an easily searchable database of scriptwriting knowledge? Perhaps it could be collected into book form?

Hello Scott! I am quite new to this blog, and as a senior in high school I probably seem like a wee sapling in the shadow of your years of experience, but this blog as been very important to me in the last 4 months. Since I discovered it in January, I have read 8 screenplays, written about half of the Daily Dialogue Challenges, turned some ideas into outlines (which feels darn good), and been filled with hope for college I didn't have before. As a tool, this site has confirmed my excitement for all that I can write and accomplish in the future, and turned my potential energy as a writer into something more tangible, and for that I am very grateful. That being said, thank you! And congrats on 7 years. 7 years ago, I was barely trying to survive middle school and would have never guessed that this is what I wanted to do with my life (write/make movies). So this archive of 7 years of resources are very precious to me as I dive headfirst into all of this. As far as amendments to the site- I would probably be out of place to make any radical suggestions, but I will say that the monthly series have been completely engaging and taught me a lot. I read most posts, and have gone back to many posts you would probably consider "classics of GITS" (1,2,7,14 and the like). So as for the future of GITS, I'd totally participate in a TweetCast, and no matter what you change, remove, add, reorganize, you still have a dedicated follower in me. Can't wait to see what is to come. -Mary

Scott, happy GITS birthday - that's AMAZING!!!!! Okay, first off we all love you, but you are a machine so I am going to vote on scaling back the posts - for me, I love catching up on the blog even if it's a few times a week, but also for your health, your sanity, your sleep, you are probably one of the hardest working, selfless people I have ever met - which ultimately inspires me to be one of the hardest working writers that I can be, but I think to sustain this incredible flow of information for our sakes and also for you to make the most of the other avenues you mentioned, I honestly think scaling back at least a bit wouldn't hurt. That said, one of my favourite GITS resources to read are the interviews you do with screenwriters breaking in (not to mention the twitter roundtables) and I also like your own personal anecdotes in 'The Business of Screenwriting' posts... or any stories about your own screenwriting journey. Speaking of interviews, what may be some additional food for thought - maybe also any interviews in the future from managers, agents and things in terms of what they are looking for? I know many of us are still trying to figure that out! Also I always get a good kick out of those readers questions... ok, I think I may have just defeated my point about lesser posts, darn it I like this blog a lot - LOL! Congratulations again on another GITS year - to many more!

Congratulations Scott on creating an amazing virtual world where people with a shared passion can learn from you and one another. It is clear that you are incredibly passionate about writing and the business of movies and that emanates in every post. To best sum up what helps me (as an aspiring writer) below are my top five favorite types of posts: - Written interviews (the first ones I read everyday) - Quotes on writing and creativity (can't get enough of them) - Information on "Spec" sales - Monthly coverage (30 days of story ideas, movies you made, etc…) - Articles on insight in to the world of screenwriting and the business of making movies As for podcasts, I don't think that you need them. As a writer, I prefer to read an interview over listening to one. I rarely listen to podcasts, but read a handful of screenwriting blogs EVERY single day. Thanks for making the world of screenwriting accessible to all. It truly is a gift!

PaulG: Not sure it's a consensus, however there does seem to be a trend toward me scaling back the number of posts and focus on more analysis and such. I'm amenable to that. The gears are churning. Thanks for your feedback.

Aurélien, thanks for taking the time for your thoughtful response. I confess one of the great joys of blogging as well as my teaching has been to hear time and time again about how peoples' lives have been elevated through their writing and how GITS has been a part of their creative journey. As to your feedback, another vote for less frequent content, more in-depth posts. Duly noted. Thanks for your offer re audio editing. There may be something to a bi-weekly conversation with writers trying to break into the business, a free-for-all Q&A about the craft. That might fill an interesting niche. Maybe I'll give that a try. Again thanks and continued inspiration with your writing, Aurélien!

Thanks, David, for taking time to respond. We'll be doing a 50s Movie series next month, I think. That will cover the 1950s-1990s. Probably add the 40s, then 2000s, then include international films. Maybe start doing by genre. Again provide a resource for writers. Re archives: I'm sure there's a slicker way to approach it, but it's out of my league. If anyone knows anyone with ideas, please send them my way. I've thought about creating some PDFs with popular blog series to give away for free. Again if I had time! Thanks again!

Great to hear from you, Mary. It always heartens me to interface with someone in high school who follows the blog. It was in high school I had two teachers who encouraged me to write. And while my life wound this way and that, I did eventually take up the call. So if I can be one voice among those out there encouraging young people to pursue their creative ambitions, I am pleased to do it. In fact, pay attention to this blog as I have an initiative I'm going to run this year aimed directly at high school students. More on that on May 16th. Again great to hear from you and keep on writing!

Thanks, Aarthi, for taking time from your busy schedule. It's been great to see you make progress over the years both in your writing and in the connections you are making in Hollywood. Keep doing what you're doing and who knows where it will take you. Another vote to scale back the number of posts, this one with some common sense considering my health and well-being. The thing is, if I cut back on some of the posts, that time would be taken up doing more in-depth analysis. Now I suppose since that's something I both like and want to do, there would be a net positive by doing that, so even if the amount of time spent blogging were the same, perhaps the quality of the experience would be better. Duly noted. I will continue to interview mostly writers. This summer, I hope to do a lot of them. And I'll reach out to managers, producers and the like. In fact, I'm lining up an interview with a long-time agent turned producer, so there's one in the pipeline. I'm definitely in a re-think mode re the blog, how to make it a better experience for people and work better for me, too. Your feedback and that of others is helpful, thanks!

Thanks, Brooke, for that feedback. I've enjoyed doing the interviews and frankly, if I had the time, I could be doing 1-2 each week. However I'm not only busy, I spend multiple hours preparing for each interview - reading scripts, watching movies, research, prepping questions, etc. As noted elsewhere, I plan to do a lot of interviews this summer. And I'll be rolling out some special series involving writers I've interviewed above and beyond what we've seen so far. Thanks for your input. And for everyone! Quite helpful.

Scott- I noticed your comments above about creating PDF files of some of your archived material and giving them away. I know you're incredibly busy - I saw first hand during The Quest workshop how dedicated you are to each writer both in person and through virtual contact. If you need someone to convert files to PDF's, creating a "booklet" of information on different subjects, I'd be happy to do that for you. Let me know if this is what you were thinking. Sometimes having extra hands to do the trivial work, clears up mental space and physical time. Best, Brooke

Right, only legal. In fact I never thought about the availability of the complete scripts of a writer. But I think we could analyze the overall themes, characters and plot choices watching the movies and only include the screenplays legally available.

Re: PDF I noticed the login screen to post comments looks like Wordpress. If you are using Wordpress there's a plugin called "Kalin's PDF Creation Station" wordpress.org/plugins/kalins-pdf-creation-station/ which allows you to create PDF docs from a combination of pages or posts. Hope this helps.

You have a wonderful and extraordinary blog. Thank you! I think you archives are quite easy to search in, but as more the better. I mean, being able to search and get relevant hits is important. I enjoy the e-mail with a day's posts so I quickly can see what interests me.

Hi Scott, My thoughts on your blog...wow. For me, it is and has been the single most influential source of screenwriting information, period. One of the things I love most about your blog is the lack of flame wars. I think that and the variety of content are the two best features of GITS. As for suggestions; - At first I thought that you should cut back on the posts, because I would love to read every post, comment on every post, and digest and apply every post to my writing as I once did; but that nearly got me fired (jk!)! But then I realized that is me being selfish. For every subject that I think I've seen before (I think I was among the first 500 followers) , there are fifty posts that some new follower has never seen (like Mary). While searches can be useful, you don’t know what you don’t know, and the volume of posts helps fill those gaps. However, quality will almost always win over quantity. To me the most useful post are analyses and interviews - though both are longer and the more I read, the less I write. - Perhaps you could repost the most popular subjects (by replies or searches) more often? - The dialogue writing challenges are fantastic - although I don’t think I’ve actually posted one, I do have them in my draft files. - I think your conversation/word cloud idea is absolutely worth following up on for multiple reasons. - Tweetcasts I’m on the fence about, like austere, I prefer to be engrossed in a film. However, tweetcasting an act or segment could work - but will also a lot of additional effort. - How about asking your followers to throw out ideas twice a year? I am in favor of looking at genres, decades, genres in decades (i.e. what has and what hasn’t changed in certain genres over the years), particular writers over the years, one hit wonders, etc. - More posts/guest posts from writers in television, video games, advertising, documentaries, scenario planning (the intelligence community and some large businesses employ screenwriters to dream up “what if” scenarios), or other professions that use screenwriters as storytellers would be useful and inspirational. - Quotes are some of my favorite posts. I have several pages that I’ve copied over the years and they are posted all over my offices at work and at home! - There are several blog to pdf converters that can do the job automatically, but if you wanted the hands on aspect, I believe there are a number of us - probably in the hundreds - that would help with converting your posts to pdfs. - Replies add to the discussions by providing fresh views and new analyses, and your interaction with the posters is sometimes as good as the original post. Maybe posts of some of your favorite replies? It’s your interaction with us as followers that generates such good will - and THAT is why you are better connected than ever. I will always remember the older, seasoned writer that came up to you at the Dec 2014 Quest in Santa Monica to introduce himself and tell you that he follows you and to thank you for all you've done for screenwriting. That’s the way I feel, too. I haven’t had great success and maybe I never will, but I’ve enjoyed the journey so much more because of GITS. I’ve learned more than I ever would have in a single class - or even multiple classes - because your posts are one, ongoing, virtual classroom experience that can be enjoyed at any time by anyone no matter their skill level. Thank you for seven years of hard work and giving unselfishly to the worldwide community of screenwriters. We can enjoy the virtual champagne, you should enjoy the real thing! Tom

Thanks, Alejandro. I like this idea of creating PDFs of blog posts / series. Those would be nice freebies for people.

Tom, thanks for your thoughtful reply. Lots of great stuff. This round of reaching out to people for feedback and suggestions has been really helpful. Between my own brainstorming and ideas from GITS readers, I'm generating quite a list of possibilities. I'll present those on May 16 and we'll go from there. Special acknowledgement to you as one of the earliest GITS enthusiasts. You belong in the GITS Followers Hall Of Fame!

Hey Scott, Sorry I'm a bit late to the discussion. I would definitely participate in a Tweetcast, an unscripted phone conversation and movie analysis. Way to go on your many, many posts. I, like so many others, appreciate all you have contributed to the multitude of fledgling writings. You have opened a window I would have crashed beak-first into if it wasn't for your blog. Thanks for saving my feathers.