Saturday Hot Links
Time for the 182nd installment of Saturday Hot Links!
Today: The It’s Stephen Hawking’s Universe And We’re Just Part Of It Edition
2015 Cannes Film Festival Reveals Its 68th Lineup.
MTV Movie Award Winners: Full List.
Related: 9 Best and Worst MTV Movie Awards Moments (Photos).
‘Avengers: Age of Ultron’ Most Anticipated Summer Movie By Wide Margin (Survey).
Related: 9 Summer Movie Burning Questions.
Related: Why Breaking Box-Office Records Matters to Hollywood More This Year.
David Letterman Announces Final ‘Late Show’ Guests.
14 terrific films to see at the 2015 Tribeca Film Festival.
Related: Tribeca Film Festival Mirrors Changing Faces of New York, Movie Business.
Why ‘It Follows’ is Really Scary: What It Means for Indie Film Distribution.
15 Companies That Paid Zero Income Tax Last Year (Despite $23 Billion In Profits).
Chicks Who Script [podcast]: Episode 36.
Scriptnotes [podcast]: Episode 193.
Pen Densham: Strategies for a Career in Screenwriting.
U.S. airlines really are getting worse, new report confirms.
TV Shows are Becoming the New Film Franchise, and That’s a Very, Very Bad Thing.
This 1960s High School Gym Class Would Ruin You.
Hijacking the Hugo Awards Won’t Stifle Diversity in Science Fiction.
7 Secrets From a Grilled Cheese Master.
Specialty Box Office: ‘Ex-Machina’ Explodes To Year’s Best Indie Debut.
The Political Scene: Sexual Assault on Campuses.
The ‘Serial’ Effect: Programmers Ramping Up on Podcasts.
Lynda.com: A 60-Year-Old Earns Internet Glory — to the tune of $1.5B.
‘Star Wars’ Battles Rage Over Los Angeles in Fan Video (Video).
Legendary Zen Buddhist teacher on how to love.
Behind “Silicon Valley’s” Tribute to Christopher Evan Welch.
Japan’s jumping pink dolphin is one of a kind.
It’s Official: HBO’s “The Leftovers” Will Mess With Texas in Season 2.
5 Foods Thomas Jefferson Introduced or Made Popular in America.
Epic 15-Minute Tribute To The Films Of Christopher Nolan [video].
Can Mood Swings Enhance Our Creativity?
USC, UCLA Announce Sixth Annual Immersive Entertainment Conference.
Scientists Figure Out a Non-Invasive Way to See What’s Underneath Famous Paintings.
What Abandoned Movie Sets Look Like Today.
Find Your Birthday Word at Oxford Dictionaries.
DIY or DIE: 10 No Budget Filmmaking Musts.
Appropriate Jobs for Women in 1920.
Attention, Filmmakers: Here Are the Secrets to the ‘Serial’ Podcast’s Storytelling Success.
Attention, travelers: Your suitcase is getting smarter.
Here’s the Hidden Message in Every Marvel Movie.
Why Are Baseball Games Nine Innings Long?
The ‘Angry Birds’ Animated Movie Will Cost $185 Million Dollars.
CEO Slashes $1 Million Salary To Give Lowest-Paid Workers A Raise.
Brian Grazer Q&A: On A Career Fueled By A Curious Mind.
How to save money: 54 great personal finance tips.
David Chase Gives In-Depth Explanation of ‘Sopranos’ Final Scene.
How Drones Help Farmers.
HBO To Netflix: Bring It On.
Related: Netflix Slates ‘Our Planet’ Massive Nature Documentary Series for 2019.
Relate: Netflix ‘Marvel’s Daredevil’ Plundered by Pirates.
Primate females may have pioneered hunting with weapons.
GLAAD Gives Failing Grades to Sony and Disney for Gays in Film.
Someone Calculated How Many Adjunct Professors Are on Public Assistance, and the Number Is Startling.
Attention, Filmmakers: Here’s How to Create the ‘Film Noir’ Look with No Budget.
What Does the IRS Do With All the Paperclips People Send Them?
The Black List site has links to 500 feminist films.
Google takes you ‘inside’ famed Abbey Road studios.
Mike Leigh’s Series Of 5-Minute Short Films [videos].
6 Behind-the-Scenes Secrets of Supermarkets.
The 11 Best Modern Westerns.
Robin Williams Impersonator Nails 18 Different Characters in Viral Tribute (Video).
Will cities be privately owned in the future?
Netflix Adds Record 4.9 Million Subscribers in Q1.
Jack White Has Elvis Presley’s First Recordings Digitally Transferred.
Feature on Joss Whedon re Avengers: Age of Ultron.
The 10 Most Significant Goals in U.S. Soccer History [videos].
13 Broadcast Series Still on the Bubble — And What Might Nudge Them Off.
Two Authors Withdraw Their Work From This Year’s Hugo Awards.
The 25 Best Horror Films Of The 21st Century So Far.
How to Boost your Creativity by Meditating + Free Guided Meditation.
Indie Movies Take Over Tentpole Territory — 7 Gems You Must See This Summer.
“Inside Amy Schumer” Won a Peabody.
2015 PEN Literary Awards Finalists Announced.
A Supercut of All the Close-Up Shots From the Classic Action Film ‘Die Hard’ [video].
78-Year-Old Senator’s Frozen Ringtone Goes Off During Hearing.
You Can Now Read Over 200,000 Leaked Sony Emails and Documents.
Related: 11 Revelations From WikiLeaks’ Sony Hack Emails.
11 Writers Who Started Late.
Read Gary Whitta’s 2012 treatment for proposed Blade Runner sequel.
What are the Origins of “420”?
Film and TV Script Website Accused of Violating Talent Agent Licensing Law.
Univision to End ‘Sabado Gigante’ After 53 Years.
20 of the Bitchiest Bette Davis Quote.
15 Eastern European Cult Classic Films You Should Know About.
5 Great Limited Series From This TV Season (and Where to Watch Them).
‘Wonder Woman’: The Story Behind Michelle MacLaren’s Exit.
The power of story.
Finally Percy Sledge, Singer of ‘When a Man Loves a Woman,’ Dead at 73
Screenwriting Master Class tip of the week: In almost every movie, the most critical character is the Protagonist.
* Typically the story is told through their perspective.
* Their goal usually dictates the end point of the plot.
* All the other primary characters are somehow linked to the Protagonist.
* Normally they go through the most significant metamorphosis.
* And the Protagonist acts as the main conduit into the story for a script reader and moviegoer.
So guess what? You need to create a Protagonist that grabs a reader’s attention and keeps it for 100 pages.
How to do that?
That’s what we will be exploring in my upcoming 1-week online class “Create a Compelling Protagonist”.
Go beyond writing a ‘sympathetic’ Protagonist. Dig deeper than giving your Protagonist a ‘flaw.’ That is surface level writing. In this class, you will learn an approach that will help you immerse yourself into this key character, and craft a Protagonist worth writing… and reading.
This class not only explores proven ways to help you create a compelling character, it also lays out an approach you can use as the groundwork for developing the rest of your story.
Seven lectures, forum feedback, insider tips, 90-minute teleconference, and the opportunity to workshop your story’s Protagonist [or Protagonists].
Plus if you’re a fan of the movies Bridesmaids, The Social Network and Up, we’ll be using those as our study scripts. They offer a diverse set of Protagonists and yet the approach we will study next week shows how a writer can craft such compelling and different lead characters.
It all starts Monday, April 27. You can learn more and sign up here.