The Toughest Scene I Wrote: “Wreck-It Ralph” Writers Jennifer Lee and Phil Johnston All hail Vulture for this: Over the next few weeks, Vulture is talking to the screenwriters behind 2012′s most acclaimed movies about the scenes they found most difficult to crack. What pivotal sequences underwent the biggest transformations on their way from script to screen? In this article, Wreck-It
Movie Trailer: “Big Sur” Recounts the events surrounding Jack Kerouac’s three brief sojourns to a cabin in Big Sur, California. Screenplay Michael Polish, novel by Jack Kerouac IMDB site Debuting at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival. Comment Archive
Rewriting Your Script, Part 1: Set It Aside Since dozens of writers used Go On Your Own Quest to pound out a first draft of their original screenplay, I decided to start off the New Year with a week-long series on rewriting, to honor their commitment and effort, and to encourage them [and everyone else] on their
On Writing “In creative writing classes in college, the professors will say, ‘Write what you know.’ And that’s often misinterpreted to mean you should write a thinly veiled autobiography. [Like] a graduate student in English Literature at University, writing a story in which the hero is a graduate student in English
Daily Dialogue — January 7, 2013 “Soldier! Listen to me. Angel and Curly are dead. There’s just me and you. From now on we’ll be partners. Everything will be fifty-fifty. What do you say? Can you hear me? What do you say? Is it a deal? I know what you’re thinking. You’
January Script Reading & Analysis: “Groundhog Day” The GITS Script Reading & Analysis script for January is the 1993 comedy Groundhog Day, screenplay by Danny Rubin and Harold Ramis, story by Danny Rubin. The movie won the BAFTA Film Award for best original screenplay. You may download a copy of the script here. Our schedule for discussion:
Screenwriting Advice From The Past: The Denouement [Part 3] If you are a screenwriter, you should know about Anita Loos. Loos was one of the most influential writers in the early stages of American cinema, associated with 136 film projects per IMDB. Married to writer John Emerson, the pair wrote one of the first books on screenwriting in 1920:
Screenwriting News links: 2012 It’s funny how things evolve on GITS. When I started the blog, I’d occasionally post odd news items I’d pick up in my daily click-through routine on the web. Then I collected them into Saturday Hot Links. Then I began adding links to news items about
Daily Dialogue — January 6, 2013 “I want y’all to know there’s a new sheriff in town. And his name is Reggie Hammond.” — 48 Hrs. (1982), written by Roger Spottiswoode and Walter Hill & Larry Gross and Steven E. de Souza http://static.movieclips.com/embedplayer.swf?shortid=UDgGW The Daily Dialogue theme for
Daily Dialogue theme for next week: Gangster deaths As we bid a rollicking farewell to a week’s worth of bar fights [thanks to Dean Scott for that theme], next up another suggestion involving violence: Gangster deaths, suggested by Phil Hopersberger: All sorts of gangster deaths in movies. The trick is to suggest ones that involve memorabel dialogue,
2012 Box Office Winners & Losers BoxOfficeMojo with its year-end overview of 2012’s winners and losers. For screenwriters, it is important to track these numbers because believe me everyone involved in script acquisition and development does. With all the pressure they feel from corporate overlords to succeed, they often respond to current market trends.
Great Scene: “Citizen Kane” A common screenwriting form nowadays is what is usually called a “series of scenes.” Sometimes referred to as a montage, a series of scenes can be an effective way to signify a transition of time in compressed fashion. An effective series of scenes involves at least two key elements: * Each
Saturday Hot Links Time for another installment of Saturday Hot Links! Today: The David Simon TV Visionary Edition! Here they are: 2013 WGA screenplay nominations. The U.S. military’s top-secret ‘tsunami bomb’ from WWII. Sony is #1 in 2012 worldwide B.O. market share. 17 offbeat holidays and anniversaries to celebrate
Written Interview: Quentin Tarantino NYT interview with Quentin Tarantino: Q. I’m told that your scripts are really written. They’re more like novels than screenplays. A. Yeah, they are. Q. Since you’re the director, you don’t need to spell all this stuff out for yourself, do you? A. I have a
Daily Dialogue — January 5, 2013 JOHNNY BOY: Lower the fuckin music–I can’t hear nothin’. JOEY: The girls like it loud. JOHNNY BOY: Girls? You call those skanks girls?! JOEY, his friends, and the girls all look up. JOEY’S attitude changes. JOEY (to CHARLIE): What’s the matter with this kid? JOHNNY BOY:
“Can the Romantic Comedy be saved?” That provocative question is the title of a Vulture article from last week. Here is the frame: It was not that long ago when romantic comedies were a reliable date-night staple at the box office. It was a carefree, frothy time, when Julia, J. Lo, Kate, Katherine, Sandra, and
How to Improve Hollywood: 9 Experts Weigh In on the Future of Film TheWrap with this intriguing article: At the dawn of 2013, Hollywood is edging toward cautious optimism. The box office is set to shatter domestic records and the home-entertainment sector is poised to grow after five years of losses. A year ago, TheWrap asked six experts the daunting question: How
WGA 2013 Best Screenplay Nominations This year’s WGA screenplay nominations have been announced: ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY Flight, Written by John Gatins; Paramount Pictures Looper, Written by Rian Johnson; TriStar Pictures The Master, Written by Paul Thomas Anderson; The Weinstein Company Moonrise Kingdom, Written by Wes Anderson & Roman Coppola; Focus Features Zero Dark Thirty, Written
“Thank you for GOYOQ!” I’m receiving more emails from writers who participated in GOYOQ [Go On Your Own Quest]. Here’s one from Sabina Giado: Dear Scott, I finished the first draft of my second ever screenplay Mr. Wonderful about three weeks. For some odd reason, CeltX didn’t save my final scene.
Movie Trailer: “The Great Gatsby” Nick Carraway, a Midwesterner now living on Long Island, finds himself fascinated by the mysterious past and lavish lifestyle of his neighbor, Jay Gatsby. He is drawn into Gatsby’s circle, becoming a witness to obsession and tragedy. Screenplay by Baz Luhrmann & Craig Pearce, novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Billy Wilder: “The Art of Screenwriting” [Part 3] My favorite writer-director is Billy Wilder. Consider just some of his movies: Double Indemnity (1944), Sunset Blvd. (1950), Stalag 17 (1953), Witness for the Prosecution (1957), Some Like It Hot (1959), The Apartment (1960), an oeuvre that demonstrates an incredible range in a filmmaking career that went from 1929
Great Character: Frank Drebin (“The Naked Gun”) This month’s Great Character theme: Cops. Today: Jason Cuthbert’s guest post features Frank Drebin from the 1988 comedy The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! [written by Jerry Zucker & Jim Abrahams & David Zucker & Pat Proft]. Like The Three Stooges and Clark Griswold (Vacation
Daily Dialogue — January 4, 2013 UHURA: Hi. I’d like a Klabnian Fire Tea, two Cardassian Sunrises and three Earth beers, no slim-shots, anything on draft. VOICE (O.S.): That’s a lot of drinks for one woman. Wearing those boots. JAMES KIRK’S FACE leans in: at 22, he’s charming, witty, dangerous,
What are your favorite movie endings? I posted this yesterday, an LAT article from Steve Zeitchik: The filmgoer was noticeably upset. He didn’t like a moment in “Lincoln.” More specifically, he didn’t like the final moments of “Lincoln.” “I don’t understand why it didn’t just end when Lincoln is walking down the
