Saturday Hot Links
Time for the 203rd installment of Saturday Hot Links!
TIFF: The 20 Most Anticipated Films.
TIFF: 9 Up-and-Coming Actors to Watch For.
TIFF: How Relativity’s Implosion Impacts the Toronto International Film Festival.
TIFF: Pre-Buys Could Provide Big Deals.
TIFF’s Brutal First Year: “No One Came” Amid Hollywood Snub.
Telluride: Charlie Kaufman breaks hiatus on own terms in ‘Anomalisa’.
Telluride: Scott Feinberg and Stephen Galloway on Telluride’s Rocky Mountain Highs (and Lows).
Telluride: Colorado Fest Opens Gate to Kudos Season.
Telluride: Buoyed By Jobs and Bulger Biopics, Telluride Delivers.
Telluride: 4 Female-Centric Films About to Make a Splash This Awards Season.
Telluride: A Tribute To Rooney Mara.
For Your Consideration: 7 Films That Jumped Into the Oscar Race This Past Week.
Critic’s Notebook: From Telluride to Toronto, Here Comes the Future of the Movie Business.
Box Office: Universal, Disney Fuel Second-Biggest Summer Ever in U.S..
How Universal’s Digital Marketing Helped It Have The Best Year Ever.
The Box Office Has Its Worst Labor Day Weekend in 15 Years.
How ‘War Room’ Became a Biblical Box Office Smash.
China Box Office Hits $4.7B, Races Past 2014 Total.
NBCUniversal, China’s Alibaba Ink Multi-Year Movie Deal.
Announced: 2015 Nicholl Fellowship Finalists.
Aiming to diversify storytelling, Ava DuVernay expands scope of film distribution collective.
Ava DuVernay and Mainstreaming the Minority.
Disney inks deals with Amazon and Microsoft for movies service.
‘Kong: Skull Island’ to Move to Warner Bros. for Planned Monster Movie Universe
Repercussions on ‘Concussion’: Hollywood Won’t Protect Its Own Football Heroes.
Next Gen Directors: 10 Wunderkinds Everyone in Town Is Watching.
Drama over Meryl Streep-funded writing prizes.
Rumor: Warner Bros. Wants More Batman Less Superman In ‘Batman v Superman: Dawn Of Justice’.
Christopher Nolan’s Next Film Lands 2017 Release Date From Warner Bros.
‘Mad Max: Fury Road’ Storms Home-Video Sales Charts.
Kathleen Kennedy: How the Star Wars producer went from secretary to studio boss.
Relativity Studios Postpones Three Films Indefinitely.
Crowdfunding’s Next Bold Move: Allow the Fans to See Their Movies Before Anyone Else.
Report: More and More, Hollywood Looks to Porn When It Needs to Cast Sexy Body Doubles, Characters.
The Best Cinema Goes Beyond Mere Storytelling.
If Hollywood Age Gaps Were Gender-Swapped.
How old are Hollywood screenwriters.
James Franco to Teach High School Film Course.
Why James Franco Spent His Weekends Making A Web Series.
Attention, Filmmakers: Avoid These Post-Production Pitfalls.
How Inside Out’s 5 emotions work together to make more feelings [chart].
Danny Boyle On Lessons Learned, From ‘Shallow Grave’ to ‘Steve Jobs’.
Charles Ferguson Explains Why Nobody Can Make a Good Movie About Hillary Clinton.
The Truths & The Myths About Music Licensing.
How Does a Book Get Optioned and Become a Movie?
22 Ways You Know You’re an Independent Filmmaker.
As Stephen Colbert Takes Stage, Late-Night TV Is Nothing to Laugh About.
Les Moonves: Network TV’s Ultimate Survivor.
Emmy Voters Face a Daunting Amount of TV to Watch.
How Minority Report became a TV show in 7 steps.
‘Silicon Valley’ Season 3 Gets a Spec Script from the Founder of Firefox (And It’s Actually Pretty Funny).
Indiewire: Is This ‘The Golden Age of TV’ or Just the Golden Age of Dramas? [podcast]
The regrettable demise of the made-for-TV movie.
Binge-Watching Killed the Syndication Star: ‘Law & Order’ at 25.
The 32 Greatest Talk-Show Hosts Ever, Ranked.
The Late-Night TV Wars Are Officially Over.
Broadway Box Office: ‘Hamilton’ Makes Bank Over Labor Day Weekend.
Comedy Central Launches Original Series On Snapchat Discover.
UTA Becomes First Major Agency to Sign a Periscope Star.
National Geographic sold to Rupert Murdoch.
So, What’s The Big Deal With Starting A Sentence With ‘So’?
Gary Lutz on Writing (and Rewriting) Great Sentences.
Terry Gilliam Apologizes For His Death, And Watch A Trailer For His Memoir ‘Gilliamesque’.
Taylor Swift Tops Vanity Fair’s Powers That Be List.
Austin Beutner Ousted as Los Angeles Times Publisher.
John McPhee: On choosing what to omit when writing.
Chicks Who Script: Episode 57.
Scriptnotes: Episode 214.
Watch: Take a Tour of the Pixar Animation Studios Campus [video].
Watch: ‘The New Cinema’: A Fascinating Documentary on the Restructuring of 1960’s Hollywood [video].
Finally: Warren Murphy, Screenwriter on Clint Eastwood’s ‘The Eiger Sanction,’ Dies at 81.
Screenwriting Master Class tip of the week: Many writers benefit from the structure of a writing workshop to encourage them through their story-crafting process. Plus you receive the benefit of feedback and support from your peers and the instructor. Finally, you not only work your way through your story, you also learn proven principles and practices you may adopt and adapt on all future writing projects.
So if you’re ready to prep a story or primed to go to script, Tom Benedek and I have got two online writing workshops geared for you:
Pages I: Writing the First Draft: There is only one rule about a first draft: “Get the damn thing done.” In this 10-week online workshop, you will use a series of lectures and weekly writing assignments to pound out pages and push you from FADE IN to FADE OUT.
WHAT YOU WILL LEARN
A professional approach to writing a first draft, everything from hitting deadlines to constructive critique, how to handle page notes to finding the motivation to write even when you don’t want to, and much more.
COURSE DETAILS
- One written lecture posted each week
- 24/7 Online Forum Q&As moderated by instructor
- Page-writing assignments with instructor and class comments
- Due dates to motivate you to write and post pages
- A weekly teleconference with instructor and class members
WHO SHOULD CONSIDER TAKING THIS COURSE
Screenwriters who will benefit from the structure of an online class to encourage them to start and finish a complete screenplay draft.
“Over the years I’ve bought and read many books on screenwriting. None of them got me as far in my goals and understanding as the Pages I: The First Draft workshop with Scott Myers. Scott was a mentor, brain-stormer, and cheerleader. I felt encouraged and informed all the way to Fade Out.”
– Dawn LeFever
Start Date: September 14, 2015
Instructor: Scott Myers
For more information, go here.
Prep: From Concept to Outline: This 6-week online workshop guides you through the story development process from concept to outline.
WHAT YOU WILL LEARN
A proven, professional approach to prep-writing: From a Protagonist Character Treatment to a Master Brainstorming List, Ten Major Plotline Points to Narrative Throughline.
COURSE DETAILS
- Six lectures to guide you through the prep-writing process
- 24/7 online forum discussions moderated by instructor
- Weekly writing assignments to develop and build your story
- Instructor and class feedback
- Due dates to motivate you to write and post assignments
- A weekly teleconference with instructor and class members
WHO SHOULD CONSIDER TAKING THIS COURSE
Screenwriters, TV writers, novelists, and playwrights who want to develop their story to an outline enabling them to have the confidence to pound out a first draft.
“From Concept to Outline is a course I wish I had known about years ago. I would recommend this wholeheartedly for anyone who is about to embark on their first script or ANY script. This lays the foundation stone to your story.”
— Camilla Castree
Start Date: Monday, September 21
Instructor: Tom Benedek
For more information, go here.
Remember: You can take any of our workshops on a private one-to-one basis. Indeed, one popular approach is to combine Prep and Pages I which takes you from concept all the way through the first draft process. It’s not only a great way to work your way through the writing process and complete a first draft, guided along the way by Tom or myself, it also enables you to learn a proven, professional approach to prep and page-writing which you can adopt and adapt for all future projects.
If you are interested in a private workshop, email us: info@screenwritingmasterclass.com.
“Screenwriting Master Class changed my life, and I wouldn’t be where I am as a writer without having taken these classes. I used to struggle to write every day. Now it’s something that just happens because Scott provided me with the tools I needed to learn the craft and helped me gain confidence in my writing. Scott cares about the success of each and every one of his students, and that’s what makes Screenwriting Master Class so special.”
– Amy Bircher
As always, Tom and I look forward to the opportunity to work with you.