“How Writers Create Their Fiction”: Mary Gaitskill I uncovered this month-long NPR series “How Writers Create Their Fiction”, originally run in November 2006. I found many of the ideas presented by the various writers to be informative and inspirational, so we’ll be featuring one writer from the series per day during February. Today’s writer
Daily Dialogue — February 7, 2010 “Is it safe?” — Szell (Laurence Olivier), Marathon Man (1976), screenplay by William Goldman, based on his novel Daily Dialogue theme this week: notable questions in dialogue from GITS reader Greg Colburn. Comment Archive
“The Museum of SuperNatural History” This is interesting: No, it’s not a hot new sushi restaurant or Japanese beer. Musunahi — familiar to Web denizens enamored with the spooky, suspicious and bizarre — is the Web site otherwise known as the Museum of SuperNatural History, and DreamWorks Studios sees feature potential there. This is about the
Profile: The Coen Brothers (Part 1) Trevor Hogg is back with another great profile on FlickeringMyth.com: The Coen Brothers. An excerpt: Using a Super 8 camera, Joel and his younger brother Ethan were inspired to remake the Hollywood movies being broadcasted on television; their naivety about motion picture production did not hinder their innovative spirit
“How Writers Create Their Fiction”: Myla Goldberg I uncovered this month-long NPR series “How Writers Create Their Fiction”, originally run in November 2006. I found many of the ideas presented by the various writers to be informative and inspirational, so we’ll be featuring one writer from the series per day during February. Today’s writer
Daily Dialogue — February 6, 2010 “You think I don’t appreciate art? You think I don’t understand fashion? You think I’m not hip? You think I’m pathetic? A nerd? A lard-ass fatso? You think I’m shit? Well, you’re wrong. ’Cause I’m champagne, and you’re shit. And till
“It is WILD when your characters speak to you, and really lonely when it they don’t.” This is a comment from one of students — James — in the online screenwriting course I’m currently teaching. And I thought it really captured the emo-coaster that is a writer’s life: “It is WILD when your characters speak to you, and really lonely when it they don’t.
“20 Greatest Extended Takes In Movies” Mike Le, who offered up this list about the 20 greatest movies about writers, has another list at GeekWeek.com: “20 Greatest Extended Takes In Movies”: The extended take or long take is the first time I noticed a filmmaker articulating cinematic space and pushing his/her desire for notions
Spec Script Sale: “ATM” Fresh off the sale of his movie Buried at Sundance, writer Chris Sparling sells spec thriller “ATM” to the Safran Co. and Gold Circle Films. Via Variety: Project centers on three co-workers who — on a routine stop at an ATM — unexpectedly end up in a desperate fight for their
Rob’s Finds Back for another weekly installment of “Rob’s Finds,” a compilation of the weird and wild movie-related stuff GITS contributor Rob Fuller finds on the Web. To kick things off, how about something to arouse your taste buds: “World’s Strangest Movie Theater Snacks”. By country you’ve got:
“How Writers Create Their Fiction”: Jeanne Birdsall I uncovered this month-long NPR series “How Writers Create Their Fiction”, originally run in November 2006. I found many of the ideas presented by the various writers to be informative and inspirational, so we’ll be featuring one writer from the series per day during February. Today’s writer
Great Scene: “Chinatown” Jake wrangles a shocking truth from Evelyn. It’s often referred to as a “perfect script”: Chinatown, written by Robert Towne (with uncredited contributions from director Roman Polanski). Looked at one way, it’s simply a murder mystery, but there’s nothing simple about this movie’s plot or the
Daily Dialogue — February 5, 2010 “Are you gonna bark all day, little doggy, or are you gonna bite?” — Mr. Blonde (Michael Marsden), Reservoir Dogs (1992), written and directed by Quentin Tarantino Daily Dialogue theme this week: notable questions in dialogue from GITS reader Greg Colburn.
What’s your take on story structure? On The GITS Club, Mike Scherer posted this (re-posted with Mike’s approval): Over the past five years I have read dozens of books on screenwriting, searched hundreds of Web pages for tips and techniques, and spent a lot of time just plain THINKING (another excuse not to write)
John August: “10 Hints for Index Cards” H/T to Canadian Nick for the heads-up to this post from screenwriter John August: I’m outlining a project right now, and thought it would be a good time to review best practices for index cards. 1. Keep it short. Maximum seven words per card. 2. A card
The Golden Raspberry nominations are out! And here they are: Leading the pack among this year’s RAZZIE® contenders are one of the year’s biggest money-makers and the year’s biggest money-loser, each with seven nods. RAZZIE® Repeat Offender Michael Bay helped lead the over-loud, over-long, uber-stupid TRANSFORMERS: REVENGE OF
“How Writers Create Their Fiction”: Alice Hoffman I uncovered this month-long NPR series “How Writers Create Their Fiction”, originally run in November 2006. I found many of the ideas presented by the various writers to be informative and inspirational, so we’ll be featuring one writer from the series per day during February. Today’s writer
A request for help from GITS readers A request from one of my students in an online line I’m currently teaching. He originally requested the script for The Messengers: Actually it is not so much that I want The Messengers, or The Return (however The Return has some personal meaning to me, loss of a soul
Scene Description Spotlight: “Saving Private Ryan” I doubt anyone who has seen Saving Private Ryan (written by Robert Rodat, directed bySteven Spielberg) will ever forget the film’s opening 20 minutes. So incredibly graphic, I can still remember the special ABC’s Ted Koppel did with some of the Normandy invasion survivors, screening the movie with
Daily Dialogue — February 4, 2010 “All right, but apart from the sanitation, medicine, education, wine, public order, irrigation, roads, the fresh water system and public health, what have the Romans ever done for us?” — Reg (John Cleese), The Life O Brian (1979), written by Graham Chapman & John Cleese & Terry Gilliam & Eric Idle
The GITS Club: A discussion about format If you haven’t visited the new peer review site The GITS Club, I recommend it. Even if you don’t have script pages or loglines you want to get feedback on, there are several interesting discussions going on there right now. For instance, here is a post by napolyphonic:
Reader Question: How to build a powerful Nemesis? Some keys for crafting a worthy Nemesis. A reader question via email from Ray Ballinger: Thank you for this site, you are so generous. I was wondering if you have anything on building a powerful villain. That’s a huge question, not only because of the importance of a good
“The 13 Worst Movie Taglines Ever Written” From The Huffington Post: “Wow. Just wow.” That’s the tagline of this slideshow. When we set out to collect these, we had no idea how bad they’d be. Killer dolphins, math fails, title contradictions, they’re all here. If you know of one we missed, shoot us an
Calling all “Lost” fans! Exclusive interviews! Clif Armstrong, one of my co-workers at Trailblazer Studios, who I think could be fairly called a “fanboy,” just got back from a trip-of-a-lifetime to Hawaii where he worked on this: Clif was part of the crew that shot tons of footage with the cast and
“How Writers Create Their Fiction”: Curtis Sittenfeld I uncovered this month-long NPR series “How Writers Create Their Fiction”, originally run in November 2006. I found many of the ideas presented by the various writers to be informative and inspirational, so we’ll be featuring one writer from the series per day during February. Today’s writer
