Great Scene: “The Big Lebowski” The Dude watches as Walter bids a fond farewell to Donnie and his ashes. October is Great Scene month at Go Into The Story whereby we put a spotlight on notable movie scenes, then analyze and discuss them. Their structure, themes, character dynamics. Why do they work? What are their
Writing and the Creative Life: “That pure part of you” I’ve been a professional writer for over 25 years. In that time through interviews and profiles, I’ve studied the work habits of hundreds of writers. One of the most interesting approaches I have run across comes from two time Oscar winning screenwriter Alvin Sargent (Julia, Ordinary People, Paper
Daily Dialogue — October 9, 2014 Richard Vernon: Well, well. Here we are. I want to congratulate you all for being on time. Claire Standish: Excuse me, sir. I think there’s been a mistake. I know we’re in detention but I don’t think I belong here. Vernon ignores her, carrying on with his
Time for another Word Cloud Logline Challenge! Those of you who have followed Go Into The Story for at least a couple of years probably know about the occasional Word Cloud Logline Challenges I run, but for anyone unfamiliar with this fun bit of business, check this out. Since the four Nicholl Fellowship winners were announced last
Interview [Written]: Franklin Leonard I have read, seen or heard many interviews with Franklin Leonard, both before I had met him, then throughout the several years I have known him as part of the Black List team. And I must say, this most recent interview in “Origins,” a new journal featuring writers and creatives
Video: 25 years of “The Simpsons” couch gags at once The audio reminds me of that part in The Beatles’ “Day in the Life” where all the of orchestral instruments go up the scale by half-notes [listen here]. Simpsons link via Toybox.
Interview: Sean Robert Daniels (2012 Nicholl Winner) The Academy Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting competition is the most prestigious of its kind and holds a primary place of importance in Hollywood movie development circles. With the announcement on Friday of the 2014 Nicholl Fellowship winners, I thought it would be a good idea to reprint all of the
Movie Trailer: “Stretch” Screenplay by Joe Carnahan, story by Jerry Corley & Rob Rose and Joe Carnahan IMDB Release Date: 14 October 2014 (USA)
Great Scene: “Thief” October is Great Scene month at Go Into The Story whereby we put a spotlight on notable movie scenes, then analyze and discuss them. Their structure, themes, character dynamics. Why do they work? What are their narrative elements that elevate them to greatness? Let’s face it: In a fundamental
Script To Screen: “The Birds” A scene from the 1963 Alfred Hitchcock thriller The Birds, screenplay by Evan Hunter, short story by Daphne Du Maurier. IMDB Plot Summary: A wealthy San Francisco socialite pursues a potential boyfriend to a small Northern California town that slowly takes a turn for the bizarre when birds of all
Daily Dialogue — October 8, 2014 “Y’all wanna see somethin’?” — Django Unchained (2012), written by Quentin Tarantino Daily Dialogue theme for this week: Punishment. Trivia: According to critic Alex Ross, the alliance between Django and Dr. Schultz is “not as absurd” as audiences might believe, because in the 1840s many German revolutionaries and progressives left
Twitter Rant: F. Scott Frazier on Writing Action Set-Pieces Tweetstorm: F. Scott Frazier on Writing Action Set-Pieces A series of tweets delving into what goes into crafting action scenarios. Screenwriter F. Scott Frazier (The Numbers Station, Collide, xXx: Return of Xander Cage) has pretty much disappeared from Twitter, but some years ago, he did a tweetstorm on writing
Richard Kelly reviews “Gone Girl” Writer-director Richard Kelly (Donnie Darko, Southland Tales, The Box) reviewed Gone Girl on his Tumblr account. Did he like it? How about this quote: Fincher’s 10th feature film is riveting, exquisitely crafted and spectacularly entertaining. It walks a tightrope above the trappings of various genres, rising above them
Interview [Written]: David Fincher A recent Little White Lies interview with director David Fincher (Se7en, The Social Network, Zodiac) about his newest movie Gone Girl, screenplay by Gillian Flynn who adapted her own novel. LWLies: It’s hard to think of films in which the focus is equally divided between two characters. Was this
Interview: Nikole Beckwith (2012 Nicholl Winner, 2012 Black List) The Academy Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting competition is the most prestigious of its kind and holds a primary place of importance in Hollywood movie development circles. With the announcement on Friday of the 2014 Nicholl Fellowship winners, I thought it would be a good idea to reprint all of the
Movie Trailer: “Blackhat” Screenplay by Morgan Davis Foehl and Michael Mann, story by Michael Mann and Morgan Davis Foehl IMDB Release Date: 16 January 2015 (USA)
Great Scene: “Rounders” October is Great Scene month at Go Into The Story whereby we put a spotlight on notable movie scenes, then analyze and discuss them. Their structure, themes, character dynamics. Why do they work? What are their narrative elements that elevate them to greatness? Let’s face it: In a fundamental
Screenwriting 101: Anthony Minghella “I’ve been writing for over twenty years, all my adult life, and so I suppose that I’ve made peace with myself and my hopeless, undisciplined technique. I’ve stopped unravelling everytime I’m unable to write. I wait. The drawer opens. Waiting is part of writing. When I
Daily Dialogue — October 7, 2014 “You know, we used to outsource this kind of thing. But what we found was the countries we outsourced to had unreliable power grids. Very Third World. You’d turn on a switch — power wouldn’t come on, and then tempers would get short. People would resort to pulling fingernails.
Einstein’s Three Rules of Work Consider this: Sticking with the numeric theme, it occurs to me Einstein’s words have at least three levels of meaning for creatives: Writing: As we work our way through a story, writers almost always confront clutter, discord and difficulty. How do we manage to wrangle the clutter of ideas,
Classic 70s Movie: “The Last Detail” An additional post in our Classic 70s Movie series from Jack McDonald. Movie Title: The Last Detail Year: 1973 Writer: Screenplay by Robert Towne, based on the novel by Darryl Ponicsan Lead Actors: Jack Nicholson, Otis Young, Randy Quaid Director: Hal Ashby IMDb Summary: Two Navy men are ordered to
“Twin Peaks”: Deleted scenes In honor of the resurrection of “Twin Peaks,” just announced today, here is a compilation of over 1 hour of deleted scenes from the original series which ran on ABC in 1990–1991: And while we’re at it: An Indiewire article from back in April: Why ‘Twin Peaks’ Would
Interview: Destin Daniel Cretton (2010 Nicholl Winner) The Academy Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting competition is the most prestigious of its kind and holds a primary place of importance in Hollywood movie development circles. With the announcement on Friday of the 2014 Nicholl Fellowship winners, I thought it would be a good idea to reprint all of the
Movie Trailer: “The Wedding Ringer” Written by Jeremy Garelick, Jay Lavender IMDB Release Date: 16 January 2015
