Saturday Hot Links

Time for the 233rd installment of Saturday Hot Links, your week’s essential reading about movies, TV, streaming, Hollywood, and other things of writerly interest.

Biggest Studio Gambles of the Summer, From ‘Ghostbusters’ to ‘Ben-Hur’.

Why Film Franchises Could Change Cinema Forever.

Will Sean Parker’s Screening Room hurt or help the film industry.

How Old Media Is Bankrolling the Upstarts.

Warner Bros. Pushes ‘Jungle Book’ to 2018, ‘Wonder Woman’ Gets New Date.

Warner Bros. Mulls Releasing Fewer Films as ‘Batman v. Superman’ Stalls.

The DC Extended Universe Must Do Better By Its Female Characters.

‘Superman,’ The Inside Story: Director Richard Donner Remembers.

The Dark Knight Returns casts a long, enduring shadow on superhero comics.

Rogue One: What’s So Wrong With Being a Mary Sue.

Dear Fanboys Angry at Rogue One‘s “Mary Sue”…

2016 Golden Trailer Awards Nominations Announced.

Bidding War Erupts Over Cuban Mafia Book ‘The Corporation’.

Disney Succession in Disarray: What COO Tom Staggs’ Sudden Exit Means.

Arthouse Audit: ‘Everybody Wants Some!!,’ ‘Miles Ahead,’ ‘Vaxxed’ and ‘Francofonia’ Score.

“From What I Hear, He’s Not Like That On Every Movie”: Charlize Theron Talks Battling Tom Hardy On ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’.

Central America Records ‘Unbelievable’ Box-Office Surge in 2015.

How Pirates Hijack Movie Studios’ Ad Campaigns on Facebook.

John Steinbeck Heirs Now Feuding Over Steven Spielberg ‘Grapes of Wrath’ Adaptation.

Genius by numbers: why Hollywood math’s movies don’t add up.

What Hollywood Has Already Taught Us About Contested Conventions.

How Superagents Michael Ovitz and Ron Meyer Divorced CAA and Landed Their Own Movie Studios.

How CGI is subtly removing human imperfection from movies.

The Scar-Jobot Illustrates the Uncanniness of Celebrity.

20 superheroines who were saving the world before Wonder Woman.

Screenplay Dialogue: Broken Down by Gender.

Shonda Rhimes to Get International Emmy Founders Award.

Ava DuVernay To Receive Spirit of Independence Award.

Lena Dunham Sets ‘Lenny’ Book Imprint and HBO Short-Film Series.

Jeff Nichols’ guide to crafting a movie ending.

Introducing a New Way to Think About Female Characters in TV and Film.

The Beginner’s Guide: John Hughes.

A Celebration of His Work 2016: 13 of Roger’s Best Reviews.

Should Movie Theaters Use Flexible Ticket Prices Like Airlines Do.

The Indie Films that the MTV Movie Awards Aren’t Leaving Behind.

Indiewire Expands Film Team With Critic David Ehrlich and Reporter Graham Winfrey.

20 Indie Filmmakers Who Found Their Second Act On TV.

Eight great POV shots in the movies.

Universal Cable Productions Sets First Pitch Fest For Storytellers.

How Did WGN America So Quickly Become a Formidable Player in the Scripted TV Game.

‘The People v O.J. Simpson’ Finale: Why the Show Was the Anti-Binge Watch.

Night After Night to @midnight: An oral history of Comedy Central (Part 1).

Reality TV’s Hot New Trend: Kids on Camera.

Writers Guild, CBS News Reach New 3-Year Pact.

Seed & Spark Adds iN DEMAND to Distribution Platform to Extend Its Reach to 100 Million Homes.

Movies Opening in Cinemas This Weekend.

The 8 Indies to Watch on VOD This April.

New Movies, TV on Amazon in April.

Terence Winter Out as ‘Vinyl’ Showrunner.

Starz Launches Standalone Streaming Service.

100 Must-See Documentaries Streaming on Netflix This April.

Netflix Standard Plan Rising to $10 for All Subs Starting in May.

CinemaCon Head-Scratcher: What Is Amazon Doing at a Movie Theater Event.

Fandor Pushes Into Film-Focused Branded Entertainment.

Verizon to Acquire Stake in AwesomenessTV.

There Are Now 2,000 YouTube Channels With At Least One Million Subscribers.

Fullscreen Ventures Into Uncharted VOD Territory — Can It Work.

Elizabeth Banks Launches Online Comedy Platform for Women.

How Ta-Nehisi Coates, Kevin Smith, and Other Celebs Learned to Write Comic Books.

Facebook Ups Investment in Live Broadcasting as Celebrities Sign On.

Facebook Opens Floodgates to Articles, Videos Paid for by Advertisers.

What’s Behind the NFL’s Deal With Twitter.

Michelle Obama, Netflix Among 2016 Webby Nominees.

Nintendo Launches Miitomo, Company’s First Mobile App.

What Nintendo Firing Alison Rapp Means For The Video Game Culture War.

‘Hamilton’: Who’s Making Millions Off Broadway’s Hottest Show.

Shakespeare First Folio Discovered on Isle of Bute, in Time for an Anniversary.

Academy of Country Music Awards: The Complete Winners List.

Apple has been granted a patent for technology that automatically censors songs.

Bob Saenz: The M Word.

Zain Khalid: I Stopped Reading Your Screenplay to Save Our Marriage.

Chicks Who Script: Episode 81.

Scriptnotes: Episode 244.

Writers Guild Foundation podcast: Master Class with Evan Daugherty.

Writers Guild Foundation podcast: Writers On Writing With Meg LaFauve.

Watch: PBS Investigates The Cost Of Superhero Movie Destruction.

Watch: Sam Mendes and the Cinematic Effect of Rain.

Watch: A Brief History of Profanity in Movies.

Watch: Cinematic Rude Awakenings.

Watch: First and Final Frames of TV Series.

Watch: Carol: A Love Story in a Look.

Watch: Trailer for Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.

Watch: A Priest Reacts to Seeing the Teaser Trailer for Rogue One.

Watch: 4-Minute Supercut Highlights Quentin Tarantino’s Use Of Slow Motion.

Watch: 25-Minute Talk With Christopher Nolan And Richard Donner About Batman And Superman.

Watch: The Fire Rises In 76-Minute Behind-The-Scenes Documentary About ‘The Dark Knight’ Trilogy.

Barbara Turner, Screenwriter and Producer, Dies at 79.

Screenwriting Master Class tip of the week: Have you ever started a script and not finished it?

Has it ever taken you 6 months, 1 year, or more to finish a script?

Have you ever gotten so lost when writing a story, you became incredibly frustrated, and gave up?

Chances are you did not do enough story preparation.

Don’t you think it’s time to approach writing like many professionals do and break your story in prep?

Screenwriting Master Class offers a 6-week online Prep: From Concept to Outline writing workshop, a unique approach to develop your story, enabling you to crack it before you type FADE IN.

The beauty of this approach is three-fold:

• You can go into the page-writing part of the process with confidence because you’ve already broken the story.
• Since you won’t be overwhelmed with finding the story when writing pages, you can focus your creativity where it should be — characters, dialogue, themes, mood, pace, etc.
• By devoting six weeks to prep, you will almost assuredly cut the overall amount of time you spend writing your script and increase the odds you will finish your draft.

Here are a few testimonials from writers who have participated in the Prep: From Concept to Outline online workshop:

“‘From Concept to Outline’ is a course I wish I had known about a couple of years ago. I would recommend this whole-heartedly for anyone who is about to embark on their first script or ANY script. This lays the foundation stone to your story.” — Camilla Castree

“This has been an outstanding class. I’ve taken a few from other sources and most don’t live up to their promises (they shall remain nameless). But here, I’ve learned so much and gotten way more than my money’s worth.” — Daniel O’Donahue

“I went into Scott’s Prep class doubting I’d ever finish a script; I came out with the tools, confidence and inspiration to power through a complete first draft in just a few months. Amazing!” — Jessica Sada

In the nearly six years I’ve been teaching through Screenwriting Master Class, I’ve led multiple Prep workshops as it has proved to be one of the most popular classes we offer. Why? Because it works! If you fully engage yourself in the six stages of this process, you will end up with an outline you can use as a springboard for writing your screenplay.

Moreover I hear from writers frequently who have taken the workshop, how they continue to adapt and use it on other stories. I’m not saying it’s the way to break a story, however it has proved to be a viable approach for many writers.

In fact, Christian Contreras whose script “LAbyrinth” made the 2015 Black List is a Screenwriting Master Class alumnus, having taken this same Prep class with me back in 2014. And recently, I heard from Verity Colquhoun, an Australian writer who did a private one-on-one version of my Prep class in 2011, letting me know the script she wrote (“Wonderful Unknown”) just landed a director and is slated to go into production this fall.

What the workshop consists of:

* Six lectures written by me

* Six writing assignments which take you from a Protagonist Character Treatment all the way to a Narrative Throughline outline

* Six due dates to spur you to make progress on your story

* Online forums with feedback from myself and your fellow writers

* Weekly teleconferences for yet more feedback

In other words, a structure which steers you through the prep-writing process… from concept to outline.

I will be leading the next session starting April 18.

For more information about Prep: From Concept to Outline, go here.

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