Saturday Hot Links

Time for the 232nd installment of Saturday Hot Links, your week’s essential reading about movies, TV, streaming, Hollywood, and other things of writerly interest.

Top 10 Takeaways: ‘Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice’ Sets Box Office Records — Will It Hold.

‘Batman v Superman’ Triumphs: Do Critics Matter at the Box Office.

How Superhero Movies Became Too Big To Fail.

‘Batman v Superman’: Inside Warner Bros.’ Massive Marketing That Led to a Record Opening.

‘Batman v Superman: Dawn Of Justice’,’ ‘Daredevil,’ And The Problem Of Tone In Superhero Stories.

‘Batman V Superman’: Can This Franchise Be Saved.

‘Batman v. Superman,’ ‘Star Wars’ and Hollywood’s New Obsession With the “Requel”.

Composer Hans Zimmer Retires From ‘Superhero Business’ After ‘Batman v Superman’.

Batman V Superman Shares Remarkable Parallels With… Toy Story?

Batman v Superman and the Ridiculous Nature of the ‘Damsel in Distress’.

Ben Affleck Has Written The Script For The Solo ‘Batman’ Movie.

Screenwriter David S. Goyer Thought ‘Batman v Superman’ Was a Terrible Idea…Over Ten Years Ago.

Fans Create Petition to Ban Zack Snyder From Justice League and the DC Movie-Verse.

Superman And The Damage Done.

Superheroes And Serious Silliness.

Development Hell: Why We Didn’t Get a Superman Movie From 1988 to 2006.

Why Supergirl Is a Better Superman Story Than Batman v Superman.

‘Deadpool’ Blows Away World Record as Top-Grossing R-Rated Movie Ever.

Report: Suicide Squad currently undergoing mutiple million dollar reshoots to become funnier.

New Creative Teams and Titles Announced For DC’s “Rebirth”.

Big Book and Script Buys Don’t Equal Big Box Office.

Ari Emanuel and Patrick Whitesell Unleashed: WME-IMG’s Strategy, IPO Plans, China and the Doubters.

How Disney & Universal Dominated Most Valuable Movie Blockbusters Of 2015 — Data Behind The Dollars.

David Ellison’s Skydance Raises $700 Million In Funding For Film, TV Slates.

Dick Cook Studios Gets $500 Million Investment From China’s Film Carnival.

Theater Stocks Lead Forgettable First Quarter for Entertainment.

Leonardo DiCaprio’s Appian Way Signs First-Look Deal With Paramount Pictures.

Why Leonardo DiCaprio Ditched Warner Bros. for Paramount: It’s About Relationships.

China Box Office Grows by 50% in First Quarter.

Hollywood Movies Make Major Gains in India.

Hollywood’s hot new trend: Black women’s stories.

Fox Searchlight Promotes Matthew Greenfield, David Greenbaum to Co-Heads of Production.

Woody Allen’s’ ‘Café Society,’ Starring Kristen Stewart and Jesse Eisenberg, to Open Cannes Film Festival.

Why is Hollywood keeping its female protagonists a secret.

The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Science Launches 2016 Student Academy Awards Competition.

Hamptons International Film Festival Announces Screenwriters Lab Participants.

Is There a Market for Shorts That Debut at Film Festivals.

Why Documentary Filmmakers Must Take Care of Legal Business Early and Often.

Comedians Play One Last Basketball Game As a Sweet Farewell to the Late Garry Shandling.

Georgia Governor to Veto Anti-Gay Bill Amid Hollywood Pressure.

Book Reveals Hearst’s Plot Against Orson Welles Was Bigger Than Suspected.

The Forgotten Female Action Stars of the 1910s.

Aaron Sorkin Describes How David Fincher Directed The Dense Opening Scene Of ‘The Social Network’.

A Beginner’s Guide to Richard Linklater.

On Its 40th Anniversary: Notes on the Making of All the President’s Men.

Get Inspired By Stanley Kubrick’s Rare ‘Notes on Filmmaking’.

‘Alien’ Day Is Coming in April with Official Reeboks, Movie Screenings, Collectibles & More.

Reebok Stompers From ‘Aliens’ Coming as Part of ‘Alien Day’.

‘Texas Chainsaw Massacre’ Gas Station Set to Open as Horror-Themed BBQ Joint.

25 Great Music Scores in Not Very Good Movies.

New Hollywood Economy: Pay-for-Play Auditions for Actors Gain Dominance.

10 TV Premieres to Watch in April.

Rio Summer Olympics Ad Sales Top $1B.

Fox Teams With MLB on Female Baseball Drama ‘Pitch’.

Aaron Sorkin’s ‘A Few Good Men’ to Get Live Revival on NBC in 2017.

‘Empire’ Flops Overseas as Foreign Viewers Resist Hollywood’s Diversity Push.

Networks Challenge Netflix With New Binge-Streaming Strategy.

Is ‘Friends’ Still the Most Popular Show on TV.

Viacom Chief Says ‘Reimagining’ of MTV Is in Works.

Comedy Central Orders Expansive Snapchat Content Slate.

Interview: ‘Archer’ Creator Adam Reed on Pivoting Into a Detective Show in Season 7.

Al Jazeera To Slash Another 500 Jobs.

Netflix’s Grand, Daring, Maybe Crazy Plan to Conquer the World.

The Must-Stream Movies And Shows Coming To Netflix In April.

The Netflix Algorithm Doesn’t Care About Gender, Age, or Geography — Only Your Taste.

Netflix Orders First Original Series in Spain.

Women On Top: How Hulu Became A Haven For Female Showrunners.

Fullscreen Launches Paid Service With Original Shows, the Latest to Chase the Netflix Dream.

Disney Invests in Viral-Content Startup Playbuzz as Part of $15 Million Round.

Mashable Scores $15 Million Investment From Turner.

Younger Viewers Watch 2.5 Times More Internet Video Than TV.

Gather ‘Round for Some Feminist Fairytales, a New Web Series.

WWE, Snapchat Ink Multiyear Deal Kicking Off With WrestleMania.

Sony Music, Lorne Michaels’ Above Average Strike Digital Development Deal.

SoundCloud’s Long-Rumored Paid Subscription Service Has Arrived.

Spotify Has Raised $1 Billion in Debt Financing.

John August is taking a poll on Scriptnotes.

Zoe Kazan writes something important.

Broken Projector: Vomit Draft 9.

Scriptnotes: Episode 243.

Writers Guild Foundation Podcast: Meg LeFauve.

Listen: Cary Fukunaga Says ‘Beasts Of No Nation’ Oscar Chances Hurt By Being On Netflix [audio].

Watch: Mad Max: Fury Road — Development Hell [video].

Watch: Alien opening Storyboard Film Comparrison [video].

Watch: The History Lens Flares [video].

Watch: 100 Greatest One-Liners: Before The Kill [video].

Jim Harrison, ‘Legends of the Fall’ Author, Dies at 78.

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 just last week, 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!