Today on the show we have author/veteran script consultant Jill Chamberlain who's book The Nutshell Technique: Crack the Secret of Successful Screenwriting has taken the screenwriting world by storm. 

Jill Chamberlain discovered in her work that an astounding 99 percent of first-time screenwriters don't know how to tell a story. What the 99 percent do instead is present a situation. In order to explain the difference, Chamberlain created the Nutshell Technique, a method whereby writers identify eight dynamic, interconnected elements that are required to successfully tell a story.

Now, for the first time, Chamberlain presents her unique method in book form with The Nutshell Technique: Crack the Secret of Successful Screenwriting. Using easy-to-follow diagrams ("nutshells"), she thoroughly explains how the Nutshell Technique can make or break a film script. Chamberlain takes readers step-by-step through thirty classic and contemporary movies, showing how such dissimilar screenplays as Casablanca, Chinatown, Pulp Fiction, The Usual Suspects, Little Miss Sunshine, Juno, Silver Linings Playbook, and Argo all have the same system working behind the scenes, and she teaches readers exactly how to apply these principles to their own screenwriting. Learn the Nutshell Technique, and you'll discover how to turn a mere situation into a truly compelling screenplay story.

Since its publication in 2016, The Nutshell Technique: Crack the Secret of Successful Screenwriting an instant classic. It is the go-to manual many professionals swear by, and it's on the syllabus at colleges across the U.S. including the world-renowned screenwriting program at Columbia University.

Enjoy my conversation with Jill Chamberlain.