GITS Script Reading & Analysis: “Cloverfield” — Characters This week we are analyzing the screenplay for the 2008 movie Cloverfield. You may access the 2007–06–08 draft [written by Drew Goddard] here. Today we discuss the script’s characters. Here is a list of most prominent ones in order of appearance in the script: Rob Beth Lily
Script To Screen: “Schindler’s List” From the 1993 movie Schindler’s List (screenplay by Steve Zaillian, based on the novel by Thomas Keneally). Setup: Oskar Schindler has been out riding his horse when he stops on a hilltop and witnesses the clearing of the ghetto in Krakow, tracking the movements of the Girl In Red.
Daily Dialogue — December 7, 2011 Corporal Miller: To tell you the truth, I didn’t think we could do it. Capt. Keith Mallory: To tell you the truth, neither did I. — Corporal Miller (David Niven), Capt. Keith Mallory (Gregory Peck), The Guns of Navarone (1961), screenplay by Carl Foreman, based on the novel by Alistair
Movie Trailer: “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close” Screenplay by Eric Roth, based on the novel by Jonathan Safran Foer Release date: January 20, 2012
Reader Question: How do cultural whims affect a screenwriter’s career? What happens to writers when the audience’s interests change? From Pliny the Elder: To what degree is a screenwriter’s career determined by fashion, in terms of a style of writing, genre or feel that resonates with an audience at a specific point in time? It seems to me,
“The 2011 Wish List” [Black List parody] It’s still a few days until this year’s official Black List comes out so to tide us over, here is “The 2011 Wish List” from comedy writer Ken Furer: The 2011 Wish List The Wish List is a compilation of the best unproduced, unwritten screenplays in Hollywood. The
The Writers: “Vet spice freshman class” The first of four Variety end-of-year articles on screenwriters: This year’s crop of first-time writers in award contention aren’t all industry newcomers. From famous performers to accomplished television scribes to produced playwrights, the group has one thing in common: 2011 brought the theatrical release of
Movies You Made: “Home Sweet Homeless” by George Thomas From filmmaker George Thomas, a description of the short film he made: A homeless man discovers an abandoned, half-built house. That night he is visited by a mysterious salesman, who offers him a deal no one would refuse. Nothing is truly what it seems in this whimsical and mysterious
GITS Script Reading & Analysis: “Cloverfield” — Structure This week we are analyzing the screenplay for the 2008 movie Cloverfield. You may access the 2007–06–08 draft [written by Drew Goddard] here. Today we discuss the script’s structure. Three-act structure? A scene-by-scene breakdown? Major plot points? Sequences? Here is your chance to use
Screenwriting 101: Billy Wilder 1. Grab ’em by the throat and never let go. 2. Develop a clean line of action for your leading character. 3.The more subtle and elegant you are in hiding your plot points, the better you are as a writer. 4. If you have a problem with the third
Daily Dialogue — December 6, 2011 “I don’t know about you, but it always makes me sore when I see those war pictures… all about flying leathernecks and submarine patrols and frogmen and guerillas in the Philippines. What gets me is that there never w-was a movie about POWs — about prisoners of war. Now,
Reader Question: What about breaking screenwriting style / format rules? From Jacqueline Windh: As far as questions go… the one I can think of right now (kinda vague) would be something about breaking the rules. Seems some of the scripts we are looking at [in the GITS Script Reading & Analysis series] have broken the rules — e.g. Drag me
Do you have questions for screenwriter David Seidler? Back in September when I made this announcement about becoming the screenwriting blog of the Black List, GITS reader Debbie Moon summed it up rather well: “More of the same, but better? Sounds brilliant.” Well, here you go: * A few weeks ago, I spent 90 minutes on the phone talking
Movie Trailer: “The Cabin in the Woods” Yahoo! Video PlayerEdit descriptiond.yimg.com Written by Joss Whedon and Drew Goddard Release date: April 13, 2012. Comment Archive
10 Screenwriters to Watch (2011) Every year around this time, the trades focus on various aspects of the filmmaking business including screenwriters. Here is Variety’s annual “10 Screenwriters to Watch” list: Josh Appelbaum & Andre Nemec In the initial stages of “Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol,” screenwriters Josh Appelbaum and Andre Nemec huddled with star
Movies You Made: “0507” by The Blaine Brothers The Blaine Brothers are a pair of U.K-based performers Cariad Lloyd and Fraser Millward. Their short “0507” has been nominated for a British Independent Film Award. Here is the 2-minute film: Starring Fraser Millward and Cariad Lloyd Based on an idea by Cariad Lloyd Devised by Cariad
GITS Script Reading & Analysis: “Cloverfield” Welcome to Week 13 of the GITS Script Reading & Analysis series. This week we will be analyzing the screenplay for the 2008 movie Cloverfield, an example of a Found Footage script. You may access the 2007–06–08 draft [written by Drew Goddard] here. Let’s use this post
On Writing “One of the dumbest things you were ever taught was to write what you know. Because what you know is usually dull. Write what mysterious time and place we don’t know.” — Ken Kesey, excerpted from “Advice to Writers” Comment Archive
Daily Dialogue — December 5, 2011 Hooper: You were on the Indianapolis? Brody: What happened? Quint: Japanese submarine slammed two torpedoes into our side, Chief. We was comin’ back from the island of Tinian to Leyte… just delivered the bomb. The Hiroshima bomb. Eleven hundred men went into the water. Vessel went down in 12 minutes.
Daily Dialogue Theme Next Week: World War II GITS reader Phil noted that December 7, 2011 is the 70th anniversary of the bombing of Pearl Harbor, thus suggested World War II as a theme for the week. Good idea. So you know the drill: * Copy/paste dialogue from IMDB Quotes or transcript. * Provide URL for an accompanying video,
“Gender inequality still has a starring role in Hollywood” Several things have popped up recently about gender inequality in Hollywood. First this LAT article: Cinema trends ebb and flow, but one facet of Hollywood moviemaking proving remarkably consistent is gender inequality, according to a study being released Monday by USC’s Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism. In a
Wired: Feature on David Fincher and “Dragon Tattoo” Great piece of writing in Wired by Brian Raftery about director David Fincher. Here is how the article begins: A few months ago, David Fincher was having a problem with his new movie. This in itself wasn’t especially surprising, as Fincher’s productions seem to attract crises of the
Spec Script Sale: “In The Blood” Cargo Entertainment acquires action thriller spec script “In The Blood” from writers Bennett Yellin and James Robert Johnston. Per Deadline: Revolves around what if the person you love vanished in a foreign land and you were the prime suspect in their disappearance? Sale date: 11/2/2011. Writers are repped
Spec Script Sale: “Self/Less” It’s On The Grid is reporting Endgame Entertainment acquires spec script “Self/Less” from writers Alex Pastor and David Pastor. Logline and genre under wraps. The Pastors are repped by CAA and Kaplan/Perone. Sale date: 11/5/2011. By my count, there have been 101 spec script sales
12 Essential TED Talks For Writers We all love TED. We all love writing. This link [courtesy of @bf4tbrainy] pulls both together with twelve of the best TED talks for writers including Amy Tan, Elizabeth Gilbert, Steven Pinker and C.K. Williams. Here’s one of the talks with Benjamin Wallace: What are your favorite TED
