Write Your Screenplay Podcast

Jacob Krueger

Rather than rating movies and TV shows like a critic, “two thumbs up” or “two thumbs down,” WGA Award Winning screenwriter Jacob Krueger breaks down scripts without judgment (from scripts you loved, to scripts you hated) to show you what you can learn from them as screenwriters. Plus meet special guests, and get answers to your most pressing screenwriting questions! WriteYourScreenplay.com

  1. hace 2 días

    Patriot: What Your TV Pilot Needs To Do Pt 2

    Give your pilot everything it needs to take off like a rocket. In Part 2 of this two-part exploration of Steven Conrad’s pilots, Jacob Krueger turns from the slow-burning DTF St. Louis to Conrad’s earlier series Patriot to explore the power of dramatic efficiency. Both pilots have the same fundamental needs. But where DTF St. Louis takes its time revealing the strange truths beneath its ordinary surface, Patriot wastes no time launching its characters into trouble – establishing genre, tone, conflict, and the engine of an entire series before we’ve even had time to buckle up. From a disastrous job interview and an undercover agent who sings his darkest secrets, to a family of spectacularly dysfunctional spies trying to save the world, Jake breaks down how Conrad makes every image, action, and cut count. You'll discover why efficiency isn't simply about speed, how specificity and character choices generate momentum, and how a pilot can front-load a major dramatic turning point without sacrificing the emotional depth or structural surprises still to come. For an emerging writer, every page is an opportunity to win – or lose – your audience's attention. You can't afford to wait for your story to get interesting. You need to make every moment count, building enough dramatic momentum to sustain not just your pilot, but your entire series. Because if you want to launch your career, you've got to launch your pilot first – and give it enough dramatic fuel to keep flying after takeoff.

  2. 25 sep

    DTF St. Louis: What Your TV Pilot Needs To Do Pt 1

    In Part 1 of this two-part exploration of Steven Conrad’s pilots, Jacob Krueger breaks down DTF St. Louis to explore what a great TV pilot needs to accomplish – not just as a compelling story, but as a blueprint for an entire series. You’ll discover: • What your TV pilot needs to accomplish beyond telling a great story • Why established writers have more latitude for a slow burn • How specificity can give even a “normal” opening a little kink • Why you can’t sacrifice what’s working now for a payoff that comes later • How a strong hook establishes the engine of your TV series • How recurring images and callbacks can accumulate meaning through recontextualization • How a midpoint genre shift can deepen rather than derail your story • How “form is function” can turn theme into structure • Why the real mystery in a whodunnit is often the relationships

  3. 5 sep

    Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey: Which God are you serving? Part 2

    Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey becomes most powerful when its monsters reveal the film's hidden structure. Jacob Krueger explains Circe, Scylla, xenia, the Trojan Horse and why Odysseus must leave Ithaca after saving it.

  4. 24 ago

    Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey: Which God are you serving? Part 1

    Christopher Nolan's Odyssey keeps the monsters and loses the gods. Jake breaks down what the adaptation sacrifices, what it protects, and how to know which god your own adaptation is really serving.

  5. 12 jul

    Showrunner John J. Strauss: Getting Staffed in Today's TV Writers' Rooms

    Emmy-winning showrunner John Strauss (Arcane, Mozart in the Jungle) on how TV writers get hired, survive notes, and pitch. Watch the full interview.

  6. 31 may

    Kat Khavari: Character, Voice, Creative Audacity

    As writer, actor, and Sundance-winning creator Kathreen Khavari joins the Jacob Krueger Studio faculty, Jake sits down with her for a candid conversation about voice, character, creative audacity, and the art of paying attention. From overheard subway conversations to guerrilla filmmaking, Kat shares how she created her breakout viral short Brain of Terror by paying close attention to the strange, specific rhythms of real people – encouraging writers and actors to stop waiting for permission to create. Together, Jake and Kat explore the relationship between acting and writing, why compelling characters emerge from strong points of view, how dialogue becomes believable through embodiment and rhythm, and why the artist’s job is not to “know,” but to remain curious. Along the way, they unpack the emotional realities of building a creative career: rejection, collaboration, trusting your instincts, and learning how to advocate for your work before anyone else believes in it. The result is both an introduction to Kat’s perspective as a mentor and artist, and a deeply practical conversation about how curiosity, specificity, and audacity can help you create the work – and career – that feel genuinely your own.

  7. 11 may

    Beef Season 2: Metaphor, Engine, and Breaking the Rules

    How do you reinvent a TV series without breaking its engine? Jacob Krueger breaks down Beef Season 2 to explore one of the most difficult balancing acts in screenwriting: evolving a show's engine without alienating your audience. At first, the second season of Beef appears to deliver the same escalating conflict that powered Season 1 — a small, petty squabble spiraling toward violence. Yet episode by episode, creator Lee Sung Jin subtly shifts the rules of the game until the show operates on entirely new terms, feeling less like a repeat of Beef than the inspired love child of Beef and The White Lotus. Along the way, Jacob explains how metaphor can function as a creative North Star, and why your narrative becomes stronger when you stack the deck against your central argument rather than in support of it.

  8. 29 abr

    Amadeus: Turn Intrusive Thoughts into Characters

    What are intrusive thoughts—and what are you supposed to do with them as a writer? In this episode of the podcast, Jacob Krueger explores intrusive thoughts not as a psychological obstacle, but as a powerful creative tool. Because the real challenge of writing isn’t eliminating distraction—it’s learning how to transform what interrupts you into inspiration. Drawing on the film and play versions of Amadeus, Jake shows how Peter Shaffer externalized his own competing inner voices into two unforgettable characters: Salieri, the embodiment of self-doubt, and Mozart, the expression of divine creative impulse. The result is not just great drama—but a blueprint for turning internal conflict into structure, character, and change.

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Rather than rating movies and TV shows like a critic, “two thumbs up” or “two thumbs down,” WGA Award Winning screenwriter Jacob Krueger breaks down scripts without judgment (from scripts you loved, to scripts you hated) to show you what you can learn from them as screenwriters. Plus meet special guests, and get answers to your most pressing screenwriting questions! WriteYourScreenplay.com

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