Movie Trailer: “The Host” A parasitic alien soul is injected into the body of Melanie Stryder. Instead of carrying out her race’s mission of taking over the Earth, “Wanda” (as she comes to be called) forms a bond with her host and sets out to aid other free humans. Andrew Niccol (screenplay), Stephenie
Screenwriting Lessons: Michael Arndt [Part 3] Unless you’ve been living under a proverbial rock, you know that screenwriter Michael Arndt has been hired to write Star Wars: Episode VII. This week we are delving into Arndt’s observations about the craft. Today: Arndt on story endings. Here is an excerpt from a previous GITS post:
Script To Screen: “Traffic” From the 2000 movie Traffic [screenplay by Stephen Gaghan, based on a miniseries by Simon Moore). Setup: Javier Rodriguez [Benicio Del Toro] and his police partner Manolo are in trouble with a corrupt high-ranking Mexican official Salazar. Two of Salazar’s henchmen are driving Rodriguez and Manolo out into
Daily Dialogue — November 14, 2012 Student: They got their minds made up about us, Mr. Thackeray. Mark Thackeray: Then change them. Student: Yeah, right! Maybe that would work where you’re from or where you went. You know, you run off to England and you teach in some school and you REALLY think you’re
Reader Questions Time to open up discussion to your questions. Whatever issues or concerns you have about the craft of screenwriting, please post in comments. Before you do, be sure to check this out, over 200 Q&A’s. If you don’t find your particular question raised there, post here
“Get A Hollywood Studio To Green Light Your Picture, In 29 Easy Steps” This made the rounds yesterday, a humorous look at the ups… and mostly downs of the movie business. Thanks to everyone who sent me the link! Comment Archive
Black List script coverage service I recently received an email from Donna, a writer who I’ve known for several years after she did a writing workshop with me. Here it is in its entirety and reprinted with Donna’s permission: Hi Scott I want to thank you for the post regarding The Black List
“50 Years Of James Bond: The Movie” Via Popped Culture: Approximately five minutes from each of the 22 Eon produced James Bond films have been cut together, in order and in sequence, beginning with the first five minutes of DR. NO (1962) followed by minutes 5–10 of FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE (1963), minutes 10–15 of
“If I waited until I felt like writing, I’d never write at all” “If I waited until I felt like writing, I’d never write at all.” That’s some serious wisdom from author Anne Tyler. I know it’s true. You know it’s true. Writing a full-length screenplay is not about feeling it. It’s about doing it. Doing it
Movie Trailer: “Hitchcock” A love story between influential filmmaker Alfred Hitchcock and wife Alma Reville during the filming of Psycho in 1959. John J. McLaughlin (screenplay), Stephen Rebello (based on the book “Alfred Hitchcock and the Making of Psycho”) IMDB site Release Date: 23 November 2012 [U.S.]
Screenwriting Lessons: Michael Arndt [Part 2] Unless you’ve been living under a proverbial rock, you know that screenwriter Michael Arndt has been hired to write Star Wars: Episode VII. This week we are delving into Arndt’s observations about the craft. Today: Arndt, Pixar and Toy Story 3. Here is an excerpt from my exclusive
Screenwriting 101: Peter Straughan “It’s obvious why the film industry, as an industry, would want to find ways of predicting and controlling the success of a story with an audience. I understand why they want to turn writing into a science, but I do think it’s a mistake. I think there’s
Daily Dialogue — November 13, 2012 Miyagi returns from fishing as Daniel is painting the house. Miyagi: Oh, miss spot. Daniel: What spot? Hey, how come you didn’t tell me you were goin’ fishing? Miyagi: You not here when I go. Daniel: Well, maybe I wanted to go, you ever think of that? Miyagi: You
Transcript: My 11/11/12 #scriptchat session on character-based screenwriting Yesterday at 8PM, I was the guest for the weekly Scriptchat Twitter conversation. Subject: Character-based screenwriting, essentially my overall take on the craft. Go below the fold to read a transcript of my remarks: First an alert to my nearly 10,000 followers: I will be tweeting a lot
Go On Your Own Quest As of today, 130+ writers have registered at the GOYOQ Forums. Per the schedule of The Quest, this is the beginning of Week 18 which means writers could be through the end of Act One in their draft, and plunging into Act Two. So this is just me checking in:
SNL: “Homeland” spoof [video] For you fans of “Homeland”: HuluEdit descriptionwww.hulu.com Comment Archive
“The story must be a conflict” “The story… must be a conflict, and specifically, a conflict between the forces of good and evil within a single person.” This from novelist Maxwell Anderson. The necessity of conflict in story is so fundamental, we may well overlook it. Conflict is dynamic. Conflict is evocative. Conflict is compelling. Like
Movie Trailer: “Movie 43” An ensemble comedy intertwining different tales. Written by Steve Baker, Will Carlough, Patrik Forsberg, Matt Portenoy, Greg Pritikin, Rocky Russo, Jeremy Sosenko, and Elizabeth Wright Shapiro IMDB site Release Date: 25 January 2013 (USA) Comment Archive
Screenwriting Lessons: Michael Arndt [Part 1] There has been a great disturbance in the Force these last few weeks with the announcement that Disney has acquired Lucasfilms and intends to resurrect the Star Wars franchise. Traversing a variety of media sources recently, it became clear to me the consensus among SW fans was whoever took on
On Writing “Don’t be afraid. That simple; don’t let them scare you. There’s nothing they can do to you…a writer always writes. That’s what he’s for. And if they won’t let you write one kind of thing, if they chop you off at the pockets
Daily Dialogue — November 12, 2012 Dewey: OK, who’s got food in here ? You’re not gonna get in trouble. I’m hungry. You. What do you got? That’s what I’m talking about. OK. Teach. Teach. Teach. All right, look, here’s the deal. I’ve got a hangover. Who knows what that
Twitter Jail! So I guess I posted too many Tweets in tonight’s scriptchat session. But they can’t take my blog away from me! Those of you who had questions from tonight, but I couldn’t answer, please post them here and I’ll do my best to respond. UPDATE: It’
Tonight, 8PM Eastern: #scriptchat Tonight at 8PM Eastern, I will be the guest on Scriptchat. What is Scriptchat? It is a unique online community about all things screenwriting related. Its primary form of social media is Twitter. Every Sunday, Scriptchat has a conversation, one European based, the other in the U.S., with somebody
Go On Your Own Quest, Week 17: First Draft Several readers emailed me about aggregating the entire series of posts we have been running in association with the Go On Your Own Quest initiative. Here is Week 17: First Draft. “Tune in. Drop out.” “Snacks!” “Don’t Finish That Scene!” “Story Talismans” “Script Diary” For background on “Go Into
Go On Your Own Quest, Week 16: First Draft Several readers emailed me about aggregating the entire series of posts we have been running in association with the Go On Your Own Quest initiative. Here is Week 16: First Draft. “Whatever you have to do to finish it, finish it” [Neil Gaiman] “You just muscle it out” [Darren Aronofsky]
