Saturday Hot Links
Time for the 389th installment of Saturday Hot Links, your week’s essential reading about movies, TV, streaming, Hollywood, and other things of writerly interest.
IT DEPENDS: The WGA-ATA Situation — Understanding the Code of Conduct
Writers Slam Guild’s ‘Belligerent’ Tactics in Agency Battle: ‘You Cannot Coerce Solidarity’
Austin Film Festival’s 25 Screenwriters to Watch in 2019
‘Avengers: Endgame’ Makes Box Office History With $1.2 Billion Global Opening
Avengers: Endgame brings superhero cinema’s 9/11 obsession full circle
How the Marvel Cinematic Universe Changed Hollywood’s Concept of an Action Director
Brie Larson Wants Marvel to “Move Faster” on L.G.B.T.Q. Representation
Disney and Universal Shore Up Their Benches
Amy Pascal Exits Sony for Universal Deal
How Disney Will Handle Fox Archive Titles for Classic Bookings
Mattel Expands Toy Licensing Deal With Disney’s Pixar Studios
Can A24 Turn Summer Into Awards Season?
WGA West Inclusion Report Card: Writers Still Overwhelmingly White and Male
Screenplay Software Adds Tool to Assess a Script’s Inclusiveness
Inside Hollywood’s “Rush” to Discover Diverse Talent
From Lena Waithe to Lin-Manuel Miranda: 50 Agents of Change Empowering Diverse Voices in Hollywood
Mira Sorvino, Jessica Barth Unveil Confidential Reporting Platform for Sexual Abuse Victims
Woody Allen’s New Memoir Rejected by Four Major Publishing Houses
Veteran Producer and Exec Erik Feig Launches Media Company Picturestart
Liz Meriwether Signs Big Overall Deal with 20th Century Fox TV
Sony Signs Phil Lord and Chris Miller to Nine-Figure TV Deal
‘Game of Thrones’ Creators Set for Austin Film Festival Honor
Harrison Ford Remembers ‘Star Wars’ Co-Star Peter Mayhew: “I Loved Him”
Francis Ford Coppola Still Remembers When You Clowns Mocked Apocalypse Now
‘Mad Max: Fury Road’ Tops First Critics’ Poll Naming Best Films of the Decade
Russo Brothers Say Streaming War Comes Down to Netflix vs. Disney+
On the Bubble 2019: Which Broadcast TV Shows Will Be Canceled and Which Will Be Renewed?
88 Percent of Showrunners Are White, WGA West Finds
Paramount Network Chief Explains How They Use ‘Setting as a Character’
The overlooked feminism of the Hallmark channel
‘The Chi’ Renewed for Season 3 on Showtime
Netflix Chief Defends Diverse TV Slate: “We Are Committed to These Stories”
How Hulu Got Serious About Comedy
Charter Loses 145,000 Pay TV Subscribers in First Quarter
Dish Loses 259,000 Subscribers in First Quarter Amid Disputes, Competition
Viacom Launching 14 Free Channels on Pluto TV, Sets Broad Digital Originals Slate
Steam Now Has One Billion Accounts (And 90 Million Active Users)
Tony Awards: Complete List of Nominations
Billboard Music Awards: Drake Nabs Top Artist, Sets Record for Most Wins Ever
John Singleton, ‘Boyz N the Hood’ Director, Dies at 51
How John Singleton’s ‘Boyz N the Hood’ Steered Hollywood in a New Direction
Peter Mayhew: A Lost Interview With the Original Chewbacca
Screenwriting Master Class tip of the week: The Coen Brothers and the Craft of Storytelling
My one-week online class begins Monday, May 13th.
I have two favorite contemporary filmmakers. In terms of mainstream commercial films, there is Pixar. For independent movies, there are the Coen brothers. Both are hugely successful in what they do, commercially and critically.
That’s why I’m thrilled to follow up the popular Pixar class I teach with a companion course: Coen Brothers and the Craft of Storytelling.
In this 1-week online course, we will analyze all of the movies the Coen brothers have written and directed including such memorable films as Blood Simple, Raising Arizona, Fargo, The Big Lebowski, O Brother, Where Art Thou, No Country for Old Men, and True Grit.
Through extensive analysis and discussion, we will dig into six narrative dynamics that appear throughout Coen brothers movies, and enable you to use them to workshop your own original story.
Let’s face it: The Coen brothers have created some of the most distinctive, entertaining movies in the last two decades. They return to certain themes, tropes, memes and talismans like this one: The Howling Fat Man.
We will look at that minutia because… well, it’s just fun. However our focus will be on larger principles that are more applicable to our own writing.
Here is the lecture schedule [all written by me]:
Lecture 1: The Coen Brothers’ Narrative Legacy
Lecture 2: Ordinary Character / Extraordinary Circumstance
Lecture 3: The Long Shadow of Authority Figures
Lecture 4: The Shiny Hope of Grand Schemes
Lecture 5: The Dynamism of Violence
Lecture 6: Morally Complicated Universe
Lecture 7: Unresolved Endings
Plus I will share 6 practical storytelling tips gleaned from Coen brothers movies.
The class includes:
Seven lectures written by Scott Myers
Six Coen brothers inspired storytelling tips
Daily forum Q&As
Workshop writing exercises with feedback
A 75-minute live teleconference between instructor and class members
Movies written by Joel and Ethan Coen have been nominated for 14 Academy Awards, winning 4 times, and nominated for the Cannes Film Festival Palm D’Or 7 times, winning once.
Like Pixar, the Coen brothers have carved their own path and have proven themselves to be master storytellers.
I am excited to share storytelling insights I have learned from studying Coen brothers movies in this exciting 1-week online class providing insights you can use to elevate your own writing.
Consider joining me beginning Monday, May 13th for Coen Brothers and the Craft of Storytelling, a great way to learn principles, dynamics and techniques apparent in the movies of these fine filmmakers to upgrade your own story-crafting abilities.
As the Dude might say, “That’s fuckin’ ingenious, if I understand it correctly. It’s a Swiss fuckin’ watch.”
Sign up now here.
