Written Interview: Seth Lochhead Yam magazine nterview with Hanna screenwriter Seth Lochhead. Some excerpts: How important is the “villain” in a movie like Hanna? I think the honest answer would be that the villain is not important in a film like Hanna. I believe the hero/villain relationship resides in Hanna. Erik and Marissa
Daily Dialogue — February 18, 2012 June: Request your position, request your position, come in Lancaster, come in Lancaster. Peter: Position Nil, repeat nil, age 27, 27. Did you get that? That’s very important. Education interrupted, violently interrupted. Religion church of England, Politics conservative by nature, labour by experience. What’s your name? June: I
How to write a great scene Consider the airplane scene from the movie Almost Famous. Or the big standoff scene in Se7en. The beautiful ending scene from the movie Big Night, five minutes without one word of dialogue. The touching ice skating rink scene from Rocky. Or these scenes from The Dark Knight, Goodfellas, Jaws, or
How I Write A Script, Part 10: Editing Here is the last in a series of 10 posts about how I approach writing a script. Previous posts: Part 1: Story Concept Part 2: Brainstorming Part 3: Research Part 4: Character Development Part 5: Plotting Part 6: Outline Part 7: Script Diary Part 8: First Draft Part 9: Rewriting
GITS Script Reading & Analysis, Week 16: “Up In The Air” In our ongoing monthly script analysis series, the next screenplay we will reading is for the 2009 movie Up in the Air [suggested by Ah!]. Credits: “Screenplay by Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner, based on a novel by Walter Krim.” Awards: Academy Award, Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay; Golden Globe, Best
Movie Trailer: “Prometheus” Written by Jon Spaihts and Damon Lindelof. Release Date: June 8, 2012. IMDB site. Comment Archive
Behind the scenes: “Rango” It’s one of my favorite movies of 2011: Rango. And here’s a look at the development of the animation along the way: I love this movie, one of the best films about self-identity in years. Here is a beautiful clip which poses that basic question: “Who am
2012 WGA “Beyond Words” panel Per Variety: Eight of the town’s top writers — all nommed for Writers Guild of America screenwriting awards — didn’t sugar-coat the agony of successful scripting at a panel Thursday night. “I approach each script in a panic,” declared Steven Zaillian in describing the process for writing “Moneyball” and
Q&A: Screenwriter Stan Chervin (“Moneyball”), Part 5 Stan Chervin is one of the credited writers on the screenplay for the movie Moneyball along with Steve Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin. In the fifth part of my Q&A, Chervin offers some insight into working as a professional screenwriter: A few craft questions. First how do you decide
Great Character: Jules Winnfield (“Pulp Fiction”) It’s easy to think of Jules in Pulp Fiction [screenplay by Quentin Tarantino, story by Quentin Tarantino and Roger Avary] as just some bad-ass tough guy, but in fact he’s the moral center of the story. The IMDB plot summary: The lives of two mob hit men,
Daily Dialogue — February 17, 2012 EXT. FRONT LAWN KIT: Hi, I’m Kit. I’m not keeping you from anything important, am I? HOLLY: No. KIT: Well, I was just messing around over there, thought I’d come over and say hello to you. (smiling) I’ll try anything once. (pause) What’s your name?
The first 12 minutes of “Sound Of My Voice” This looks very cool! You can watch the first 12 minutes of the new Fox Searchlight movie “Sound of My Voice” here. IMDB plot summary: A journalist and his girlfriend get pulled in while they investigate a cult whose leader claims to be from the future. Having a theological background,
How I Write A Script, Part 9: Rewriting Here’s another in a series of 10 posts about how I approach writing a script. Previous posts: Part 1: Story Concept Part 2: Brainstorming Part 3: Research Part 4: Character Development Part 5: Plotting Part 6: Outline Part 7: Script Diary Part 8: First Draft PART 9: REWRITING Writing
Spec Script Sale: “NSFW” Universal moves forward with micro-budget thriller spec script “NSFW” from British writers Adam Mason and Simon Boyes. From THR: NSFW centers on a young paralegal who is trapped in the office with a killer on a mission to destroy files for another corporation. Contained thriller = micro-budget. Producer is
Hollywood: The fear factor I have noted before how fear is a key dynamic in Hollywood’s business ethos. Here is an example why, an email that has been making the rounds in Hollywood: From: Arnon Milchan Subject: New Regency I’ve committed $300M in fees which translates to $5 billon in movies and
Newmarket Press: The Shooting Script series I have promoted the Newmarket Press: Shooting Script series a few times before — here and here. Time to pimp them again. Why? You know how DVDs have all those commentary tracks you can access to provide deeper insight into a movie? These books by Newmarket Press are similar. They not
First-look clip: “ATM” You may remember as part of the GITS Script Reading & Analysis series, we dug into [pun intended] Buried as an example of the contained thriller sub-genre. You may also remember that the movie’s screenwriter Chris Sparling was kind enough to provide insight into the project with a
Q&A: Screenwriter Stan Chervin (“Moneyball”), Part 4 Stan Chervin is one of the credited writers on the screenplay for the movie Moneyball along with Steve Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin. In the fourth part of my Q&A, Chervin discusses his current and future script projects. Moving on to some projects you’re currently working on, you
The Business of Screenwriting: Swag When you’re a movie star, things like this happen: Upon completing the film Always, director Steven Spielberg gave Richard Dreyfuss, Holly Hunter and John Goodman each a Mazda Miata as a gift. As to whether the actors actually needed a Mazda Miata, presumably an item they could have paid
Daily Dialogue — February 16, 2012 Walter at the bottom of the stairs when Phyllis appears at the top, wrapped in a towel, much of her body exposed. Walter: How do you do, Mrs. Dietrichson. I’m Walter Neff, Pacific All Risk. Phyllis: Pacific All what? Walter: The Pacific All Risk insurance company. It’s about
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. Tough to write, too, because it’s not only about being entertaining, it’s also
How I Write A Script, Part 8: First Draft Here’s another in a series of 10 posts about how I approach writing a script. Previous posts: Part 1: Story Concept Part 2: Brainstorming Part 3: Research Part 4: Character Development Part 5: Plotting Part 6: Outline Part 7: Script Diary PART 8: FIRST DRAFT Finally we get to
Reader Question: Where can one go to find spec scripts to read? A Tweet from @agirlandapistol: “Where can one go to find spec scripts to read?” First things first: Do you realize how damn lucky we are nowadays? Back when I first broke into the business, I had to walk ten miles through twenty feet of snow, past rows of high-priced
Behind The Curtain: TV director and showrunner responsibilities in episodic TV Here’s the first in a new GITS series called “Behind The Curtain.” It arises from an inspiration Franklin Leonard had — you can read about it here: Basically if you have questions about specific aspects of how the film or TV business works, you can post them here, then Franklin
Video: “Awake,” New NBC series [Thursdays, 10PM] From HuffPo: NBC’s “Awake” (premiering Thurs., Mar. 1, 10 p.m. EST) is the most ambitious new drama on any network. Even with a complex premise to set up, the pilot is a compelling, well-acted hour of television and HuffPost TV has the exclusive sneak peek at the
