Daily Dialogue — June 6, 2010 Captain Hollister: [referring to Charlie] When we find out all we need to know from her… John Rainbird: …when you give her to me. Captain Hollister: [after a pause] What are you going to do with her? John Rainbird: John, the friendly orderly, will come in. He will greet her,
Mystery Man posts #3 Here’s another great example of Mystery Man at work: During the Moneyball controversy, MM took it upon himself to actually read the two drafts of the script — from Soderbergh and Zaillian [9/19]: I’ve been tracking the Moneyball fiasco for a while: here, here, and here. But Mystery
Mystery Man posts #2 Some more MM posts I featured on GITS: Mystery Man On Film talks about active and passive verbs, and Stephen King to boot in “The Timid Screenwriter” [3/19/09]: Not long ago, I reread Stephen King’s how-to diatribe, On Writing. In fact, I read quite a few
Mystery Man website For those of you who don’t have it bookmarked, here is MM’s website. MM started Tweeting just last year instead of blogging, however the MM website has — to my knowledge — all of MM’s blog posts, a wealth of information. UPDATE: Per terraling in comments: Hi Scott this
Mystery Man posts #1 Here are some of the posts by Mystery Man I’ve featured over the years: And finally Mystery Man on Film links to a Slate article that explains various producing titles [2/26/09]: The top post of “producer” is just the tip of the iceberg, as anyone who’s
Written Interview: Peter Hedges Today’s interview is with writer-director Peter Hedges whose credits include What’s Eating Gilbert Grape (1993) (novel “What’s Eating Gilbert Grape?”) (screenplay), A Map of the World (1999) (screenplay), About a Boy (2002) (screenplay), Pieces of April (2003) (written by), Dan in Real Life (2007) (written by)
Daily Dialogue — June 5, 2010 Abigail Freemantle: This is God’s will, given me as I wandered in my own wilderness. Draw close around me. You four men are to go west, to take no food or water, but to go this very day in the clothes you now wear. You are to go on
Mystery Man news I just received this email: Hello, my name is Rebekah. I was “Mystery Man’s” administrative assistant for a number of years. Unfortunately, he passed away not long ago. I’m terribly sorry. He made it his express wish not to reveal his identity. Before he passed away, he had
“What If Jaws Were Made Today” From Chud: Once a year you should revisit Jaws and remind yourself of how it’s done. A perfect movie, Jaws is just as effective and amazing today — on my hundredth or so viewing — as it was when it was first released. There’s very little in Jaws that has
Rob’s Finds Rob Fuller is back with more discoveries. First from TotalFilm: After a snap of the film’s billboard from Cannes a few weeks back, Fox have released an official hi-res version for us to pore over. Really, it’s what you’d expect — a modern update of the tale’
Spec Script Sale: “Wake” Spec Script Deal: “Wake” Per THR, Hammer Films buys spec script “Wake” from writer Chris Borrelli: The project has franchise aspirations and has been a described as a “Transporter”-style story. Go Into The Story readers may remember Borrelli from the spec he sold last year in a bidding war
Spec Script Sale: “Layover” Endgame Entertainment buys action thriller spec “Layover” from “rookie screenwriter” Zach Dean. Per Variety: Dean, who up until recently taught film at a New York City high school, has been drawing heat off his edgy contemporary Western spec “Kin.” With the gritty urban tone of “Heat” and “Taken,” the new
Great Scenes: “Contact” One of the most critical tasks for a screenwriter in writing a story’s set-up is to convey to the reader something of the core essence of the Protagonist. Not only that, but provide the reader some type of emotional resonance with the P. If you can do those
Daily Dialogue — June 4, 2010 Paul Edgecomb: What do you want me to do John? You want me to let you run out of here, see how far you can get? John Coffey: Why would you do such a foolish thing? Paul Edgecomb: On the day of my judgment, when I stand before God, and
Q&A with “Script for Sale” director Marie Tang I’ve been tracking the story of the documentary “Script for Sale” since last week. I first posted on it here: What a wonderful story: Ben Resella wants to sell a screenplay. Not an unusual dream, but Ben has already “made it” once in Hollywood. For decades he worked on
Pixar Revealed! Finally the truth! The latest issue of Creative Screenwriting has an article called “Inside Pixar’s Toy Chest” by Danny Munso. It features Toy Story 3 screenwriter Michael Arndt and the inside scoop on how Pixar does what they do: Make one great freaking movie after another! First allow me
Not enough sequels? Remember this from yesterday: Hollywood still hopes to shake off early symptoms, but there is spreading concern that the summer boxoffice will be plagued by a nasty case of sequelitis. — — Reaction to the latest disappointments came swiftly. “There very well could be some burnout with moviegoers, who are looking for
Online Information Sites: It’s On The Grid The amount and quality of information online about the Hollywood movie business nowadays is remarkable. Writers from anywhere in the world can track the progress of a spec script all the way from its submission to acquisition through development and into production. Some sites have been around for years, while
“James Bond Aston Martin For Sale” Per Huff Po: LONDON — The Aston Martin driven by Sean Connery in the James Bond movies is going on sale at a London auction in October. The silver 1964 Aston Martin DB5, dubbed by car auctioneers RM Auctions as “the world’s most famous car,” is expected to fetch at
Scene Description Spotlight: “The African Queen” Today a blast from the past: An excerpt from the shooting script for the movie The African Queen (1951), adapted from the C.S. Forrester novel by James Agee and John Huston (Peter Viertel’s name is on the script, but he received no formal credit). This script was written
Daily Dialogue — June 3, 2010 John Shooter: You stole my story. Mort: I’m… I’m sorry, do I… I don’t believe I know you. John Shooter: I know that, that doesn’t matter, I know you Mr. Rainey, that’s what matters. You stole my story. [holding out his manuscript to Mort] Mort:
Movie Titles From Music (Cont’d): The Clash First blogger Michael Stark came up with some movie titles from songs by Warren Zevon. Now he weighs in with movies inspired by The Clash. Here’s a taste: Yes, I’m graciously giving away more of my infinite screenwriting wisdom gratis. Like Cinderella’s slipper, finding the prefect fitting
“Are moviegoers tiring of sequels?” Per THR: Hollywood still hopes to shake off early symptoms, but there is spreading concern that the summer boxoffice will be plagued by a nasty case of sequelitis. Conditions are ripe: Studios have planted 11 sequels or franchise reboots in the fertile May-August span, up from nine last summer
Online Information Sites: Film News Briefs The amount and quality of information online about the Hollywood movie business nowadays is remarkable. Writers from anywhere in the world can track the progress of a spec script all the way from its submission to acquisition through development and into production. Some sites have been around for years, while
Screenwriting 101: Jeff Nathanson “I think the key is to do just enough research. A big mistake people make is to over-research, and it seems to show in the movies. You’re getting too much information, or scenes seem to be about exactly how they made a horseshoe in 1850, or whatever it
