Go On Your Own Quest, Week 14: Prep “The Quest” has entered Week 14! And so did Go On Your Own Quest, an opportunity for anyone to follow the structure of “The Quest” to dig into screenwriting theory [Core — 8 weeks], figure out your story [Prep — 6 weeks], and write a first draft [Pages — 10 weeks]. It’s
The Brown List: 2012 From the fine folks at The Hollywood Temp Diaries, their annual Brown List. What is the Brown List? In their own words: The day you hoped for/feared is here. The 2012 Brown List is complete. A few interesting stats: * Total nominations topped out at just over 8,300. * The
The Business of Screenwriting: Bitching About Pitching Today we have a guest post from Hollywood producer Max Millimeter. As usual this is a transcription of a recording Max made up at his Laurel Canyon home: Okay, shoot me. Seriously. Just got done with yet another pitch meeting where the goddammed writer screwed the pooch. What kinda pooch?
Daily Dialogue — October 18, 2012 Merrick is at a loss. This is not part of the expected scenario. MERRICK: Oh no, everyone has been very kind. CARR: No, I meant in your former situation. Merrick doesn’t seem to understand. MERRICK: I’m feeling much better now… Carr Gomm stares levelly at Treves for a
Countdown to FADE IN: Day 5 5 days from now, participants in Go On Your Own Quest are scheduled to move out of Prep and into Pages: In other words, type FADE IN. Over on the GOYOQ forum [which is free and you are invited to join], some folks have been posting thoughts on what they
Dispatch from The Quest: Ben Odgren Last week as we did here on GITS, the Quest writers focused on the fifth week of Prep. Today’s dispatch: Ben was inspired by the movie Argo and shares some thoughts on it: I love movies about process. Usually it’s tied into journalism somehow, but not always. Movies
Go On Your Own Quest, Week 14: Prep “The Quest” has entered Week 14! And so did Go On Your Own Quest, an opportunity for anyone to follow the structure of “The Quest” to dig into screenwriting theory [Core — 8 weeks], figure out your story [Prep — 6 weeks], and write a first draft [Pages — 10 weeks]. It’s
Movie Trailer: “Jack Reacher” A homicide investigator digs deeper into a case involving a trained military sniper who shot five random victims. Screenplay by Christopher McQuarrie, novel by Lee Child IMDB site Release Date: 21 December 2012 (USA) Comment Archive
Analysis: “The Master” [Part 3: Lancaster Dodd] Like many people, I was both amazed and confounded by The Master, equal parts “oh, my God” and “what the hell”. Weeks after seeing the movie, I am still thinking about it. What I propose to do is use the next few days to parse the story and see what
Script To Screen: “Out Of Sight” A memorable scene from the 1998 Out Of Sight, screenplay by Scott Frank, novel by Elmore Leonard. Setup: In an escape attempt, Foley (George Clooney) ends up in the trunk of a car with cop Karen (Jennifer Lopez). INT. TRUNK — SAME As Foley plays the light down the length of
Daily Dialogue — October 17, 2012 Billy: I can explain everything. Nurse Ratched: Please do. Explain everything. Billy: Ev-ev-everything? Nurse Ratched: Aren’t you ashamed? Billy: No, I’m not. [Applause from friends] Nurse Ratched: You know Billy, what worries me is how your mother is going to take this. Billy: Um, um, well,
The What, How, and Why of the Black List: The Long Answer by Franklin Leonard Yesterday the Black List launched a new service for enabling aspiring screenwriters to get their scripts in front of 1000+ industry insiders. It generated considerable press and lots of questions in the online screenwriting community. Black List founder and CEO Franklin Leonard put together a comprehensive response which I am
Tuesdays with Tom Benedek: “Argo” rises Screenwriter Tom Benedek, who wrote the hit movie Cocoon, is back with one of his periodic posts, this one about Argo: Argo is notable for many reasons. It is a movie, a Hollywood movie, but also based reasonably closely to a true story which is complex and political. It is
Countdown to FADE IN: Day 6 6 days from now, participants in Go On Your Own Quest are scheduled to move out of Prep and into Pages: In other words, type FADE IN. Over on the GOYOQ forum [which is free and you are invited to join], some folks have been posting thoughts on what they
Dispatch from The Quest: Brandon Cohen Last week as we did here on GITS, the Quest writers focused on the fifth week of Prep. Today’s dispatch: Brandon tries to work a dating metaphor about writing: Only a week until we start writing, and I couldn’t be more excited! If you are a small child
Go On Your Own Quest, Week 14: Prep “The Quest” has entered Week 14! And so did Go On Your Own Quest, an opportunity for anyone to follow the structure of “The Quest” to dig into screenwriting theory [Core — 8 weeks], figure out your story [Prep — 6 weeks], and write a first draft [Pages — 10 weeks]. It’s
Movie Trailer: “Flight” Yahoo! Video PlayerEdit descriptiond.yimg.com An airline pilot saves a flight from crashing, but an investigation into the malfunctions reveals something troubling. Written by John Gatins IMDB site Release Date: 2 November 2012 (USA) Comment Archive
Analysis: “The Master” [Part 2: Freddie Quell] Like many people, I was both amazed and confounded by The Master, equal parts “oh, my God” and “what the hell”. Weeks after seeing the movie, I am still thinking about it. What I propose to do is use the next few days to parse the story and see what
Screenwriting 101: Christopher McQuarrie “I learn from everything I write. In fact, I learned more about writing by directing Way of the Gun than in all the writing I did previously. The most important thing I learned was this: everything can always happen much sooner, much faster, and with much less said about it.
Daily Dialogue — October 16, 2012 Capitán Vidal: I’ll make you a deal. If you can count to three without st-t-uttering you can go. Don’t look at him look at me. Above me there is no one. Garces! Garcés: Yes Captain? Capitán Vidal: If I say this asshole can leave would anybody
New Black List feature for aspiring screenwriters It’s the question behind all questions from aspiring screenwriters, the subtext behind almost every conversation about the business: “How do I get my script in front of Hollywood reps and buyers?” Here is an answer. Franklin Leonard and the Black List have launched a service that gives writers immediate
Countdown to FADE IN: Day 7 7 days from now, participants in Go On Your Own Quest are scheduled to move out of Prep and into Pages: In other words, type FADE IN. Over on the GOYOQ forum [which is free and you are invited to join], some folks have been posting thoughts on what they
Dispatch from The Quest: Emma Millions Last week as we did here on GITS, the Quest writers focused on the fifth week of Prep. Today’s dispatch: Emma on ticking clocks: We are speeding towards the day, next Monday, when we start to actually write our scripts. No more time for vague thoughts and ideas. Major
“How the CIA Used a Fake Sci-Fi Flick to Rescue Americans From Tehran” The movie Argo which opened last Friday was inspired by events described in this 2007 Wired article. Interesting read. Amazing story. Argo grossed $20M+ this weekend to glowing reviews. Per BoxOfficeMojo: Exit polling indicated that the audience was 54 percent women, and skewed much older (74 percent over the age
![Analysis: “The Master” [Part 2: Freddie Quell]](https://storage.ghost.io/c/8f/29/8f29b0a7-49e5-431c-a9bb-3ade9c0a785e/content/images/size/w600/2026/08/0_FZcArdXfZxrHAzBg.jpg)
