Daily Dialogue — July 11, 2010 Dr. Egon Spengler: There’s something very important I forgot to tell you. Dr. Peter Venkman: What? Dr. Egon Spengler: Don’t cross the streams. Dr. Peter Venkman: Why? Dr. Egon Spengler: It would be bad. Dr. Peter Venkman: I’m fuzzy on the whole good/bad thing. What do
Reader Question: What to do when you feel out of touch with your creative energy? A question from Julian Edmund: Scott, I’ve been reading your blog. I’ve been feeling out of touch with my creative energy as of late.Tell me, does this happen to you at all? And how do you get through it? Julian, that is a great question and I’
Comic-Con 2010: Day 3 (7/24) announced The Comic-Con 2010 Day 3 scheduled has just been released today. Here are some sessions that look to be relevant to the craft of writing and storytelling: 10:00–11:00 Spotlight on Carla Speed McNeil — Comic-Con special guest Carla Speed McNeil is best known for her creator-
“The 10 Most Well-Deserved Tosh.O Web Redemptions” From the folks over at Ranker: Every week, Daniel Tosh takes an internet-famous person from a viral internet video and allows them to not only explain themselves, but redeem themselves in front of his television audience. Here are the 10 most well-deserved redemptions, along with the original viral
Saturday Hot Links You want movie blogs? Here are movie blogs, 1200 of them courtesy of TotalFilm. If James Cameron had a nickel for every person who’d visit those movie blogs, he still wouldn’t make as much as he did for Avatar, a cool $350M. Meanwhile with indie films seemingly on
Written Interview: Eric Heisserer Today’s interview is with Eric Heisserer who has amassed an impressive array of screenwriting credits in a short time including A Nightmare on Elm Street (2010) (screenplay), The Thing (2011) (screenplay), Final Destination 5 (2011) (screenplay), and A Nightmare on Elm Street 2 (2012) (writer). In this interview on
Daily Dialogue — July 10 “You met me at a very strange time in my life.” — The Narrator (Edward Norton), Fight Club (1999), screenplay by Jim Uhls, based on the novel by Chuck Palahniuk The Daily Dialogue theme for the week is comic understatements as suggested by Mike. Trivia: Author Chuck Palahniuk has stated that
Comic-Con 2010: Day 2 schedule (7/23) announced I already ‘covered’ the Comic-Con 2010 Day 1 schedule (7/22) for what I thought would be some good sessions relevant to screenwriting and storytelling. Here are possibilities for Day 2 (7/23) which is btw Star Wars day: 10:00–11:00 DK Star Wars: From Banthas to
Reader Question: Where to find spec scripts, not shooting scripts, to read and study? A reader question from Courtney: Scott, Last year I decided to give up on my social life and write a screenplay. : ) Digging around for as much information as I could find I discovered your blog and I truly enjoy it! Sifted through many of your posts then found the challenge…
“18 Memes That Should Be Movies” Another fun list from TotalFilm. A few examples: Hampster Dance The Premise: A struggling musician (James Franco) cannot get a gig, let alone a record deal, but his long-suffering girlfriend sticks by him regardless. He creates a new tune, and notices that his pet hamster starts dancing to it.
Rob’s Finds I may have been away for the last few weeks, but Rob Fuller wasn’t, jamming my emailbox with one great web find after another. So here we go, another installment of Rob’s Finds. Rob starts us out with this: A 1973 letter from “Star Trek” creator Gene Roddenberry
Great Scene: “The Silence of the Lambs” Flashbacks. Overused? Perhaps. But not when they provide a key revelation. Here is the second flashback in the movie The Silence of the Lambs (1991). The first one showed young Clarice happily meeting her father, a town marshal, after work. This flashback reveals that her father died when Clarice was
Daily Dialogue — July 9, 2010 “I’ll kill a man in a fair fight. Or if I think he’s going to start a fair fight. Or if there’s money. Or a woman. Or I don’t like his tone of voice.” — Jayne (Adam Baldwin), Serenity (2005), written by Joss Whedon The Daily Dialogue
Reader Question: Does Hollywood even care about making compelling stories anymore? I hear some variation of this question ALL the time. From GITS reader Matisse: I’ve been attempting to write my own “compelling, entertaining story that can at the same time hold up a mirror to expose social ills and cultural ignorance.” But does Hollywood even care about making these
Comic-Con 2010: Day 1 schedule announced We covered Comic-Con 2009 here, here, here, and here. Last year, the buzz was about Avatar, Iron Man 2, Sherlock Holmes, 2012, and District 9. What about this year (7/22–25)? There’s already a rumor courtesy of Geoff Boucher at the always excellent Hero Complex: This Thursday,
Emmy Nominations announced Here are the writers’ categories: Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series Glee • Pilot — Director’s Cut • FOX • A Ryan Murphy TV Production in association with 20th Century Fox TV Ryan Murphy, Writer Brad Falchuk, Writer Ian Brennan, Writer Modern Family • Pilot • ABC • Twentieth Century Fox Television Steven Levitan, Writer Christopher
Scene Description Spotlight: “Fargo” When is a kidnapping scene funny? When it’s written and directed by the Coen brothers, like in the 1996 Academy Award-winning movie Fargo. The film’s plot per IMDB: Jerry works in his father-in-law’s car dealership and has gotten himself in financial problems. He tries
Daily Dialogue — July 8, 2010 “You killed my family. And I don’t like that kind of thing.” — The Chosen One (Steve Oederkerk), Kung Pow: Enter the Fist (2002), written by Steve Oedekerk The Daily Dialogue theme for the week is comic understatements as suggested by Mike. Trivia: To create the effect of bad dubbing,
Reader Question: What about writing a screenplay and a novel? From GITS reader Bailish: I’m planning a novel and the corresponding screenplay. For maximum impact, how would it be better to release these — concurrently, or one before the other? I realize lead times are highly variable, but can I optimize the process? I’m certainly no expert on book
“16 Awesome Kubrick Works Of Art” From TotalFilm.com, this feature on artist Carlos Ramos and 16 paintings he’s done inspired by the films of Stanley Kubrick. Here are three of them: Forever And Ever The Movie: The Shining The Awesome: Artist Carlos Ramos starts his celebration of Stanley Kubrick’s work with a bang,
“Indie pics rebound may be at hand” Another article that came out during my trip. This one from Variety. Lo and behold! Good news for indie films?!?! Indie film biz watchers have been holding their breath waiting for a winning streak to signal a much-desired resurgence in the sector. Well, they can breathe again, but slowly.
“The 10 Most Baffling “Twilight” Product Tie-Ins” This Salon.com article came out while I was on the road a week ago: The 10 Most Baffling “Twilight” Product Tie-Ins”: This Wednesday, “Twilight: Eclipse” will be unleashed into theaters to the delirious excitement of fans. At this point, the phenomenon has become so enormous it’s difficult
Screenwriting 101 — Stirling Silliphant “The writing is the easiest part of it. The trying period is the period of conceptualization, followed by research. This prewriting time can take anywhere from six months to ten years. But once I know everything there is to know about my characters, the actual writing of the script switches
Daily Dialogue — July 7, 2010 “Juuuussssttt a bit outside.” — Harry Doyle (Bob Uecker), Major League (1989), written by David S. Ward The Daily Dialogue theme for the week is comic understatements as suggested by Mike. Trivia: The opponent slugger known as Yankees home run threat Haywood was played by former pitcher of the Milwaukee Brewers,
Reader Question: Is it typical to hate your script when you’re writing it? But you love having written! From GITS reader Mahmoud: I heard many times of writers who fall in love with their scripts and stories. Their love could blind them from the fact that this whole story is maybe nonsense. Now my question is: Is it normal to hate your script
