Daily Dialogue — April 13, 2015 MARLIN (Chasing Dory): Hey! Wait! DORY: Will you quit it? MARLIN: What? DORY: I’m trying to swim here. What, the ocean isn’t big enough for you or something like that? MARLIN: Huh? DORY: You got a problem, buddy? Huh? Huh? Do ya? Do ya? Do ya? You want
Go Into The Story Script Reading & Analysis: The Grand Budapest Hotel Starting Monday, we begin our next installment of the Go Into The Story Script Reading & Analysis series: The Grand Budapest Hotel, the wonderful 2014 comedy co-written and directed by Wes Anderson, story by Wes Anderson and Hugo Guinness. You may download the script here. The schedule for the
Interview: Sam Baron (2014 Nicholl Winner) U.K.-based writer Sam Baron wrote the original screenplay “The Science of Love and Laughter” which won a 2014 Nicholl Fellowship. Recently Sam and I had a transatlantic interview in which we covered a lot of territory in a provocative and informative conversation. Here are links to the six
Screenwriting News (April 6-April 12, 2015) Peter Craig adapting “The Odyssey” for Lionsgate. David Diamond and David Weissman writing untitled Mariah Carey Christmas project for New Line. Carl Ellsworth writing remake of Gremlins for Warner Bros. Antoine Fuqua and Jamal Joseph adapting bio “The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace” for IM Global. Akiva Goldsman
A Story Idea Each Day for a Month — Day 12 This is the fith year in a row I’ve run this series in April. Last week I provided a daily explanation about why you should make it a habit to be generating story ideas. This week, I’ll give you some tips on how to come up with stories.
Interview (Video): Damien Chazelle (“Whiplash”) The Carsey-Wolf Center at the University of California, Santa Barbara has an excellent interview series called Script To Screen. In January, they hosted writer-director Damien Chazelle whose astonishing debut effort Whiplash was nominated for 5 Academy Awards with J.K. Simmons winning for Best Supporting Actor. For more
Daily Dialogue — April 12, 2015 “So that’s the deal. You get me my bed. You get your confession.” — Law Abiding Citizen (2009), written by Kurt Wimmer The Daily Dialogue theme for the week: Interrogation. Trivia: At one point Frank Darabont was attached to direct and was revising Kurt Wimmer’s original draft until leaving
Daily Dialogue theme for next week: Amnesia The Daily Dialogue theme for next week: Amnesia. “What’s your name? “I don’t know. Take part in the grand Daily Dialogue tradition — 2,500+ consecutive days and counting! How about your suggestion for this week’s theme? The usual drill: * Copy/paste dialogue from IMDb Quotes or some
Interview (Part 6): Sam Baron (2014 Nicholl Winner) Sam Baron wrote the original screenplay “The Science of Love and Laughter” which won a 2014 Nicholl Fellowship in screenwriting. Sam and I had a great conversation which I will be sharing with you this week in 6 parts. Today in Part 6, Sam gives some advice to aspiring screenwriters:
Saturday Hot Links Time for the 181st installment of Saturday Hot Links. Today: The Unique Talent That Was Lenny Bruce Edition. Attention, Screenwriters: 5 Lessons from the Film Independent Screenwriting Lab. Academy Sets Oscar Dates for Next 3 Years. A Phone Call, “Betrayal” and How the “Midnight Raid” at CAA Happened. ‘Jurassic World’
A Story Idea Each Day for a Month — Day 11 This is the sixth year in a row I’ve run this series in April. Last week I provided a daily explanation about why you should make it a habit to be generating story ideas. This week, I’ll give you some tips on how to come up with stories.
Interview [Audio]: Brian Lynch A Chewin’ It podcast with screenwriter (Minions, Hop, Puss n’ Boots), comic book writer (Bill & Ted’s, Monster Motors) and director Brian Lynch. It’s over 80 minutes of insight from a super talented guy and you can hear it here. You may follow Brian on Twitter (as I
Daily Dialogue — April 11, 2015 “Whose money do I have?” — Drive (2011), screenplay by Hossein Amini, book by James Sallis The Daily Dialogue theme for the week: Interrogation. Trivia: Driver references the fable of The Scorpion and the Frog: the frog agrees to carry the scorpion across the river; the scorpion stings the frog, saying
Declare Your Independents — Vol. 52 GITS development assistant Wendy Cohen here, and welcome back to Declare Your Independents, our series highlighting the latest developments in the world of independent film! This week… Indiewire’s Best Indie Movies of 2015, So Far 12 Indies to Watch on VOD This April Cannes Wish List: 20 Anticipated Films
Interview (Part 5): Sam Baron (2014 Nicholl Winner) Sam Baron wrote the original screenplay “The Science of Love and Laughter” which won a 2014 Nicholl Fellowship in screenwriting. Sam and I had a great conversation which I will be sharing with you this week in 6 parts. Today in Part 5, Sam reflects on some key aspects of
Interview (Video): Paul Thomas Anderson I was just talking with one of my university students about our mutual admiration for filmmaker Paul Thomas Anderson and I was reminded of an interview he had done while eating pizza. So I looked up the blog post I did with those clips all the way back in 2008.
Hollywood Tales Did you know the movie (500) Days of Summer was originally called “308 Days of April”? And that the Summer character is inspired by an actual woman one of the writers met while attending graduate school in England? Read this excerpt from my March 2013 interview with screenwriters Scott Neustadter
Movie Trailer: “The 33” Screenplay by Mikko Alanne, Craig Borten, Jose Rivera, Michael Thomas, book by Hector Tobar Based on the real-life event, when a gold and copper mine collapses, it traps 33 miners underground for 69 days. IMDb
A Story Idea Each Day for a Month — Day 10 This is the sixth year in a row I’ve run this series in April. Last week I provided a daily explanation about why you should make it a habit to be generating story ideas. This week, I’ll give you some tips on how to come up with stories.
Daily Dialogue — April 10, 2015 “Don’t fight it, son. Confess quickly. If you hold out too long, you could jeopardize your credit rating.” — Brazil (1985), screenplay by Terry Gilliam & Tom Stoppard & Charles McKeown The Daily Dialogue theme for the week: Interrogation. Trivia: Terry Gilliam was asked to do a film class during
Spec Script Deals By Month: 1991–2014 A lot of effort went into compiling The Definitive Spec Script Deals List [1991–2014] and over time, we have dug into this database to glean whatever insights we can about the spec marketplace. Recently Wendy Jane Cohen took another pass at the numbers: Spec script deals by month. Here
Interview (Part 4): Sam Baron (2014 Nicholl Winner) Sam Baron wrote the original screenplay “The Science of Love and Laughter” which won a 2014 Nicholl Fellowship in screenwriting. Sam and I had a great conversation which I will be sharing with you this week in 6 parts. Today in Part 4, we wrap up our discussion about “The
Movie Trailer: “Me and Earl and the Dying Girl” Jesse Andrews (novel), Jesse Andrews (screenplay) A teenage filmmaker befriends a classmate with cancer. IMDb Movie Website Winner: Sundance Audience Award, 2015, U.S. Drama Winner: Sundance Grand Jury Prize, 2015, Drama Release Date: 12 June 2015 (USA)
A Story Idea Each Day for a Month — Day 9 This is the fifth year in a row I’ve run this series in April. Last week I provided a daily explanation about why you should make it a habit to be generating story ideas. This week, I’ll give you some tips on how to come up with stories.
The Business of Screenwriting: Everything you wanted to know about specs [Part 3] 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
