30 Days of Screenplays — Day 6: “Die Hard” Welcome to June and the series: 30 Days of Screenplays. Why 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
The Business of Screenwriting: Everything you wanted to know about specs [Part 17] The Business of Screenwriting: Everything you wanted to know about specs Part 17: Write What They’re Buying. I’m guessing that perhaps 90% of the people who follow this blog at some point in their lives will write a spec script. And the other 10% are involved in buying
Daily Dialogue — June 6, 2013 Mortimer Brewster: Look, Aunt Martha, men don’t just get into window seats and die! Abby Brewster: We know, dear. He died first. Mortimer Brewster: Wait a minute! Stop all this. Now, look, darling, how did he die? Abby Brewster: Oh, Mortimer, don’t be so inquisitive. The gentleman died
The Quest Initiative: Day 15 The submission period for The Quest Initiative runs from May 22-June 9. Each day I will provide an update. Today: Marks the 15th day of submissions for The Quest Initiative. Number of entrants: 412. Number of loglines [estimated]: 700–750. Note: The pace of submissions is definitely picking up,
Hot Topics: The Black Board A weekly update from Shaula Evans, moderator of The Black Board: We have two exciting projects going on at The Black Board. 1. Black List founder Franklin Leonard is answering your questions at The Black Board. If you have questions for him, please join the new Franklin Leonard Q&
Interview: Dana Coen — Part 3 I have the pleasure of working with Dana Coen as a colleague through the Writing for Screen and Stage program at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, a dramatic writing minor for which Dana is the director. Dana has an extensive background in television, penning episodes for “The
Joss Whedon commencement address Last weekend Joss Whedon delivered the 2013 commencement address at his alma mater Wesleyan University. I am posting the entirety of his comments as well as a video of the event. It’s a terrific speech and works on two levels: Life and Writing. The former is obvious, but see
Movie Trailer: “Coffee Town” Written by Brad Copeland Three thirty-something friends band together when their carefree existence is threatened. IMDB site
30 Days of Screenplays — Day 5: “The Shawshank Redemption” Welcome to June and the series: 30 Days of Screenplays. Why 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
Script To Screen: “Little Miss Sunshine” The climax of the 2006 movie Little Miss Sunshine, written by Michael Arndt. Setup: A family determined to get their young daughter [Olive] into the finals of a beauty pageant take a cross-country trip in their VW bus. And now it’s her turn to perform… However, when the
Daily Dialogue — June 5, 2013 Macaulay Connor: You’ve got all the arrogance of your class, haven’t you? Tracy Lord: What have classes to do with it? What do they matter except for the people in them? George comes from the so-called lower class, Dexter, the upper. Well? Macaulay Connor: Well… Tracy Lord:
The Quest Initiative: Day 14 The submission period for The Quest Initiative runs from May 22-June 9. Each day I will provide an update. Today: Marks the 14th day of submissions for The Quest Initiative. Number of entrants: 378. Number of loglines [estimated]: 650–700. Note: The pace of submissions is picking up, presumably
Wanted: Black List Interns! Reprising this note as the due date (June 10, 2013) is drawing near: The Black List is seeking a few summer interns to work on projects ranging from building out data on the movie industry to helping catalog the Go Into the Story blog. The position would be remote and
Interview: Dana Coen — Part 2 I have the pleasure of working with Dana Coen as a colleague through the Writing for Screen and Stage program at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, a dramatic writing minor for which Dana is the director. Dana has an extensive background in television, penning episodes for “The
Documentary: “The Coen Brothers” (2000) Here’s a treat: A 41-minute BBC documentary from 2000, recently posted to YouTube: It’s quite informative and great to hear the likes of George Clooney and Holly Hunter talking about the brothers, as well as some comments from the Coens themselves. Here’s an interesting quote from
Showrunner Rules from Jeffrey Lieber: Numbers 181–190 Jeff Lieber is a screenwriter and TV writer. His movie credits include Tuck Everlasting and he is currently an executive producer of the USA Network series “Necessary Roughness.” On Twitter (@JeffLieber), he has run a series of tweets called Showrunner Rules. For background on Jeff and this Twitter series, go
Movie Trailer: “Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters” Screenplay by Marc Guggenheim, novel by Rick Riordan In order to restore their dying safe haven, the son of Poseidon and his friends embark on a quest to the Sea of Monsters to find the mythical Golden Fleece and to stop an ancient evil from rising. IMDB site Release Date:
30 Days of Screenplays — Day 4: “Fargo” Welcome to June and the series: 30 Days of Screenplays. Why 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
Screenwriting 101: Justin Rhodes “For me, writing is like a journey through complexity to get back to simplicity. Ultimately, you want to say, ‘It’s about a guy who experiences this, and now feels this way.’ Just understanding that that’s what it’s about. Everything that follows needs to stem from this simple
Daily Dialogue — June 4, 2013 C.R. MacNAMARA: Guten Morgen, Fräulein Ingeborg. FRÄULEIN INGEBORG: Guten Morgen. He comes up behind her, smells her hair. C.R. MacNAMARA: Like freshly baked pumpernickel. FRÄULEIN INGEBORG: Here’s your mail. Here’s your “Wall Street Journal”, and here is my resignation. C.R. MacNAMARA: Resignation? What are you
The Quest Initiative: Day 13 The submission period for The Quest Initiative runs from May 22-June 8. Each day I will provide an update. Today: Marks the 13th day of submissions for The Quest Initiative. Number of entrants: 341. Number of loglines [estimated]: 600–650. Question of the day: What happened with the writers
Coen Brothers and the Craft of Storytelling I’ve received some recurring questions via email and Twitter about Coen Brothers and the Craft of Storytelling, my new 1-week online class which starts today, so let me address those here in one post: What Coen brothers movies will you be analyzing in the class? Here is the
Interview: Dana Coen — Part 1 I have the pleasure of working with Dana Coen as a colleague through the Writing for Screen and Stage program at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, a dramatic writing minor for which Dana is the director. Dana has an extensive background in television, penning episodes for “The
Showrunner Rules from Jeffrey Lieber: Numbers 171–180 Jeff Lieber is a screenwriter and TV writer. His movie credits include Tuck Everlasting and he is currently an executive producer of the USA Network series “Necessary Roughness.” On Twitter (@JeffLieber), he has run a series of tweets called Showrunner Rules. For background on Jeff and this Twitter series, go
Movie Trailer: “Machete Kills” Written by Álvaro Rodríguez, Kyle Ward The U.S. government recruits Machete to battle his way through Mexico in order to take down an arms dealer who looks to launch a weapon into space. IMDB site Release Date: 13 September 2013 (USA) Comment Archive
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