Interview [Video]: Norman Lear The good folks at the Writers Guild Foundation interviewed legendary TV writer-producer Norman Lear whose credits include All In The Family, Good Times, Sanford And Son, The Jeffersons, and Maude. Comment Archive
Daily Dialogue — April 6, 2014 “Dear God, make me a bird. So I could fly far. Far far away from here. Dear God, make me a bird. So I could fly far. Far far away from here…” — Forrest Gump (1994), screenplay by Eric Roth, novel by Winston Groom The Daily Dialogue theme for the week
Daily Dialogue theme next week: Fear We move from this week’s theme (Prayer) to next week’s: Fear, suggested by Gordon. Remember, we need dialogue here. And not just “AHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!” or “NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!” That alone may make this a challenge. Can we come up with seven memorable movie moments in which a character expresses fear in
Kurt Cobain died 20 years ago today 20 years. Still miss him. In honor of Kurt Cobain, here is a rarely seen video from 1988 of Nirvana (with a different drummer) rehearsing at Krist Novoselic’s mother’s house. Via Mental Floss. My previous tribute to Cobain here. Comment Archive
Interview: Stephany Folsom (2013 Black List) — Part 6 I’m a big Stanley Kubrick fan and Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb is my favorite satire of all time. So when I saw this script make the 2013 Black List — “1969: A Space Odyssey or: How Kubrick Learned to Stop Worrying
Great Scene: “Zorba the Greek” I’m going to break with tradition here as normally I include the script pages for each Great Scene, however I can’t find the screenplay to Zorba the Greek — one of my favorite movies — anywhere. Here is the IMDB summary: An uptight English writer traveling to Crete on a
Saturday Hot Links Time for the 128th installment of Saturday Hot Links. Today: The Memorable Bill Murray Moments Edition. Bill Murray performs “House of the Rising Sun” karaoke style [video]. 50 greatest Bill Murray moments [video]. David Letterman announces his retirement in 2015 [video]. Related: Late night hosts react to news of David
A Story Idea Each Day for a Month — Day 5 This is the fifth year in a row I’ve run this series in April. Why a story idea each day for the month? Several reasons which I’ll work my through during this series of posts. Here’s another one: Thinking up new story ideas keeps you on your
Interview [Written]: David Webb Peoples Writer-director Lea Nakonechny interviews screenwriter David Webb Peoples (12 Monkeys, Unforgiven, Blade Runner): Lea Nakanechny: Which do you begin with, character or story? David Webb Peoples: Usually with a character scene. There’s an image of somebody doing something that defines them and makes you interested. Then you try
Daily Dialogue — April 5, 2014 “Uh, Lord, hallowed be Thy name. May our feet be swift; may our bats be mighty; may our balls… be plentiful. Lord, I’d just like to thank You for that waitress in South Bend. You know who she is — she kept calling Your name. And God, these are good
Daily Dialogue themes: Your suggestions wanted! We need a new batch of Daily Dialogue themes. Here are a few suggested last week: The Job Interview Pillow Talk Inspirational Speech [All three by blueneumann] Nemesis Mentor Attractor Trickster [Suggested by Alejandro] What suggestions do you have? Remember the following: * The theme has to be able to sustain
Interview: Stephany Folsom (2013 Black List) — Part 5 I’m a big Stanley Kubrick fan and Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb is my favorite satire of all time. So when I saw this script make the 2013 Black List — “1969: A Space Odyssey or: How Kubrick Learned to Stop Worrying
Can you tell which loglines are real? From Studio System News: …since it’s April Fools’ Day, we took it upon ourselves to take some log lines of real, existing projects that are currently in development and mix them up with a few that came out of our own imagination. Can you tell the difference? Which ones
Movie Trailer: “Transcendence” Written by Jack Paglen A terminally ill scientist downloads his mind into a computer. This grants him power beyond his wildest dreams, and soon he becomes unstoppable. IMDB Release Date: 17 April 2014 (USA) Comment Archive
Spec Script Sale: Untitled Wright & Woods Project Centropolis acquires an untitled action thriller spec script written by Nicholas Wright and James A. Woods. From Deadline: The film is set on a diving ship in the Arctic. Writers are repped by WME, McKeon-Myones Management (Wright), and Thruline Entertainment (Woods). By my count, this is the 20th spec
A Story Idea Each Day for a Month — Day 4 This is the fifth year in a row I’ve run this series in April. Why a story idea each day for the month? Several reasons which I’ll work my through during this series of posts. Here’s another one: You can evolve into being a writer-producer. Let’
Great Character: Chas Tenenbaum (“The Royal Tenenbaums”) This month’s theme: Wes Anderson characters. Today: Chas Tenenbaum from the 2001 movie The Royal Tenenbaums, written by Wes Anderson and Owen Wilson. The delectably detail-orientated director and screenwriter Wes Anderson shared his first of three Academy Award nominations with actor/screenwriter Owen Wilson (Best Writing, Screenplay Written
Daily Dialogue — April 4, 2014 “Lord, we cleared this land. We plowed it, sowed it, and harvest it. We cook the harvest. It wouldn’t be here and we wouldn’t be eating it if we hadn’t done it all ourselves. We worked dog-bone hard for every crumb and morsel, but we thank
Toronto Screenwriting Conference (2014) A terrific event happening in the land of our neighbors to the North: The 2014 Toronto Screenwriting Conference this weekend April 5–6: The Toronto Screenwriting Conference (TSC) is a two-day weekend event that brings together screen-based industry professionals and offers them advanced level of education and skills
Interview: Stephany Folsom (2013 Black List) — Part 4 I’m a big Stanley Kubrick fan and Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb is my favorite satire of all time. So when I saw this script make the 2013 Black List — “1969: A Space Odyssey or: How Kubrick Learned to Stop Worrying
Different opening to “Gravity” In case you haven’t seen it already, this shocking new intro to Gravity completely redefines the rest of the plot! Via FirstShowing. Comment Archive
Movie Trailer: “Only Lovers Left Alive” Written by Jim Jarmusch A story centered on two vampires who have been in love for centuries. IMDB Release Date: 11 April 2014 (USA) Comment Archive
A Story Idea Each Day for a Month — Day 3 This is the fifth year in a row I’ve run this series in April. Why a story idea each day for the month? Several reasons which I’ll work my through during this series of posts. Here’s another one: Being able to generate original story ideas sets you
Writing and the Creative Life: The Mundane and the Marvelous “Creativity is piercing the mundane to find the marvelous.” There is truth to this simple statement. On multiple levels. There is the mundane act of writing itself. Sitting. Staring. Typing. Deleting. Typing some more. Staring some more. Swearing. Muttering. Silence. Lots of silence. Typing… This goes on for hours. Days.
Daily Dialogue — April 3, 2014 “Tomorrow we goes into battle, so Lordy, let me fight with the rifle in one hand, and the Good Book in the other. So that if I may die at the muzzle of the rifle… die on water, or on land, I may know that you blessed Jesus almighty are
