Movies You Made: “Phoenix 9” Peer Gopfrich is a talented writer I have gotten to know through Screenwriting Master Class. Last week, he and his filmmaking team made a splash with a short film he wrote and produced titled Phoenix 9, garnering attention in social media including at FirstShowing. Plot summary: After a global nuclear
Go Into The Story Script Reading & Analysis: Cloverfield We’ve had a successful relaunch of the GITS Script Reading & Analysis series. I say relaunch because we have done this type of thing before. For the next month, I will be spotlighting previous movie scripts we have studied. Today: Cloverfield (2008) Written by Drew Goddard IMDb plot summary:
Movie Trailer: “Chappie” Written by Neill Blomkamp, Terri Tatchell Every child comes into the world full of promise, and none more so than Chappie: he is gifted, special, a prodigy. Like any child, Chappie will come under the influence of his surroundings — some good, some bad — and he will rely on his heart
Script Analysis: “American Hustle” — Part 1: Scene By Scene Breakdown Reading scripts. Absolutely critical to learn the craft of screenwriting. The focus of this weekly series is a deep structural and thematic analysis of each script we read. Our daily schedule: Monday: Scene-By-Scene Breakdown Tuesday: Major Plot Points Wednesday: Sequences Thursday: Psychological Journey Friday: Takeaways Today: Scene-By-
On Writing “It begins with a character, usually, and once he stands up on his feet and begins to move, all I can do is trot along behind him with a paper and pencil trying to keep up long enough to put down what he says and does.” — William Faulkner
Daily Dialogue — November 17, 2014 Gillespie: You know Virgil, you are among the chosen few. Tibbs: How’s that? Gillespie: Well, I think that you’re the first human being that’s ever been in here. Tibbs: You can’t be too careful man. Gillespie: You know a lot of things don’t you? Well,
Go Into The Story Week In Review: November 10-November 16, 2014 Links to the week’s most notable posts: A different approach to ‘Theme’ Daily Dialogue Theme for Next Week: Friendship Go Into The Story Interview: Darnell Hunt (Hollywood Diversity Report) Go Into The Story Script Reading & Analysis: (500) Days of Summer Go Into The Story Script Reading & Analysis:
Interview (Parts 1–4): Darnell Hunt Recently I had the opportunity to speak with Darnell Hunt, professor of sociology at the University of California, Los Angeles and director of the university’s Ralph J. Bunche Center for African American studies. There is perhaps no one more qualified to speak on the subject diversity in Hollywood than
Screenwriting News (November 10-November 16, 2014) Mark Boal rewriting “Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune” for Sony Pictures. Randy Brown adapting “Three Miracles From Heaven” for Sony Pictures. Joseph Cedar writing drama thriller “Oppenheimer Strategies,” Cedar to direct, Richard Gere to star. Blake Crouch sells novel rights to “Dark Matter” to Sony Pictures for $1.25M, Crouch to
Interview (Video): Christopher Nolan (“Interstellar”) A 20 minute special that aired on Sky TV: “Interstellar: Nolan’s Odyssey”. Via Indiewire.
Daily Dialogue — November 16, 2014 Grandma Helen: Oh Sam, let me look at you. Fred, she’s gotten her boobies. Grandpa Fred: [chuckles] I better go get my magnifying glass. Grandma Helen: Oh, and they are so perky. Grandma Helen reaches to cup them. Samantha: [cut to Sam’s bedroom] I can’t believe my
Daily Dialogue theme for next week: Friendship The Daily Dialogue theme for next week: Friendship. “I found out what the secret to life is — friends. Best friends.” Fried Green Tomatoes The usual drill: * Copy/paste dialogue from IMDB Quotes or some other transcript source. * Copy/paste the URL of an accompanying video from YouTube or some other
Script Analysis: “Gravity” — Parts 1–5 This week, we analyzed the script for the movie Gravity. Here are links to the entire series: Monday: Scene-By-Scene Breakdown Tuesday: Major Plot Points Wednesday: Sequences Thursday: Psychological Journey Friday: Takeaways You may download the script for Gravity — free and legal — here. If you’d like a PDF
Saturday Hot Links Time for the 160th installment of Saturday Hot Links. Today: The Studio Ghibli Edition. Sad news: Hayao Miyazaki retires, Studio Ghibli to make no more movies. Disney Animation and Pixar chief John Lasseter honors Hayao Miyazaki at the 2014 Governors Awards [video]. What Interstellar gets right about fiction. Related: Contact
Great Scene: “Caddyshack” One weird golf course maintenance dude with one weirded out caddy. Carl Spackler: So I jump ship in Hong Kong and I make my way over to Tibet, and I get on as a looper at a course over in the Himalayas. Angie D’Annunzio: A looper? Carl Spackler: A
Interview [Written]: Max Frye and Dan Futterman (“Foxcatcher”) A WGA interview with Foxcatcher screenwriters Max Frye and Dan Futterman. Although they share writing credit, they did not write together, however as you will see in these comments below, their combined effort was very much in the spirit of teamwork. I know you two did not write together, but
Daily Dialogue — November 15, 2014 It’s 2:32am, and Mike decides to call Nikki, a girl he met just a few hours ago. Nikki’s machine picks up: Hi, this is Nikki. Leave a message. Mike: Hi, uh, Nikki, this is Mike. I met you at the, um, at the Dresden tonight. I just
“How Data Can Help You Write A Better Screenplay” The headline is a considerable stretch, however there are some good points in the article and what’s perhaps most important: The Black List made FiveThirtyEight.com. What makes a screenplay good? What makes it bad? Are writers in certain genres at an advantage or disadvantage when it comes to
Twitter Rant: Eric Heisserer on Rewriting Eric Heisserer (A Nightmare on Elm Street, Final Destination 5, The Thing, Hours, Story of Your Life) is probably the Hollywood screenwriter most willing to go online and provide a Twitter rant on a specific subject related to the craft. Last night was a good example as he tweeted extensively
Go Into The Story Script Reading & Analysis: Buried We’ve had a successful relaunch of the GITS Script Reading & Analysis series. I say relaunch because we have done this type of thing before. For the next month, I will be spotlighting previous movie scripts we have studied. Today: Buried (2010) Written by Chris Sparling IMDb plot summary:
Movie Trailer: “Into the Woods” Screenplay by James Lapine, musical by Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine A witch conspires to teach important lessons to various characters of popular children’s stories including Little Red Riding Hood, Cinderella, Jack and the Beanstalk and Rapunzel. IMDb Release Date: 25 December 2014 (USA)
Script Analysis: “Gravity” — Part 5: Takeaways Reading scripts. Absolutely critical to learn the craft of screenwriting. The focus of this weekly series is a deep structural and thematic analysis of each script we read. Our daily schedule: Monday: Scene-By-Scene Breakdown Tuesday: Major Plot Points Wednesday: Sequences Thursday: Psychological Journey Friday: Takeaways Today: Takeaways. This
Great Character: Bob Harris (“Lost in Translation”) The Great Character theme for the month: Bill Murray. Today: Bob Harris from Lost in Translation, written Sofia Coppola. Until Bill Murray took on the roll of the mid-life crisis actor Bob Harris in cutting-edge screenwriter/director Sofia Coppola’s Tokyo-based Lost in Translation, he had yet
Daily Dialogue — November 14, 2014 Pam Byrnes: I had no idea you could milk a cat! Greg Focker: Oh, you can milk just about anything with nipples. Jack Byrnes: [He reacts] I have nipples, Greg, could you milk me? — Meet the Parents (2000), screenplay by Jim Herzfeld and John Hamburg, story by Greg Glienna &
“In L.A., Unproduced Film Scripts Find New Life Onstage” Nice feature in the New York Times Magazine blog about Black List Live!, the staged reading initiative launched this year: For most films, the table read — an organized talk-through of the script — is a critical, if perilous, milestone. It can be a harrowing experience for everyone involved, as producers
