Go Into The Story Week In Review: August 19-August 25, 2013 Links to the week’s most notable posts: Daily Dialogue Theme for Next Week: Less is more Declare Your Independents: Volume 6 Dispatch From The Quest: Waka Brown Dispatch From The Quest: Christian Fontenot Dispatch From The Quest: Troy Klith Dispatch From The Quest: Sandy Leviton Dispatch From The Quest:
Interview: Will Simmons Will Simmons made a splash when he wrote the 2012 Black List script “Murder City” which was subsequently acquired by Aldamisa Entertainment. He also has two other projects in the works: “Romeo,” a modern day re-imagining of Shakespeare’s play, and “Defenders,” a science fiction thriller pitch bought by
Movies You Made: “I Forgot My Phone” Written by/Starring Charlene deGuzman Directed by Miles Crawford With (in order of appearance) Jacob Womack Nick Luciano Ani Baker Sabrina London Sean London Garrett Hanson Alana Dietze Oleana Taalman-Koch Reshma Gajjar David Brown Mark Schroeder Yak Manrique Ele Woods Cynthia Kao Josh Kaplan Dylan Booth Vigus Zach Fairless
Studying Aristotle’s “Poetics” — Part 7©: Story Length and Change of Fortune Studying Aristotle’s “Poetics” — Part 7(C): Story Length and Change of Fortune As I’ve been interviewing screenwriters, I typically ask what some of their influences are. One book title comes up over and over again: Aristotle’s “Poetics”. I confess I’ve never read the entire thing, only
Screenwriting News (August 19–25, 2013) Aron Eli Coleite adapting science fiction tentpole “The Twilight Zone” for Warner Bros. Scott Cooper to rewrite and direct “The Stand” based on the Stephen King novel, for Warner Bros. Amanda Harwood and Laura Sandler sell drama spec script “Sorta Like a Rock Star” to Fox Searchlight based on a
Video Interview: David Gordon Green (“Prince Avalanche”) A DP/30 interview with David Gordon Green, writer-director of the film Prince Avalanche, an adaptation of an Icelandic film by Hafsteinn Gunnar Sigurðsson. The movie’s premise: Two highway road workers spend the summer of 1988 away from their city lives. The isolated landscape becomes a place of
Daily Dialogue — August 25, 2013 “I find I’ve been sitting with my head in my hands. And an hour has gone by or longer. Like this. And I’m completely numb. The kettle can be boiling away or telephone… and I’m crying, I’m crying. I mean, I can be on the tube
Kickstarter: “Be Natural: The untold story of Alice Guy-Blaché” I only know about Alice Guy-Blaché because I teach a class called History of American Screenwriting, but her story is one that deserves to be told to the wider audience of film fans: The first female director whose extensive contribution to the development of an infant narrative form has
Daily Dialogue theme for next week: Less is more As we wrap up a week’s worth of overcome with emotion movie moments [thanks for that, Sabina]. it’s time for next week’s theme: Less is more, suggested by hobbs001. In terms of screenwriting, this idea is nowhere more relevant than with dialogue. If you read a script
Dispatch From The Quest: Christian Fontenot Over the course of the 24 weeks I am working with the writers in The Quest, each will write a weekly dispatch to share with the GITS community. There are several reasons for doing this, the main one educational: Hopefully you will learn something of value for your own understanding
Interview: Will Simmons — Part 6 Will Simmons made a splash when he wrote the 2012 Black List script “Murder City” which was subsequently acquired by Aldamisa Entertainment. He also has two other projects in the works: “Romeo,” a modern day re-imagining of Shakespeare’s play, and “Defenders,” a science fiction thriller pitch bought by
Woody Allen: “What I’ve Learned” Excerpts from a recent Esquire feature on Woody Allen: What people who don’t write don’t understand is that they think you make up the line consciously — but you don’t. It proceeds from your unconscious. So it’s the same surprise to you when it emerges as it
Great Scene: “Night Shift” One of the classic 80’s comedies is Night Shift (1982), written by the prolific screenwriting team Lowell Ganz & Babaloo Mandel, and directed by Ron Howard. And if asked if you remember one scene from that movie, it’s most likely this one: The “prostitution” scene, where Bill Blazejowski
Saturday Hot Links Time for another installment of Saturday Hot Links! Today: The Watch Several Ingmar Bergman Movies Online For Free Edition! NOTE: For all the Bergman films, you can click on the transcript symbol and read the English translation. How Ben Affleck was cast as Batman. Twitter lashes out at Ben Affleck
Written Interview: Destin Daniel Cretton (“Short Term 12”) Good /film interview by Germain Lussier with Short Term 12 writer-direct Destin Daniel Cretton: One of the things I loved about the movie is the way that you can effortlessly go between tones. Like you said “laughing one minute, silent the next, crying the next. Scared.” How do you
Daily Dialogue — August 24, 2013 “God… God… Dear Father in Heaven. I’m not a praying man, but if you’re up there and you can hear me, show me the way. I’m at the end of the rope. Show me the way, God.” — It’s A Wonderful Life (1946), screenplay by Frances Goodrich,
“Feet on the ground… head in the clouds” I’m sure we’ve all seen the saying, “Keep your head in the clouds and your feet on the ground.” If you Google the phrase, you find all sorts of “growth experts” and “motivational speakers” riffing off this old adage, encouraging us to seek a balance with our ambitions
Dispatch From The Quest: Paul Wie Over the course of the 24 weeks I am working with the writers in The Quest, each will write a weekly dispatch to share with the GITS community. There are several reasons for doing this, the main one educational: Hopefully you will learn something of value for your own understanding
Interview: Will Simmons — Part 5 Will Simmons made a splash when he wrote the 2012 Black List script “Murder City” which was subsequently acquired by Aldamisa Entertainment. He also has two other projects in the works: “Romeo,” a modern day re-imagining of Shakespeare’s play, and “Defenders,” a science fiction thriller pitch bought by
Go On Your Own Quest — Week 6: Scene The 2013 version of The Quest is into Week 6. Don’t let this opportunity pass you by because you can Go On Your Own Quest by following the structure of The Quest to dig into screenwriting theory [Core — 8 weeks], figure out your story [Prep — 6 weeks], and write
Movie Trailer: “Lone Survivor” Written by Peter Berg Based on the failed June 28, 2005 mission “Operation Redwing.” Four members of SEAL Team 10 were tasked with the mission to capture or kill notorious Taliban leader Ahmad Shahd. Marcus Luttrell was the only member of his team to survive. IMDB Release Date: 10 January
Scene Description Spotlight: “Lethal Weapon” There have been many forces of nature impacting screenplay style over the years, but there are only a very few actual screenwriters to whom we can point as having a singular influence on the narrative form. Shane Black is one of them. Back in the late 80s and early 90s
Great Character: Michael J. “Crocodile” Dundee (“Crocodile Dundee”) This month’s theme: Fish Out Of Water. Today: Michael J. “Crocodile” Dundee from the 1986 comedy Crocodile Dundee, screenplay by John Cornell, Paul Hogan, and Ken Shadie, story by Paul Hogan. How did Australian actor Paul Hogan not become the next 1980s The Expendables-worthy action guy after Crocodile
Daily Dialogue — August 23, 2013 Forrest: You’re a mama, Jenny. Jenny: I’m a mama. His name’s Forrest. Forrest: Like me. Jenny: I named him after his daddy. Forrest: He got a daddy named Forrest, too? Jenny: You’re his daddy, Forrest. The realization hist Forrest who backs away. Jenny: Hey. Forrest look
Declare Your Independents: Volume 6 GITS development assistant Wendy Cohen here, and welcome to another edition of Declare Your Independents, our new series highlighting the latest developments in the world of independent film. This week… “Blue Jasmine” to Go Wider — and Outgross — Any Woody Allen Film Edgar Wright Talks “The World’s End,” Completing The
