My storytelling foundation stems from ten years as an award-winning crime reporter. I write about film, entertainment, pop culture, how stories stick with us and shape us, and how to tell better stories and tell stories better. I’m passionate about thrillers, sci-fi, and challenging stereotypes about gender and disability.
Please scroll down the page for my work divided by type.
Features and Interviews
- Actor Embeth Davidtz Heads Behind the Camera for Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight (Script, 7/9/2025)
- Don’t Be Boring: Pros on Earning Readers’ Attention in a TikTok World (Script, 6/20/2025)
- The Desperation of Dope Thief: An Interview With Creator Peter Craig (Script, 6/16/2025)
- Weaving The Handmaid’s Tale: Showrunners Yahlin Chang and Eric Tuchman on Finding Humanity in the Final Season (Script, 5/26/2025)
- Serving Character Through Action: Fight or Flight Director James Madigan Talks What Makes Action Scripts Take Off (Script, 5/19/2025)
- Oscar-Nominated Screenwriter Moritz Binder Finds the Personal in the Political in
September 5 (Script, 2/13/2025) - Creative on Her Own Terms: How The Last Showgirl Screenwriter Kate Gersten Finds Discipline Through Dance (Script, 1/10/2025)
- Light on Feet of Clay: A Visit with Nick Park and Merlin Crossingham of Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl (Script, 1/2/2025)
- The Creative Soul of Los Frikis: How the Filmmakers Found a Community to Share a Story Unlike Any They’d Known (Script, 12/23/2024)
- Writer-Director Dana Ledoux Miller Shares Her Gratifying Journey to Moana 2 (Script, 11/27/2024)
- Moving Pieces on a Collision Course: How Fargo Showrunner Noah Hawley Weaves Crime and Irony (Script, 8/15/2024)
- Reinventing the World in Art: Run Lola Run Creator Tom Tykwer Reflects on the Quirky Action Classic (Script, 6/8/2024)
- Finding Humanity Under the Bridge: The Hit Hulu Series’ Creators Unearth Compassion in True Crime (Script, 5/23/2024)
- Finding Characters’ Patterns and Hidden Truths With The New Look’s Showrunner Todd A. Kessler (Script, 5/21/2024)
- Diving Into Biopics with Nyad Screenwriter Julia Cox (Script, 4/10/2024)
Showrunner/Writer/Director/ EP Issa López on the set of “True Detective: Night Country”
- Ask the Right Questions: Interrogate Your Story with Tips from Showrunner Issa López of True Detective: Night Country (Script, 1/12/2024)
- Are You There, Kelly Fremon Craig? It’s Us, Screenwriters (Script, 4/27/2023)
- Taking Inspiration from the Setups and Payoffs of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (Script, 8/18/2023)
- Eileen’s “Claustrophobic Misery”: Author Ottessa Moshfegh and Collaborators Talk Bringing Her Controlled Noir to the Screen (Script, 12/7/2023)
- Spotlight: Geena Davis, Actor and Activist for Diversity in Cinema (Alliance of Women Film Journalists, 6/30/2022)
- “I’m Into an Individual Gaze”: Director Nina Menkes and Colleagues at Sundance 2022 Talk Sexism and Being Brainwashed (In Their Own League, 1/31/2022)
- I’m Fine (Thanks for Asking) Shows Pandemic Filmmaking and Empathy (In Their Own League, 4/14/2021)
- Halle Berry @TIFF: “Write. Direct. Produce. That Is the Power” (In Their Own League, 9/19/2020)
- Ava DuVernay @TIFF: “We Are in the Midst of History” (In Their Own League, 9/28/2020)
- How to Write a Hollywood Horror with A Quiet Place Screenwriters Scott Beck and Bryan Woods (ScreenCraft, 9/13/2019)
- Timeless Screenwriting Wisdom from Quentin Tarantino (ScreenCraft, 7/22/2019)
- 5 Storytelling Lessons from Pulitzer Prize-winning Jules Feiffer (ScreenCraft, 5/1/2019)
- Inside the Mind of The New Yorker’s TV Critic: Emily Nussbaum (ScreenCraft, 2/20/2019)
- The Shot Turning the Marvel Universe Upside Down (The Hollywood Reporter’s Heat Vision, 5/5/2018)
- 6 Screenwriting Lessons from Mission: Impossible–Fallout Writer/Director Christopher McQuarrie (ScreenCraft, 8/4/2018)
- Aaron Sorkin’s 7 Tips for Creating Memorable Characters (ScreenCraft, 8/31/2017)
- 6 Screenwriting Tips from Logan‘s James Mangold (The Script Lab, 11/24/2017)
- Storytelling lit a fire in Robert McKee that still burns 35 years later (Final Draft, 9/25/2017)
- Ten Storytelling Secrets From David Mamet’s MasterClass (The Script Lab, 7/11/2017)
- Screenwriting Runs in the Family for the Fisher Sisters (Final Draft, 6/30/2017)
- Interview with John Sayles: The Indie Film Legend Tells Us What It Means to Be an Independent Filmmaker (The Script Lab, 5/24/2017)
- How to Create The Perfect Show Bible (ScreenCraft, 5/8/2017)
- Stop the Presses: The end days of The Tampa Tribune on film at Tampa Theatre (Creative Loafing Tampa Bay, 5/3/2017)
- Sunscreen ’17: 125 films, four days, Dylan McDermott, Daphne Zuniga – and Joey Pants! (Creative Loafing Tampa Bay, 4/26/2017)
- Nightwatch: Tough nights on the streets of Tampa (Creative Loafing Tampa Bay, 2/17/2017)
- Crowdfunded Publishing and the Writer’s Vision: Interviews with Screenwriters Turned Authors Patrick Sheane Duncan and Gary Whitta (The Script Lab, 1/26/2016)
Essays/Commentary
- Lessons from the Film: The Story Elements That Make Sinners Divine (Script, 4/22/2025)
- Lessons from the Film: Unpacking Black Bag (Script, 3/31/2025)
- Do You Believe in Magic? In America Twenty Years On (RogerEbert.com, 3/5/2024)
- Thoughts on Killers of the Flower Moon, Ethical Storytelling, and Writing Characters Unlike Yourself (Script, 10/26/2023)
- Get Real: How Barbie’s Emotions Build a Transformative Journey (Script, 9/27/2023)
- In Jordan Peele’s Nope, The Darkness Stares Back (RogerEbert.com, 8/4/2022)
- The Art of Adaptation: What Romeo + Juliet and West Side Story Can Teach Screenwriters (Script, 12/7/2021)
- Thelma & Louise and the Long Road Still Ahead (In Their Own League, 6/20/2021)
- Although Uneven, the Fast & Furious Franchise Also Has Fierce Women (In Their Own League, 6/27/2021)
- Silence of the Lambs at 30: Giving Clarice a Voice (Alliance of Women Film Journalists, 3/2/2021)
- Retrospective Review: Private Benjamin at 40 (In Their Own League, 10/10/2020)
- A Salute to the Ever-Clever Hermione Granger (In Their Own League, 10/31/2020)
- Whispered Fears: The Quiet Place of Parenting (RogerEbert.com, 3/9/2020)
- Revisiting Andrew Niccol’s Gattaca in the Age of CRISPR (RogerEbert.com, 10/2/2019)
- Why Tessa Thompson’s MIB: International Character Didn’t Take Off (Cherry Picks, 8/30/2019)
- Happy Birthday, Ripley! Alien at 40 (RogerEbert.com, 5/27/2019)
- Dark Manipulations: On The Silence of the Lambs and Sicario (RogerEbert.com, 3/5/2019)
- Risky Business at 35: Teen Angst in the Time of Your Life (CC2K Online, 8/28/2018)
- More Teeth: The Appeal of The Meg and Other Monster Movies (CC2K Online, 8/14/2018)
- Time Out: At 20, Out of Sight Still Takes Its Lovers Beyond Time (CC2K Online, 8/3/2018)
- 3 Ways Marvel Continues to Create Relatable Villains (The Script Lab, 7/26/2018)
- How Jurassic World Made Claire Its Most Evolved Character
(The Hollywood Reporter’s Heat Vision, 6/25/2018)
- Beyond Dialogue: Subtext Through Action, Description, and Silence (Script, 6/14/2018)
- My Son Finally Has a Hero Like Him in Avengers: Infinity War
(The Hollywood Reporter’s Heat Vision, 5/1/2018) - How to Create Strong Female Characters (The Script Lab, 4/25/2018)
- Writing Emotional Scenes in Animated Films (The Script Lab, 4/13/2018)
- Want Complex Female Characters? Put Them in Action (Script, 4/5/2018)
- Developing Diverse Stories Featuring Disabled Characters (Script, 2/23/2018)
- How The Shape of Water Teaches Filmmakers About Acceptance
(The Script Lab, 1/2/2018) - Screenwriting 101: Humor and Bathos Done Right (The Script Lab, 12/14/2017)
- From Mad Max to Blade Runner: How to Make a Long-Awaited Sequel Work (The Script Lab, 10/19/2017)
- Screenwriting 101: Is it Ever Too Late to Start Writing? (The Script Lab, 10/27/2017)
- Screenwriting 101: How Spider-Man: Homecoming Nails its Villain
(The Script Lab, 7/10/2017) - 4 Reasons The Mummy Fails as a Launchpad For Universal’s “Dark Universe” (The Script Lab, 7/18/2017)
- Kicking Your Screenplay Into Gear: How Baby Driver Subverts Familiar Archetypes (The Script Lab, 7/3/2017)
- Wonder Woman and the Importance of Tone (The Script Lab, 6/12/2017)
- Team Building: Lessons from Guardians of the Galaxy 2’s Dysfunctional Family (The Script Lab, 5/19/2017)
- Ghost in the Shell: How To Mishandle Controversy (The Script Lab, 5/11/2017)
- Art of The Sequel: How T2 Trainspotting Builds On The Original (The Script Lab, 4/18/2017)
- Writing Crime: It’s All in the Details (Final Draft, 3/3/2017)
- Writing for Ensemble Casts (Final Draft, 1/18/2017)
- Waiting for Ripley (Hazlitt, 12/21/2016)
- Moana and Writing Realistic Female Adventurers (Final Draft, 12/15/2016)
- Creating Setups and Payoffs That Stick (Final Draft, 11/16/2016)
- No Unauthorized Breeding: Jurassic Park and Female Control (Bright Wall/Dark Room, July 2016)
- Art of the Adaptation: The Jungle Book (The Script Lab, 7/20/2016)
- Disabled people don’t need Me Before You. We’ve got the Avengers (The Guardian, 6/8/2016)
- Daredevil in the Details: Lessons in Serial Storytelling (The Script Lab, 3/28/2016)
- Understanding the Art of Good Dialogue (The Script Lab, 11/20/2015)
- Silence Is Golden: Our Favorite Silent Types in Animation (The Script Lab, 10/25/2015)
Reviews
Note: Stars added for reviews with a ratings scale.
- The Naked Gun (7/28/2025)
- The Fantastic Four: First Steps (7/23/2025)
- Jurassic World Rebirth (7/7/2025)
- 28 Years Later (6/28/2025)
- Pinch (6/16/2025)
- She Dances (6/4/2025)
- The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie (3/26/2025)
- Corina (3/15/2025)
- Marlee Matlin: Not Alone Anymore (3/15/2025)
- Captain America: Brave New World (2/17/2025)
- Dog Man (2/11/2025)
- September 5 (12/18/2024)
- Nickel Boys (11/23/2024)
- Escaping Ohio (10/30/2024)
- The Graduates (10/25/2024)
- Transformers One (9/26/2024)
- Challengers (4/15/2024)
- Civil War (4/9/2024)
- Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire (3/24/2024)
- Mamifera (3/24/2024)
- We Strangers (3/26/2024)
- Argylle (1/31/2024)
- Racist Trees (1/20/2024)
- American Fiction (12/1/2023)
- Poor Things (11/13/2023)
- Common Ground (12/6/2023)
- Five Nights at Freddy’s (10/27/2023)
- Killers of the Flower Moon (10/16/2023)
- The Mission (10/6/2023)
- A Haunting in Venice (9/25/2023)
- Toll (9/11/2023)
- Marisol (8/25/2023)
- Meg 2: The Trench (8/12/2023)
- Barbie (7/20/2023)
- Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One (7/6/2023)
- I.S.S. (6/14/2023)
- Maestra (6/9/2023)
- Gloria Gaynor: I Will Survive (6/9/2023)
- Breaking the News (6/8/2023)
- Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (6/5/2023)
- Fast X (5/16/2023)
- Victim/Suspect (5/21/2023)
- Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (5/1/2023)
- Wild Beauty: Mustang Spirit of the West (5/6/2023)
- Babylon (12/14/2022)
- She Said (11/28/2022)
- Aftersun (11/17/2022)
- Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (11/17/2022)
- Ticket to Paradise (10/24/2022)
- Vesper (9/23/2022)
- The Bengali (9/9/2022)
- Emily the Criminal (8/26/2022)
- Prey (8/20/2022)
- Breathe (8/5/2022)
- Thor: Love and Thunder (7/4/2022)
- Minions: The Rise of Gru (7/4/2022)
- The Sea Beast (7/4/2022)
- Body Parts (6/20/2022)
- Jurassic World Dominion (6/13/2022)
- Everything Everywhere All at Once (4/13/2022)
- Cha Cha Real Smooth (3/28/2022)
- 32 Sounds (3/14/2022)
- Still Working 9 to 5 (3/14/2022)
- Aftershock (3/14/2022)
- Fire of Love (3/12/2022)
- Moon Manor (3/4/2022)
- I Didn’t See You There (2/9/2022)
- Catch the Fair One (1/27/2022)
- Why Is We Americans? (1/4/2022)
- Brainwashed: Sex-Camera-Power (1/27/2022) **** (also at AWFJ)
- The 355 (1/14/2022) **
- Bruised (12/30/2021) ***
- Cyrano (12/16/2021)
- Cusp (11/4/2021)
- A Mouthful of Air (10/12/2021)
- Aware: Glimpses of Consciousness (9/17/2021)
- CODA (8/24/2021) ****1/2
- The Smartest Kids in the World (8/6/2021)
- Queen of the Beach (8/4/2021)
- Val (7/29/2021)
- Skater Girl (6/8/2021)
- Port Authority (5/26/2021)
- Things Heard and Seen (4/26/2021)
- Poly Styrene: I Am a Cliche (4/26/2021) ****
- ‘Alien’ on Stage (4/26/2021) ***1/2
- Best Summer Ever (4/21/2021) ***1/2
- The Fallout (4/16/2021) ****1/2
- The New York Times Presents … Framing Britney Spears (3/21/2021) ****
- Luchadoras (3/30/2021) ****
- Rebecca (11/13/2020) **
- Little Women (12/25/2019) ****1/2
- Jay and Silent Bob Reboot (10/15/2019) **
- Teen Titans Go! To the Movies (7/25/2018) ****
- Incredibles 2 (6/16/2018) ****
- Ocean’s 8 (6/9/2018) ***1/2
- Solo: A Star Wars Story (5/26/2018) ***1/2
- Deadpool 2 (5/24/2018) ***
- Tully (5/24/2018) ***
- Anon (5/8/2018) **
- The Titan (4/19/2018) *
- Love, Simon (4/1/2018) ***1/2
- Unsane (3/30/2018) **1/2
- Tomb Raider (3/18/2018) ***
- A Wrinkle in Time (3/9/2018) **
- Mute (2/23/2018) *
- Half Magic (2/23/2018) *1/2
- Annihilation (2/22/2018) ****1/2
- Early Man (2/15/2018) **1/2
- The Cloverfield Paradox (2/6/2018) *
- The Commuter (1/16/2018) **1/2
- Life‘s Battle with Formula (4/3/2017)
- John Wick: Chapter 2 is a Satisfyingly Symphonic Sequel (2/21/2017)
- Passengers Stays Afloat on the Chemistry of Its Leads (12/24/2016)
- La La Land Is for the Ones That Dream (12/18/2016)
- Arrival Offers Cerebral Close Encounters (11/14/2016)
- Hacksaw Ridge Is Anything But Rusty (10/30/2016)
- Captain America: Civil War Is Marvel at Its Most Personal (5/11/2016)
- The Force Is Strong with Star Wars: The Force Awakens (12/29/2015)
- Spotlight Is Spot-On (12/7/2015)
Award-Winning Journalism
- Who Rapes? (The Tampa Tribune, 9/13/2007)
- Wounds of ’98 Slayings Deep (The Tampa Tribune, 5/19/2008)
- Through The Pain, Anger and Sorrow, They Forge Ahead (The Tampa Tribune, 7/11/2005)