Screenwriting News Warner Bros. has tapped Chewie scribes Van Robichaux and Evan Susser to rewrite its bigscreen version of TV toon The Jetsons. Zak Penn (X-Men: The Last Stand) rewriting the sequel to Karate Kid remake. Steven Knight (Dirty Pretty Things) hired by DreamWorks to write the remake of Rebecca. Commencement
Daily Dialogue — February 12, 2012 Wadsworth: The game’s up, Scarlet. There are no more bullets left in that gun. Miss Scarlet: Oh, come on, you don’t think I’m gonna fall for that old trick? Wadsworth: It’s not a trick. There was one shot at Mr. Boddy in the Study; two for
Daily Dialogue theme for next week: Meet-Ups We had a good week of death threats [suggested by Christopher Schipper] including some I couldn’t include for a variety of reasons such as: Pulp Fiction — Diogo Figueira The Long Good Friday — lizswan Goldfinger — Bill Weinberger This week the theme is Meet-Ups! The theme was suggested by Tedd
What was Hollywood’s first spec script? In 1967, William Goldman wrote and sold Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid for a reported $400,000. While we may consider it the first spec script of the contemporary era, it is not Hollywood’s first. The 1942 movie Woman of the Year is often cited as the first
Movies You Made: “Six Years After” From the recent Introduce Yourself post, there were several readers who included information about movies they had made. So this week, we’ll feature those. Here’s today’s selection: I’m Bob Lackie, a screenwriter based out of Toronto ON, Canada. I’m finishing my last year at Ryerson
Saturday Hot Links Back for another installment of Saturday Hot Links! Today: The “Hollywood Stars In Japanese TV Commercials” edition! First Ben Stiller schilling “Kirin” beer: Some dude bet $1K that the NY Giants would score a safety for the first points of the Super Bowl. He was right. Won $50K. Strange: Will
Written Interview: Max Landis (“Chronicle”) Max Landis did a Reddit Q&A this week re the movie Chronicle which he wrote. Here is how he framed the event: Judging by the tweets and youtube comments, it seems like people had a ton of questions (and misconceptions), not just about the projects (I’d like
Daily Dialogue — February 11, 2012 HARRY I’m talking about you, Ray Barboni, owning a piece of a major motion picture. How much of a piece is entirely up to you. What I’m saying is, you could invest part of the grand that Palmer owes you, or all of it. It’s entirely up
This pretty much nails the reality of being a screenwriter… From screenwriter Mike Le [@DFTVYP]: Comment Archive
How I Write A Script, Part 5: Plotting Here’s another in a series of posts about how I approach writing a script. Previous posts: Part 1: Story Concept Part 2: Brainstorming Part 3: Research Part 4: Character Development Today Part 5: PLOTTING This is another part of the process that happens while I’m brainstorming, doing research,
Your worst experience in a movie theater? So this open letter to the worst human being to ever sit in a theater is making the rounds: It started before the lights went down, but to be fair, I was actually betting that the woman on the other side of me, the one who dragged out a giant
THR: Best Adapted Screenplay Nominees Excerpts from Variety: The year’s contenders for adapted screenplay attacked an extraordinary range of material: a work of nonfiction; a children’s graphic novel; a stage play; a classic spy thriller; and a modern seriocomedy of manners. Each posed unique challenges these A-level scribes were eager to meet.
Movies You Made: “Room Enough” From the recent Introduce Yourself post, there were several readers who included information about movies they had made. So this week, we’ll feature those. Here’s today’s selection: My name is Mehran Torgoley. After over a decade in the video game industry, I made the jump into film/
Spec Script Sale: “Picture Book” SkyRock Venture acquires thriller spec script “Picture Book” from writer Benjamin Magid. From Variety: Picture Book” centers on the mysterious happenings in the mansion of a famous children’s author. The story is reminiscent of 2001’s “The Others,” with a supernatural twist. — — Energy is producing found-footage project “Thirteen,
Q&A: Screenwriter Marc Maurino (“Inside the Machine”), Part 5 Today we conclude my interview with screenwriter Marc Maurino, who wrote and sold the spec script “Inside the Machine” to CBS Films in May 2011: SM: Time for some craft questions. How do you come up with story ideas? How important do you think the story concept is to the
Great Characters: John Shaft (“Shaft”) Cool Protagonists are… well… cool. There’s James Bond cool. There’s Harry Callahan cool. And then there’s John Shaft cool. Says it right here in the IMDB plot summary for the 1971 movie Shaft [screenplay by Ernest Tidyman and John D.F. Black, based on Tidyman’s novel]
Daily Dialogue — February 10, 2012 Deputy Pell: We ain’t interested in your good ol’ Mississippi boy stories, Anderson. You ain’t from here no more. Why’d you leave, anyway? Anderson: I just wanted a change of scenery. The grits started leavin’ a bad taste in my mouth. Frank: Well, if that’s how
How I Write A Script, Part 4: Character Development People asked me how I write a script, so here we go with Part 4. This is a follow up to Part 1, which focused on story concept, Part 2, where we looked at brainstorming, and Part 3, which talked about research. PART 4: CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT I’m compartmentalizing my
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
Movies You Made: “Dark Revelations” Longtime GITS follower Joshua Caldwell has been a very busy guy the last year or so with a cutting edge project called “Dark Revelations.” Here is Josh with some background: After 10 years working on the hit CSI: franchise my boss, Anthony E. Zuiker, was looking to try something new.
Spec Script Sale: “Saving Mr. Banks” The Walt Disney Company acquires drama spec script “Saving Mr. Banks” from writer Kelly Marcel. From Deadline: The Walt Disney Company is near a deal to acquire Saving Mr. Banks, the Kelly Marcel-scripted saga of how Walt Disney persuaded Australian author P.L. Travers to sell him the rights
Q&A: Screenwriter Marc Maurino (“Inside the Machine”), Part 4 Today we continue my interview with screenwriter Marc Maurino, who wrote and sold the spec script “Inside the Machine” to CBS Films in May 2011: SM: Even though you sold the script [“Inside the Machine”], you continue to live a long way from Los Angeles. How do you rate that
The Business of Screenwriting: Someday someone WILL beat you to the punch It’s 1988. My writing partner and I are excited. We are just finishing up a new spec script, a comedy with a strong high concept: A couple adopts the child from hell (not literally, just a boy who simply can not help but get into trouble). One last pass
Daily Dialogue — February 9, 2012 SCOTT I… dislike you. Capiche? TODD INGRAM Tell it to the cleaning lady on Monday. SCOTT What? TODD INGRAM Because you’ll be dust by Monday. SCOTT Um… TODD INGRAM Because I’ll be pulverizing you in two seconds. And the cleaning lady… she cleans up… dust. She dusts. SCOTT
How I Write A Script, Part 3: Research People asked me how I write a script, so here we go with Part 3. This is a follow up to Part 1 where we considered the importance of story concept in the script-writing process, and Part 2 where we discussed brainstorming. PART 3: RESEARCH This generally goes hand-
