Saturday Hot Links
Time for the 216th installment of Saturday Hot Links, your week’s essential reading about movies, TV, streaming, Hollywood, and other things of writerly interest.
Golden Globe Announce Nominations.
Boston Online Film Critics Announce Nominations.
Boston Society of Film Critics Awards announced.
British Film Independent Awards announced.
Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards announced.
National Board of Review Awards announced.
New York Film Critics Circle Awards announced.
Washington DC Area Film Critics Announce Nominations.
African American Film Critics honor Straight Outta Compton, Ryan Coogler.
Golden Globes Nominations Snubs and Surprises.
New York Times: The Best Movies of 2015.
5 Reasons This Year’s Oscar Season Is a Hot Mess.
New Films By Whit Stillman, Kenneth Lonergan, Todd Solondz & More Round Out 2016 Sundance Film Festival.
How ‘Star Wars’ Will Change Hollywood (Again).
George Lucas Delivered His Verdict on The Force Awakens.
‘Star Wars’ Has Always Been for Women.
Star Wars: Dissecting Leigh Brackett’s Rough Draft for The Empire Strikes Back.
Inside the ‘Star Wars’ Writers Room: Meet the 5 Architects of the Franchise.
The Star Wars Stand-alone Films Will All Be Different Genres.
J.J. Abrams Thinks Ava DuVernay Should Direct a ‘Star Wars’ Film.
30 coolest Star Wars facts in the galaxy.
What do the buttons on Darth Vader’s chest actually do? And who pushes them?
Make Your Own X-Wing Pilot Helmet from ‘Star Wars’.
If You Were Looking for Mark Hamill, He’s Hosting ESPN’s Lightsaber Documentary.
‘The Good Dinosaur’: Pixar May Suffer First Loss at Box Office.
Steven Spielberg’s DreamWorks To Reboot with $200 Million From Participant and Universal Deal.
James Cameron wants to prove Avatar success wasn’t ‘some big fluke’.
Theaters are messing with your senses to make movies more real.
Box Office Shocker: Movie Reviews Matter in 2015.
5 Trends Making the Movie Business Lose Sleep.
2015: The Year the Biopic Bubble Burst.
You’ll Be Able to Buy Ava DuVernay Barbies This Week.
17 Stars Who Got Their Own Barbie, From Audrey Hepburn to Ava DuVernay.
Why Girls Who Love Fairy Tales Grow Up to Be Film Editors (Not Directors).
A Female Hollywood Exec on Surviving “Career Suicide” for Husband’s Dream Job.
The 10 Best Undistributed Movies of 2015 According to Indiewire’s Film Critic.
Meet the Wesleyan Film Professor Who Gave Michael Bay, Joss Whedon Their Start.
Six Screenwriters Leaving Their Mark on Hollywood.
Listen: Bret Easton Ellis’ 2-Hour Talk With Quentin Tarantino About ‘The Hateful Eight’.
Best of 2015 (Behind the Scenes): Director James Ponsoldt on The End of the Tour’s debated conclusion.
Here Are the Top 10 Independent Movies on iTunes This Year.
Here Are All the Movies Opening This Weekend.
TCM Expands Classic Film Screening Series with Fathom Events.
Lifetime Invests in AFI Grads, Guarantees Jobs to Female Filmmakers.
Variety: The Top 20 TV Shows of 2015.
Thompson On Hollywood: The Top Ten TV Series of 2015.
20 Percent of Consumers Could Dump Cable in 2016.
The Leftovers Is One of the Great Dramas in American TV — and It Deserves a Third Season.
The Guilty Remnant Makes Pilgrimage from TV to Reality to Demand More Episodes of ‘The Leftovers’.
‘The Leftovers’ Renewed for a Third and Final Season at HBO.
Roku vs. Chromecast vs. Apple TV vs. Fire TV: What’s Best for Netflix?
Netflix and Other Streaming Services Hog 70 Percent of the Internet.
Netflix Will Nearly Double Its Original Programming in 2016.
Netflix’ Ted Sarandos Teases Interest in Launching Sports League.
AT&T to Launch Mobile Entertainment Service.
White-Hot ‘Hamilton’ is Bound for Chicago.
Longreads Best of 2015: Here Are All of Our №1 Story Picks from This Year.
NPR Books Concierge: Best Books of 2015.
How Jane Vonnegut Made Kurt Vonnegut a Writer.
Grammy Nominations 2016: The Complete List.
The 10 Best Podcasts and 10 Best Podcast Episodes of 2015.
Written By: F.X. Feeney’s feature on The End of the Tour screenwriter Donald Margulies.
Written By: Marti Noxon on running a TV show.
Millennial Mentor: Turney Duff.
Chuck Wendig: Gifts For Writers, 2015.
Wil Wheaton: That time I realized it felt good to feel sad.
Chicks Who Script: Episode 68.
Scriptnotes: Episode 227.
Serial (Season 2): Episode 1.
Watch: 8 Clips Get Unchained For Quentin Tarantino’s ‘The Hateful Eight’ [video].
Watch: YouTube Celebrates Its 10th Anniversary With Pizza Rat and Double Rainbows [video].
Screenwriting Master Class tip of the week: Here is our just released schedule for the first six months of 2016:
January 4: Pages I: Writing the First Draft
presented by Tom Benedek
January 11: Prep: From Concept to Outline
presented by Scott Myers
January 18: Pages TV: Original Pilot Script Workshop
presented by Tom Benedek
January 25: Craft: Pixar and the Craft of Storytelling
presented by Scott Myers
February 1: Craft: The First 15 Pages
presented by Tom Benedek
February 8: Craft: Story Summaries
presented by Scott Myers
February 15: Craft: Writing the Low Budget Script
presented by Tom Benedek
February 22: Craft: Handling Exposition
presented by Scott Myers
February 29: Prep: From Concept to Outline
presented by Tom Benedek
March 7: Craft: Scene Description Spotlight
presented by Scott Myers
March 14: Craft: Character Driven Screenplay — Alexander Payne and David O. Russell
presented by Tom Benedek
March 21: Pages I: Writing Your First Draft
presented by Scott Myers
March 28: CRAFT TV: Writing the Original Pilot — 1 week class
presented by Tom Benedek
April 4: Craft: Character Development Keys
presented by Scott Myers
April 11: The First Draft — Introduction to Screenwriting
presented by Tom Benedek
April 18: Prep: From Concept to Outline
presented by Scott Myers
April 25: Craft: Joss Whedon — Creating Characters
presented by Tom Benedek
May 2: Craft: Create a Compelling Protagonist
presented by Scott Myers
May 9: Original Pilot Script Workshop
presented by Tom Benedek
May 16: Craft: Write a Worthy Nemesis
presented by Scott Myers
May 23: Craft: Writing Scenes — Sorkin to Tarantino
presented by Tom Benedek
May 30: Craft: The Coen Brothers and the Craft of Storytelling
presented by Scott Myers
June 6: Prep: From Concept to Outline
presented by Tom Benedek
June 13: Pages II: Rewriting Your Script
presented by Scott Myers
June 20: Pages I: Writing Your First Draft
presented by Tom Benedek
June 27: Core I: Plot
presented by Scott Myers
July 5: Craft: TV — Writing the Web Series
presented by Tom Benedek
If you’ve never tried an online course before, a great way to check it out is our 1-week Craft classes. Sign up for one or do what a lot of writers do: Enroll in the Craft Package which gives you immediate access to the content for all 8 of my Craft courses and automatic enrollment in each of the 1-week Craft classes, all for about 50% off the regular price.
For those of you thinking about entering the Zero Draft Thirty Challenge in March, pounding out a draft of an original screenplay in 30 days, consider my Prep: From Concept to Outline workshop which begins January 11. The timing is such you’ll finish breaking your story in prep right as the ZD30 challenge begins.
Jump start your writing with Screenwriting Master Class.
We look forward to the opportunity to work with you!