Saturday Hot Links
Time for the 201st installment of Saturday Hot Links!
Summer Box Office Report Cards: Universal and Disney Dominate in 2015.
22 Summer Hits and Misses.
15 Surprise Winners of the 2015 Summer Movie Season.
Embracing Gender and Racial Diversity Pays Off (And Then Some) for Universal Pictures.
8 Lessons From a Summer Where Women Ruled the Box Office.
Warner Bros.’ Chilly Summer Puts Execs in the Hot Seat (Analysis).
Several Sequels Sputter at Stronger Summer Box Office.
The 12 Most Anticipated Films Of The 2015 Venice Film Festival.
TV Is Not the New Film, But It’s OK That Festivals Are Blurring the Lines.
TCM Classic Film Fest Reveals Dates, Theme for 2016.
Jason Reitman to Direct ‘Princess Bride’ Live Read at Toronto Film Festival.
Christopher Nolan to Headline London Film Festival Talks.
U.S. Media Stocks Tumble Amid “Black Monday” Carnage.
Disney Is About to Flood the Market With Star Wars Toys.
Pixar’s ‘Inside Out’ Crosses $700 Million at Global Box Office for Disney.
Discovery’s Rich Ross on Being in “Hand-to-Hand Combat” with Netflix.
Annapurna Pictures COO Paul Hanson to Launch Indie Film Company Covert Media.
Anne Hathaway to Headline and Produce Alien Invasion Sci-Fi Comedy Based on Black List Screenplay.
Nintendo May Finally Start Making Movies Again.
Hollywood and the Pentagon: A relationship of mutual exploitation.
Why Studios Keep Us Excited About Movies Coming Out Two Years From Now.
Academy Reveals 2015 Student Academy Award Winners.
The Creative Apocalypse That Wasn’t.
False Alarm: The Creative Apocalypse Never Happened (Or Did It?)
So, About That ‘NY Times Magazine’ Piece on “The Creative Apocalypse That Wasn’t”…
Interactive Video: A Gamechanger for the Medium or Just Another Gimmick?
One Billion People Used Facebook In a Single Day.
The Film Fatales Collective Trains a Lens on Gender Inequality.
Jennifer Lawrence, Amy Schumer Are Writing a Screenplay Together.
Call It the ‘Bechdel-Wallace Test’.
Yes, You Can Turn 100 in Hollywood and Still Work.
Seattle’s Real-Life ‘Up’ House Getting Its Own Movie From Fox Searchlight.
Bruce Willis Suddenly Drops Out of Woody Allen’s New Movie, But Why?
Steve Carell Takes Bruce Willis Role in Woody Allen’s Latest.
MAD MAX: FURY ROAD Gets An Ancient Egyptian Makeover.
The Beatles’ ‘Help!’ Turns 50 and How They Almost Starred in ‘Lord of the Rings’.
New York City is Getting Its First Independent Cinema Theater in 10 Years.
What Everyone Does on a Film Set.
9 TV Shows With More Minority & Female Directors Than Any Other Series On TV.
Why Robert Rodriguez Didn’t Just Make a TV Show — He Made a TV Network.
Fear the Walking Dead’s Debut Was the Most-Watched Cable-Series Premiere Ever.
The Joy Of Not Being Able to Binge Watch.
‘Galaxy Quest’ TV Series Goes to Amazon.
A league of their own: How League of Legends and e-sports conquered America.
Broadway Box Office: Sweating Out the Late-Summer Doldrums.
Comedians Dump Campus Gigs: When Did Colleges Lose Their Sense of Humor?
What Top Comedians Like Amy Schumer, Aziz Ansari Get Paid for College Gigs.
In Conversation With Quentin Tarantino.
17 Copycat Films Spawned From Quentin Tarantino’s ‘Pulp Fiction’.
‘Babel’ Writer Guillermo Arriaga to Deliver Raindance Masterclass.
16 Must-See Howard Hawks Films.
British Film Critic Was a Soviet Spy.
Screenwriters Who Want Control Should Be Writing Novels.
Who Won Science Fiction’s Hugo Awards, and Why It Matters.
How This Year’s Hugo Awards Turned Into a Battle Over Race, Gender, and the Soul of Fandom.
All the Most Thrilling Science Fiction and Fantasy Books Coming This Fall.
22 Essential Women Writers to Read in Translation.
Black List [Terry Huang]: Case Study: Female Driven Comedy.
Corey Mandell: Why Story Structure Formulas Don’t Work.
Melissa Silverstein: An Open Letter to Colin Trevorrow.
Chuck Wendig: The Process Monkey Asks: What Is Your Writing Process?
Chuck Wendig: I Smell Your Rookie Moves, New Writers.
Former CAA Partner: Why I Became an Agent for the Sick (Guest Column).
Black List Table Reads: Chrome Noir [Part 4].
Chicks Who Script: Episode 55 [Eric Heisserer].
Script Notes: Episode 212.
Watch: Supercut Puts Quentin Tarantino’s Visual Film References Side-By-Side [video].
Watch: Bold, Beautiful 7-Minute Supercut Tribute To The Films Of Park Chan-Wook [video].
Watch: 1992 Documentary ‘Writing With Light’ About Master DP Vittorio Storaro [video].
Watch: Supercut Takes A Look At The POV Shots In The Films Of The Coen Brothers [video].
Watch: Why The Coen Brothers’ ‘A Serious Man’ Is Their Most Profound Film To Date [video].
Screenwriting Master Class tip of the week: Why haven’t you finished that script?
You know, that story you’ve been kicking around for months. Maybe it’s pretty well worked out, but you just can’t summon up the energy to type FADE IN. Or you have a partial draft and you’re stuck, not sure which way to go. Or a story concept you think has strong potential, but you’re battling your own Voices Of Negativity…
The simple fact is an unfinished script is nothing but potential. And nothing but potential is… nothing.
Maybe what you could use is this.
* A structured environment with actual due dates to inspire you to knock out pages.
* A workshop where you receive constructive feedback from a group of writing peers.
* A mentor who is a professional screenwriter and educator to accompany you on your writing journey.
That’s what we offer at Screenwriting Master Class with our Pages I: The First Draft workshop. 10 lectures [written by me] to spur your creativity, 10 teleconferences to review your pages, 10 due dates to motivate you to get from FADE IN to FADE OUT.
If you are comfortable with the sequence approach to screenwriting, you will feel right at home in this course.
If your grasp of story structure is a weak point, this workshop will help you ground your understanding.
If you have trouble finding the discipline to deposit your ‘derriere on chair’ and write, Pages I takes that problem on in a direct, practical and supportive manner.
Some thoughts by writers on the singular importance of the first draft:
“Then comes the great leap which is the first draft, I call it ‘the muscle draft,’ where you just muscle it out. You don’t worry about what you’re missing, you just get through it, get to the end.” — Darren Aronofsky
“Even if you write it wrong, write and finish your first draft. Only then, when you have a flawed whole, do you know what you have to fix.” — Dominick Dunne
“The first draft is nothing more than a starting point, so be wrong as fast as you can.” — Andrew Stanton
“Sometimes you’re swinging your way through a first draft like a blind miner with a pick-axe. That’s OK. Get it done, nothing else matters.” — Justin Marks
“First drafts are for learning what your story is about.” — Bernard Malamud
If you’re looking to go on that unique journey of discovery which is a first draft and could use the structure of an online workshop to help guide you through the process, go here to learn more about Pages I.
Our last session for 2015 begins Monday, September 14, so this is a great chance to make this year count in terms of your creative work.
I look forward to the opportunity to work with you!