Saturday Hot Links
Time for the 133rd installment of Saturday Hot Links!
Today: The We Remember “The Twilight Zone” Edition.
On May the Fourth, J.J. Abrams and Lawrence Kasdan sent a message to Star Wars fans [video].
Related: Conan O’Brien offers some alternate titles for SW VII [video].
The most frightening gangsters on film.
What everyone who sees Godzilla will be talking about.
The greatest infographic of all time.
The student films of 20 famous directors.
The secret behind Disney’s fixation with the code “A113”.
Everything you need to know about an airplane’s “black box”.
The 10 best and 5 worst films that take place over 24 hours.
50 weird laws still on the books.
There’s a Grand Budapest Hotel cruise.
5 of the world’s unluckiest people.
Check out the 2014 Hot Docs winners.
Why does the snooze button only give you 9 more minutes of sleep.
What Hollywood screenwriter would get involved in this project.
Fast Company named Magazine Of The Year.
Top 50 British films per Total Film.
Charge your phone in style with this solar-powered dress.
NYT film critics Manohla Dargis and A.O. Scott send some “Memos to Hollywood”. Lots of gender talk.
According to science, the perfect way to take a nap.
Amanda Pendolino with 10 DONT’S of Hollywood networking.
7 online personality tests actually worth taking.
I am serious this time: We are very near the end of civilization as we know it.
Police composite sketches of Dracula, Norman Bates, Jack Torrance… as described by their authors.
4 trends Hollywood needs to admit they were wrong about.
Drunk woman has sex on flight that her parents were also on.
Steven Spielberg on effort to end hate: “This is something I was put on Earth to do” [video].
12 proposed Disney attractions that were never built.
Why Fox’s Kevin Reilly is canceling pilot season.
6 recently discovered facts about Neanderthals.
Cameron Crowe’s alternate Almost Famous titles.
Beverly Hills votes to ban fracking.
Disney CEO says more Star Wars movie spinoffs planned.
How Comcast is trying to turn the Internet into an old, broken phone system.
Lionsgate and Saban Brands to reboot Power Rangers as pic franchise.
60 regional foods you shouldn’t eat anywhere else [video].
How a chant from 600AD founds its way into The Lord of the Rings, The Lion King and Star Wars [video].
Is low blood sugar really related to bad behavior.
The 40 indie movies you must see this summer.
Want to know how many people are in outer space right now? Go here.
Meanwhile U.S. audiences are abandoning foreign language films.
9 weird dance crazes from 90s TV shows.
NBCUniversal secures TV rights to Olympics through 2032. Cost: $7.65B.
“The Lifecycle of Software Objects”: A short story by Ted Chiang.
Do only 52 million adults watch original shows on Netflix and YouTube?
An amazing computer model of the universe from those smarties at Harvard and MIT [video].
New Lion King soundtrack will feature 30 minutes of unreleased music.
The voice of Tony the Tiger, Lee Marshall, dead at 64.
Where are the kids’ movies this summer.
The early days of the NFL draft.
Seth Rogen on Justin Bieber: “I don’t know anyone who likes him” [video].
Meet European soccer’s first female professional team manager.
Barry Levinson ‘quits’ WGA over credit arbitration dispute.
NASA test pilot Bill Dana, who helped usher in the space age, dies at the age of 83.
Showrunners wanted: TV networks grapple with lack of experienced writing producers.
35 things only real Agelenos know about L.A.
These are the most overrated and underrated movies according to math.
The 100 most important cat pictures of all time.
The U.S. Air Force says they could handle Godzilla.
John August features the 1912 book “How to Write a Photoplay” written by Herbert Case Hoagland.
The 5 paths to being the best at anything.
How to become a member of the WGA.
Bad week for J.J. Abram’s Bad Robot: 3 TV series canceled.
50 best Studio Ghibli moments.
Hollywood science fiction museum Kickstarter launched.
The trailer for Frozen recut as a horror movie [video].
Larry Wilmore to replace Stephen Colbert on Comedy Central with “The Minority Report”.
A lengthy feature on famed animation writer-director Hayao Miyazaki.
THR reports from the Godzilla premiere afterparty.
Finally this: Youths sue U.S. government over climate inaction.
Screenwriting Master Class tip of the week: If the Protagonist is most often your story’s most important character, the Nemesis is not far behind. Indeed some of the greatest characters in film history have been Nemeses including Darth Vader (Star Wars: Episode IV — A New Hope), the Wicked Witch of the West (The Wizard of Oz), Nurse Ratched (One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest), and the shark (Jaws).
If conflict is the stuff of great drama, there is perhaps no conflict more compelling than that of a Protagonist versus a Nemesis. But what makes for a worthy Nemesis? How to develop them?
Following up on my recent Create a Compelling Protagonist course, I’m offering Create a Worthy Nemesis. It is a 1-week screenwriting course that takes a unique approach to developing this pivotal character in that the starting point is the Protagonist. Here are the 7 lecture titles:
Monday, May 12 — Lecture 1: Nemesis v. Antagonist
Tuesday, May 13 — Lecture 2: Shadow v. Light
Wednesday, May 14 — Lecture 3: Fear v. Need
Thursday, May 15 — Lecture 4: Disunity v. Unity
Friday, May 16 — Lecture 5: Overlord v. Underdog
Saturday, May 17 — Lecture 6: Intelligence v. Wisdom
Sunday, May 18 — Lecture 7: Empathy v. Sympathy
Notice the clever theme of v. for versus? There’s a reason for that, one you will discover when you take the class. In addition to the seven lectures that I am writing, there is 24/7 forum feedback, six insider tips, a teleconference, and an opportunity to workshop one of your story’s Nemesis characters.
The most recent Create a Compelling Protagonist session has been phenomenal. In fact, I have extended the class for at least another week because of all the incredible conversations we’ve had along with great workshopping of participants’ Protagonists. I fully expect the my Nemesis class will just as stimulating.
So sign up today right here and join me for a week’s journey into the dark side of the human soul, the place where great Nemeses figures dwell, waiting for you to find them.
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