Saturday Hot Links
Time for the 265th installment of Saturday Hot Links, your week’s essential reading about movies, TV, streaming, Hollywood, and other…
Time for the 265th installment of Saturday Hot Links, your week’s essential reading about movies, TV, streaming, Hollywood, and other things of writerly interest.
Holiday Box Office: Disney to Dominate, Can Awards Contenders Escape the Arthouse.
U.S. Box Office Tops $10 Billion for 2016, Led by ‘Finding Dory’.
Will Big End-of-Year Openings Push 2016 to a Box Office Record?
Report: China Weekend Box Office.
Hollywood and China: A Special Relationship. Footprint can be found on blockbusters this year and beyond.
Japanese Cinema Stocks Soar on Hopes of Blockbusters.
2016 Holiday Movie Preview: 22 New Films to See This Season.
Oscar Campaigns: Hollywood Needs a New Timetable to Avoid the Year-End Glut.
‘Snowden,’ ‘Free State of Jones’ Among Forbes’ Top Turkeys of 2016.
The Movie Franchises That Died in 2016.
Disney’s Pixar Acquisition: Bob Iger’s Bold Move That Reanimated a Studio.
Lucasfilm To Discuss Future Of ‘Star Wars’ After ‘Episode IX’ & More At Brain Trust Meeting In January.
Star Wars’ future might be in standalone movies after Episode 9.
Fox Dates 2 Mystery Marvel Movies and a James Cameron Project.
Variety’s 10 Screenwriters to Watch Returns to Whistler Film Festival.
‘Soldado’ Screenwriter on Why Emily Blunt Won’t be in ‘Sicario’ Sequel.
Hollywood’s Latest Exec Fad: Getting Big Bucks to Do Nothing.
2017 Independent Spirit Award Nominations: ‘Moonlight,’ ‘American Honey’ and ‘Jackie’ Lead the Way.
Analysis: Here’s How the Independent Spirit Awards Will Impact the Oscar Race.
Arrival’s Ending and Sci-Fi’s Twist Tradition.
The Beautiful, Dark, Twisted Synergy of ‘Nightcrawler’.
‘Rocky’ Turns 40: The Story Behind the Epic Fight and the Last-Minute Change to the Ending.
7 Movies That Will Make You Feel Better About the Future.
The 33 Best Movies Over Three Hours Long.
Winners Announced for Women In Film’s Film Finishing Fund.
Here’s how much the Millennium Falcon would cost in real life.
Fall TV 2016: ’Tis the Season of Ratings Erosion.
Lack of Cancellations This Season Leaves Slew of New TV Series in Limbo.
NBCU Confirms Additional $200 Million BuzzFeed Funding, Companies Expand Ad Pact.
NBCUniversal Sets Writers On The Verge Winners.
Robert De Niro’s Making How Much?! TV Is Becoming an ATM for Top Talent.
How Live Film Scores Are Finding New Life in the Age of Netflix.
Facebook Ad Revenue Has Finally Overtaken Traditional Media.
BBC Planning “Netflix of the Spoken Word” to Take Radio Content Global.
‘Westworld’ Recap: Just to Watch Them Die.
‘Westworld’: Our Biggest Questions After Episode 8.
‘Westworld’: 10 Key Moments From Episode 8, ‘Trace Decay’.
‘Westworld’: The Best Fan Theories, Updated.
‘Westworld’ Review: ‘Trace Decay’ Reminds Us That We’re All Just Stories, In the End.
“Westworld’ Recap: Trace Decay and the Two Timeline Theory.
‘Westworld’ Review: ‘Trace Decay’ Reminds Us That We’re All Just Stories, In the End.
Noga Pnueli: Reflections on the 2016 Black List Feature Lab.
Max Schwartz: Reflections on the 2016 Black List Feature Lab.
Christine Zosche: Reflections on the 2016 Black List Feature Lab.
Listen: Chicks Who Script (Episode 93).
Listen: Scriptnotes (Episode 276).
Watch: Struggling on Your Screenplay Rewrite? Try the ‘Coffee Filter’ Method.
Watch: Whiplash vs. Black Swan — The Anatomy of the Obsessed Artist.
Screenwriting Master Class tip of the week
Tom Benedek and I launched ScreenwritingMasterClass.com in January 2010 and over the last six years, we have witnessed an amazing community of writers emerge from that online educational experience.
Screenwriting Master Class alumni have set up projects at major studios including Paramount, Warner Bros., and Legendary Pictures, TV networks including ABC, AMC, HBO, and USA, and signed with top agencies including CAA, The Gersh Agency, UTA, Verve, and WME, as well as managers including Circle of Confusion, Grandview, Lee Stobby, Madhouse Entertainment, Mosaic, and MXN Entertainment.
Our curriculum has grown over the years to cover just about everything a writer needs to know about writing for movies and TV.
Tom and I have just finalized our schedule of online classes and workshops for 2017, and I’m excited to announce I will be adding two new courses as part of our Craft offerings: Scene-Writing Workshop and Dialogue-Writing Workshop.
Here is our tentative 2017 lineup through the first half of the year:
January 9 — Pages I: Writing Your First Draft
presented by Tom Benedek
January 16 — Craft: Pixar and the Craft of Storytelling
presented by Scott Myers
January 23 — Pages II: Rewriting Your Script
presented by Tom Benedek
January 30 — Craft: Story Summaries — From Loglines to Beat Sheets
presented by Scott Myers
February 6 — Pages TV: Original TV Pilot Script Workshop
presented by Tom Benedek
February 13 — Craft: Handling Exposition
presented by Scott Myers
February 20 — Prep: From Concept to Outline
presented by Tom Benedek
February 27 — Craft: Write a Worthy Nemesis
presented by Scott Myers
March 6 — Pages I: Writing Your First Draft
presented by Tom Benedek
March 13 — Craft: Character Development Keys
presented by Scott Myers
March 20 — Pages II: Rewriting Your Script
presented by Tom Benedek
March 27 — Craft: Create a Compelling Protagonist
presented by Scott Myers
April 3 — Prep: From Concept to Outline
presented by Tom Benedek
April 10 — Craft: Write a Worthy Nemesis
presented by Scott Myers
April 17 — Pages TV: Original TV Pilot Script Workshop
presented by Tom Benedek
April 24 — Craft: Scene-Writing Workshop
presented by Scott Myers
May 8 — Craft: Dialogue-Writing Workshop
presented by Scott Myers
May 22 — Craft: The Coen Brothers and the Craft of Storytelling
presented by Scott Myers
June 5 — Prep: From Concept to Outline
presented by Scott Myers
June 19 — Pages I: Writing the First Draft
presented by Scott Myers
July 17 — Prep: From Concept to Outline
presented by Scott Myers
Two important notes. First, I will be providing more information on the new Craft classes, Scene-Writing Workshop and Dialogue-Writing Workshop in the next few weeks, but if you enroll in the Craft Package, I am including these two courses for free. That’s right. You can take all 10 Craft classes at a savings of nearly 60%.
Second, due to my position as Assistant Professor at the DePaul University School of Cinematic Arts, I do not teach any Prep or Pages workshops from September through May. However if you want to work with me on your story in a group setting, I am offering the Prep workshop twice in the summer 2017 and the Pages workshop once.
I do work in a private screenwriting workshop setting with select writers: Prep: From Concept to Outline, Pages I: Writing Your First Draft, Pages II: Rewriting Your Script, and The Quest. If you are interested in the possibility of working with me one-on-one during the first half of 2017, email me. I have limited space for enrollments, so best to act sooner rather than later.
At Screenwriting Master Class, we offer a combination of benefits you won’t find anywhere else:
- Over 60 years combined experience working in the Hollywood movie and television business, and a deep understanding of how the business works.
- Over 20 years teaching experience so we know how to communicate ideas and theories effectively to participating writers.
- Unparalleled mentoring in all SMC workshops and feedback in all SMC online classes, not just peer review, but comments and suggestions directly from Tom and myself.
And there’s this: Tom and I love Story and storytellers. We support writers of all stripes and backgrounds, helping you to learn the craft and find your voice, because we want Hollywood to work with writers from all over the world with unique perspectives and stories to tell.
As I always say, you don’t need to pay a dime to learn the craft. You can learn everything you need to learn by doing these three things: Watch movies. Read scripts. Write pages. But…
If you are a beginner, intermediate, advance, or pro writer…
If you want a structure to help facilitate your progress as a writer…
If you want support and mentoring to guide you through the learning process…
If you want to immerse yourself in a comprehensive, coherent approach to screenwriting and TV writing…
Screenwriting Master Class is the online resource for you.
We look forward to the opportunity to work with YOU!