Saturday Hot Links
Time for the 208th installment of Saturday Hot Links.
J.J. Abrams Confirms Final Cut On ‘The Force Awakens,’ Says ‘Star Wars’ Is Not Being Disney-fied.
Joss Whedon Says He’s Made More Money From ‘Dr. Horrible’ Than The First ‘Avengers’ Movie.
Quentin Tarantino Says He Cut Two Different Versions of ‘The Hateful Eight’.
‘Godzilla vs. Kong’ Set for 2020 as Warner Bros., Legendary Unite Franchises.
How Ridley Scott helped The Martian break the curse of the Mars movie.
The Martian Could Be the First Science Fiction Film to Win Best Picture.
Box Office: How ‘Pan’ Turned Into an Epic Flop.
Warner Bros.’ ‘Pan’ Could Lead to $150 Million Loss.
Warner Bros. Faces ‘Tarzan’ Trouble as Director Is Double-Booked.
How They Shot ‘Steve Jobs’ from Inside Out with Three Different Looks.
When a Biopic Isn’t a True Story: The Functional Fabrication of Steve Jobs.
George Miller Says ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’ Sequel Story Doesn’t Involve Furiosa.
Disney Hiring Women Screenwriters, But Not Women Directors, for Its Live-Action Adaptations.
New Mummy in Universal’s Monster Universe Might Be Female.
‘Star Wars’ Wants Female Directors for the Franchise, Says Kathleen Kennedy.
The Problems When Many Writers Work on ‘Star Wars,’ ‘Transformers’ and Other Film Franchises.
How Are Movies Going to Credit All Those Blockbuster Writers Rooms?
Babe Ruth Is Subject of MLB’s First Scripted Miniseries.
The Magic of Pixar, Explained.
The 100 Best Sci-Fi Movies of All Time.
Academy Relaunches Grant Programs After a 1-Year Hiatus.
MGM Rebooting ‘WarGames’ as Interactive Video Experience.
The Death of the Remake.
A-List Directors, interviewed by Sam Mendes.
The 10 Most Common Reasons Why Scripts Are Rejected.
4 Lessons In Storytelling From a Screenwriter Who’s Also a D&D Dungeon Master.
The Most Powerful Showrunners 2015.
‘The Big Bang Theory’ Gives Scholarships to 20 UCLA Freshmen.
Reza Aslan Addresses All Your Leftovers’ Questions.
‘Firefly’ Cast Members Discuss Possibility of Second Season.
Nickelodeon to Open Retail Store in Dubai in 2016.
TV Boom Drives $8.7 Billion Production Spend in New York City.
FCC Sets Opening Bid Prices for Stations in Airwaves Auction.
HBO Orders 1960s Feminism Comedy Pilot from Lena Dunham & ‘Girls’ Team.
Showtime Gives Series Pickup to Cameron Crowe-J.J. Abrams Comedy ‘Roadies’.
Amazon Greenlights 6 Animated Kids Pilots.
Jimi Hendrix Family Suing Shop Owner for Guitar.
Miley Cyrus Plans ‘Completely Naked’ Concert, Flaming Lips Front Man Says.
‘Hamilton’ Juggernaut Returned 25% Of Its $12.5M Costs In Five Weeks.
A Brief History of Seven Killings wins 2015 Man Booker Prize.
2015 National Book Awards finalists.
‘Bloom County’ And Opus The Penguin Return After A 25-Year Hiatus.
GoPro, USC Partner to Further Creativity for Young Filmmakers.
Snapchat Adds Refinery29 to Its Stable of Discover Publishers.
Twitter to Lay Off 8 Percent of Staffers.
Pilgrim Studios Launches Digital-Video Service With 6 Original Series.
YouTube Star PewDiePie Earned $12 Million Last Year.
Playboy to No Longer Feature Nude Women.
Simon Brown: Man Up and the problem at the heart of all rom-coms: the fallacy of “The One”.
Amy Koppelman: The Real Magic of the Movies.
Jennifer Lawrence Pens Essay: ‘Why Do I Make Less Than My Male Co-Stars?’
Doug Richardson: It’s True. I Really Suck at Success.
Bob Saenz: Continuing Education.
Chuck Wendig: Kubler-Ross Model of Grief Associated With Editing And Rewriting.
Chicks Who Script: Episode 62.
Scriptnotes: Episode 219.
Watch: Epic 39-Minute Supercut Highlights Every James Bond Kill [video].
Watch: Your Short Film Can Be Your Calling Card [video].
Watch: Video Essay Examines Importance Of Settings And Locations In Film [video].
Watch: 5-Minute Mashup Of The First And Final Frames From Horror Movies [video].
Watch: 35-Minute Documentary ‘Casablanca: An Unlikely Classic’ [video].
Watch: 37-Minute Documentary ‘Michael Curtiz: The Greatest Director You Never Heard Of’ [video].
Watch: The Legend of Zelda: Symphony of the Goddesses Perform Medley on ‘Late Show’ [video].
Screenwriting Master Class tip of the Week: Many writers benefit from the structure of a writing workshop to encourage them through their story-crafting process. Plus you receive the benefit of feedback and support from your peers and the instructor. Finally, you not only work your way through your story, you also learn proven principles and practices you may adopt and adapt on all future writing projects.
So if you’re ready to learn the ins and outs of prep-writing while wrangling one of your original stories, I have got a terrific writing workshop geared for you!
Prep: From Concept to Outline: This 6-week online workshop guides you through the story development process from concept to outline.
WHAT YOU WILL LEARN
A proven, professional approach to prep-writing: From a Protagonist Character Treatment to a Master Brainstorming List, Ten Major Plotline Points to Narrative Throughline.
COURSE DETAILS
- Six lectures to guide you through the prep-writing process
- 24/7 online forum discussions moderated by instructor
- Weekly writing assignments to develop and build your story
- Instructor and class feedback
- Due dates to motivate you to write and post assignments
- A weekly teleconference with instructor and class members
WHO SHOULD CONSIDER TAKING THIS COURSE
Screenwriters, TV writers, novelists, and playwrights who want to develop their story to an outline enabling them to have the confidence to pound out a first draft.
“From Concept to Outline is a course I wish I had known about years ago. I would recommend this wholeheartedly for anyone who is about to embark on their first script or ANY script. This lays the foundation stone to your story.”
— Camilla Castree
Start Date: Monday, October 26.
Note: This is the final session of the Prep workshop in 2015, so act now!
Instructor: Scott Myers
Scott leading Black List screenwriters workshop
Las Vegas, 2014
For more information, go here.
Remember: You can take any of our workshops on a private one-to-one basis. Indeed, one popular approach is to combine Prep and Pages I which takes you from concept all the way through the first draft process. It’s not only a great way to work your way through the writing process and complete a first draft, guided along the way by Tom or myself, it also enables you to learn a proven, professional approach to prep and page-writing which you can adopt and adapt for all future projects.
If you are interested in a private workshop, email us: info@screenwritingmasterclass.com.
“Screenwriting Master Class changed my life, and I wouldn’t be where I am as a writer without having taken these classes. I used to struggle to write every day. Now it’s something that just happens because Scott provided me with the tools I needed to learn the craft and helped me gain confidence in my writing. Scott cares about the success of each and every one of his students, and that’s what makes Screenwriting Master Class so special.”
– Amy Bircher
As always, I look forward to the opportunity to work with you.