Declare Your Independents — Vol. 39 GITS development assistant Wendy Cohen here, and welcome back to Declare Your Independents, our new series highlighting the latest developments in the world of independent film! This week… Sundance Reveals 2015 Lineup The 20 Breakthrough Directors of 2014 Chris Rock on Racism in Hollywood THR’s Oscar Forecast: What Mattered
Spec Script Sale: “Nottingham & Hood” Walt Disney Pictures acquires spec script “Nottingham & Hood” written by Brandon Barker. From Deadline: Nottingham & Hood has a Pirates Of The Caribbean tone and the hope is to launch a new adventure franchise that fits Disney’s global brand. Sony recently bought a Robin Hood pitch, so here
Update: Award season screenplay downloads (NEW: A Most Violent Year) It’s that time of year again when studios make available PDFs of movie scripts for award season. As in years past, we will be tracking them and posting links as they become available. If you want to get these scripts first, come here. No one posts them faster than
Go Into The Story Script Reading & Analysis: Shakespeare in Love We’ve had a successful relaunch of the GITS Script Reading & Analysis series. I say relaunch because we have done this type of thing before. For the next month, I will be spotlighting previous movie scripts we have studied. Today: Shakespeare in Love (1998) Written by Marc Norman, Tom
Movie Trailer: “The Woman in Black: Angel of Death” Screenplay by Jon Croker and Susan Hill 40 years after the first haunting at Eel Marsh House, a group of children evacuated from WWII London arrive, awakening the house’s darkest inhabitant. IMDb Release Date: 2 January 2015 (USA)
Script Analysis: “Prisoners” — 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
Great Character: Cousin Eddie (“Christmas Vacation”) The Great Character theme for the month: Christmas characters. Today: Cousin Eddie in Christmas Vacation, written by John Hughes. Here is Jason Cuthbert’s weekly Great Character post: Randy Quaid, the elder brother of actor Dennis Quaid (The Right Stuff, Innerspace, Any Given Sunday) spent the 1970s in Peter Bogdanovich
Daily Dialogue — December 5, 2014 Private Reiben: Well put your money where your mouth is and do it! Do it! Pull the trigger already! Sergeant Horvath: You don’t know when to shut up. You don’t know how to shut up. Corporal Upham: Captain, please! Captain Miller: Mike? What’s the pool on me
2015 Writers Guild Awards Television and New Media nominations WGAW and WGAE announced 2015 award nominations today. Here are the television and new media nominees: DRAMA SERIES Game of Thrones, Written by David Benioff, Bryan Cogman, George R.R. Martin, D.B. Weiss; HBO The Good Wife, Written by Leonard Dick, Keith Eisner, Matthew Hodgson, Ted Humphrey, Michelle King,
Interview [Video]: Ava DuVernay Another in an excellent Creative Spark series of videos from Academy Originals, this one with Ava DuVernay, who has written and directed two fine low-budget indie films: I Will Follow and Middle of Nowhere. What strikes me is how Ava needs to get out and about to fuel her
Video: “The 25 Best Films of 2014” You may or may not agree with the selections, but this is a riveting visual feast: Via Indiewire and Little White Lies.
Go Into The Story Script Reading & Analysis: Raiders of the Lost Ark We’ve had a successful relaunch of the GITS Script Reading & Analysis series. I say relaunch because we have done this type of thing before. For the next month, I will be spotlighting previous movie scripts we have studied. Today: Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) Screenplay by Lawrence
Movie Trailer: “The Age of Adaline” Screenplay by J. Mills Goodloe, Salvador Paskowitz A young woman, born at the turn of 20th century, is rendered ageless after an accident. After years of a solitary life, she meets a man who might be worth losing her immortality. IMDb Release Date: 24 April 2015 (USA)
Script Analysis: “Prisoners” — Part 4: Psychological Journey 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: Psychological journey.
Writing and the Creative Life: Why Your Brain Loves Good Storytelling (Part 4) What Is / What Could Be / What Is / What Could Be / What Is… In Part 1, we looked at a Harvard Business Review article about the influence of stories on the brain, how much of it apparently boils down to the reaction of a chemical called Oxytocin. In Part 2, we
Daily Dialogue — December 4, 2014 “As God is my witness, as God is my witness they’re not going to lick me. I’m going to live through this and when it’s all over, I’ll never be hungry again. No, nor any of my folk. If I have to lie, steal, cheat or
Update: Award season screenplay downloads (NEW: Dear White People) It’s that time of year again when studios make available PDFs of movie scripts for award season. As in years past, we will be tracking them and posting links as they become available. If you want to get these scripts first, come here. No one posts them faster than
Reader Question: How do you write characters without stereotyping them? Reader question via Twitter from @Lauren_Gallaway: I need character development help. How do you write a character w/ out stereotyping him/her? Lauren, you hit the key words: character development. How to develop your characters? First, you have to believe they exist. Their story universe exists. So you go
Interview (Video): Karen McCullah and Kirsten Smith Another in an excellent Creative Spark series of videos from Academy Originals, this one with Karen McCullah and Kirsten Smith, whose screenwriting credits include Ten Things I Hate About You and Legally Blonde. For those of you who may doubt the value of analyzing movies or scripts, check out what
In Memoriam: Mark Strand Via the New York Times: Mark Strand, whose spare, deceptively simple investigations of rootlessness, alienation and the ineffable strangeness of life made him one of America’s most hauntingly meditative poets, died on Saturday at his daughter’s home in Brooklyn. He was 80. — — Mr. Strand, who was named poet
Go Into The Story Script Reading & Analysis: Panic Room We’ve had a successful relaunch of the GITS Script Reading & Analysis series. I say relaunch because we have done this type of thing before. For the next month, I will be spotlighting previous movie scripts we have studied. Today: Panic Room (2002) Written by David Koepp IMDb plot
Movie Trailer: “Pitch Perfect 2” Screenplay by Kay Cannon, book by Mickey Rapkin Collegiate a cappella group the Barden Bellas enter into an international competition that no American team has ever won. IMDb Release Date: 15 May 2015 (USA)
Script Analysis: “Prisoners” — Part 3: Sequences 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: Sequences. A
Script To Screen: “Clerks” A scene from the 1994 movie Clerks., written by Kevin Smith. IMDb plot summary: A day in the lives of two convenience clerks named Dante and Randal as they annoy customers, discuss movies, and play hockey on the store roof. Here is Jay and Silent Bob at their dialogue best.
Daily Dialogue — December 3, 2014 “President Thomas Whitmore: Good morning. In less than an hour, aircraft from here will join others from around the world. And you will be launching the largest aerial battle in the history of mankind. “Mankind.” That word should have new meaning for all of us today. We can’t be
