Movie Trailer: “Marley” From the movie’s promotional material: Bob Marley’s universal appeal, impact on music history and role as a social and political prophet is both unique and unparalleled. MARLEY is the definitive life story of the musician, revolutionary, and legend, from his early days to his rise to international superstardom.
Opening Sequence: “Scream” Last week, I posted this question: What are the best opening scenes in movie history? I was having this discussion with a writer the other day. So many fantastic opening scenes of all sorts. Some of them bombastic, some subtle, some of them funny, some brutal, all of them great.
Q&A: Screenwriter Chris McCoy, Part 5 Chris McCoy is pretty unique among screenwriters in that he has three scripts that have made the Black List: “Get Back” (2007), “Good Looking” (2009), and “Good Kids” (2011). That alone is enough to warrant significant curiosity about this young writer. The fact his screenplays are highly entertaining, distinctive, and
Great Character: Indiana Jones (“Raiders of the Lost Ark”) Who doesn’t love Indiana Jones? Perhaps the definitive Harrison Ford role, Indiana Jones is the paradigmatic action-adventure hero. From Wikipedia: Indiana Jones remains one of cinema’s most revered movie characters. In 2003, he was ranked as the second greatest movie hero of all time by the American
Daily Dialogue — February 24, 2012 PRESIDENT: These past few hours have been the longest, darkest of my life. This is when you wish the buck did not stop here. A balance between two tragedies. On one hand the fate of a million civilians. On the other, Frank Hummel. That we have ignored or abandoned or
Does this mean the return of action-comedies? Interesting NYT article: Comedy Central has a lot riding on, well, comedy. And now research it commissioned about how young men view humor has provided the cable channel with some encouraging conclusions about the preferences of its most important demographic group. More than music, more than sports, more than “personal
Movies You Made: “Ekanth” Another in the Movies You Made series: “Ekanth” by writer-director Amit Mehra. Some background information from Amit: “Ekanth” (Means Isolation, Solitude,loneliness) Written & Directed by Amit Mehra Producers: Semanti Sinha Ray, Amit Mehra An AMP ANGLES Production “Ekanth” is a psychological drama set in the small town of
Opening Sequence: “Jaws” Last week, I posted this question: What are the best opening scenes in movie history? I was having this discussion with a writer the other day. So many fantastic opening scenes of all sorts. Some of them bombastic, some subtle, some of them funny, some brutal, all of them great.
Movie Clip: “Brave” Per Pixar: Since ancient times, stories of epic battles and mystical legends have been passed through the generations across the rugged and mysterious Highlands of Scotland. In “Brave,” a new tale joins the lore when the courageous Merida (voice of Kelly Macdonald) confronts tradition, destiny and the fiercest of beasts.
Q&A: Screenwriter Chris McCoy, Part 4 Chris McCoy is pretty unique among screenwriters in that he has three scripts that have made the Black List: “Get Back” (2007), “Good Looking” (2009), and “Good Kids” (2011). That alone is enough to warrant significant curiosity about this young writer. The fact his screenplays are highly entertaining, distinctive, and
The Business of Screenwriting: Flavor-Of-The-Week If you sell a spec script in Hollywood, you will take LOTS of meetings. Let’s say the Heavens open, you beat the long odds, and someone who is a Hollywood Buyer reads your spec script, and says, “I love this!” [The head of 20th Century Fox actually said those
Daily Dialogue — February 23, 2012 DAVE: But unfortunately, money management only gets us halfway to our goal. To find the rest of the money, we’re going to have to start making some choices — — some pretty tough choices… SHOT — BOB He seizes Reed’s tie, pulling him over. BOB (loud whisper): Choices??? ANGLE — DAVE DAVE:
Favorite movie music composers The other day I was thinking about music in movies, how utterly important that aspect of the filmmaking process is. For instance, you can go here and see the famous shower scene from Psycho with, then without the musical score [composed by the great Bernard Hermann]. When I see a
Spec Script Sale: “Invertigo” Sony picks up spec script “Invertigo” from Transformers scribe Ehren Kruger and co-writer Bradley Camp. Logline kept under wraps. Kruger is repped by attorney Jason Sloane. By my count, this is the 15th spec script to sell in 2012. Last year at this time, there had been 7 spec
Movies You Made: “Play the Game” Another in the ongoing series Movies You Made. This from filmmaker Marc Fienberg: Hi Scott, I’m a writer/director/producer, a longtime lurker on your site, and a big fan of what you do. I wanted to tell you about the movie I made, “Play The Game”, starring Andy
“The Strange and Twisted Tale of… The Movie That Grossed $30” From FilmmakerIQ: Zyzzyx Road is a independent film made in 2006 with a budget of $1.2 million. Even though it stared Tom Sizemore and Katherine Heigl, it is notoriously on record as the lowest grossing film of all time with a grand total of $30 in ticket sales. The
Opening Sequence: “Back to the Future” Last week, I posted this question: What are the best opening scenes in movie history? I was having this discussion with a writer the other day. So many fantastic opening scenes of all sorts. Some of them bombastic, some subtle, some of them funny, some brutal, all of them great.
Q&A: Screenwriter Chris McCoy, Part 3 Chris McCoy is pretty unique among screenwriters in that he has three scripts that have made the Black List: “Get Back” (2007), “Good Looking” (2009), and “Good Kids” (2011). That alone is enough to warrant significant curiosity about this young writer. The fact his screenplays are highly entertaining, distinctive, and
Daily Dialogue — February 22, 2012 Richard Nixon: These men, Haldeman, Ehrlichman, I knew their families, I knew them since they were just kids. But you now, politically the pressure on me to let them go, that became overwhelming. So, I did it. I cut off one arm then I cut the other and I’m
“Star Trek,” Michael Piller, the Writing for Screen & Stage Program, and Harmonic Convergence When I was a teenager, nearly every day after I came home from school, I would plop down in front of the TV to watch a repeat of the original “Star Trek” series. Little did I know that years later, I would be honored with an academic title tied to
Dan Harmon, “Community” and The Hero’s Journey I suspect we have many fans of the TV series “Community,” so my guess is there will be a lot of interest in this Wired article featuring the show’s creator Dan Harmon. It’s a long piece so let me zero in on Harmon’s approach to the story-
“Make Your Own Oscar Whisper Campaign” Mark Lisanti hits a home run with this funny piece at Grantland: The bad news: With final ballots due by 5 p.m. on February 21 and the ceremony following less than a week later, time is running out for Oscar campaigners to sway susceptible AMPAS voters. The good news:
Opening Sequence: “Pulp Fiction” Last week, I posted this question: What are the best opening scenes in movie history? I was having this discussion with a writer the other day. So many fantastic opening scenes of all sorts. Some of them bombastic, some subtle, some of them funny, some brutal, all of them great.
Movie Trailer: “Brake” A new movie out from screenwriter and GITS reader Tim Mannion. The action-thriller is called Brake and stars Stephen Dorff. Here is the trailer: A Secret Service Agent is held captive in the trunk of a car and endures high-speed mental and physical torture as terrorists attempt to
Q&A: Screenwriter Chris McCoy, Part 2 Chris McCoy is pretty unique among screenwriters in that he has three scripts that have made the Black List: “Get Back” (2007), “Good Looking” (2009), and “Good Kids” (2011). That alone is enough to warrant significant curiosity about this young writer. The fact his screenplays are highly entertaining, distinctive, and
