Saturday Hot Links
Time for the 242nd installment of Saturday Hot Links, your week’s essential reading about movies, TV, streaming, Hollywood, and other things of writerly interest.
Hollywood’s New Problem: Sequels Moviegoers Don’t Want.
Hollywood Clings to Sequels Despite Diminishing Returns.
Box Office: Don’t Make A Sequel If Audiences Didn’t Like The Original.
Why is Hollywood so obsessed with men who grew up in the ‘80s?
Gareth Edwards, Rogue One, and the Case Against Hollywood’s Billion-Dollar Youth Movement.
Duncan Jones’ ‘Warcraft’ Proves The ‘One For The Studio, One For Me’ Auteur System Is Broken.
Sony’s Cycle of Constant Crisis: Exec Exits Only the Latest in Continuing Turmoil.
What Brexit Would Mean for Hollywood.
‘Warcraft,’ Hollywood, And The Growing Importance Of China’s Box Office.
Hollywood’s Good News/Bad News China Problem.
Hollywood Has a Huge Millennial Problem.
Warner Bros. Finalizes Harry Potter Global Franchise Team.
The Complete List Of LA Film Festival Winners.
The 25 Best Romantic Comedies Since When Harry Met Sally.
What ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark’ Can Teach Contemporary Filmmakers About Homage.
See the Original Indiana Jones Concept Art by Jim Steranko.
A Look Back at Hollywood’s First Legendary Party Hotel.
The 10 Most Important Inventions in Cinema History.
Movies that were filmed but never released.
Diagnosing the Avengers’ injuries: Medical professionals weigh in.
‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’: Untold Story of the Movie “Every Studio in Hollywood” Rejected.
Warcraft’s Orcs, The Lord of the Rings, and Non-Human Storytelling.
‘God’s Not Dead’ Producers Slapped With $100 Million Copyright Lawsuit.
Hollywood Studios File Suit Against Service Streaming $1 Movies.
Copyright Team Catches Student Live Streaming a Movie on Facebook, Calls the Theater.
L.A. Film Festival: Top Screenwriters Reveal the Secrets Behind Being a Better Scribe.
Beau Willimon Just Saved the Lives of 200 Writers, and You Could Be Next.
David Fincher and James Cameron: How They Helped ‘Deadpool’ Get Made.
Geena Davis Producing Documentary on Hollywood’s Gender Inequality.
Is the Sky Falling for Independents: Film Execs Say Not Yet.
Indie Film Distributors & Financiers Praise The Boon Of VOD — Produced By.
Sundance Institute Names Projects for its Screenwriters Lab.
A Massive List of Summer 2016 Grants All Filmmakers Should Know About.
In the Future, You May Be Shooting Your Film with a Glitter-Sized ‘Metalens’.
These sculptures combine famous Directors with their films.
Broadcast Networks Re-Commit To Comedy In Hopes Of Finding Next Big Hit.
Inside NBC’s Studio Shakeup and Pressure on Networks to Own Shows.
5 Ways That This Year’s TV Upfronts Negotiations Are Different.
Drama Showrunner Roundtable: 6 Top TV Bosses on Fighting for Diversity, Getting Pigeonholed and Casting “A — holes”.
Louis C.K., Damon Lindelof, Peter Gould Talk TV’s New Era of Dark Drama.
Comedy Showrunner Roundtable: Reunions You’ll Never See (Sorry, ‘Friends’ Fans!), Diversity and How to Write Sex Scenes.
Showrunners on This Fall’s New TV Series Are 90% White and 80% Male.
On Making the TV Writers’ Rooms More Diverse.
Shows Ditch Old Formulas and Formats to Push the Comedic Envelope.
Winners of Inaugural ATX-Black List Script Competition Announced.
How to Catch Up on ‘Game of Thrones’ Without Watching It.
How “Silicon Valley” Nails Silicon Valley.
Amblin TV: One Example of How Independent Studios Are Taking Back Their Power.
Why Skinny Bundles Are a Big Fat Pain for Many Cable TV Networks.
Brian Grazer Rides Peak TV Wave, Builds New Empire at Imagine Television.
When It’s a Dumb Idea to Dumb Down: Not all TV shows need the Homer Simpson effect.
Why Foreign Buyers Are Loving Reboots: ‘Empire’ Was a “Waste of Money”.
‘Key and Peele’ Gets Digital Afterlife: Comedy Central Launches Site With 300-Plus Sketches.
HBO Orders Drama Pilots from Kathryn Bigelow, Adam McKay & Will Ferrell.
Amazon Orders 5 Pilots from Guillermo del Toro, Amy Sherman-Palladino & Others.
Why Fear Streaming Giants: Indie Execs Sing Praises of Amazon, Netflix.
100 Must-See Documentaries Streaming on Netflix This June.
Netflix Orders First Indian Series ‘Sacred Games’.
Netflix Looks at Which Shows Are Most Binge-Watched.
AT&T, Chernin to Launch Subscription Video Bundle, Countering Amazon.
Snapchat Adds Subscriptions to Publisher Channels, Stealing Further Thunder from Twitter.
Snapchat User Base to Surpass Twitter, Pinterest in U.S. This Year.
Snapchat is Cannibalizing Theatrical Releases And 7 More Ways The Marketplace Is Changing.
The Horror Movie Sickhouse, Shot Entirely on Snapchat, Introduces a New Kind of Fear.
Twitter Claims It’s Helping to Sell One in 10 Movie Tickets in North America.
The 5 Funniest Online Creators Working Today.
Nerdist, Geek & Sundry to Offer Subscription Service Alpha.
Frequency Raises $11 Million to Bring Internet Video to Cable Boxes.
SAG-AFTRA Asks for Investigation of Videogame Industry Over Vocal Safety Issues.
Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Gifted Intensity.
Amazon to Launch Paid Streaming Music Service this Summer.
Variety Announces 10 Comics to Watch for 2016.
How Much Money Are Authors Making?
Self-Publishing Mistakes So Many New Authors Make.
John Adamus: What’s a Story.
Sam Bain: Producers to Watch Out For.
Playlist Feature: Shane Black.
The Black List Interview: Savy Einstein.
Written By: June 2016.
The Thread: Scott Frank.
3rd & Fairfax (WGA podcast): Episode 25.
Broken Projector: Vomit Draft 17.
Chick Who Script: Episode 85.
Film Talk: Episode 85 (Steven de Souza).
Scriptnotes: Episode 253.
Writers Guild Foundation Podcast: Frank Spotnitz.
Watch: How Much Everyone Working On a $200 Million Movie Earns.
Watch: Lost In Space — Movie Montage with “An Ending (Ascent)” by Brian Eno.
Watch: Seeing Triple: Back to the Future.
Watch: Stanley Kubrick — Wes Anderson: A Style Comparison.
Watch: Anatomy of a Scene: American Psycho.
Watch: The New Yorker Comma Queen on ‘That’ and ‘Which’.
Watch: Pixar’s Tribute to Cinema.
Watch: The Art of the Gunfight.
Watch: This Supercut Will Make You Cry.
Watch: Movie written by algorithm turns out to be hilarious and intense.
Finally Amadeus writer Sir Peter Shaffer dies aged 90.
Screenwriting Master Class tip of the week
I only teach my Core classes once a year and the 2016 cycle begins later this month. Everything you need to know about screenwriting theory in this unique curriculum based on eight principles: Plot, Concept, Character, Style, Dialogue, Scene, Theme, Time.
CORE I: PLOT — A one-week class which begins with the principle Plot = Structure and explores the inner workings of the Screenplay Universe: Plotline and Themeline. Start date: June 27.
CORE II: CONCEPT — A one-week class which begins with the principle Concept = Hook and examines multiple strategies to generate, develop and assess story ideas. Start date: July 11.
CORE III: CHARACTER — A one-week class which begins with the principle Character = Function and delves into archetypes: Protagonist, Nemesis, Attractor, Mentor, and Trickster. Start date: August 8.
CORE IV: STYLE — A one-week class which begins with the principle Style = Voice and surfaces keys to developing a distinctive writer’s personality on the page. Start date: August 22.
CORE V: DIALOGUE — A one-week class which begins with the principle Dialogue = Purpose and probes a variety of ways to write effective, entertaining dialogue. Start date: September 19.
CORE VI: SCENE — A one-week class which begins with the principle Scene = Point and provides six essential questions to ask when crafting and writing any scene. Start date: October 3.
CORE VII: THEME — A one-week class which begins with the principle Theme = Meaning and gives writers a concrete take on theme which can elevate the depth of any story. Start date: November 14.
CORE VIII: TIME — A one-week class which begins with the principle Time = Present and studies Present, Present-Past, Present-Future and time management in writing. Start date: December 12.
Each is a 1-week online class featuring 6 lectures written by me, lots of screenwriting insider tips, logline workshops, optional writing exercises, 24/7 message board conversations, teleconferences with course participants and myself to discuss anything related to the craft of scriptwriting.
A popular option is the Core Package which gives you access to the content in all eight Craft classes which you can go through on your own time and at your own pace, plus automatic enrollment in each 1-week online course — all for nearly 50% the price of each individual class. If you sign up now, you can have immediate access to all of the Core content.
Here are testimonials about the Core curriculum:
As an aspiring screenwriter, I am grateful to Scott for providing me with such an in-depth view of a core aspect of developing a story (in this case, Plot). His lectures are not meant to tell someone what the “right way” to develop a story is, but to guide you through a process of breaking down what he believes are the fundamental elements to story’s structure. Needless to say, my mind was blown after Day 1 as I have never tried to analyze a story the way Scott encouraged us to do. Despite the fact that the class was only a week long, I’ve come away with more knowledge than I ever anticipated receiving. His passion for helping and encouraging writers to become all that they can be is palpable. I will absolutely take another class with Scott in the future. — Sarah Grimes
I’ve never taken any sort of online class before, and I have to say I was surprised and impressed with how easy and smooth it went. Spending a week focusing on and learning about character archetypes was invaluable. Your unique lectures helped me think about character in new ways, and will inevitably change the way I approach new ideas and outlines. And I’m blown away and impressed at the level of personal feedback/communication from you. I don’t know how you do it– androids couldn’t manage their time more efficiently than you. — Bob Corsi
I just finished Scott’s Core IV: Dialogue class and highly recommend the experience to others. First of all, Scott is a great teacher, passionate and infectiously enthusiastic about the craft and the business. You can tell, just by listening to him speak, that he’s been in the trenches. Secondly, while many teachers talk about character being the foundation of screenwriting, Scott is one of the few who teaches that way. Consequently what his courses offer is not a bunch of templates or bullet points with a dubious shelf life trying to latch on to the latest trends, but true, honest to God, principles about how things work. — John Casu
Your Core VII: Theme class is not just helpful, it is essential. From the personal attention to the numerous “A-Ha!” moments throughout the week, I was thrilled to simply KEEP LEARNING. How many teachers can boast about that with their students? Theme = Meaning, and this class = a better shot at longetivity for your students in Hollywood. — Heather Thompson
I greatly enjoyed your Core VIII: Time course and would recommend connecting with you to any screenwriter, whether new, intermediate or advanced. You help us to consider concepts and principles in film that we may have been observing for years but not effectively utilizing in our own writing. You expand on, and clarify these techniques by rolling up your sleeves and digging in deeply…and you get us to dive in and get dirty too. You provide solid thought provoking examples, with scripts and clips, that makes learning the concepts fun and lasting. You do all this with an easy, non-dogmatic, approach that comes from genuinely wanting to help other screenwriters. I have a library full of screenwriting books and scripts, and I’ve been to several screenwriting seminars with the ‘tops’ in the ‘how to write a screenplay’ marketplace. Your accessible and humble style (though you are a produced screenwriter unlike so many of the ‘gurus’) sets you apart from the others and keeps me coming back to your website on a nearly daily basis. You are truly appreciated and no matter what success level I achieve in writing, I plan on pointing other writers to you as someone who has helped me on this journey. — Mike Kearon
These eight Core classes represent decades of my work on the front lines of the entertainment business as a writer and producer, and engaging the craft as a teacher as well, over time pulling together screenwriting theory into a coherent and cohesive approach. This is not about secret systems or magic formulas, rather the Core content presents a way of approaching the story-crafting process, starting with characters, working with characters, and ending with characters. That process of engaging you with your story universe through your characters and getting you in touch with these living, breathing individuals informs every step of your creative process, leading you to story structure, themes, conflict, subplots, and all the rest. As I say, Character Based Screenwriting.
To learn about any of the Core classes, click on the links above. If you want to have immediate access to all of the content, plus automatic enrollment in each of the eight 1-week classes, plus a savings of nearly 50%, check out the Core Package here.
I look forward to the opportunity to work with you!