A lesson in fortitude. It took writer Scott Frank 14 years to get his script for The Queen’s Gambit made into a film not only one of the most popular in the history of Netflix, but also beloved by critics. Here’s part of the story:
And here’s another, deeper part from Screencraft.Org:
7 Screenwriting Lessons From THE QUEEN’S GAMBIT Creator Scott Frank
by Ken Miyamoto
What can Scott Frank — and his acclaimed Netflix show The Queen’s Gambit — teach screenwriters about the art, craft, and business of screenwriting?
Scott Frank has been a prolific and iconic Hollywood screenwriter since the 1990s. His screenplays include:
- Little Man Tate
- Dead Again
- Malice
- Heaven’s Prisoners
- Get Shorty
- Out of Sight
- Minority Report
- The Interpreter
- The Lookout (also directed)
- Marley & Me
- The Wolverine
- Walk Among the Tombstones (also directed)
- Logan
- Netflix limited series Godless (also directed)
- Netflix limited series, The Queen’s Gambit (creator)
His films have been nominated for multiple Academy Awards and Writers Guild Awards. Out of Sight won the Writers Guild Award for Best Adapted Screenplay, and his directorial debut, The Lookout, won the Independent Spirit Award for Best First Feature.
Godless was nominated for a Directors Guild Award for Best Directing in a TV Movie or Miniseries and a Writer’s Guild Award for Best Writing in a TV Movie or Miniseries.
His new Netflix limited series, The Queen’s Gambit, reached 62 million households for the first 28 days of release, making it Netflix’s most popular scripted limited series ever. It also has a 99% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
Here we pull seven pieces of Frank’s best screenwriting insight and advice from two video interviews with him, and then add our own elaboration on the wise points he makes….