Saturday Hot Links
Time for the 172nd installment of Saturday Hot Links.
Today: The We Celebrate The Golden Age Of Screwball Comedies Edition!
Super Bowl: Katy Perry’s halftime performance [videos].
Super Bowl: All of the SB commercials here [videos].
Super Bowl: Just the SB movie trailer spots [videos].
Super Bowl: The best and worst SB ads per THR.
Super Bowl: The best and worst SB ads per New Yorker.
Super Bowl: Which SB ads were directed by movie directors.
Super Bowl: Nationwide explains stupid buzzkill dead kid ad.
Super Bowl: Women review ridiculously sexist SB ads [videos].
Sundance 2015: The 6 best things Harvey Weinstein said at this year’s festival.
Sundance 2015: The winners.
Sundance 2015: The 12 major breakouts of this year’s festival.
Berlin Film Festival 2015: The 10 most anticipated films.
SXSW 2015 lineup here.
Scriptnotes: Episode 182.
Chicks Who Script: Episode 26.
There are giant clouds of alcohol floating in space.
Related: Listen to the entire Apollo 13 mission.
Samuel Goldwyn: Remember the movie mogul on the anniversary of his death.
Doctors remove 232 teeth from boy’s mouth in record-breaking procedure.
Richard Linklater narrates a scene from Boyhood [video].
10 reasons why 2015 is already a better year for music than 2014.
10 novelists who became screenwriters.
Key and Peele question Oscar snubs [video].
Happy Birthday, James Joyce!
Netflix to raise $1B to fund new content.
The 10 indie films you must see this February.
Speaking of which, why are there only 28 days in February?
Vulture: Everything we know that’s been changed in the Fifty Shades of Grey movie.
Related: Sex toy shops prepare for onslaught due to Fifty Shades of Grey.
A doctor explains what’s happened to Bob Dylan’s voice.
8 creative interpretations of the movie Groundhog Day.
Can the We Need Diverse Books movement change the way America reads?
Oprah Winfrey and Ava DuVernay team up again for an original OWN drama series.
4th grader suspended for threatening fellow student with a fictional ring of invisibility.
Great news for all you Whit Stillman fans… like me!
If you do a podcast, here’s a good article on editing.
American Sniper screenwriter Jason Hall on criticism of Chris Kyle.
Study shows cockroaches have distinct personalities.
Here is the alternate ending to Birdman.
Read why Jack Black has blacklisted the University of Oklahoma.
Check out FilmFeminist.org: A platform for women to share stories about working in the film and TV business.
10 head-scratching facts about gray hair.
This what it what “Friends” would look like if it were on the air today [video].
58 facts that will blow your mind in only one sentence.
The next Internet is TV.
Wah?! An animated kid-friendly Blazing Saddles?!
How the porn industry set the stage for micro-budget filmmaking.
5 hotel scams that could ruin your next vacation.
Fifty Shades of Grey: The LEGO version trailer [video].
Weirdly related: The year sex took over Sundance.
Is it ‘donut’ or ‘doughnut’?
How to make a found-footage horror film that’s actually scary.
Katy Perry will soon be sold as a game.
How Boyhood blends narrative and naturalism.
50 kitchen tips to help you become a master chef.
NYT feature on Fade In and Script Pro apps for mobile devices [video].
Why do coins make your hands smell funny.
Is big corn behind all our blockbusters.
Dartmouth to offer a course on #BlackLivesMatter movement.
Pixar’s secret speakeasy room [video].
30 seconds of Super Bowl ad money would have bought 2,542,573,344 online impressions.
The Editor’s Guild picks the 75 Best Edited Films.
Related: Cinemaphotographers pick their best-shot films of all-time.
10 surprising facts about the writing lives of great authors.
Kodak inks deals with studios to extend film’s life.
What the color of your snot says about your health.
Clever mash-ups of Star Wars characters and iconic works of art.
The proper names of 17 bodily functions.
Why are January movie ticket sales up 37% over last year.
Barry Levinson on making little movies in a big age.
The disputed history of the Tarzan yell.
We are very near the end of journalism.
Selma and the state of the black auteur.
4 men kill deer, cram into a Mini-Cooper… with the deer carcass. Yes, it was in Florida.
Ken Levine: How to develop a TV show.
10 odd things you can buy from monks.
Watch this excellent video essay on the basics of film noir [video].
A bookish breakdown of the 2015 Oscars.
How one line of text nearly killed Toy Story 2.
Richard Linklater narrates a scene from Boyhood [video].
Finally the first trailer for Season 2 of the wonderful HBO series “Silicon Valley” [video].
Screenwriting Master Class tip of the week: We have gotten off to a rousing start in 2015 with some excellent Craft courses, one-week online classes focusing on the practice of writing scripts. The response has been great, the discussions terrific, and the learning experience exceptional.
Many more Craft classes coming up!
Want to focus on the all-important first 15 pages of your screenplay? Take this class with Tom Benedek.
Find handling exposition to be a real challenge? Check out this class I’ll be teaching in a week.
Interested in writing a low-budget screenplay? Tom has got a course just for you.
Need to figure out ways to write better characters? I created this class precisely for that reason.
What about creating a compelling Protagonist? Try my course here.
Have trouble writing a worthy Antagonist? Learn how to do that in this course.
And that’s just a few of the choices available. There are so many great Craft classes and they are in my view excellent values with tons of content, discussions, writing exercises, teleconferences. And for whatever reason, our classes attract writers who are passionate about movies, TV, writing and stories, and supportive of each other’s ambitions. Writers from all around the world.
Since the classes are online, you can do almost everything on your own schedule. Hell, you can engage with the content while snuggled in your bed with a nice cup of coffee.
If you haven’t tried a Screenwriting Master Class offering, the wide variety of Craft classes is a great place to start. So why don’t you join us for these excellent learning experiences.
We look forward to the opportunity to work with you!