Go Into The Story Week In Review: June 16-June 22, 2014 Links to the week’s most notable posts: 10 Filmmaking Tips from ‘Legends of the Fall’ Producer and Director Ed Zwick 30 Days of Screenplays, Day 16: Hanna 30 Days of Screenplays, Day 17: Argo 30 Days of Screenplays, Day 18: Before Midnight 30 Days of Screenplays, Day 19: Gravity
Conversations With Billy Wilder Excerpts from the excellent book “Conversations With Wilder,” a series of interviews Cameron Crowe conducted with Billy Wilder. Part 1: The Cockroach Anecdote Part 2: George Cukor’s advice to Jack Lemmon Part 3: The derivation of “Shut up and deal,” the last line of The Apartment Part 4: The
“Conversations With Wilder”: Part 1 Billy Wilder is my all-time favorite filmmaker. Consider just some of his movies: Double Indemnity (1944), Sunset Blvd. (1950), Stalag 17 (1953), Witness for the Prosecution (1957), Some Like It Hot (1959), The Apartment (1960), an oeuvre that demonstrates an incredible range in a filmmaking career that went from
Screenwriting News (June 16-June 22, 2014) Sean Baker and Chris Bergoch writing “Tangerine” for Duplass Brothers Productions and Through Films, Baker to direct. Joe Ballarini adapting graphic novel “Cardboard” for Twentieth Century Fox Animation. Damien Chazelle sells untitled drama thriller pitch to Twentieth Century Fox with Chazelle to direct. Scott Derrickson and Robert Cargill adapting “Outer
30 Days of Screenplays, Day 22: “Mud” Why read 30 screenplays in 30 days? Because whether you are a novice just starting to learn the craft of screenwriting or someone who has been writing for many years, you should be reading scripts. There is a certain type of knowledge and understanding about screenwriting you can only get
Interview [Audio]: Marti Noxon An interview with Marti Noxon whose TV credits include “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and “Private Practice.” Go here for the podcast via the Writers Guild Foundation. Comment Archive
Interview [Video]: Robin Swicord An excellent resource for screenwriting interviews The Dialogue Series. It’s now available online for free. Here is an interview with Robin Swicord whose screenwriting credits include The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008), Memoirs of a Geisha (2005) and Matilda. For the other videos in the series, go here.
Daily Dialogue — June 22, 2014 “Believe me, you don’t want Hannibal Lecter inside your head.” — The Silence of the Lambs (1991), screenplay by Ted Tally, novel by Thomas Harris The Daily Dialogue theme for the week: 1st day on the job, suggested by Bretton Zinger. Trivia: The Silence of the Lambs was inspired by
Daily Dialogue theme for next week: Sports Speech. Seeing as we are in the midst of the World Cup, let’s go with a theme next week suggested by Kalen: Sports Speech. “It just doesn’t matter! It just doesn’t matter! Okay, Bill Murray offers a take-off of the motivational sports speech. Play it straight. Play
Saturday Hot Links Time for the 139th installment of Saturday Hot Links. Today: The Online Ambient Noise To Relax Your Ass Edition! The 2103–2014 TV season in one really really depressing chart. Related: Lifetime to air Grumpy Cat Christmas movie. PEN announces shortlists for 2014 Booker Prizes. Django Unchained to get a
30 Days of Screenplays, Day 21: “Monsters University” Why read 30 screenplays in 30 days? Because whether you are a novice just starting to learn the craft of screenwriting or someone who has been writing for many years, you should be reading scripts. There is a certain type of knowledge and understanding about screenwriting you can only get
Interview [Written]: Jim Abrahams, David Zucker, and Jerry Zucker From Screencrush: Ahead — as ‘Top Secret!’ approaches its 30th anniversary — in their own words, David Zucker, Jim Abrahams, Jerry Zucker and Val Kilmer tell the story about the rise, then fall, then rise again of what today is considered a comedy classic, Top Secret!. Here is an excerpt: Jim Abrahams:
Daily Dialogue — June 21, 2014 Mark Hanna: Nobody knows if a stock is going to go up, down, sideways or in circles. You know what a Fugazi is?” Jordan Belfort: Fugazi, it’s a fake. Mark Hanna: Fugazi, Fugazi. It’s a wazy. It’s a woozie. It’s fairy dust. — The Wolf of Wall
Reader Questions Time again for any questions you may have about the craft or business of screenwriting, writing, movies, TV, Hollywood, the meaning of life, whatever. Obviously I’m happy to provide my two cents, but often what happens is the response of the GITS community in comments provides excellent insight as
Screenwriting Back to Basics, Day 5: Reader Identification This is one of the simplest yet most important basic screenwriting principles of all: In writing a Protagonist, we try to create a sense of reader identification with the character. How? Imbue the Protagonist with some qualities with which a reader can connect. Why is this important? Here are two
“Inception”: Film Analysis Ah, Inception. The movie continues to compel people to analyze it. This latest piece from Darren Foley actually offering four possible takes on the movie, is quite good. Check it out: Analysis like this is parallel to the experience of watching Inception, going deeper and deeper into the story’s
“The 10 Common Types of Writers Block” This is a pretty good list compiled by Nikki Woods in the respect that I’ve heard each one of these voiced by folks here on the blog, emails to me and writers I work with through Screenwriting Master Class. Here it is: 1. Your idea gauge is on empty.
Movie Trailer: “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes” Written by Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver & Mark Bomback, characters by Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver, novel by Pierre Boulle A growing nation of genetically evolved apes led by Caesar is threatened by a band of human survivors of the devastating virus unleashed a decade earlier. They reach a
30 Days of Screenplays, Day 20: “Short Term 12” Why read 30 screenplays in 30 days? Because whether you are a novice just starting to learn the craft of screenwriting or someone who has been writing for many years, you should be reading scripts. There is a certain type of knowledge and understanding about screenwriting you can only get
Great Character: Mr. White (“Reservoir Dogs”) The Great Character theme for the month: Tarantino characters. Today: Jason Cuthbert looks at Mr. White from the movie Reservoir Dogs. It was back in 1992 when the heist thriller underwent a clever genre dissection with the application of a crime novel-style nonlinear narrative by screenwriter and director Quentin
Daily Dialogue — June 20, 2014 EXT. TRAINING PITCH — FOLLOWING DAY — (1974) CLOUGH walks out into the drizzle and towards the LEEDS PLAYERS.. CLOUGH: (up-beat, clapping hands) All right, gentlemen, gather around, please. The players truculently gather round. CLOUGH watches them, notes their mood, then… CLOUGH: I might as well tell you now. You lot
Update: Black List Live! Staged Reading: “1969: A Space Odyssey” This happened on Saturday, June 14: With a staged script reading of Stephany Folsom’s “1969: A Space Odyssey, or How Kubrick Learned to Stop Worrying and Land on the Moon,” we officially kicked off Black List Live! on Saturday night to a packed house of over 700 at the
Screenwriting Back to Basics, Day 4: Character = Function Yesterday we looked at one basic screenwriting principle: Plot = Structure. Today another one: Character = Function There are three points worth making re this principle. The first is pretty simple: Every character in a screenplay has to be there for a reason. That reason is their narrative function, how who they
Night in the Writers Room: Comedy Panel Via Variety, a panel with TV comedy writers: Bill Lawrence (Scrubs, Cougar Town), Matthew Carnahan (House of Lies), Marc Maron (Maron), Rob McElhenney (It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia), and Matt Warburton (The Mindy Project). Comment Archive
Character Types Character types writers can use to develop their own stories. Stuck on how to make your Protagonist unique? What about an Addict or a Gambler? Nemesis? How about Angel or Rookie? Great resources for character development. Addict Advocate Angel Artist Bully Clown Companion Destroyer Femme Fatale Gambler Healer Innocent Loner
