“‘Snow White and the Huntsman’ Planned as First of a Trilogy” This how frenzied Hollywood is about franchises: They’re turning Snow White into one. Per EW: Snow White and the Huntsman may have more to overcome than just one clash with the Evil Queen. Producer Joe Roth tells EW that he plans on making the folktale action-adventure movie into
Video Interview: William Broyles, Jr., Herschel Weingrod, and John Wells From the excellent TV series on Austin, TX PBS station KLRU “On Story,” this conversation with screenwriters William Broyles, Jr. (Cast Away), Herschel Weingrod (Trading Places), and John Wells (The Company Men). A HT to The Black List blog for the heads up about the TV series.
“HBO, you’re busted!” I’m a hot-blooded American male of the heterosexual persuasion, and as an adult I confess I don’t mind seeing the occasional full-frontal, unsheathed breast on pay cable TV [as opposed to ‘side boobage’ which is featured on broadcast and basic cable]. But this article by Mary
Written Interview: Nicholas Stoller (“The Muppets”) Peter Sciretta at Slash Film has an interview with Nicholas Stoller who co-wrote the screenplay for the upcoming movie The Muppets with Jason Segel, one of the stars of the movie. Here are some excerpts with Stoller whose other writing credits include Forgetting Sarah Marshall and Get Him To
Daily Dialogue — July 2, 2011 John: You know what the rest of your problem is? Stella: No, tell me. John: You’ve never had anybody give you the Aunt Jemima treatment. Stella: No, I certainly haven’t — John: It’s real simple. [Lifts Stella onto the stove] John: First you get up on the grill.
Upcoming on GITS We’re at the mid-year mark (can you believe it!) and I wanted to give you a heads-up of a few things that will be happening on the blog as we head into July: * Mid-year spec script market analysis: I am assessing sales numbers and trends thus
Spec Script Sale: “Virgin Territory” MPCA acquires comedy spec “Virgin Territory” from writer Adam Davis. Per It’s On The Grid: In a race to stop his sixteen year old daughter from losing her virginity? on spring break, an overprotective Dad is forced to team up with a? high school geek who happens to be
Spec Script Sale: “Into Darkness” Radar Pictures acquires science fiction drama spec “Into Darkness” from writers Tony Giglio & Branden Morgan. Per Collider: Radar Pictures has signed Peter Cornwell (The Haunting in Connecticut) to direct an adaptation of Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darnkess. Tony Giglio (Death Race 2) and actor Branden Morgan repurposed the
“Hollywoodonomics: How Harry Potter and The Order of the Phoenix “lost” $167M” For those who may have missed this the other day, check out Hollywood economics here: First off, look at all those fees. But that’s not even the half of it. See that item “Interest?” That’s money the studio charges on funds it loans to itself via the production.
How I Write A Script, Part 5: Plotting [NOTE: This series is one of the most frequently visited on the site, so once a year, I like to put a spotlight on it because evidently, some people like it]. Another installment in the 10-part series “How I Write A Script.” PART 5: PLOTTING This is another part
Great Characters: Brooks Hatlen (“The Shawshank Redemption”) We may tend to think of Mentor characters as sage men and women, spouting off wisdom in memorable aphorisms. But there are all types of Mentors (as there are all archetypes). And in Brooks Hatlen in The Shawshank Redemption, we have a unique one: What I call a Dark Mentor.
Daily Dialogue — July 1, 2011 “My name is Frank Taylor, I’m a co-pilot for Pan Am airlines. I’d like to cash this check here, then I’d like take you out for a steak dinner.” — Frank (Leondard DiCaprio), Catch Me If You Can (2002), screenplay by Jeff Nathason, based on a book
Spec Script Sale: “Cristo” Warner Bros. with a preemptive purchase of the science fiction adventure script “Cristo” from writer Ian Shorr. Via First Showing: Warner Bros. has picked up a script from Ian Shorr (Splinter) called Cristo, which takes Alexandre Dumas’ classic adventure novel The Count of Monte Cristo into a futuristic setting. A
Spec Script Sale: “Lamb of God” Mandate Pictures acquires comedy script “Lamb of God” from writer Diablo Cody. Per Deadline: The comedy follows a young conservative religious woman who loses her faith after a plane crash. She decides to go to Vegas and live the life of a sinner, and somehow finds her faith along the
“Every Michael Bay Movie in Under a Minute” In honor of Transformers 3 which is currently taking over the box office universe, this ‘homage’ to director Michael Bay from CollegeHumor.com: Comment Archive
Die, Conventional Wisdom, Die!!! Per THR, Bridesmaids is now or soon will be: * The biggest grossing R-rated female comedy of all time, passing Sex in the City. * The biggest grossing Judd Apatow movie (he produced Bridesmaids) of all time, passing even Knocked Up. * The biggest grossing R-rated Universal Pictures movie of all
How I Write A Script, Part 4: Character Development [NOTE: This series is one of the most frequently visited on the site, so once a year, I like to put a spotlight on it because evidently, some people like it]. Another installment in the 10-part series “How I Write A Script.” PART 4: CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT I’m compartmentalizing
The Business of Screenwriting: Cynicism The screenwriter is droning on and on about how he got screwed.”It was a great script. Seriously. Sold it as a pitch. Sold it in the room. Went off and totally nailed the story. Everybody loved the script. I mean… everybody.” This declaration is made with no joy, no
Spec Script Sale: “Singularity” Sony buys another sci-fi spec script spectacle “Singularity” from Roland Emmerich and Harold Kloser. From Deadline no logline, but the studio has already committed to this release date: May 17, 2013. Emmerich and Kloser are repped by CAA. By my count this is the 42nd spec script to sell
Interview: Justin Malen (“Bastards”) Script magazine snagged an interview with Justin Malen who sold the spec script “Bastards” just two weeks ago (my post here). Some excerpts from the interview: SCRIPT: How did you get the idea for Bastards? JUSTIN MALEN: I actually had the germ of the idea a year ago. I was
Movie Trailer: “War Horse” Follows a young man named Albert and his horse, Joey, and how their bond is broken when Joey is sold to the cavalry and sent to the trenches of World War One. Despite being too young to enlist, Albert heads to France to save his friend. Literally tens of thousands
How I Write A Script, Part 3: Research [NOTE: This series is one of the most frequently visited on the site, so once a year, I like to put a spotlight on it because evidently, some people like it]. Another installment in the 10-part series “How I Write A Script.” PART 3: RESEARCH This generally goes hand-
Screenwriting 101: Robert Benton “David [Newman] and I felt that the line dividing a criminal and an upright citizen is much more subtle than most people realize, and certainly more subtle than most movies in those days led us to believe. We made a set of decisions, the first of which was to not
Daily Dialogue — June 29, 2011 What’s so great about the scene is it’s the first time they touch in private. And she’s looking away from him, out the window of the truck in the sandstorm, and, as the scene progresses, he lifts his hand and just barely touches her hair. It’s
“The cave you fear to enter holds the treasure you seek” “The cave you fear to enter holds the treasure you seek.” — Joseph Campbell (1904 –1987) Mythologist, Writer, Lecturer As most of you know, I’m an acolyte of Joseph Campbell, having studied him first when I was an undergraduate at the University of Virginia, then later at Yale, and eventually
