Saturday Hot Links Back with another installment of Saturday Hot Links! Today: The Dick Cavett, Truman Capote, and Groucho Marx Edition! We begin with a cool photograph of Alfred Hitchcock… at his bar… with a script. Did a copying mistake build the human brain? Samuel L. Jackson criticized NYT film critic A.O.
Written Interview: Jon Spaihts (“Prometheus”) An io9 interview with screenwriter Jon Spaihts, co-writer [with Damon Lindelof] of the upcoming movie Prometheus. Excerpts: Have video games changed the way people think about this kind of storytelling? Yes and no. Storytelling in games has matured tremendously in the past decade. Some really great work has been
Daily Dialogue — May 12, 2012 Rita: It’s beautiful. I don’t know what to say. Phil: I do. Whatever happens tomorrow, or for the rest of my life, I’m happy now… because I love you. — Rita (Andie MacDowell), Phil (Bill Murray), Groundhog Day (1994), screenplay by Danny Rubin and Harold Ramis, story by
Spec Script Sale: “Until Death” Screen Gems acquires thriller spec script “Until Death” from first-time screenwriter Calvin Starnes. From Variety: A first-time screenwriter who most recently was doing grip work on “Horrible Bosses” has sold thriller script “Until Death” to Screen Gems, with Lorenzo di Bonaventura on board to produce. Calvin Starnes will
GITS Script Reading & Analysis: “(500) Days of Summer” For Week 20 of the monthly GITS script reading and analysis series, the screenplay is (500) Days of Summer, written by Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber. With this script, we not only get to consider what some have called a “post-modern romantic-comedy,” we also have the opportunity
Movie Trailer: “The Odd Life of Timothy Green” Screenplay by Peter Hedges, story by Ahmet Zappa IMDB site Release Date: 15 August 2012 Comment Archive
10 Secrets to Creating Unforgettable Supporting Characters A good article in io9 about creating “unforgettable supporting characters.” Yes, it has a sci-fi slant, but it’s still valuable. Here’s the list of 10 suggestions: 1. Give them at least one defining characteristic. 2. Give them an origin story. 3. Make sure they talk in a
TED Talk: J.J. Abrams — Part 5 Today Part 5 of J.J. Abrams 2007 TED Talk picking up where Abrams has stated that for a writer “the blank page is a mystery box”: Then there’s the thing with imagination… withholding information, doing that intentionally is much more engaging. Whether it’s the shark in Jaws.
Great Character: Phyllis Dietrichson (“Double Indemnity”) One of the most notable femme fatale characters in the history of cinema. Per Wikipedia: A femme fatale (play /ˌfɛm fəˈtæl/ or /ˌfɛm fəˈtɑːl/; French: [fam fatal]) is a mysterious and seductive woman whose charms ensnare her lovers in bonds of irresistible desire, often leading them into compromising, dangerous, and
Daily Dialogue — May 11, 2012 Alfred: Oh, hello, Miss Novak. Klara: Good evening, Mr. Kralik. Alfred: It’s quite a coincidence. I had an appointment here, too. You haven’t seen Mr. Pirovitch by chance? Klara: No, no, I haven’t. Alfred: All right. Well, I think I’ll wait. Do you mind if I
Reader Question: How do you decide what rating to target your screenplay: PG-13 or R? A question from Matt, I’ve got a question that might be interesting for GITS readers: How do you decide what censorship rating to target your screenplay: PG13 or R? There’s a project I’m working on at the moment that could go either way, and a couple of
Movie Trailer: “The Gangster Squad” Screenplay by Will Beall, based on a book by Paul Lieberman IMDB site Release Date: TBD. Comment Archive
Movie Story Type: Fish Out Of Water (FOOW) Fish Out Of Water. Or as I like to call it: FOOW. Think stranger in a strange land. The classic FOOW picture is probably Splash, but there variations on the theme. Often the set-up involves an ordinary person being thrust into an extraordinary circumstance. Some examples: Beverly Hills Cop,
TED Talk: J.J. Abrams — Part 4 Today Part 4 of J.J. Abrams 2007 TED Talk picking up where Abrams has stated that for a writer “the blank page is a mystery box”: It has to be filled with something fantastic. I used to have the Ordinary People script and I’d flip through it, the
The Business of Screenwriting: The art of stacking projects Here’s something interesting to do if you subscribe to IMDBpro.com: Check out some of the top screenwriters and see what projects they have in development. I just looked in on three of them: Ron Bass, Steve Zaillian, and Guillermo del Toro: Ron Bass Players Rules (2010), writer True
Daily Dialogue — May 10, 2012 Lucy: I’m Lucy. Henry: Yes. I’m Henry Roth. Lucy: Nice to meet you. Henry: Nice to meet you. [motions to waffles] It’s pretty. Keep up the good work. Lucy: Wait. I see you’re sitting there alone. Do you wanna come and sit down? Henry: Sure, that’
Maurice Sendak quotes As you no doubt know, it was announced yesterday that Maurice Sendak died. BuzzFeed put together this list of 20 quotes by the famed author. Here are a choice few: “I don’t believe in children. I don’t believe in childhood. I don’t believe that there’s a
Summer Movie Posse: Movie stars don’t cut it with these kids Every summer for the last 11 years, Patrick Goldstein has gathered together a group of young people to discuss the upcoming slate of summer movies. This year it is a set of 15 year-olds. Granted they live and go to school in west L.A., but teens are teens.
Dumb Little Writing Tricks That Work: Set a deadline There are a lot of find things to motivate a writer to write. The desire to craft a wonderful story… The fantasy of writing a million dollar spec script… The realization of putting on paper the singular story your life has led you to tell. And then there’s possibly
TED Talk: J.J. Abrams — Part 3 Today Part 3 of J.J. Abrams 2007 TED Talk about the mystery box: What I realized I do in everything I do is I find myself drawn to infinite possibility and potential. And I realized that mystery is the catalyst for imagination. It’s not the most groundbreaking idea,
Script To Screen: “The Truman Show” From the 1998 movie The Truman Show, written by Andrew Nichol. Setup: Truman has just come to the ‘end’ of his world and is talking to ‘God’: EXT. CYCLORAMA. DAY. We focus on TRUMAN’s hand. CHRISTOF’s voice echoes across the water. CHRISTOF You can leave if you want.
Daily Dialogue — May 9, 2012 INT. THE LYRIC THEATER — NIGHT It’s still assholes and elbows on the screen with Sonny Chiba taking on all-comers. Alabama walks through the doors with her bounty of food. She makes a quick scan of the theater. Not many people are there. She makes a beeline for the
Question: What other TED Talks about writing and creativity do you recommend? I’ve received a surprising amount of positive feedback about two TED Talks [Andrew Stanton: Clues to a Great Story and the current J.J. Abrams “mystery box” presentation] which I’ve serialized including a transcript of what the speaker said. It appears that more than a few folks concurred
Spec Script Sale: “Dear Satan” Fox buys comedy spec script “Dear Satan” from writer Dan Ewen. From Variety: Story follows a 7-year-old girl who accidentally misspells “Santa” and instead invites Satan to bring her a toy for Christmas. The inspiration for the script came from the writer’s babysitting experience when a child
Movie Trailer: “Argo” Screenplay by Chris Terrio, based on an article by Joshuah Bearman IMDB site Release Date: 12 October 2012 Comment Archive
