Screenwriting News (July 1-July 7, 2013) James Franco and Matt Rager adapting William Faulkner’s classic “The Sound and the Fury” for Rabbit Bandini Productions with Franco to star and direct. Jonquil Goode rewriting romantic comedy “Fashionista” for CFP Productions. Riley Stearns scripted drama “Faults” moving forward with Snoot Entertainment, Stearns to direct, Mary Elizabeth Winstead
Video Interview: Travis Beacham and Guillermo del Toro (“Pacific Rim”) It’s not much, but at least it’s something: About 5 minutes from Pacific Rim co-screenwriters Travis Beacham and Guillermo del Toro from their appearance at Comic-Con last year: Some featurettes on the movie: The movie debuts July 12.
Daily Dialogue — July 7, 2013 HARTMAN: I am Gunnery Sergeant Hartman, your senior drill instructor. From now on you will speak only when spoken to. And the first and last words out of your filthy sewers will be Sir, do you maggots understand that? RECRUITS: Sir, yes, Sir. HARTMAN: Bullshit, I can’t hear you,
Daily Dialogue theme for the week: Begging for one’s life So this week has been &%#@&* great, don’t you think? I mean with the theme of %#@&@ profanity, suggested by JasperLamarCrab, it just had to be a &%#@#@&% success, right? But alas, we move on to a theme where I think profanity might be an appropriate response:
Interview: Arash Amel — Part 6 Arash Amel is one of the bright new talents among Hollywood screenwriters, having penned the 2011 Black List script Grace of Monaco which has been produced starring Nicole Kidman and will be released later this year, as well as set up several high profile projects including “Seducing Ingrid Bergman” and
Great Scene: “Kramer vs. Kramer” Here is an IMDB plot summary of the 1979 movie Kramer vs. Kramer, screenplay by Robert Benton, based on a novel by Avery Corman: A just divorced man must learn to care for his son on his own, and then must fight in court to keep custody of him. There
Saturday Hot Links Time again for another installment of Saturday Hot Links! Today: The Independence Day Weekend Declare Your Independents edition! The Way, Way Back: Opens this weekend. Let’s start off with some links provided by Shaula Evans. Cool comparison of U.S. summer movie posters and their European counterparts. Cutlery can
Written Interview: Stephen Gaghan Great interview from a new book “Film Craft: Screenwriting,” edited by Tim Grierson with Stephen Gaghan, screenwriter of such movies Traffic and Syriana. When I moved to Los Angeles, I wrote spec screenplays. I was really poor, and I thought I was just gonna do this for a while to
Daily Dialogue — July 6, 2013 Note: Vinny is the lawyer, but Stan thinks he is there to sodomize him. Vinny Gambini: Look, it’s either me or them. You’re gettin’ fucked one way or the other. Stan tries to get up. Vinny Gambini: Hey, relax, I’m gonna help you. Stan: Gee thanks. Vinny
This Independence Day Weekend… Declare Your Independents! “Declare your independents” is not a misprint. It’s an idea I had yesterday. I was stewing over this post — Why are the major studios NOT making more movies for the largest demo groups — and feeling grumpy about it when I read quotes like this in my Twitter feed that
Interview: Arash Amel — Part 5 Arash Amel is one of the bright new talents among Hollywood screenwriters, having penned the 2011 Black List script Grace of Monaco which has been produced starring Nicole Kidman and will be released later this year, as well as set up several high profile projects including “Seducing Ingrid Bergman” and
WGA 2012 Annual Report: TV? Okay. Screenwriters? Ouch! Every year the WGA west puts out a financial report. You may download a PDF of the most recent summary here. There are pages of numbers related to the latest year with figures available (2011), but the most significant ones as far as we are concerned are these: * Number of
Movie Trailer: “The Turning” Written by Tim Winton. A collection of short films based on stories by Australian writer Tim Winton. IMDB
Movie Story Type: Spoof In Hollywood movie circles, there are genres like Horror or Science Fiction, cross genres like Action-Thriller or Drama-Comedy, and sub-genres like Romantic Comedy or Mystery Thriller. Then there are story types, a shorthand way to describe a specific narrative conceit that is almost always tied directly to
Great Character: Erin Brockovich (“Erin Brockovich”) This month’s theme: Heroines. Today’s guest post by Jason Cuthbert features Erin Brockovich from the 2000 movie Erin Brockovich, written by Susannah Grant. After Julia Roberts, that gorgeous actress with Southern charm, earned back-to-back Academy Award nominations for “Steel Magnolias” (1989) and “Pretty Woman” (1990), she
Daily Dialogue — July 5, 2013 Withnail: I heard a noise. I: There is nothing, get to bed. What was that? Withnail: Listen, listen. I: Probably just foxes. Perhaps its the farmer Withnail: At two in the morning? It’s the killer. He’s come to kill us. It’s all your fault, you’ve even
Why are the studios NOT making more movies for the largest demo groups? Check out this graphic from Nielsen: If you total three age groups, 25–34, 35–44, 45–54, that is represents 52% of the moviegoing audience in 2012. Let’s call these Adults. Compare to 30% comprised of 12–17 and 18–24 groups. Let’s call these Young Adults.
Interview: Arash Amel — Part 4 Arash Amel is one of the bright new talents among Hollywood screenwriters, having penned the 2011 Black List script Grace of Monaco which has been produced starring Nicole Kidman and will be released later this year, as well as set up several high profile projects including “Seducing Ingrid Bergman” and
“Citizen Steve”: 40th birthday video tribute to Steven Spielberg For years, I have had in my possession a videocassette copy of this 23-minute film. I won’t go into detail about how I procured it, but I considered it to be a rare find considering it was produced to play at the big 40th birthday shindig for Steven
Movie Trailer: “Thanks for Sharing” Written by Stuart Blumberg, Matt Winston Three people undergo a 12-step treatment for sex addiction. IMDB Release Date: 20 September 2013 (USA)
Movie Story Type: Time Travel In Hollywood movie circles, there are genres like Horror or Science Fiction, cross genres like Action-Thriller or Drama-Comedy, and sub-genres like Romantic Comedy or Mystery Thriller. Then there are Story Types, a shorthand way to describe a specific narrative conceit that is almost always tied directly to
The Business of Screenwriting: Selling Scripts and Shooting Scripts Here are two key stages in the life of a screenplay: There is the selling script and the shooting script. A selling script can be a beautiful thing to behold, every word precise, the balance of black ink to white space pleasing to the eye, the flow of dialogue to
Daily Dialogue — July 4, 2013 “That’s the problem, Mom, I’m not dead, I gotta live. I gotta live, I gotta roll around, I gotta remind ’em of Vietnam. And you don’t wanna know, you don’t wanna see us, you wanna hide us, ‘coz it is a can of shit. And I
Reader Question: What is the absolute limit on script page count? From a Tweet by @AshleyWills: Hi Scott. What is the v. absolute max for pg count? Can there be extenuating circumstances that throw the 1pg/1min rule out? Ashley, your tweet raises two different issues. First, re page count: There is no rule about an “absolute max” page count total.
Interview: Arash Amel — Part 3 Arash Amel is one of the bright new talents among Hollywood screenwriters, having penned the 2011 Black List script Grace of Monaco which has been produced starring Nicole Kidman and will be released later this year, as well as set up several high profile projects including “Seducing Ingrid Bergman” and
