Saturday Hot Links
Time for the 146th installment of Saturday Hot Links!
Today: The Bill Nye the Science Guy Full Episodes Online Edition!
/film with a comprehensive guide to superhero movie release dates.
Female Ghostbusters? Why studios want more women-led blockbusters.
Related: What gender-bending Thor and Ghostbusters tells us about feminism.
Related: The female superhero strikes back.
Survey says U.S. teens like YouTube stars more than mainstream celebrities.
Meet Nicole Perlman: The female screenwriter who made history with Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy.
Related: A history of Marvel’s Kevin Feige being asked about a female superhero movie.
Related: Marvel’s obsession with white guys saving the world.
Related: Why do women love Guardians of the Galaxy.
Related: 50 Easter Eggs in Guardians of the Galaxy.
Fiction writing: How to create a believable world for your characters.
LEGO cashes in on sexism critiques [video].
Why your supermarket only sells 5 kinds of apples.
Las Vegas Film Festival moves downtown.
5 famous books that were originally self-published.
5.6 million people. That’s how many have already watched Sharknado 2.
What does that dangly thing in the back of your throat do.
21st Century Fox withdraws proposal to acquire Time Warner.
Relate: Why Google won’t buy Time Warner… and shouldn’t.
5 myths about the gender pay gap.
Porn movie production plummets in L.A.
Entrepreneurs: This 8-letter word will revolutionize your productivity.
Headline I wish would go away: The top 10 naked reality shows.
How to tell whether you’ve got Angst, Ennui or Weltschmerz.
Robert Redford sues New York state for $1.6M.
What Amazon’s ebook numbers are and aren’t telling you.
The Fault in Our Stars will be remade as a Bollywood film.
Creativity Post: How we make progress.
5 film festival survival tips for introverts.
20 odd things we’ve sent into space for some reason.
“True Detective” writer-creator Nic Pizzolatto accused of plagiarism.
Related: Nic Pizzolatto denies plagiarism claims.
Related: THR feature on Nic Pizzolatto.
7 of the weirdest beers ever made.
Director Lexi Alexander suggests abusing staff can lead to movie leaks.
The “Outlander” books are feminism’s answer to “Fifty Shades of Grey”.
The 35 campiest TV movies ever made.
Why do stop signs have 8 sides.
Everyone involved with Galaxy Quest wants a sequel.
10 magical facts about unicorns.
Screenwriter John Swetnam talks about real-life events that inspired the movie Into the Storm.
A brief history of the Ouija board.
“Cheers” bar finally finds a museum home.
The 10 best networking tips for people who hate networking.
A roundup of every Ghostbusters 3 rumor from the last 25 years.
13 scientific terms you might be using wrong.
Use this 15-button Groot soundboard to get in touch with your inner Guardians of the Galaxy.
Why is English spelling so messed up.
Will Arnett confirms: “Arrested Development,” Season 5 is on [video].
How California could power itself using nothing but renewables.
Larry David to write and star in a new Broadway play.
What do great musicians have in common? DNA.
Rare interview footage: George Harrison in 1981 on “Good Morning America” talking the movie Time Bandits which he produced [video].
Cristiano Ronaldo is in the weirdest commercial ever [video].
Why The Sixth Sense ending has never been matched.
House of Blues out, new hotels on Sunset Strip.
Inside the Greenwich Village apartment that inspired Rear Window.
A writer pens his own obituary and it’s hilarious.
The amazing connections in Quentin Tarantino’s complex cinematic universe [video].
8 books you should read this August.
Jeff Bridges does a Lebowski when throwing out the first pitch at Dodger Stadium [video].
10 things Mark Twain didn’t really say.
23 words that means something very different if you work in entertainment.
Screenwriter Bob Saenz’s latest blog: Positive Gender Change.
THR feature on “Orange is the New Black” creator Jenji Kohan.
Remember how fat future human beings were in the movie Wall-E from not doing anything? Here we go!
1980 comedies that couldn’t be made today.
You can see all of Bill Nye’s videos here.
Screenwriting Master Class tip of the week: Gotten some emails about the Core curriculum with this question: Do you have to take them in order? Answer: No. They are all interconnected, but you can go through them however you’d like.
For example, I’ve already offered Core I: Plot and Core II: Concept in this cycle. Here is the schedule for the rest of eight Core classes in 2014:
August 11 — Core III: Character (Scott Myers)
September 1 — Core IV: Style (Scott Myers)
September 15 — Core V: Dialogue (Scott Myers)
October 27 — Core VI: Scene (Scott Myers)
November 10 — Core VII: Theme (Scott Myers)
December 2 — Core VIII: Time (Scott Myers)
Take one or more now. Some next year when I offer them again in the summer and fall of 2015. Or if you’re really serious and want to save some coin (nearly 50% off), consider The Core Package which gives you immediate access to the content for all eight Core classes which you can go through at your own pace, as well as the option of taking each 1-week online course when they are offered.
Each class with six lectures written by me. Lively discussions each day in our online forums. Optional writing exercises and the always excellent Logline Workshop. Plus teleconferences which I moderate, digging more deeply into the course content, answering your questions and engaging in wide-ranging conversations about the craft and business of screenwriting.
I am proud of these Core classes as they represent the coalescing of ideas I have been working on for decades, emerging as a coherent, comprehensive theory I call character based screenwriting. Here is what one writer had to say about the experience of taking the Core Package:
Scott is a great teacher, passionate and infectiously enthusiastic about the craft and the business. You can tell, just by listening to him speak, that he’s been in the trenches. Secondly, while many teachers talk about character being the foundation of screenwriting, Scott is one of the few who teaches that way. Consequently. what his courses offer is not a bunch of templates or bullet points with a dubious shelf life trying to latch on to the latest trends, but true, honest to God, principles about how things work. — John Casu
If you haven’t taken a Screenwriting Master Class course with me, why not give it a try? To see the full roster of classes and workshops that Tom Benedek and I teach, go here.
For The Core Package, go here.
For Core III: Character, which begins Monday, August 11, go here.
I look forward to the opportunity to work with you!