Interview (Part 5): Emile Gladstone Recently I had an in-depth conversation with movie and TV producer Emile Gladstone. Previously a talent agent at ICM where he was a partner and co-head of the Motion Picture Literary department, Emile is currently in post-production on his first film Army of One, written by Rajiv
Movie Analysis: “Jurassic World” — Takeaways Another in our bi-weekly series in which we analyze movies currently in release. Why? To quote the writing mantra I coined over 5 years ago: Watch movies. Read scripts. Write pages. You will note which one comes first. Here are my reflections from that post about the importance of
30 Things About Screenwriting: Facing the odds Some time ago, a GITS reader [who wanted to remain anonymous] forwarded me this information: As you are known for tracking sales, I thought I’d throw in some stats I got from someone at the WGA yesterday (stats are circa 2007): * About 250 films are made by the studios’
Daily Dialogue — July 10, 2015 “You know you don’t have to act with me, Steve. You don’t have to say anything, and you don’t have to do anything. Not a thing. Oh, maybe just whistle. You know how to whistle, don’t you, Steve? You just put your lips together and… blow.
What is the difference between Act One midpoint and Act One end? In my current Core I: Plot class, we have had a great week digging into the theory of screenplay structure. The online forums have been buzzing with questions and excellent discussions. Here is an excerpt from one of them. The subject came up about two major plot points which typically
Interview (Part 4): Emile Gladstone Recently I had an in-depth conversation with movie and TV producer Emile Gladstone. Previously a talent agent at ICM where he was a partner and co-head of the Motion Picture Literary department, Emile is currently in post-production on his first film Army of One, written by Rajiv
Movie Analysis: “Jurassic World” — Themes Another in our bi-weekly series in which we analyze movies currently in release. Why? To quote the writing mantra I coined over 5 years ago: Watch movies. Read scripts. Write pages. You will note which one comes first. Here are my reflections from that post about the importance of
30 Things About Screenwriting: When something happens… something ELSE happens One would think this is obvious, but I continue to be surprised by scripts I read which stories suffer because they don’t fully embrace the dual nature of a screenplay universe. There is the External World, the domain of Action and Dialogue, the realm of a story’s Physical
The Business of Screenwriting: Everything you wanted to know about specs [Part 15] Spec scripts, that is. I’m guessing that perhaps 90% of the people who follow this blog at some point in their lives will write a spec script. And the other 10% are involved in buying and selling them. In light of that fact, last year I interviewed a top
Daily Dialogue — July 9, 2015 “I think it’s too early to paint. That’s what I think.” — Juno (2007), written by Diablo Cody The Daily Dialogue theme for the week: Subtext. Trivia: At one point before Juno visits Mark, he is sitting at his computer reading Diablo Cody’s (the movie’s screenwriter) real-
2015 Mid-Year Spec Script Deal Report We are now officially halfway through 2015 and as I do each year at this time, I take the opportunity to take a gander at what spec scripts have been set up during the first six months of the year. Here they are: 2015 Spec Script Deals 1. Title: Sam
Interview (Part 3): Emile Gladstone Recently I had an in-depth conversation with movie and TV producer Emile Gladstone. Previously a talent agent at ICM where he was a partner and co-head of the Motion Picture Literary department, Emile is currently in post-production on his first film Army of One, written by Rajiv
Movie Analysis: “Jurassic World” — Characters Another in our bi-weekly series in which we analyze movies currently in release. Why? To quote the writing mantra I coined over 5 years ago: Watch movies. Read scripts. Write pages. You will note which one comes first. Here are my reflections from that post about the importance of
30 Things About Screenwriting: Immerse yourself in cinema If you want to write movies, you need to love movies. And that love ought to manifest itself in a thorough, longstanding and passionate immersion in the world of cinema. Love it. Live it. Learn it. You may squint your eyes at that word cinema. Sounds awfully high tone if
Interview (Audio): Joss Whedon From BAFTA: [soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/97391556" params=”auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true” width=”100%” height=”450" iframe=”true” /]
Daily Dialogue — July 8, 2015 Anton Chigurh: You married into it? Gas Station Proprietor: We lived in Temple Texas for many years. Raised a family there in Temple, we come out here about four years ago. Anton Chigurh: You married into it? Gas Station Proprietor: If that’s the way you want to put it.
Spec Script Deal: “Prince Charming” Walt Disney Pictures acquires fantasy comedy spec script “Prince Charming” written by Matthew Fogel. From THR: Disney pioneered the recent and lucrative trend of taking either old animated classics or fairy tales and spinning them into live-action features. And since no other studio has done more to ensconce the
Interview (Part 2): Emile Gladstone Recently I had an in-depth conversation with movie and TV producer Emile Gladstone. Previously a talent agent at ICM where he was a partner and co-head of the Motion Picture Literary department, Emile is currently in post-production on his first film Army of One, written by Rajiv
Movie Analysis: “Jurassic World” — Plot Another in our bi-weekly series in which we analyze movies currently in release. Why? To quote the writing mantra I coined over 5 years ago: Watch movies. Read scripts. Write pages. You will note which one comes first. Here are my reflections from that post about the importance of
30 Things About Screenwriting: There are no screenwriting rules No matter what you have read. Or may have heard. Perhaps the source is a so-called screenwriting ‘guru.’ Maybe it’s a friend. A member of your writer’s group. Whoever it is, if they tell you there are screenwriting rules… they are flat-out wrong. There are no
Screenwriting 101: Joss Whedon “Write it. Shoot it. Publish it. Crochet it, sauté it, whatever. MAKE.” — Joss Whedon
Daily Dialogue — July 7, 2015 “Just remember all the good the Purge does.” — The Purge (2013), written by James DeMarco The Daily Dialogue theme for the week: Subtext. Today’s suggestion by Michael Waters. Trivia: James DeMonaco got the idea for the story after his wife made a remark about an episode he had with
Twitter Rant: Mike Sweeney on ‘New Screenwriting Rules’ Mike Sweeney co-wrote (along with Nick Creature) the spec script “The Mayor of Shark City,” a story of the making of Steven Spielberg’s Jaws, a script which made the 2013 Black List. Mike and Nick are also rewriting the Paramount project “Sanctuary”. Yesterday Mike bumped into a couple
Interview (Part 1): Emile Gladstone Recently I had an in-depth conversation with movie and TV producer Emile Gladstone. Previously a talent agent at ICM where he was a partner and co-head of the Motion Picture Literary department, Emile is currently in post-production on his first film Army of One, written by Rajiv
Movie Analysis: “Jurassic World” Another in our bi-weekly series in which we analyze movies currently in release. Why? To quote the writing mantra I coined over 5 years ago: Watch movies. Read scripts. Write pages. You will note which one comes first. Here are my reflections from that post about the importance of
