Saturday Hot Links

Time for the 273rd installment of Saturday Hot Links, your week’s essential reading about movies, TV, streaming, Hollywood, and other things of writerly interest.

Sundance Hot List: 17 Movies That Will Sell.

Amazon Offers Sundance Film Selections Up to $100,000 Bonus for Exclusive Streaming Rights.

Amazon’s Film Chief on Sundance Buying Plans, Rival Netflix and Apple’s Possible Movie Play.

Having a Sundance Hit May Not Make You Rich Anymore.

For Years, No One in Hollywood Wanted to Make ‘La La Land’.

American Film Institute Reveals 25 Women Chosen for the Fox Filmmakers Lab.

Women Only Spoke 27% of the Dialogue in 2016’s Top Grossing Films.

‘Hidden Figures’ and The Hope for More Real Science Stories.

As Michael Lynton Exits, Will Sony Double Down on Hollywood or Sell?

Piracy Survey: 39% of U.S. Consumers Don’t Care That Studios Lose Money From Illegal Sharing.

Paramount Turned Down Pitch For ‘Transformers’/’G.I. Joe’ Crossover.

Seven Reasons To Be Optimistic About Cinema.

Hollywood’s 4 New Gender-Bending Reboots.

Horror’s Love Affair With Twist Endings: Why do we love being fooled so much?

29 books to read before they become movies in 2017

Russian Box Office Grows 9.5% to $727 Million in 2016.

China’s Wanda Reports 31 Percent Increase in Film Income in 2016.

How Thomas Tull’s Legendary Deal Ran Into a Great Wall.

Annapurna Pictures Launches Distribution Arm.

Los Angeles Location Production Gains 6.2% in 2016.

If Deadpool Is Nominated for Best Picture, Can We Still Enjoy Movies?

Never-Before-Seen Footage of Marilyn Monroe Uncovered.

Son of Frankenstein: Hitting the Horror Trifecta.

Info on the 2017 HBOAccess Writing Fellowship.

James Cameron is making a documentary series about the history of sci-fi.

Immersive film festival will celebrate the legacy of John Hughes.

The Media, They Are A Changin’: A Future Of Cinematic Television.

PBS Will Launch Family Night on New PBS Kids Channel.

Westworld and the Meaning of Life: Appraising the show’s philosophy.

Would Disney’s Rumored Acquisition of Netflix Make Sense?

It’s Official: Twitter Has Shut Down Vine.

The Black List Interview: Kathy Charles.

Doug Richardson: How to Fix Really Bad Dialogue.

Listen: Scriptnotes (Episode 284).

Watch: Why do movies and TV matter now.

Watch: SNL Movie Interview Spoof.

Watch: David Lynch Dance.

Watch: The Weight of Gravity: Exploring the Importance and Influence of Cuaron’s Intimate Epic.

Watch: The Most Beautiful Shots in The History of Disney.

Watch: Pixar Video Reveals Hidden Easter Eggs and How All of Their Movies Are Connected.

Screenwriting Master Class tip of the week

From elevator pitches to development meetings to conference calls with talent, a screenwriter’s ability to share stories in a variety of narrative forms is both a valuable and necessary skillset. In the upcoming 1-week Screenwriting Master Class online course Story Summaries: From Loglines to Beat Sheets [starts January 30], you will learn six different story summaries that are critical assets for any screenwriter.

A screenwriter not only needs to know how to write a script, we also have to be able to convey our stories in multiple other ways. Beyond that, every time we shape a story in a different way, we learn something about it. As such, summaries can be helpful tools in developing, understanding, and crafting our scripts.

This 1-week online course that I will be teaching covers multiple story summaries: Logline, Synopsis, Breakdown, Treatment, Scriptment, and Beat Sheet.

Learn the ins and outs of six different story summaries including using them to help you craft your stories.

Plus you will have the opportunity to craft a logline of your own story with an optional workshop exercise.

The course consists of:

Seven lectures written by Scott Myers

Daily forum Q&As

Optional workshop writing exercises with instructor and class feedback.

A live teleconference between instructor and class members.

In the past, the response from participants in this course has been extremely positive. Here are some testimonials:

The prepared lectures alone are worth the price of this class. But, the added bonus of discussing the lectures as well as being able to workshop my loglines with Scott and my classmates was a fantastic learning experience that really helped me develop my ability to whittle an idea down to one intriguing sentence. If your manager, agent, guru, mother, or favorite reader asks you for a synopsis, treatment, beat sheet, or logline and you have no idea what any of those are, then this class is for you. — Calvin Starnes

Just wanted to thank everyone in this class especially Scott for a most valuable week of learning. I found this type of interactive environment has been far more helpful for me than reading books has been. The group collaboration has been excellent and I have really enjoyed and valued everybody’s contributions. I’ve personally found this course has really helped me zone in on the crucial aspects of each respective type of story summary. This in turn has given me much more confidence in taking the next steps into creating the first draft and I would like to thank you all for that. — Steve Broughton

That’s the “secret sauce” in all the SMC classes you and Tom teach. It’s not a “here’s what to think” listing of so called “rules of writing.” Instead, the emphasis is always on HOW to think like a professional, about story, character and the business side of the craft. — John Arends

If you haven’t tried an online course before, this is a great and simple way to do it. You can download lectures any time and read them at your leisure. Peruse forum comments from your fellow classmates and respond whenever you want. The teleconference is on Skype and recorded so you can have access to it for transcription purposes. It’s amazing how convenient and effective online learning is.

So why don’t you join me for Story Summaries: From Loglines to Beat Sheets? You can find out more about this 1-week online screenwriting class here.

I hope you can join me starting next Monday for this important and informative class!

Check out the schedule for my other Craft classes in 2017 including two new ones!

January 30 — Craft: Story Summaries — From Loglines to Beat Sheets
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February 13 — Craft: Handling Exposition
Read More

February 27 — Craft: Scene Description Spotlight — Express Your Voice
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March 13 — Craft: Character Development Keys
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March 27 — Craft: Create a Compelling Protagonist
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April 10 — Craft: Write a Worthy Nemesis
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April 24 — Craft: Scene-Writing Workshop
Details TBA

May 8 — Craft: Dialogue-Writing Workshop
Details TBA

May 22 — Craft: The Coen Brothers and the Craft of Storytelling
Read More

You can double down on your learning curve by enrolling in the Craft Package which gives you exclusive access to all of the content provided in each of the Craft classes. And in 2017, it’s an even better deal because I am including in the Package two new courses I will introduce in the spring: Scene-Writing Workshop and Dialogue-Writing Workshop.

That means you get not 8, but 10 Craft classes at a savings of nearly 60% off the regular rate.

How to put learning the craft into overdrive in 2017? Consider the Craft curriculum at Screenwriting Master Class.

And consider taking advantage of the Craft Package special offer: Immediate access to all of the Craft class content. Automatic enrollment in all ten Craft classes. All at a nearly 60% discount.

As always, I look forward to the opportunity to work with you.

Onward!

To learn more about Screenwriting Master Class, go here.

UPDATE: I’m offering — for the first time — the opportunity to mix and match any of my Craft classes for a special sale price. Pick any two or more of them and only pay $60 per course. Just email me with whatever of my Craft classes you want to take and we’ll take care of it for you!