Saturday Hot Links

Time for the 306th installment of Saturday Hot Links, your week’s essential reading about movies, TV, streaming, Hollywood, and other things of writerly interest.

Box Office Disaster: Lackluster Releases, Mayweather-McGregor, Hurricane Harvey Create Slowest Weekend in Over 15 Years.

Summer Box Office Tracking to Miss $4 Billion Mark for First Time Since 2006.

Summer Box Office Suffers Historic Decline in U.S.

Fall Box Office Preview: After Summer Crash, Can A Strong Season Save 2017?

Why ‘The Big Sick’ Was the Indie Winner at the Summer Box Office.

Kumail Nanjiani’s Culture-Clash Comedy.

Innovative Movie Studio A24 Is the Future of the Film Industry.

Venice Film Festival: 13 Must-See Movies.

Telluride Film Festival Preview: When Men (and Women) and Mountains Meet.

Telluride Film Festival Director on Hidden Gems and a Banner Year for Women.

The Real-Life Racial Battle That Inspired George Clooney’s ‘Suburbicon’.

MoviePass Is Trying to Disrupt Hollywood — Will It Succeed?

All-Female ‘Lord of the Flies’ Remake Sparks Backlash: ‘Someone Missed the Point’.

Lee Unkrich Reveals How ‘Coco’ Went from an American Tale to Pixar’s First All-Latino Cast.

How Pixar’s ‘Coco’ Tears Down Cultural Walls To Tell a Universal Story.

A First-Hand Look Inside Pixar’s COCO.

Stephen King’s ‘It’ is Hurting the Clown Business.

Why Don’t Dystopias Know How to Talk About Race?

Chris Pine and Evolving Hollywood Masculinity.

Ed Skrein’s ‘Hellboy’ Departure Signals a Turning Point in Hollywood Casting.

The Sundance Gamble: From ‘Patti Cake$’ to ‘Big Sick,’ How the Top 2017 Deals Paid Off.

The 2017 Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting Finalists Announced.

‘The Silence,’ ‘American Paradise’ Take Top Prizes at TheWrap’s Shortlist Film Festival 2017.

Cinefamily Suspends All Activities Following Sexual Harassment Charges.

Can robots write movie scripts? They already have.

Bobcat Goldthwait On How to Write a Screenplay–Right Now.

When ‘Based on a True Story’ Becomes a Lawsuit.

Zack Snyder’s ‘300’ presaged the howling fascism of the alt-right.

Did ‘Thelma & Louise’ move the needle for female-led films?

A Brief History of the Horror Movie Jump Scare.

MTV Video Music Awards: Winners List.

The Rise of the True Hero on Fall TV.

A Complete Guide to Fall TV’s Many Reboots, Revivals, and Spinoffs.

Comedy Spec Script 2017: What is hot and what is not.

Drama Spec Script 2017: What is hot and what is not.

Noah Hawley’s ‘Fargo’ & The Gospel Of The Coen Brothers.

Riot grrrls, beta males and fluid fashion: How My So-Called Life changed TV forever.

‘True Detective’ Season 3 Officially a Go at HBO..

Snapchat And Facebook Are Going To Change Television Forever.

Does Amazon Need Its Pilot Season Anymore?

Netflix Versus Hollywood: From Oscar Frontrunners to A-List TV Creators, Ted Sarandos Reveals His Master Plan.

Netflix was founded 20 years ago today because Reed Hastings was late returning a video.

Apple Races to Become First Trillion-Dollar Company.

Apple Faces Off Against Hollywood Over 4K Movie Prices.

Is Apple Too Late to Win at the Content Game?

YouTube Rolls Out New Desktop Design to Everyone.

Listen: Scriptnotes (Episode 315).

Director Tobe Hooper Dead at 74.

Screenwriting Master Class tip of the week

When I launched ScreenwritingMasterClass.com over 7 years ago, I created the Core curriculum: 48 lectures, dozens of insider tips, 250+ pages of my original content. It is a comprehensive approach to theory and practice, a deep immersion into Character Based Screenwriting, moving way beyond the typical formulas promulgated by so-called screenwriting ‘gurus’.

The Core curriculum has resonated with hundreds of writers, cutting through the confusion of all the different takes offered in ‘how to’ screenwriting books, providing a coherent take on the craft based on my 30 years of experience as a screenwriter and 15 years as a teacher.

I only teach my Core classes once a year and the 2017 cycle begins next month. Everything you need to know about screenwriting theory in this unique curriculum based on eight principles: Plot, Concept, Character, Style, Dialogue, Scene, Theme, Time.

If you sign up for The Core Package, you gain exclusive access to the content in all eight Craft classes which you can go through on your own time and at your own pace, plus automatic enrollment in each 1-week online course — all for nearly 50% the price of each individual class.

“I’m a huge fan of Scott’s classes, and I signed up for his Core Package, which I cannot speak highly enough about. If anyone wants to take a serious look at improving their writing, there is more than enough material to keep you busy for a few… dare I say, lifetimes? He’s the best. No bones about it.”

~ Heather Farlinger

Here are the eight courses offered in the Core curriculum:

CORE I: PLOT — A one-week class which begins with the principle Plot = Structure and explores the inner workings of the Screenplay Universe: Plotline and Themeline. Start date: September 11.

CORE II: CONCEPT — A one-week class which begins with the principle Concept = Hook and examines multiple strategies to generate, develop and assess story ideas. Start date: September 25.

CORE III: CHARACTER — A one-week class which begins with the principle Character = Function and delves into archetypes: Protagonist, Nemesis, Attractor, Mentor, and Trickster. Start date: October 9.

CORE IV: STYLE — A one-week class which begins with the principle Style = Voice and surfaces keys to developing a distinctive writer’s personality on the page. Start date: October 23.

CORE V: DIALOGUE — A one-week class which begins with the principle Dialogue = Purpose and probes a variety of ways to write effective, entertaining dialogue. Start date: November 6.

CORE VI: SCENE — A one-week class which begins with the principle Scene = Point and provides six essential questions to ask when crafting and writing any scene. Start date: November 13.

CORE VII: THEME — A one-week class which begins with the principle Theme = Meaning and gives writers a concrete take on theme which can elevate the depth of any story. Start date: November 27.

CORE VIII: TIME — A one-week class which begins with the principle Time = Present and studies Present, Present-Past, Present-Future and time management in writing. Start date: December 11.

These eight Core classes represent decades of my work on the front lines of the entertainment business as a writer and producer, and engaging the craft as a teacher as well, over time pulling together a coherent, comprehensive, and cohesive approach to screenwriting theory.

This is not about secret systems or magic formulas, rather the Core content presents a story-crafting process that starts with characters, works with characters, and ends with characters. That process of engaging you with your story universe through your characters and getting you in touch with these living, breathing individuals informs every step of your creative process, leading you to story structure, themes, conflict, subplots, and all the rest. As I say, Character Based Screenwriting.

NOTE: I provide feedback and am actively involved in our online chats. That includes a 90 minute teleconference for each Core class.

Check out the Core Package to ground yourself in a proven, professional approach to screenwriting theory and practice.

To learn about any of the Core classes, click here.

I look forward to the opportunity to work with you!