Reader Question: How does an American become a British TV writer? Open forum question from a Tweet by AmyRButler: here’s one for you — how does an American become a British TV writer? :) It’s safe to assume, Amy, that you’re an American living in England? Because if you aren’t, I’d say you have zero chance of writing
“A Film-by-Film Tour Through Development Hell” The Wrap gives this rundown of a number of high-profile movies in various stages of development hell. Here’s the list: COMING SOON TO A THEATER NEAR YOU The Tourist Moneyball Stretch Armstrong SHOWING SIGNS OF LIFE On the Road The Secret Life of Walter Mitty STUCK IN PURGATORY
“The TCM Classic Film Festival, a showcase of movies past, points to the future” Posted on the TCM Film Festival yesterday: The TCM Classic Film Festival will be a landmark celebration of the history of Hollywood and its movies, presented in a way that only TCM can, with major events, celebrity appearances and screenings of classic films: The Festival will cover a wide range
A Story Idea Each Day for a Month — Day 26 Here’s a comedy premise waiting to be exploited: Fake ad for an orgy leads to arrest: HARTFORD, Conn. — A Connecticut man who was feuding with his neighbor targeted her in an explicit online posting that invited strangers to a rowdy orgy with a bored soccer mom, police said. Philip
Daily Dialogue — April 26, 2010 Gogol Ganguli: [after being told the origin of his name] Baba, is that what you think of when you think of me? Do I remind you of that night? Ashoke Ganguli: Not at all. You remind me of everything that followed. Everyday since then has been a gift… Gogol. — Gogol
Reader Question: Is there a danger in having a ‘good’ antagonist until the last act? Second open forum question via email from Eric Daley: 2. Is there any danger of having an antagonist ‘good’ and ‘sympathetic’ until the last act? In my attempt to make a ‘real’ character, one of my antagonists isn’t really ‘bad’ until near the end, and I’m worried the
Dr. Strangelove Thanks to Filmmakeriq.com for finding this: Phone interviews with George C. Scott and Peter Sellers in relation to Dr. Strangelove: Or How I Stopped Worrying and Loved the Bomb: Dr. Strangelove is one of my favorite top 5 movies of all-time, arguably the best satire ever produced. Plus
A new version of “Metropolis” 83 years after its initial release, “Metropolis” is being reissued starting today. The most influential of all silent films — and a blueprint for future classics like Blade Runner and The Matrix — Fritz Lang’s visionary Metropolis can finally be seen as intended, with 25 minutes of newly — discovered footage and
Interesting short film: “The Raven” The trend of high-quality short films featuring superior post effects continues. There was “Panic Attack”: Then “The Gift”: Now there’s “The Raven”: Director : Ricardo de Montreuil Producers: Ricardo de Montreuil & Eliz Eskeranli Writers: Ricardo de Montreuil & Antonio Perez Cinematographer: Andres Sanchez Music by: Angelo Milli Special
A Story Idea Each Day for a Month — Day 25 Want a set-up for a sci-fi movie? How about this: Mystery radio waves emitted from nearby galaxy: There is something strange in the cosmic neighbourhood. An unknown object in the nearby galaxy M82 has started sending out radio waves, and the emission does not look like anything seen
Video Interview: Gary Ross Today’s interview is with writer-director Gary Ross. His writing credits include Big (1988), Mr. Baseball (1992), Dave (1993), Pleasantville (1998), Seabiscuit (2003), and The Tale of Despereaux (2008). In these excerpts from AFI, Ross talks about his approach to writing and his reactions to a couple of current
Daily Dialogue — April 25, 2010 “I know what you’re thinking. “Did he fire six shots or only five?” Well, to tell you the truth, in all this excitement I kind of lost track myself. But being as this is a .44 Magnum, the most powerful handgun in the world, and would blow your head
Reader Question: What to do with two characters who serve the same purpose? Open forum question via email from Eric Daley: I’ve got a few questions, that I was hoping you could answer on your blog. 1. I’ve got two supporting characters that serve the same purpose: Moral support/best friend to Male Lead and Female Lead. What’s the best
“Alien” prequel? That’s what Moviesblog.MTV.com indicates in this conversation with Ridley Scott: All the way back in June of last year we heard that plans were gearing up to unleash an “Alien” prequel on the world. Now, almost a full year later, we’ve got some news from Ridley
Chris Nolan doing research for “Inception” A viral thing Warner Bros. is doing to promote Nolan’s new movie Inception. Per the The Vulture: Christopher Nolan’s Inception, which stars Leonardo DiCaprio as a guy who steals dreams from high-powered business types, is now rolling out the geek-bait viral videos. In the clip below,
A Story Idea Each Day for a Month — Day 24 I’m sure you all saw this news item: Porn star won’t challenge Vitter for La. Senate: NEW ORLEANS — Louisiana-born porn star Stormy Daniels announced Thursday that she will not run for U.S. Senate in her home state, ending a yearlong flirtation with politics that began as
Written Interview: Floria Sigismondi (The Runaways) Today’s written interview is with Floria Sigismondi who wrote and directed the recently released music-drama The Runaways. A story overview per IMDB: The movie chronicles THE RUNAWAYS from 1975–1977; formed by teenage girls living near Hollywood, CA., and heavily manipulated by their manager Kim Fowley as ‘jailbait
Daily Dialogue — April 24, 2010 “Too many men have died at its edge. It may look pure, but only because blood washes so easily from its blade.” — Li Mu Bai (Yun-Fat Chow), Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000), screenplay by Hui-Ling Wang and James Schamus and Kuo Jung Tsai, based on a book by
“Deathgames” update You may remember this post: I’ve been teaching screenwriting since 2002. Any of you who teach know how exciting it is when a student achieves some success in the field. So I am pleased to announce that Mike Hultquist, who took several online screenwriting courses with me, has a
Reader Question: Can writing a character bio get in the way of one’s creative process? What if the bio veers away from the writer’s conscious take on the character? A question via email from Hamilton Hollands: My question is do you think that when writing the character bios before writing the first draft, that this can potentially get in the way of the story
Daily Dialogue theme for next week Heading down the home stretch of this week’s Daily Dialogue theme: Characters talking about a weapon as suggested by Peter Dwight. Next week’s theme comes from a suggestion by JD Walters: How about poignant father-son exchanges? Examples: The Namesake Gogol Ganguli: [after being told the origin of
The Kid in the Front Row: “Erupt With Enthusiasm and Drive” Evidently TKITFR was inspired by the recent ash-spewing event in Iceland: Today. Now. Now is the time to erupt into action. Life is always in the way and life always has problems. There is no such thing as a perfect day or a peaceful day, there are just days.
Rob’s Finds It’s time for “Rob’s Finds,” more of the different and unusual courtesy of Rob Fuller and his dumpster diving on the Web. First scifiwire.com offers an homage of sorts to the controversial movie Kick Ass: Jar Jar Binks and 15 more “Kick-Ass” sci-fi movie controversies:
A Story Idea Each Day for a Week — Day 23 Okay, this sounds like a cool new technology: Imagine instant access to the latest market segment information at a meeting, or seeing the fourth quarter earnings for a company in (literally) the blink of an eye. Although it might sound like something from a science fiction novel, scientists at the
