Writers Work on Your Craft Like Margot Robbie

by | May 7, 2026 | Business of writing, writing

Margot Robbie didn’t become one of the most sought-after actresses in Hollywood by accident. Yes, she’s beautiful. Yes, she’s talented. But Hollywood is full of beautiful, talented people who never break through. What separates Robbie is something far less glamorous and far more powerful: relentless preparation.

For every role, Robbie works with a minimum of four different coaches. She studies constantly. She prepares obsessively. She practices with the discipline of an Olympic athlete training for competition.

Margot Robbie treats talent like the starting line, not the finish line.

1. Acting Coach

Robbie’s primary acting coach is Nancy Banks, whom she considers her secret weapon. They dive deep into scripts to ensure every acting choice is rooted in the character’s specific circumstances. Nothing is random. Every line, reaction, and movement has purpose behind it.

2. Dialect Coach

For every role, Robbie works with a dialect coach to master the character’s accent. She studies recordings and YouTube videos to perfect vowel placement and speech patterns. Most people would stop at close enough. Robbie keeps going until it feels authentic.

3. Movement Coach

Robbie also uses movement coaches to shape how a character physically exists in the world. For I, Tonya, she focused on how Tonya Harding’s body felt heavy off the ice, as if the weight of the world were pressing down on her shoulders.

4. Specialized Teachers

When a role requires a specific athletic or professional skill, Robbie undergoes intense preparation with experts.

• To play Tonya Harding, she trained on the ice for four hours a day, five days a week, for five months.
• For the film Focus, she worked with pickpocket to learn sleight of hand.

What Does This Have to do with Your Writing Career?

Everything. I am always surprised when I encounter writers who are uninterested in improving their craft. They don’t take classes, read books on writing, or work with a writing coach.

Instead, screenwriters become laser-focused on getting an agent, while novelists chase the latest marketing hack. Marketing cannot save weak writing. Representation won’t rescue an underdeveloped script.

Screenwriting coaches ​Audrey Knox​ and ​Carole Kirshner​ say regularly on LinkedIn that a good script is not good enough to get repped or hired. Your work must be better than good. Better than great. It must be exceptional.

So how can you be like Margot Robbie? What is the road to greatness for writers?

Always Be Writing

The more you write, the better your writing becomes. Period.

The more you write, the more books and scripts you have available to sell. Writing creates skill and inventory.

Always Be Learning

Learning craft and experimenting with new techniques helps you grow as a writer.

Take a class. Watch a video. Listen to a podcast. Read a book on storytelling. Study structure. Explore character development. Learn dialogue tricks. Test new approaches.

There is always another level. Always another tool for your creative toolbox.

​Here​ is a list of my favorite books and podcasts about writing.

Always Be Reading and Watching

Read books. Watch movies and television in your genre.

Writers sometimes forget this part and try to create in a vacuum. But storytelling is a living conversation. You need to know what audiences love, what creators are experimenting with, and what trends are emerging.

​Thrive on Feedback​

Think of ​feedback​ is the training montage.

The writers who improve the fastest are the ones willing to hear what isn’t working and then use that information.

Get Your Team

My writing coach ​Jeff Elkins​ says, “Writing is a team sport.”

Build your team. Surround yourself with smart, encouraging people who can support you and give honest feedback. Cultivate writer friendships. ​Work with me​ or another writing coach.

Because even Margot Robbie doesn’t do it alone.

Check it Out!

Ever wonder what it’s like to work with me? ​Watch ​me evaluate pitches on The Dialogue Doctor podcast!

Want more content like this? Click here to subscribe to my newsletter.

If this blog adds a little spark to your writing week, would you consider buying me a coffee? Your support helps me keep creating practical, joyful resources for writers.

Buy my book How to Turn Your Screenplay into a Novel! Turn your scripts into books and start earning money today!

How to Fictionalize a True Story

by | Apr 22, 2026 | Business of writing, writing

We've talked about ​the legal rules​ around writing about real people and ​Hollywood's approach​ to true stories. This week we're talking about how to fictionalize true stories to protect yourself.

Here’s how to tell your story without inviting a lawsuit.

Avoid the Danger Zone

Don’t write about real people with lightly changed names and give them made-up bad behavior.

⭐ If a reasonable reader can say “Oh, that’s clearly [real person],” you don’t get to hide behind it’s fiction.

Fiction Mode

Go into full fiction mode. Make your project a story with pacing, emotion, and suspense that readers will love. Changing details in a true story will make your book or screenplay stronger.

When writers take on real stories, they are chasing two things:

1. Narrative Simplicity

Real life is messy. It doesn't follow story structure.

So writers:

• Compress timelines
• Combine characters
• Heighten conflict
• Assign clearer motivations

These changes create a clean emotional arc the audience can track.

That often means real people get reshaped into story functions:

• The obstacle
• The love interest
• The complication

2. Emotional Impact

Writers are not historians. They are storytellers.

If a version of events:

• Raises stakes
• Deepens romance
• Adds betrayal or tension

They may change it to get a better story, even if it's far from the truth.

The Frankenstein Method

Instead of basing a character on one real person, create a composite. Take your ex-boss's personality, give them a neighbor's physical traits, and throw in a former teacher's hobbies. Suddenly no one person can claim that character is them.

To make a character legally unrecognizable, change at least three major categories:

• Physicality
• Demographics
• Setting
• Profession

If the real person is a tall blonde lawyer in Pennsylvania, make your character a short brunette florist in Texas.

The Small Penis Rule

Yes, this is ​a real thing​. Yes, that is really what it is called. The strategy: give a character an embarrassing trait the real-life inspiration would never want to claim in court.

Disclaimers

Always include the classic "any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental." It won't stop a lawsuit, but it helps establish your intent.

⚖️Sidebar: You cannot defame the dead.

In the U.S., libel claims generally die with the individual, which makes deceased figures significantly safer to write about.

Remember

You don’t need permission to tell true stories. But you do need to be intentional about how you tell them.

The more you stick to provable truth, the safer you are. The more you invent about real people, the more protection you need. When in doubt, change as many details as possible from the real story and talk to a lawyer.

Tell the story. Just don’t accidentally turn your protagonist into your plaintiff.

READ NEXT: What Kind of Lawyer do you Need When Writing About Real People?

Catch Up Corner

​True Stories Part 1: Do You Need Permission to Write About Real People?​

​True Stories Part 2: Hollywood's Version of Based on a True Story​

​Why You Should Own Your IP

Check it Out!

Ever wonder what it’s like to work with me? ​Watch ​me evaluate pitches on The Dialogue Doctor podcast!

Want more content like this? Click here to subscribe to my newsletter.

If this blog adds a little spark to your writing week, would you consider buying me a coffee? Your support helps me keep creating practical, joyful resources for writers.

Buy my book How to Turn Your Screenplay into a Novel! Turn your scripts into books and start earning money today!

Based on a True Story vs. Inspired by a True Story: What’s the Difference?

by | Apr 15, 2026 | Business of writing, writing

Last week​ we talked about the legal rules for writing about real people, including how to avoid defamation, slander, and libel. This week we're going to talk specifically about how movies and TV shows handle true stories.

When Hollywood adapts a true story, producers typically acquire the life rights of the central figures because they want to dramatize private conversations, portray someone’s inner world, and not get sued.

Life rights are essentially legal permission slips from a real, living person that say: “Yes, you may portray me in your dramatic work.”

Here’s the plot twist that trips up a lot of writers: life rights are completely separate from your copyright. Even if you own your memoir 100%, that doesn’t automatically give you — or Hollywood — the legal right to dramatize the real people in it.

Let’s take a look at the different approaches Hollywood uses to tell true stories and the legal nuances they must balance with each technique.

Based on a True Story vs. Inspired by a True Story: What’s the Difference?

These two phrases feel interchangeable, but legally they live in very different zip codes.

Based on a True Story:

We followed the key facts and framework of the actual events, with some dramatic flair added. These projects are called docudramas because they are dramatizing true events. They differ from documentaries, which tell the true story using news accounts, primary sources, and interviews with real people.

Think The Social Network, The Thing About Pam, and every ripped from the headlines Lifetime true crime movie. Life rights are highly advisable here, and the legal risk is higher because there’s an implicit promise of accuracy.

Often, these projects have source material: a book, a documentary, an article. Since the source material has already been vetted for legal issues, it is a bit more protection. Also, in addition to life rights, sometimes docudrama producers also have the real-life people on as advisors or producers to help ensure accuracy. Involving the real people, even nominally, is another way to protect yourself.

One more step that producers take is expanding the based on a true story credit to include a disclaimer like “scenes have been dramatized for clarity.”

Inspired by a True Story:

Something real happened, and the writer used it as a jumping-off point for a heavily fictionalized story. Think To Die For,The Exorcist, or any Law & Order episode. Life rights are not legally required, and because it’s framed as fiction, there’s generally more protection.

Let’s talk examples

Based on a true story:

The Social Network (2010) based on the book ​The Accidental Billionaires​ by Ben Mezrich, screenplay by Aaron Sorkin, tells the story of Facebook’s founding. Much of the film’s dialogue and plot was drawn directly from court documents and depositions from the various lawsuits between the founders and the Winklevoss twins. Aaron Sorkin used literary license to fictionalize personal motivations (like the idea that Zuckerberg created Facebook to impress a girl) while keeping the business and legal milestones rooted in fact.

The Thing About Pam – (2022) based on the Dateline NBC podcast The Thing About Pam, created by Jenny Klein, 6 hours. Based on the 2011 murder of Betsy Faria. While based on real events, the series includes an on-screen disclaimer noting that the story has been fictionalized for dramatic purposes.

Creative Based on a True Story:

Inventing Anna (2022) inspired by the New York Magazine ​article​ “Maybe She Had So Much Money She Just Lost Track of It” by Jessica Pressler, created by Shonda Rhimes, 9 hours about the high society con woman Anna Delvey. Each episode opens with the cheeky disclaimer “This story is completely true, except for the parts that are totally made up.” This credit acknowledges that the writers used a combination of true and made-up events and characters. The journalist who broke the original story, Jessica Pressler, was a producer on the series and involved in the development.

I, Tonya (2017) by Steven Rogers uses the competing narratives approach. Everyone in the film tells a different version of events, which is dramatically brilliant and legally clever.

Screen Credit: “Based on irony free, wildly contradictory, totally true interviews with Tonya Harding and Jeff Gillooly.”

While the film is a biopic about the very real ​1994 Nancy Kerrigan attack​, the screenwriter used this credit to signal that the movie is as much about the unreliability of memory as it is about the historical facts. The filmmakers chose this specific phrasing to reflect the mockumentary style of the film. Because the real-life accounts from Tonya Harding and her ex-husband, Jeff Gillooly, differed so significantly on almost every major detail, the movie presents multiple versions of the same events, often having characters break the fourth wall to argue with the audience about what actually happened.

By framing the whole thing as a collection of contradictory accounts, the filmmakers sidestepped the problem of definitively portraying anyone’s private truth as fact. As added legal protection, Tonya Harding was involved in the production.

Inspired by a true story:

To Die For (1995) based on the ​book by Joyce Maynard​, screenplay by Buck Henry. Inspired by the ​Pamela Smart case​ — a New Hampshire woman who was convicted of manipulating her teenage lover into murdering her husband. The writers transformed it into a satirical, heavily fictionalized story. They changed the names and characters of the real people, shifted the setting, and altered some key events. It’s presented as fiction inspired by real events, which gave the writers more creative and legal breathing room than a true crime account would have.

READ NEXT: How to Fictionalize a True Story

Dive Deeper

Daryl Hannah's recent reaction to her portrayal in the FX series Love Story about JFK Jr. in an ​op-ed in the New York Times

Reporter Jessica Pressler ​talks about her experience​ selling her articles to Hollywood and what it was like being a producer on the Shonda Rhimes Netflix show, Inventing Anna, based on her New York Magazine article.

An ​article ​in Creative Screen Writing Magazine explains the caveats of writing true stories and highlights several court cases against filmmakers.

Catch Up Corner

​True Stories Part One: Do you Need Permission to Write About Real People?

Check it Out!

Ever wonder what it’s like to work with me? ​Watch ​me evaluate pitches on The Dialogue Doctor podcast!

Want more content like this? Click here to subscribe to my newsletter.

If this blog adds a little spark to your writing week, would you consider buying me a coffee? Your support helps me keep creating practical, joyful resources for writers.

Buy my book How to Turn Your Screenplay into a Novel! Turn your scripts into books and start earning money today!

Do You Need Permission to Write About Real People?

by | Apr 9, 2026 | Business of writing, writing

True stories are great fodder for novels and screenplays, but they also are legal landmines. There are rules when you are writing about real people.

What do writers need to know about writing true stories to avoid being sued?

Disclaimer: I am not a lawyer. If you are writing a true story about living people, consult an attorney before publishing your book or selling your screenplay. More on the kind of attorney you need for a true story in a later newsletter.

The Core Rule (The Part That Surprises People)

In the United States, you do not need permission to write about real people or true events.

That means:

• You can write about real people
• You can name them
• You can tell true events

Even without a legal contract that gives you permission to write about them (a life rights agreement.)

Why? Because of free speech protection enshrined in the Constitution.

But Here’s Where It Gets Tricky

Not needing permission does not mean being protected from lawsuits.If you write about real people, you’re exposed and can be sued for:

1. Defamation & Libel (the big one)

If you state false facts that harm someone’s reputation, you can get sued. Truth is your shield. But it must be provable truth, not “I heard this once at brunch.”

2. False Light (the sneaky cousin)

Even if technically true, you can get in trouble if you portray someone in a misleading way that creates a false impression. This is where dramatization gets dangerous.

3. Privacy Claims

These come into play if you reveal deeply private facts that are not of public concern and would offend a reasonable person. Think: secrets, medical info, sexual relationships.

4. Right of Publicity

This is about using someone’s identity for commercial gain. Books, films, and articles are usually considered protected expressive works and exempt.

⚖️ Sidebar: Defamation vs. Libel

Defamation and libelare often used interchangeably, but they're not the same thing. Here's a breakdown of the difference.

Defamation = The Big Category

Defamation is the legal concept.

It means: a false statement presented as fact that harms someone’s reputation.

If a statement:

• Is false
• Is presented as fact (not opinion)
• Hurts someone’s reputation
• Is communicated to others

Libel = Written (or Recorded) Defamation

Libel is a type of defamation.

It covers:

• Books
• Articles
• Blogs
• Social media posts
• Screenplays
• Films and TV

⭐Most of what writers create falls under libel, not slander.

Slander = Spoken Defamation

The other branch is slander, which is:

• Spoken
• Temporary (like a conversation or live speech)

Example: Saying something false about someone in an interview.

Why This Matters for Writers

If you publish it—book, blog, screenplay, or film—you’re in libel territory.

Libel is often treated more seriously because:

• It’s permanent.
• It spreads widely.
• It can keep causing harm over time.

A Simple Way to Remember It

• Defamation = the idea
• Libel = written/recorded version
• Slander = spoken version

⭐If it’s on the page or on the screen, it’s libel.

When DO You Need Life Rights?

✔ You’re telling a highly personal story.

Memoir-style, intimate, messy, emotional.

✔ You plan to dramatize or fictionalize.

Adding scenes, dialogue, or motivations you can’t prove.

✔ The subject is NOT a public figure.

Private individuals have stronger privacy protections.

✔ The person is litigious or could become litigious.

Some people don’t need to win—they just need to sue.

✔ You want access.

Interviews, letters, inside details.

When You Probably DON’T Need Life Rights

✔ You’re sticking to well-documented facts.

✔ The subject is a public figure.

✔ The events are already widely reported.

✔ You’re not inventing damaging behavior.

⚖️SideBar: The Public Figure Loophole

If someone is famous, they have a higher bar to clear — they must prove you knowingly lied or acted with reckless disregard for the truth (this is called actual malice). But private citizens — your neighbor, your ex, your former coworker — often only need to prove you were negligent (in legal terms failing to exercise reasonable care resulting in foreseeable harm to someone.) Much easier to prove.

To Sum Up

If you write a story based on real people and:

• Don’t change their names
• Or they are clearly identifiable

You could be in legal trouble.

If you invent:

• Crimes
• Affairs
• Bad motives

You are in libel territory. The defense this is fiction does not save you.

A Simple Decision Framework

1. Am I telling verifiable truth?​
   → Low risk
2. Am I filling in gaps with imagination?​
   → Medium risk
3. Am I portraying a real person doing something I can’t prove?​
   → High risk → consider life rights or fictionalizing

⭐Remember: You don’t need permission to tell a true story—but you do need protection if you’re going to interpret, dramatize, or mess with the facts.

READ NEXT: Based on a True Story vs. Inspired by a True Story: What's the Difference?

Check it Out!

Ever wonder what it’s like to work with me? ​Watch ​me evaluate pitches on The Dialogue Doctor podcast!

Want more content like this? Click here to subscribe to my newsletter.

If this blog adds a little spark to your writing week, would you consider buying me a coffee? Your support helps me keep creating practical, joyful resources for writers.

Buy my book How to Turn Your Screenplay into a Novel! Turn your scripts into books and start earning money today!