GITS Script Reading & Analysis, Week 19: “Galaxy Quest” After a highly successful outing last time with the script for the movie Michael Clayton, up next is the excellent 1999 science fiction comedy Galaxy Quest, story by David Howard, screenplay by David Howard and Robert Gordon. You can download the script here. Our schedule for the week-long analysis:
Writing question: Do you like to write in a coffeehouse / java joint? The LAT had a nice little article the other day about Kaldi Coffee & Tea: The cafe is narrow, with a dozen little tables and a gray concrete floor. Nothing too fancy. Nothing too shiny. No espresso poured into designer porcelain with a dusting of organic cacao and a layer
Movie Trailer: “Looper” Written by Rian Johnson IMDB site Release Date: 28 September 2012 Comment Archive
Spec Script Sale: “Lore” Warner Bros. acquires sci-fi action spec script “Lore” from writers Cory Goodman and Jeremy Lott. From THR: Dwayne Johnson is attached to star in the sci-fi actioner, which has been described as “Men in Black with mythological creatures.” The script is another in a rare, but increasing phenomenon
A Story Idea Each Day for a Month — Day 13 This is the third year in a row I’ve run this series in April. Last week I provided a daily explanation about why you should make it a habit to be generating story ideas. This week, I’ll give you some tips on how to come up with stories.
Great Character: Yoda (“Star Wars”) Great character he is. Planet Dagobah he lives on. Backward he talks. It’s Yoda: Here is a description of Yoda from StarWars.com: The Grand Master of the Jedi Council, Yoda has trained Jedi for over 800 years. He is wise and powerful in the ways of the Force,
Daily Dialogue — April 13, 2012 “Forth, and fear no darkness! Arise! Arise, Riders of Theoden! Spears shall be shaken, shields shall be splintered! A sword day… a red day… ere the sun rises! Ride now! Ride now! Ride to ruin and the world ending! Death! Death! Death! Forth Eolinger!!” — Theoden (Bernard Hill), The Lord of
Characters as ‘profound individuals’: Part 2 Following up on my pervious post about characters as “profound individuals,” I thought it would be interesting to consider the Jewish philosopher Martin Buber and his influential book “I and Thou” (“Ich und Du”). I and Thou (or You) is Buber’s central thesis on human existence as encounter.There
Writing ‘bad guys’ when you don’t want to This issue just came up in the Prep online screenwriting class I’m currently leading: What to do when confronted by having to write ‘Bad Guys’ when their behavior is personally really appalling to you. Here is my response: A couple of things. First off it’s completely understandable having
Characters as ‘profound individuals’: Part 1 How to create compelling and authentic characters? How to breathe life into them? How to lift them off the page? How to write what we may call “profound individuals”? First, let’s parse that phrase profound individual. By profound, I mean a character into which the writer has entered deeply,
““The Hunger Games,” Hollywood, and Fighting F*ck Toys” I’ve never heard of Caroline Heldman until recently, but her blog is now on my to-read list. This post, forwarded to me by a talented young writer Gyan Alexander, drills down to the heart of why Hollywood does a poor job making movies with strong female leads: “The
Documentary: “The Sweat Box” This rarely seen The Emperor’s New Groove documentary shows how troublesome the production was for the Disney film that was initially known as Kingdom of the Sun. A rough-cut of an unreleased 2002 documentary chronicling the creation of a troubled animated feature. HT to Billie for the link.
A Story Idea Each Day for a Month — Day 12 This is the third year in a row I’ve run this series in April. Last week I provided a daily explanation about why you should make it a habit to be generating story ideas. This week, I’ll give you some tips on how to come up with stories.
The Business of Screenwriting: There’s a green light… I’m attending a fundraiser for my son’s elementary school. It’s an alternative private school on the Westside, an institution that prides itself on its “diversity”… which I’ve discovered pretty much means they have parents who are agents and directors, entertainment lawyers and producers, studio execs and
Daily Dialogue — April 12, 2012 ANDY: Tell you where I’d go. Zihuatanejo. RED: Zihuatanejo? ANDY: Mexico. Little place right on the Pacific. You know what the Mexicans say about the Pacific? They say it has no memory. That’s where I’d like to finish out my life, Red. A warm place with no
Re script readers and coverage (cont’d) It started off here: Citing a Vulture post from manager-producer Gavin Polone about how few people in Hollywood actually read scripts, and the harsh reality of coverage and script readers. Then it went here when screenwriter Geoff LaTulippe expanded on my point about embracing why this state of affairs
Remembering Kurt Vonnegut When I was in graduate school at Yale and I finished my last paper in my last semester, the first thing I did to celebrate was read “Breakfast of Champions” by Kurt Vonnegut. Over the next year as I traveled around the United States, finally settling into a two year
“The Lost, Forgotten & Undersung Projects Of Joss Whedon” Always nice to see features on screenwriters and The Playlist [IndieWire] has one today on Joss Whedon, writer of numerous notable projects including my favorite canceled TV series “Firefly.” The article covers several areas in Whedon’s career: * His work with Pixar on Toy Story * His spec scripts * Script doctoring
Movie Trailer: “People Like Us” Written by Alex Kurtzman, Jody Lambert and Roberto Orci IMDB site Release Date: 29 June 2012 Comment Archive
A Story Idea Each Day for a Month — Day 11 This is the third year in a row I’ve run this series in April. Last week I provided a daily explanation about why you should make it a habit to be generating story ideas. This week, I’ll give you some tips on how to come up with stories.
Daily Dialogue — April 11, 2012 “The truth is the most important value we have because if the truth does not endure, if the government murders truth, if we cannot respect the hearts of these people… then this is not the country in which I was born and this is certainly not the country I want
Reflections on life, death… and breathing It is January, 1991. The day my son Will is born. After thirty-six hours of labor… And an emergency C-section… My wife Rebecca is exhausted. She’s had a few hours to bond with Will. Share the joy with family members. But now she requires sleep. Which means…
DYING for just ONE great piece of material… Last week I posted this featuring the most recent Vulture column from manager-producer Gavin Polone in which he made the point about who reads what in the Hollywood movie and TV acquisition and development process: Last week, during the Supreme Court hearing on the president’s health-care law,
62 years ago today: The Hollywood Ten 62 years ago today, the United States Supreme Court refused to review the case against The Hollywood Ten. Subsequently each of the Ten, nine screenwriters and one director, were transported to prison to serve a one-year sentence. Their crime? During HUAC (House on Un-American Activities Committee) hearings in
Movie Trailer: “Ted” Screenplay by Seth MacFarlane and Alec Sulkin & Wellesley Wild IMDB page Release Date: 13 July 2012 [U.S.] Comment Archive
