Saturday Hot Links
Welcome to another installment of Saturday Hot Links!
Today: The Full Length Charlie Chaplin Movies Online For Free Edition!
We start with Modern Times:
If 3-D movies weren’t bad enough, now there are going to be movies in 4-D?
Six personality traits associated with longevity.
Per BoxOfficeMojo: June 2012 was the first month every to have five movies open and generate $50M each.
Thousands to lose Internet connectivity on Monday due to malware attack.
Want to compare university programs in screenwriting? Or agencies for writers? Click these links.
YouTube continues expansion of online original programming with the August debut of “H+”.
Did Michael Bay steal shots from David Fincher?
Moguls make their annual descent on Sun Valley to talk more sequels, prequels, and remakes.
10 of Ben Franklin’s lesser known feats of pure awesomness.
With Savages opening this weekend, film critic Todd McCarthy ranks Oliver Stone’s movies.
A subtle complaint about subtlety complaints.
50 years of James Bond fashion.
How to distribute your movie on Hulu.
12 sports that were cut from the Olympics.
MGM sues Jake LaMotta over Raging Bull II.
How all 50 states got their names.
The Hobbit wraps principal photography.
10 questions from the U.S. naturalization quiz.
Jonathon Nolan talks The Dark Knight Rises.
Does a New York Times Book Review really make a difference in terms of sales?
Here is Charlie Chaplin’s movie City Lights:
Memo to Hollywood: Women go to movies, too.
Cool! It’s the TED books app.
TotalFilm: The 50 greatest Hitchcock movie moments.
Why are the best competitive eaters so skinny?
How Steven Spielberg’s malfunctioning mechanical sharks transformed the movie business.
10 of the most powerful female characters in literature.
Joss Whedon has a message for Firefly fans.
100 of rock and roll’s greatest guitar licks performed in one take [video].
The 30 highest grossing specialty movies of 2012 [so far].
The 10 indie films you must see this July.
20 movies you can still look forward to seeing during the rest of 2012.
Blogging FAQs.
10 essential spaghetti westerns.
How do glowsticks glow?
Screen and TV writers’ employment and earnings fell in 2011.
Why do hitchhikers stick out their thumbs?
IFC to air 1-hour “Portlandia” special.
How do you decaffeinate coffee beans?
How not to write a screenplay.
Famous photos recreated with Star Wars figures.
And finally here is the Charlie Chaplin movie The Great Dictator:
Screenwriting Master Class tip of the week: Prepping a story. You probably hate it, right? Much easier just to type FADE IN. Pound out that first act. Charge in Act Two. Get to about P. 45, then…
Lost. Stuck. Don’t know where to go. Hating life. Give up on story.
Has this happened to you? It happened to me. That’s why I decided I needed to come up with an workable approach to prep-writing. After using it for many years, I created an online workshop using the same exact practice and principles:
Prep: From Concept to Outline.
In six weeks, you use a series of lectures and writing assignments to develop, brainstorm, wrangle, and outline a story for a screenplay.
It may seem counterintuitive to spend six weeks in prep, but it actually saves you time and stress. Knowing the story, you can approach the page-writing part of the process with confidence, allowing you to spend time focusing on creative aspects of each scene, not worrying about whether they work or not.
Since we launched SMC in January 2011, I have taught this Prep class a total of eight times. And judging from the comments I get from participating writers, it is a major eye-opener, giving writers an approach that helps them with this story and provides a guide to use on all future script projects.
The next session of Prep begins Monday, July 16 and I will be leading it. There are still a few slots left. For more information, go here.
If you’d like to see a syllabus for the workshop, email me. Happy to send it to you.
I look forward to the opportunity to work with you.
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