Video interview: Roberto Orci & Alex Kurtzman Talk about alternate timelines, allowing them to do “both a sequel and a prequel.” Alex Kurtzman & Bob Orci Interview — Star Trek from FirstShowing.net on Vimeo. Comment Archive
SnagFilms free docs on IMDB.com For all you documentary fans, this is good news: SnagFilms, which brings the best nonfiction films to the web audience, and IMDb.com, the Web’s most comprehensive and authoritative site on movies, television and celebrities, today announced that IMDb’s 57 million monthly visitors will be able to access
Interview: John Brancato and Michael Ferris WGA.org has a nice interview with the screenwriting team of John D. Brancato and Michael Ferris: John D. Brancato and Michael Ferris, the writing team responsible for the jauntily apocalyptic Terminator: Rise of the Machines, were tapped to pen this new chapter — one designed not only to continue the
Spec script sale: “O’Gunn” As part of its PR at Cannes, Reliance Entertainment announced the purchase of the comedy spec script “O’Gunn” from writers Ed Cannistraci and Fred Seton: Jim Carrey is attached to star, and his company will produce. Carrey will play a psychopathic Scottish cop who follows his nemesis to America
“The spec script as asset”: The Sequel Recently I posted this about the value of a spec script, even if it doesn’t sell. More evidence to support my point in today’s Hollywood Reporter: Michael Eisner and his Tornante Co. have tapped newcomer Mark Hammer to pen a feature adaptation of “Bazooka Joe,” the comic strip
Friday movie reviews Terminator: Salvation (Warner Bros.) Daily Variety (John Anderson) Los Angeles Times (Betsy Sharkey) New York Times (A.O. Scott) Dance Flick (Paramount) Daily Variety (Peter Debruge) Hollywood Reporter (Michael Rechtshaffen) Los Angeles Times (Glenn Whipp) New York Times (Stephen Holden) Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian (Fox) Daily
“Foreign Films Get a Hand From Hollywood” I knew Hwood studios had opened international production divisions some years ago, but I had no idea the amount of business they are doing as this NY Times article explains: Hollywood has certainly not given up on exporting its own, U.S.-made fare. Blockbusters are as popular as ever
Great Scene: “Network” “I’m as mad as hell and I’m not going to take this anymore!” The WGA has an annual honor called The Paddy Chayefsky Laurel Award. And even though it’s for writers who work in TV, where Chayefsky ruled during its so-called “Golden Age,” there is no
“Judge cites legal eagle Carl Spackler to critique Giuliani claim” In what must be a first, a U.S. District Court judge has used actual dialogue from the movie Caddyshack to buttress his legal argument. As reported by Jay Busbee in this article at Yahoo Sports: With enough shoehorned golf metaphors to make even Rick Reilly gag, a U.S.
Fast Company feature: J.J. Abrams Fast Company ranks J.J. Abrams as the 14th most creative person in business: J.J. Abrams warps Time at will. Past, present, and future coexist as a kind of fluid that cannot be contained. The camera jumps back and forth in time. Characters age and grow younger again. Time
Poem: “Durum Wheat” From today’s Writers Almanac, this wonderful poem by Lisa Martin-Demoor: DURUM WHEAT Memory at its finest lacks corroboration — no photographs, no diaries — nothing to pin the past on the present with, to make it stick. Just because you’ve got this idea of red fields stretching along the
Spec script option: “Looking for Norma Desmond” High Road Entertainment has optioned “Looking for Norma Desmond” by writer Ross Schwartz: The script takes inspiration from the Hollywood classic “Sunset Boulevard” in telling the complicated love story of a struggling writer and the aging former starlet whose comeback he engineers. In “Sunset,” Gloria Swanson played fading star Desmond,
“Dalton Trumbo: Rare tribute to blacklisted screenwriter” For those of you in LA, Patrick Goldstein reports on a cinematic tribute to screenwriter Dalton Trumbo: Dalton Trumbo, who’s one of the most fascinating figures from mid-20th century Hollywood, is getting a new moment in the spotlight, thanks to a three-day tribute from the American Cinematheque
Movie Story Type: Heist Movies Story Type: Heist Movies In Hollywood movie circles, there are genres like Horror or Science Fiction, cross genres like Action-Thriller or Drama-Comedy, and sub-genres like Romantic Comedy or Mystery Thriller. Then there are story types, a shorthand way to describe a specific narrative conceit that is almost
“The Beav” TrackingBoard is reporting this script is out to buyers: THE BEAV Written by: Les Thomas A raunchy teen sex comedy about a 17 year old boy who magically wakes up one morning with a vagina! Another example that we’re very near the end of civilization… Comment Archive
“DVD downturn panics film industry” Patrick Goldstein provides this analysis of the movie DVD business: If box office is booming, why are so many top studio executives brooding about the future of the movie business? Let’s just say that in today’s increasingly complex film world, the cinema gods giveth at almost exactly the
Screenwriting 101 — Harold Ramis “For me, a screenplay starts with something I can tell other people in five minutes. If you’re pitching a movie and it takes longer than five minutes, there’s something wrong. That economy seems to have really worked for me. The more detail I include in my pitch, the
“Dan Aykroyd says ‘Ghostbusters 3’ may start filming in winter” We posted on this possibility last August. And now it appears closer to happening per Geoff Boucher’s “Hero’s Complex” column for the LA Times: I just visited with Dan Aykroyd over at the House of Blues on the Sunset Strip for an interview for an upcoming feature in
“I feel like quitting writing” If you aren’t a subscriber to Salon.com, you should be. Lots of great columnists including Cary Tennis whose daily advice column “Since You Asked” is worth the price of admission all by itself. Take today’s letter: Dear Cary, I am at a crossroads, but any choice of
Pitch sale: Untitled Steve Brill project 20th Century Fox picks up untitled comedy pitch from writer-director Steve Brill: The untitled Fox project revolves around a wealthy older couple who, after losing all their money in a Wall Street Ponzi scheme are forced to move in with their loser son. Brill’s writing credits include The
Hollywood tales “Speaking about the movie-going public, Peter Hoffman said, ‘They want crap. Every time people tell you they don’t, it’s bullshit. They want crap.’” — Peter Hoffman, Chief Executive, Carolco Pictures (now defunct), Los Angeles Times (12/21/1990) Comment Archive
“Why film schools teach screenwriters not to pass the Bechdel test” H/t to Kate E for passing along this post from the blog The Hathor Legacy: The Search for Good Female Characters: While writing Female characters exist to promote male leads for network profits, I realized something I had never quite put together in so many words. It’s important
Analysis: Star Trek A week late, but I did get to see Star Trek this weekend — and like so many of the reviews have said, it is a terrific movie. I’ve got several observations so: SPOILER ALERT!!!!! If you don’t want to learn some of the story’s key plot points:
Trailer: Funny People We pimped Judd Apatow’s newest movie Funny People here. Now you can see the trailer: Comment Archive
On writing “If you think writers create from nothing or that writing is a lonely occupation, you are wrong. Writers create from life, and writers are never lonely. Whenever I get writer’s stasis (never ever use the ‘b’ word), I put on a comfortable pair of shoes and take off walking.
