Saturday Hot Links

Time for the 279th installment of Saturday Hot Links, your week’s essential reading about movies, TV, streaming, Hollywood, and other things of writerly interest.

Oscars 2017: Shakeup at the Oscars.

Here Are Your 2017 Oscar Winners.

The 2017 Oscars By The Numbers.

Academy’s Accountants Take the Blame for Oscars Flub.

What’s Next For the 2017 Oscar Winners.

Why There’s No Hard Feelings Between Barry Jenkins and Damien Chazelle.

2017 Independent Spirit Awards: Full Winners List.

Best And Worst Of The 2017 Independent Spirit Awards.

5 Reasons Why ‘Get Out’ Scared Its Way to Box Office Success.

In the Shadow of Superheroes, Westerns Are (Quietly) Popular.

A Horror Movie Set in the ‘Wizard of Oz’ World Is in the Works.

Major Studios Throw Support Behind L.A. 2024 Olympics Bid.

Chinese Studio to Produce Kurosawa’s Unfilmed Script.

Reclining Movie Seats Increase Online Ticket Sales by 50 Percent, Cinemark CEO Says.

How Many Movies About Grief This Year: All of Them.

Arthouse Audit: ‘My Life As a Zucchini’ Tops New Limited Releases.

Jason Blum: The New Master of Horror.

With ‘Five Came Back’ Trailer, Netflix Pays Tribute to Cinema’s Masters.

Hollywood screenwriter goes ballistic on ‘lazy ignoramus’ writers who get guns wrong.

How Danny McBride, David Gordon Green, and Jody Hill Are Revolutionizing American Comedy and Beyond.

‘Logan’ Screenwriter on How a Failed Pilot Led Him to a Novel 20 Years in the Making.

John Wells Gifts USC School of Cinematic Arts With Endowment.

Steve Martin to Teach Online Comedy Writing Course.

Apple Will Win Oscar Within Five Years, Analyst Predicts.

‘Casablanca’ and the Eternal Myths of the Movies: What makes Michael Curtiz’s 1942 film such a timeless classic?

The Many Homes of Hayao Miyazaki.

11 Honorees Selected For WGA TV Writer Access Program.

Writers Feel Payday Crunch as TV Episode Orders Shrink.

The Philosophy of Westworld.

Netflix Originals Release Dates: A Calendar of All Original TV Shows and Movies.

Netflix Preps Reality TV Push: Rivals “Should Be Scared Out of Their Minds”.

Amazon Launches Indian Entertainment Channel for U.S. Prime Members.

Could YouTube TV Mean the End of Cable?

Read: Chuck Wendig — A Very Good List of Vital Writing Advice.

Listen: 3rd & Fairfax (Episode 49).

Listten: 4 Quadrant (Episode 12).

Listen: Nick Animation (Episode 33 — Pete Docter).

Listen: Spriptnotes (Episode 290).

Watch: Alfred Hitchcock and The Art of Pure Cinema.

Finally, Bill Paxton, ‘Titanic’ and ‘Big Love’ Star, Dies at 61

Screenwriting Master Class tip of the week

If there’s one question I get asked about screenwriting theory more than any other it’s what’s my deal with character archetypes? Here’s your chance to find out what that deal is with the Screenwriting Master Class course: Character Development Keys.

It’s a 1-week online class where you do pretty much everything on your own time schedule: download and read lectures, review and post comments on the public forums, upload ideas and optional writing exercises. You want to do that in bed in your pajamas sipping coffee? Be my guest!

There is one teleconference which is live, but I record and upload that, so you can even check that out on your own time, too.

As to the course itself, there are seven lectures written by yours truly:

1: Character Archetypes and Story Structure
2: Protagonist
3: Nemesis
4: Attractor
5: Mentor
6: Trickster
7: Switch Protagonist

The study script for the course: The Dark Knight, screenplay by Jonathan Nolan & Christopher Nolan, story by Christopher Nolan and David S. Goyer, based on characters created by Bob Kane. If you’re a fan of this movie, that alone is probably reason enough to take this class because you will understand the film in a whole new way, through the lens of character archetypes.

In addition, you will get the opportunity to put the theories you learn into action by workshopping one of your own stories.

And as a bonus: I’ll be presenting a set of character development tools I have assembled over the years to help you dig into characters even further to uncover their unique personalities and voice.

This is a great chance to immerse yourself in what I consider to be one of the most fascinating and helpful ways of approaching character development and indeed, the story-crafting process as a whole: character archetypes.

All of that in only 1-week. The course runs begins Monday, March 13. And again, you can do the entire course in your pajamas! Sucking down caffeine! Devouring chocolate bon bons! The beauty of the online experience!

For more information, go here.

Plus there’s this: For nearly 60% off, you can gain immediate access to the entire content of all 10 Craft classes as well as automatic enrollment in each 1-week Craft course. Check out the Craft Package here.

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