2014 Screenwriters Roundtable (Part 7): Chris Borrelli, Brian Duffield, F. Scott Frazier, Chris McCoy, Justin Rhodes, Greg Russo A special treat this week and next as I will be posting excerpts from an extensive screenwriter’s roundtable I did in December 2014 with a group of talented Hollywood screenwriters: Chris Borrelli, Brian Duffield, F. Scott Frazier, Chris McCoy, Justin Rhodes, and Greg Russo. How good are they? Between
Movie Trailer: “Home” Screenplay by Tom J. Astle and Matt Ember, book by Adam Rex When Oh, a loveable misfit from another planet, lands on Earth and finds himself on the run from his own people, he forms an unlikely friendship with an adventurous girl named Tip who is on a quest of
Movies You Made: “Realm” March is Movies You Made month at Go Into The Story where we feature the work of independent filmmakers. Today: Realm from friend of the blog John Swetnam. Realm tells the story of a gifted young woman who has the power to enter the soul of the possessed and battle
On Writing “Engrave this in your brain: EVERY WRITER GETS REJECTED. You will be no different.” — John Scalzi
Daily Dialogue — March 16, 2015 Randolph Duke: [Valentine overhears the Dukes talking in the bathroom] Pay up, Mortimer. I’ve won the bet. Mortimer Duke: Here, one dollar. Randolph Duke: [chuckling] We took a perfectly useless psychopath like Valentine, and turned him into a successful executive. And during the same time, we turned an honest,
Go Into The Story Week In Review: March 9-March 15, 2015 Links to this week’s most notable posts: Coen Brothers and the Craft of Storytelling Daily Dialogue Theme for Next Week: Competition Go Into The Story Script Reading & Analysis: The Social Network Great Character: Sam White (Dear White People) Great Scene: The Godfather Interview (Audio): John Hughes Interview (Video)
Go Into The Story Script Reading & Analysis: The Social Network This week, we read and analyzed the script for the movie The Social Network, screenplay by Aaron Sorkin, book by Ben Mezrich. IMDb plot summary: Harvard student Mark Zuckerberg creates the social networking site that would become known as Facebook, but is later sued by two brothers who claimed he
Screenwriting News (March 9-March 15, 2015) Ryan Belenzon and Jeffrey Gelber set up sports bio “The Rocket” at Black Bear Pictures. Mark Boal writing untitled Bowe Bergdahl project for Annapurna Pictures. Eric Bress sells thriller spec script “American Hostage” to Merced Media Partners. Joe Carnahan rewriting action thriller “Motorcade” for DreamWorks Studios. Jake Crane and Jonathan
Interview (Audio): John Hughes A 1985 American Film Institute Masters Seminar Q&A audio recording with writer-director John Hughes. Part 1 Part 2 For the rest of the AFI audio archives, go here.
Interview (Video): Quentin Tarantino Robert Rodriguez interviews Quentin Tarantino on the El Ray series “The Director’s Chair” . Series website here.
Daily Dialogue — March 15, 2015 “I find I’m so excited, I can barely sit still or hold a thought in my head. I think it’s the excitement only a free man can feel, a free man at the start of a long journey whose conclusion is uncertain. I hope I can make it
The Daily Dialogue theme for next week: Competition The Daily Dialogue theme for next week: Competition. The usual drill: * Copy/paste dialogue from IMDb Quotes or some other transcript source. * Copy/paste the URL of an accompanying video from YouTube or some other video source. I’d also ask you to think about why the dialogue is notable.
2014 Screenwriters Roundtable (Part 6): Chris Borrelli, Brian Duffield, F. Scott Frazier, Chris McCoy, Justin Rhodes, Greg Russo A special treat this week and next as I will be posting excerpts from an extensive screenwriter’s roundtable I did in December 2014 with a group of talented Hollywood screenwriters: Chris Borrelli, Brian Duffield, F. Scott Frazier, Chris McCoy, Justin Rhodes, and Greg Russo. How good are they? Between
Saturday Hot Links Time for the 177th installment of Saturday Hot Links! Today: The Free Movies Online At Snagfilms Edition. Snagfilms: Nosferatu (1922) SXSW Film Festival: The 20 Most Anticipated Films. Related: 10 Cool and Crazy Must-See Films at SXSW 2015. Related: 7 Must-See Music Documentaries At This Year’s SXSW
Interview (Written): Terri Tachell (“Chappie”) A Mental Floss interview with Chappie co-writer Terri Tachell: Chappie was inspired by a short. How did you and Neill develop the idea further from that, and how did it evolve as you were working on the script? When Neill made the short [in 2002 or 2003], it was
Daily Dialogue — March 14, 2015 Indiana Jones: Dad, you’re going to have to use the machine gun. [points] Eleven o’clock. Professor Henry Jones: [checks watch] What happens at eleven o’clock? — Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989), screenplay by Jeffrey Boam, story by George Lucas and Menno Meyjes, characters by George Lucas
Twitter Rant: Eric Heisserer on the Current Slate of Action Heroes Tweetstorm: Eric Heisserer on the Current Slate of Action Heroes “Perhaps this is the result of comic book heroes taking the throne at the box office, but I’ve been missing the vulnerable protagonist.” Twitter can be a gold mine for writers. Case in point, when pro writers decide to
2014 Screenwriters Roundtable (Part 5): Chris Borrelli, Brian Duffield, F. Scott Frazier, Chris McCoy, Justin Rhodes, Greg Russo A special treat this week and next as I will be posting excerpts from an extensive screenwriter’s roundtable I did in December 2014 with a group of talented Hollywood screenwriters: Chris Borrelli, Brian Duffield, F. Scott Frazier, Chris McCoy, Justin Rhodes, and Greg Russo. How good are they? Between
Video: “The Origins of Auteur Theory” Filmmaker IQ has been running a recurring series of videos on the history and development of movies. Their latest offering is excellent: “The Origins of Auteur Theory”. The very idea that the director is the “author” of a movie, ushered in during the French New Wave movement, and its acceptance
Script Analysis: “The Social Network” — Part 5: Takeaways Reading scripts. Absolutely critical to learn the craft of screenwriting. The focus of this weekly series is a deep structural and thematic analysis of each script we read. Our daily schedule: Monday: Scene-By-Scene Breakdown Tuesday: Major Plot Points Wednesday: Sequences Thursday: Psychological Journey Friday: Takeaways Today: Takeaways. This
Movie Trailer: “San Andreas” Screenplay by Carlton Cuse, story by Andre Fabrizio & Jeremy Passmore In the aftermath of a massive earthquake in California, a rescue-chopper pilot makes a dangerous journey across the state in order to rescue his estranged daughter. IMDb Release Date: 29 May 2015 (USA)
Movies You Made: “Spokes” March is Movies You Made month at Go Into The Story where we feature the work of independent filmmakers. Today: Spokes. Cast and Crew Director, Producer and Writer: Joseph Sloan Cinematographer: Athan Merrick Sound Design: Christopher O’ Brien Make up: Katelyn Spencer Composer: Blake Matthew Editor: Daniel Brand Stunt Car
Great Character: Sam White (“Dear White People”) The Great Character theme for the month: Rebel. Today: Sam White from Dear White People (2014), written and directed by Justin Simien. As a biracial gentleman, it has been blatantly clear to me my entire movie-going existence that my distinct mixed race experience must be just some fairytale figment
Daily Dialogue — March 13, 2015 “I heard it through the grapevine…” — The Big Chill (1983), written by Barbara Benedek and Lawrence Kasdan The Daily Dialogue theme for next week: Reunion. Trivia: The characters were based on people Lawrence Kasdan lived with in the Eugene V. Debs co-op in Ann Arbor, MI, while attending the
What are your favorite Coen brothers scenes? I’m preparing to teach my Coen Brothers and the Craft of Storytelling class which begins on Monday, and in reviewing the wealth of material we will be covering next week, I was struck by this thought: There are so many great scenes in their movies. Right now, as I’
