Saturday Hot Links

Time for the 274th installment of Saturday Hot Links, your week’s essential reading about movies, TV, streaming, Hollywood, and other things of writerly interest.

Flavorwire: Sundance Diary, Day 1.

Flavorwire: Sundance Diary, Day 2.

Flavorwire: Sundance Diary, Day 3.

Flavorwire: Sundance Diary, Day 4.

Flavorwire: Sundance Diary, Day 5.

Flavorwire: Sundance Diary, Day 6.

Flavorwire: Sundance Diary, Day 7.

Sundance 2017 Deals: The Complete List of Festival Purchases.

Sundance 2017: Amazon Wins ‘The Big Sick’ Bidding War With $12 Million Buy.

The Big Gamble on ‘The Big Sick’: Why Amazon Spent $12 Millon Dollars on Kumail Nanjiani’s Passion Project.

2017’s Sundance Sales Are In Overdrive: Here’s Why.

Critics’ Picks: The 15 Best Films at Sundance 2017.

The Sundance Film Festival’s 20 Biggest Oscar Success Stories.

Should Sundance Excite Us: Is the hype real or the ramblings of a bunch of snowed-in Jack Torrances?

This year’s Sundance Film Festival uses your body as the movie screen.

FBI Looking Into Sundance Box Office Cyberattack.

Here Are Your 2017 Oscar Nominees.

‘La La Land’ Ties All-Time Record With 14 Nominations.

Oscars 2017: 2 Black Screenwriters Earn Oscar Noms for First Time Ever.

Oscars 2017: Viola Davis just became the first black actress to earn 3 Oscar nominations.

Oscars: Pixar Shut Out of Animated Feature Category.

Xavier Dolan Leads Canadian Screen Awards Nominations.

Richard Curtis Honored by Writers Guild With Valentine Davies Award.

“Hidden Figures” Inspires A Scholarship Contest For Minority STEM Aspirants.

‘La La Land’ Vs. ‘The Last Five Years’: Comparing The Modern Musical Romances.

How Hollywood Has Changed the Way Everybody Talks.

DGA Members Ratify New Studio Contract.

Why Screen Gems Is Using Smaller, Cheaper Cameras to Make Bigger Movies.

Jeffrey Katzenberg Raises Nearly $600 Million for New Mystery Venture.

Gavin Polone on ‘A Dog’s Purpose’ Outcry, What Really Happened and Who’s to Blame.

‘Fight Club’ Writer Takes Credit for “Snowflake” Term.

‘Donnie Darko’ Sequel: Richard Kelly Says He Has Something ‘Bigger and More Ambitious’ in Mind.

Cléo Journal Addresses ‘Woeful Lack of Feminist Perspectives’ in Film Criticism.

In Search of Satire: When Heckling Hollywood isn’t Enough.

Woody Harrelson’s ‘Lost in London’ was a crazy, compelling triumph.

The Evolution Of The Disney Princess.

The 50 Best Movie Plot Twists Of All Time.

TV Pilots 2017: The Complete Guide.

In advance of new CW TV series ‘Riverdale’: Archie and Betty and Veronica and Zombies.

Sprint Buys 33% Stake in Jay Z’s Tidal Streaming-Music Service.

Read: Bob Saenz — “About Spec Script”.

Read: Black List interview with Minhal Baig.

Listen: Scriptnotes (Episode 285).

Watch: La La Land — Movie References.

Watch: The Oscars 2017: Best Picture Nominees.

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
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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!