Daily Dialogue — July 25, 2010 “Out out brief candle. Life’s but walking shadow. A poor player, who struts and frets his hour upon the stage, and then is heard no more.” — Macbeth (Sam Worthington), Macbeth (2006), screenplay by Victoria Hill and Geoffrey Wright, based on the play by William Shakespeare The Daily Dialogue theme
Reader question: What do I need to do if I want to adapt a book into a screenplay? From Benjamin: hey scott — i just read a book that would be a perfect movie. what are my options as a rookie screenwriter if i want to write the adaptation? should i take the idea to a production company who could aquire the rights? contact the author? write the adaptation?
Daily Dialogue theme for next week? For Day 3 of the “40 Days of Screenplays” challenge, the featured script was Some Like It Hot. And as part of the discussion, we hit on the final line of dialogue in the movie: Finally there’s this movie trivia: The now-famous closing line, “Nobody’s perfect,” was
Written Interview: Ernest Lehman This is a fascinating interview which you simply must read. Ernest Lehman was one of the most critically lauded and commercially successful screenwriters in Hollywood. In a writing career that spanned three decades, Lehman wrote many notable movies including Sabrina (1954), The King and I (1956), North by Northwest (1959)
Daily Dialogue — July 24, 2010 “I have rid England of her enemies. What do I do now? Am I to be made of stone? Must I be touched by nothing?” — Elizabeth (Cate Blanchett), Elizabeth (1998), written by Michael Hirst The Daily Dialogue theme for the week is kings, queens, princes, and princesses. Trivia: 1998 was
Reader Question: Could you provide some insight into the script development process? A question from Point Break: I have a few questions. As rewriting is an art and not a science, when should an agent/manager/prod-co get involved in the process? We all get scripts to a stage where we think it is ready for people to read them. It’
“11 Movie Dream Sequences Explained” In the spirit of Inception, TotalFilm has put together this list: We’ve rounded up some of the most famous dream sequences in the movies. We’re gonna tell you what they might mean… And then a psychologist will reveal what they’re really all about. Special guest shrink Dr
“Inception”: The shooting script You can buy it in book form. Here. Note: It’s backordered and available on 9/1. Comment Archive
Great Scene: “Magnolia” (Linda’s meltdown) I’ve already featured one Great Scene from Magnolia here — the famous frog scene. But the movie is full of memorable moments worthy of attention, including this one: INT. PHARMACY - THAT MOMENT The YOUNG PHARMACY KID is stacking some stuff away while waiting for the PHARMACIST to finish filling the
Daily Dialogue — July 23, 2010 Kyoami: A serpent’s egg is white and pure. A bird’s is speckled and soiled. Hidetora: This is a castle… Here’s a wall. Kyoami: The bird left the speckled egg for the white. Hidetora: Strange… Kyoami: The egg cracks; out comes a snake. Hidetora: Empty space above the
Comic-Con: Abrams & Whedon A little taste of some CC goodness: - The Whedon faithful (this reporter included) were definitely stoked to be hearing the soundtrack from “Once More with Feeling,” the musical episode of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” as we waited for the panel to begin. - Abrams greeted the crowd with a “Yo!” The
Reader Question: What should I do if a project sells in Hwood that is similar to a script I’m… Reader Question: What should I do if a project sells in Hollywood which is similar to a script I’m writing? Before you jump, step back from the ledge, and consider the following. From an Anonymous GITS Reader: Big fan of your site. Easily one of the best screenwriter sites
“Cinema’s 50 greatest flops, follies, and failures” Okay, we’ve debated Inception here, here, and here. That’s probably enough for now. I hope to find the time to finish a post I started with my own take on the movie — hopefully have that next week. So let’s move onto other things to get all roiled
Movie Trailer: “Devil” A new movie debuts on September 17: Devil. Here’s its trailer: An interesting subplot re Devil: One of the producers of the movie is M. Night Shyamalan, who is credited with the story, and it is the first in his Night Chronicle series. You can learn more about that
Comic-Con begins today! The 2010 version of Comic-Con starts in San Diego today. For those of you perhaps unfamiliar with the event, here is an article at TheWrap that provides some perspective: Some things really do get better with age. There’s Scotch, Hillary Clinton and, 40 years after it first modestly
Scene Description Spotlight: “Some Like It Hot” Many older screenplays from the 40s and 50s are written in a style that makes them hard to read — loaded with directing notes, lots of parentheticals, and big blocks of scene description. However scripts by Billy wilder & I.A.L. “Izzy” Diamond read like they were written pretty much
Daily Dialogue — July 22, 2010 The King: [after a tender kiss from Buttercup] What was that for? Buttercup: Because you’ve always been so kind to me, and I’ll never see you again, because I’m killing myself as soon as we reach the Bridal Suite. The King: Won’t that be nice? [Pointing]
Reader Question: Did you ever keep going on a spec script even when you felt like the project would not sell? I got an email from Lee Mathias about this post on his writing blog “The Last Reveal,” suggesting it might make a good reader question: So, anybody out there ever write a script, and then, after seeing the latest blockbuster, conclude that the script you wrote is so far off
Must read post by Josh Friedman Josh Friedman hasn’t posted a blog entry since 2009, but this one is a doozy. Here’s a taste: Last Sunday night the wife and I were sound asleep at 1145pm after a night of Entourage, True Blood and Schadenfreude. Because I have the iPhone4 and thus cannot use
“Inception” reactions (cont’d) Ryan H. from yesterday’s Inception thread: Devin’s analysis is a lot of nonsense. Sure, he’s spot on about the “filmmaking” subtext, but on his major point, he’s talking nonsense. You’d do better to read the recent interview with Dileep Rao (who plays Yusef in INCEPTION)
Pitch Sale: “It Takes A Village” CBS Films and Sony Pictures drop six figures on Keenen Ivory Wayans for his comedy pitch “It Takes A Village”: The family theme makes the film a departure for Wayans. From his raucous sketch show creation In Living Color to his subsequent feature comedies, family-friendly meant lining the cast
Screenwriting 101: Scott Alexander “My real life is totally inhibited: A cliched domestic existence, happily playing in my yard with my wife and kids. But through the scripts, I’m able to act out and scream at everything that bugs me. The loudmouths vent on my behalf. Obviously, I’m not the first to
Daily Dialogue — July 21, 2010 “The poor have only one advantage; they know when they are loved for themselves.” — Anastasia (Ingrid Bergman), Anastasia (1956), screenplay by Arthur Laurents, based on a play by Marcelle Maurette The Daily Dialogue theme for the week is kings, queens, princes, and princesses. Trivia: When the remains of the Romanov
Reader Question: How to create genuinely unique character voices? As opposed to the characters all sounding alike… or like the writer. A question from Atlanta: Hello Scott! As ever, thank you so much for your wonderful blog, it is my respite and delight several times each day. My question: Do you have any tips and insights into creating genuinely
McGuffin by Hitchcock A cool video from FilmmakerIQ, where Alfred Hitchcock explains the concept of a “McGuffin”: http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=12375002&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=&fullscreen=1 For those of you who don’t
