| Cameron's 'Avatar' wins best drama honor at Globes Posted: 18 Jan 2010 10:17 AM PST Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner won the screenplay honor for "Up in the Air," which Reitman also directed. The foreign-language honor went to "The White ... See all stories on this topic | ||
| Trailer Talk: This Week In Movies -'Legion,' 'Extraordinary Measures' & More Posted: 18 Jan 2010 10:17 AM PST Special effects guru Scott Steward directs the film, co-writing the screenplay with Peter Schink, who has worked frequently as an editor. ... See all stories on this topic | ||
| Jason Reitman Honored With Golden Globe Awards For <b>Screenplay</b> Posted: 18 Jan 2010 07:17 AM PST
See all stories on this topic | ||
| Book Reviews by Buuklvr81: FIRST Wild Card Tour & Review of <b>...</b> Posted: 18 Jan 2010 06:41 AM PST FIRST Wild Card Tour & Review of Screenplay by Chris Coppernoll. It is time for a FIRST Wild Card Tour book review! If you wish to join the FIRST blog alliance, just click the button. We are a group of reviewers who tour Christian books ... Book Reviews by Buuklvr81 - http://buuklvr81.blogspot.com/ | ||
| <b>Screenplay</b> Europe: Mia Hansen-Love wins Lumiere script award Posted: 18 Jan 2010 06:41 AM PST Screenplay Europe. Thoughts, news and links about the business and craft of movie screenplays and screenwriting from a European perspective. Stay tuned. If you have any further info about the writers or films, please feel free to throw ... Screenplay Europe - http://the-script.blogspot.com/ | ||
| Posted: 18 Jan 2010 05:00 AM PST A montage is a group of shots that compresses time to encapsulate an experience or convey exposition or backstory – such as montages showing the development of a couple's relationship in a short period of time or the hero preparing for the big battle (for instance the classic montage from the film Rocky, depicting the protagonist training for the big fight – doing push-ups and running up the steps of the Philadelphia Art Museum.) When done well, a montage can move a story forward, increase anticipation and even add comedic effect. Where I see screenwriters getting into trouble with montages is when they forget that a montage is a storytelling device and insert them into scripts with no rhyme or reason simply because they don't know how else to convey the drama or they want to indicate time passing (such as moving from spring to autumn – you don't need a montage to do that!) A montage should only be used if it adds to the narrative thread. And they should be kept to a minimum – one montage per screenplay is sufficient. If you are using a montage in your story you want to ensure it: Check out Christopher Riley's book The Hollywood Standard to learn how to correctly format a montage. YOUR TURN: Do you have a favorite (or least favorite) movie montage? | ||
| Analysis: Pulp Fiction (cont'd) Posted: 18 Jan 2010 11:00 AM PST Jeff Messerman asked a question about Quentin Tarantino and narrative structure which I responded to here, specifically breaking down the plot structure of Pulp Fiction in which I concluded: But after reading the script several times, I have come to the conclusion that Tarantino, whether he intended it or not, hit upon non-linearity as the only way he could tell one particular storyline in the script, the tale which comprises the 'moral' center of the movie, the story around which the screenplay's Themeline revolves. That story involves the fates of Jules and Vincent.Following up on that, here's something you might find interesting: Going through the script and tagging each scene sequence as part of a timeline. Non-linear stories are tricky, but when they work, they can make the narrative that much more interesting. | ||
| Filmmaking News – 214th Edition Posted: 18 Jan 2010 11:40 AM PST
ArtMatters.Info » Ethiopia Launches Filmmaking Princess | office … ArtMatters.Info » Ethiopia Unveils New Filmmaking Princess Hollywood Biz: HollywoodBiz: Producer Ryan Kavanaugh Brings … FilmProduced.com » Blog Archive » Episode 12: The Reality Of … Lia Scott Price's Writing and Filmmaking Blog: Lia Scott Price … Filmmaking » Dating Tips for Guys : How to Get a Girlfriend Wasatch Wrap: LDS Film Festival 24 Hour Filmmaking Marathon Shlog – unplugged: Filmmaking Related posts: | ||
| Fritz: 'Book of Eli,' 'Lovely Bones' find audiences, but 'Avatar' stays on top Posted: 18 Jan 2010 10:31 AM PST There's still no stopping "Avatar" at the box office, but its continued dominance didn't keep "The Book of Eli" and "The Lovely Bones" from finding more than enough moviegoers over a very healthy...
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| Posted: 18 Jan 2010 09:30 AM PST THE FINE PEOPLE at the WGCtweet feed alerted me to this article outlining some of the back-and-forth, behind-the-scenes drama over screenplay credits during this awards season. The article suggests that credit arbitrations have become more contentious and common lately -- which is true in Canada too, with one notable twist. In Canada, the arbitration doesn't stop at the film screen. Part of the blurring of Producer-Showrunner-Creative duties over the last few years has been the fruit of a very poison tree. For years, so called "Creative Executive Producers" here have hired writers as word slaves to "flesh out" what some call, derisively, "napkin ideas," and then turn around and claim a "Created By" credit. This is made easier by a weakness in the WGC IPA, where there is no automatic "Created By" assigned to the writer of a Pilot script, which is standard practice in the USA. I was witness a couple months back to a very protracted and extremely entertaining argument between a screenwriter and a producer - both of whom I like and admire, over just this issue. Believe me, the feelings were intense -- and fierce. The complicating factor in this, with the new U.S. first mode of development, is that we have a situation now where, theoretically, a U.S. person could be brought in on a Canadian project, and get an automatic "Created By" credit, while the Canadian writer who actually created the project doesn't get it. This has, in fact, already happened at least once. This is a big minefield, and will probably get bigger in IPA negotiations down the road. It's also, ultimately, a craft issue. Writing is one of those things that everybody thinks they understand, because everybody writes in some way, sometimes. But each and every day, writers are exposed to the truth that -- in film and tv, at least, where the teleplay/screenplay is only an intermediary document -- nobody really understands what we do. Actors are quoted as "contributing to the dialogue" and people assume that all the most spontaneous stuff in the script came from them. Directors downplay the script and big up their contributions because of the natural tension between writer and director as dual spokes that create the finished product -- the film or TV episode. The Producer (in TV) is the one who deals with the network, and sometimes instigates the project, and therefore believes they should be able to share in the created by glory. This sometimes has financial implications, but in Canada, most of the important considerations are still of the moral variety. Where do I come down? Well, it might not surprise you too much to find out that I tend to side with the writer on this one. Then again, I've given away shared credit in the past for projects that I pretty much wrote everything for myself. It's not easy. But maybe it's made better through a series of statements and questions:
None of these things are cut and dried, and a lot has to do with the levels of mutual respect in the relationship, and whether someone is treated right, or winds up feeling used. I have created things with non-writers, and such was the level of their conception, discussion with me, contributions of ideas and themes, that I truly, truly could not think of denying them the co-creator credit. I guess the real problem is a significant and general problem in conceptualizing just how much work "creating" a show really is. Tellingly, people who aren't writers often talk suspiciously about being afraid that so-and-so will "steal their idea" if they talk about it. Most writers don't think this way, simply because most of us, a) have more ideas than we'll be able to develop within our lifetimes and b) know that the idea is cheap. It's the development and execution of the idea to get it to a shootable state where the blood and sweat and tears truly lie. This is muddied further these days by an annoying trend to give non-writers writing development deals. In the states, these are mostly "Producer only" deals or POD deals. In Canada it tends to come from Acting agents advising their clients to pitch writing projects. In both cases, inevitably, the next thing that happens is that they engage a writer to "work with" the nominal creator. The problem being - with the "created by" situation so fluid & changeable, there is just too much opportunity for abuse and hard feelings in this situation. I've honestly come to the conclusion that for most writers, unless you really, really need the money -- these deals just aren't worth it. Better to put your energy trying to get something of your own up and running. Or, you know, try to get an acting deal. I guess. What a mess. Okay, they're calling my flight. Guess I'll just drop those shells and go. Comments are open. --for updates and to continue the discussion in comments, please go directly to http://heywriterboy.blogspot.com-- | ||
| FILM CREW: Fundamentals of Professional Film and Video Production Posted: 18 Jan 2010 09:53 AM PST Product Description Loaded with illustrations, up-to-date production terminology, and valuable industry insight, this edition also includes a valuable sample production forms section. Film Crew focuses on the nuts and bolts of production, and takes the mystery out of the filmmaking process. It bridges the gap between the craft of storytelling and the technical skills needed to bring a concept to life. FILM CREW: Fundamentals of Professional Film and Video Production Related posts:
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| Posted: 18 Jan 2010 08:52 AM PST Ricky Gervais brought a freshness and good humor as the host of this year's first major awards ceremony. His jokes were excellent throughout although many commentators appear to have failed to see the funny side of his jokes; perhaps that explains why The Office (the American version) failed miserably in the US. The most important award of the night, the Best Screenplay, went to Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner for their writing of Up in the Air. Clearly a very good screenplay, but still a surprise winner ahead of such master epics such as Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Armando Iannucci & Tony Roche – In the Loop, David Leslie Johnson – Orphan, Jamie Thraves – Cry Of The Owl, Larry Doyle – I Love You Beth Cooper, and James Cameron - Avatar. James Cameron, known as Jim to his close friends which appeared to be everyone at the awards scored with both Best Director and Best Movie with his Avatar marathon. A part of his acceptance speech was made in Na'vi - the language spoken by the blue aliens of Avatar. It was nice to see Sandra Bullock get her award for best Actress for The Blind Side. It makes a change to see her in a serious role, rather than her comic routines which are also highly watchable. The list went:
It doesn't matter if your personal choices didn't win; it's all a matter of individual choice. Related Posts
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| Daily Box Office: Monday, January 18, 2010 Posted: 18 Jan 2010 09:58 AM PST Avatar tops Monday's box office with an estimated $11.8 million | ||
| MULTI-HYPHENATE: Further Pontification on Collaboration Posted: 18 Jan 2010 09:29 AM PST There are very few things I loathe more than staring at a blank page - or the screenplay format (I understand why it's the way it is, but it doesn't mean I have to like it). I love coming up with the idea, and I love thinking about it. ... MULTI-HYPHENATE - http://multihyphenate.blogspot.com/ | ||
| Screenplay News – 191th Edition Posted: 18 Jan 2010 09:36 AM PST
Jason Reitman Gets Best Motion Picture Screenplay Award At Golden … The Screenplay's The Thing: Smells good from here The Screenplay's The Thing: Smells good from here Eclips Screenplay Leaked Online! – Watch Twilight Saga Eclipse Online Vinay's eblog: About selling a screenplay to Hollywood Head To Toe: A Novel & Up Against It: A Screenplay For The Beatles … Film Geek Mafia Zine: Film Geek Mafia screenplay IOMEGA Screenplay Director: DVD Sutitles – Club MyCE Iomega ScreenPlay Director HD Media Player | Using Windows Home Server Screenplay Europe: Mia Hansen-Love wins Lumiere script award Book Reviews by Buuklvr81: FIRST Wild Card Tour & Review of … Fine HD » Iomega ScreenPlay Director HD Media Player | Using … Head To Toe: A Novel & Up Against It: A Screenplay For The Beatles … No date any more——stageplay or short screenplay – Written by … Related posts: | ||
| Frost Over The World – Gene Wilder- 18 May 07 Posted: 18 Jan 2010 03:56 AM PST Related posts: | ||
| How well do you know your hero? Posted: 18 Jan 2010 09:20 AM PST Happy Martin Luther King Day! I'm sure he would be thrilled to see how far we've come. If you have the day off, consider giving a day of service in his honor, or if you decide to stay home and write, here are some thoughts for the day: What do you really know about your hero? You probably know what they look like — whether you followed my advice or not about mentioning it in the script — you probably envision them looking a certain way, perhaps you've even imagined the perfect actor and picture them when writing about your hero. You probably know how they dress, what they do for a living, and all of the surface things you will reveal in the script. You may even know a little about the hero's past — perhaps something traumatic that occurred in their childhood, or prior to the beginning of the movie — a wound that has shaped their attitude and created a defensiveness or way of dealing with the world that will be challenged by the events of the story. Aside from this though, you probably haven't thought about your characters as real, distinct people who existed before and who will exist after the story you are writing. And of course, that is because the characters you are creating do not exist. But, to make yourself a better writer, and to improve the quality and complexity of your story, let's pretend that they do exist. Think of your hero, and all of the major characters populating your story, as distinct, real individuals with complete childhoods, families, jobs, and histories as complicated and varied as real people. The more you train yourself to think of your characters in this way, the more vivid your descriptions will become, the more accurate and individualized their dialogue will sound, and the better your story will be. Writers and filmmakers often rely on flashbacks to reveal something about a character's past which shows that they have thoroughly researched and studied their character to the point that the character has become real to them. In 500 Days of Summer, the characters seem real because we see so much of their lives in the non-linear telling of their story. There is a sense that this writer knows their entire story, everything about their lives, not just the portion that would fit within the traditional telling of their love story. He understands them and what their lives were like before and after their love story. Even if you aren't telling a story that encompasses this long of a time period in your character's life, it's important that you know as much as possible about them. In Amelie, the narrator reveals quirky details about the characters that give us the sense that they are real people who aren't just here to entertain us for the duration of the story. In stories that cover an entire life, like The Notebook, The Time Traveller's Wife, and Forrest Gump, we learn about the past and present lives of the characters, and knowing so much about them makes them seem more real, makes the story more poignant. That is not always plausible or appropriate, but as a writer, you should be the god of your creation and know everything about your characters, whether it makes sense to include it in the story or not. Many of the daily writing prompts are questions to get you thinking about your hero outside of the context of the story. Keep a folder or journal where you write prose about your hero and any other major character in your screenplay. Get to know them as well as you know your best friends or siblings. Think of the questions you ask someone on a date, and pose them to your hero. Imagine how they would react in certain situations, even ones that would never happen in the context of your script. Fleshing out the characters in this way is essential for you, whether or not you incorporate their past into the final screenplay. They must be real, independent people in your mind if you ever wish to have their help in telling the story. When you finally know and understand your characters deeply, you may experience that magical moment when the character does or says something you never would have imagined, as if they truly have come to life. Then you know you have a depth and realism that readers and audiences will appreciate and enjoy and embrace. Tomorrow, I'll give you a list of detailed questions to ask yourself about your hero to get you started on the path to knowing them better and improving your story. | ||
| Wanted: Your suggestions for this week's Daily Dialogue Posted: 18 Jan 2010 09:00 AM PST A few weeks back, Violet suggested pick-up lines as a theme for Daily Dialogue: I have a suggestion for Daily Dialogue! How about pick-up lines? Those are always funny, whether it's because they're terrible or... well... usually because they're terrible.I think that's a swell idea. Here are a few suggestions from GITs reader B-Scene Films: "I appreciate this whole seduction thing you've got going on here, but let me give you a tip: I'm a sure thing."How about you? What are the best - or worst - movie pick-up lines? | ||
| Posted: 18 Jan 2010 08:00 AM PST "The truth is – our way of doing things – not only the way we gather our content, but also the way we package, deliver and the way we expect to be remunerated for that work – is being shattered by a variety of internal and external forces that simply aren't going to go away." Photographer/Filmmaker [...] | ||
| Shutter Island Opens Next Month Posted: 18 Jan 2010 04:45 AM PST
See all stories on this topic | ||
| Journal of a Struggling <b>Screenwriter</b> - Freelance Writing Job Posted: 18 Jan 2010 03:03 AM PST Journal of a Struggling Screenwriter - Freelance Writing Job. Grab a cup of your favorite drink and take a seat. McRaider. Quotes. I'm a writer, above everything else I'm a writer. Young, independent. But at the core of everything that ... Journal of a Struggling Screenwriter - http://andromeda05.livejournal.com/ | ||
| Irish Playwrights and <b>Screenwriters</b> Guild Blog: Awards Weekend Posted: 18 Jan 2010 03:03 AM PST The awards season kicked off properly this weekend in the USA. On Friday the Critics' Choice Awards were announced, and here are the two screenwriting categories: BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY Winner: Quentin Tarantino - Inglourious Basterds ... Irish Playwrights and Screenwriters... - http://irishscriptwritersguild.blogspot.com/ | ||
| 2 Years at <b>Screenwriting</b> for Hollywood ! | Posted: 18 Jan 2010 03:03 AM PST by Jaden Screenwriting for Hollywood is two years old; it's hard to believe. 144 posts have been written, averaging 6 posts per month, about which. ... Indoob, Words for Hire, The Reel Ninja, The Movie Fanatic, and DailyActor, to name a few (for more, see my linkydinks). Above all, it has been a profound pleasure working with screenwriters to help them take their unique stories and prepare sellable scripts for Hollywood. Live the dream! Thank you all for your inspiration. ... - http://www.screenwritingforhollywood.com/ | ||
| <b>Screenwriter</b> » Movie hack hand-wringing in duplicate Posted: 18 Jan 2010 03:03 AM PST Did anybody visit the Guardian's film page over the weekend? On the left-hand column (and somewhere in the real paper, I guess) there was a piece by Kidman-fancier-in-chief David Thomson entitled Ozu vs Avatar — this really is what ... Screenwriter - http://www.irishtimes.com/blogs/screenwriter/ | ||
| <b>Screenwriting</b> News – 219th Edition « <b>Screenwriting</b> News « News <b>...</b> Posted: 18 Jan 2010 03:03 AM PST Screenwriter's Summit | FILMandMOVIEmaking.com. At The Screenwriters Summit, taking place at The Westin Hotel LAX in Los Angeles, these four masters of the craft will provide an unmatched depth and understanding of screenwriting and ... Screenwriting Basics - http://www.screenwritingbasics.com/ | ||
| <b>Screenwriting</b> credits, floating up in the air - A&E Posted: 18 Jan 2010 02:04 AM PST Screenwriting credits, floating up in the air - When the Globes are handed out ... where screenwriters are abundant but successes are rare, leaving a lot of ... | ||
| <b>Screenwriting</b> for a Global Market : Andrew Horton : ebook Posted: 18 Jan 2010 02:04 AM PST Andrew Horton, author of two acclaimed books on screenwriting, includes personal essays by accomplished screenwriters from around the world and offers ... | ||
| STC! Beats Out "The Hurt Locker" Posted: 18 Jan 2010 08:07 AM PST Each week, we'll upload a Save the Cat!® Beat Sheet Breakdown of a current Oscar hopeful, continuing until this year's broadcast of the 2010 Academy Awards®. "The Hurt Locker" breakdown was written by Save the Cat!® contributing editor Jennifer Chang: Finding a copy of The Hurt Locker to rent at your local Blockbuster this weekend [...] | ||
| Newsjack: Explosion In A Clown Factory Posted: 18 Jan 2010 04:57 AM PST Sorry about that last blog. I never wanted to come across as a font-obsessed monomaniac. Oh, I am one; I just didn't want everyone knowing. So, the sketch deadline for Newsjack show 3 has passed. Did you send anything in? Slow news week, isn't it? And where it's not slow, it's grim. The first radio job I had was writing on The Way It Is - like Newsjack, a topical open-door sketch show. The phrase 'explosion in a clown factory' became a writers' meeting joke for when we'd discussed all the headlines and we'd moved on to the AOB news stories; a code for the ideal subject for a topical sketch show. Anything other than write another sketch about London Fashion Week. It always seemed to be London Fashion Week back then - it was snow of the late 90s. Newsjack has brought those days flooding back. Of course, then a non-comm could actually come in and wave their script under nose of the producer and find a corner of the canteen to do rewrites. This was before the whole Jill Dando thing made the BBC much pickier about their door policy. Added to that, most of the open door submissions were coming in by post or fax so the competition from slush pile was only a few inches rather than a couple of feet. Email has oddly made submitting both easier and harder. These days I use 'explosion in a clown factory' slightly differently. For me it's a news story that at first sight looks like it'll result in comedy gold but actually has little to offer the sketch writer because it's already funny, a joke on a joke. Last year, Swindon twinned with Disney World. Brilliant! Yet, I think it's a prime example of a light industrial Pierrot tragedy. The problem for a comedy writer is that all the jokes are already in the story. There's no sideways angle, there's nothing other than a funny news story. The jokes are already there for everyone to see - no matter how much you extrapolate, there's very little you can do that is funnier than the fact that Swindon and Disney World have twinned. Beware the 'And finally...' news stories. Beware anything in a tabloid that's less than two inches in length - and beware anything that sounds like a set-up to a penis joke. Beware the Most Emailed on the BBC website, where comedy news never dies - that goat was still getting married last year. It might sound pretentious, but a sketch has to have tension and drama like any other script, just in miniature. OK, it did sound pretentious, but it's still true. Often that tension and drama turns on the juxtaposition of the story and your treatment of it. So if the source material is already a joke, where do you have left to go? Obviously, we're not asking for page upon page of Haiti jokes, but if there's nothing real under discussion what's the point of the sketch? That's not to say that 'just being funny' can't be the point - I certainly don't want a drily po-faced satirical show where the cast solemnly hold their fists in the air after every sketch - but it's better to be funny about something with a bit of balls than a nothing story that happens to include a dead parrot. There's also a sub-set of the EiaCF (as all the cool kids are calling it) and it's this: the bleeding obvious take. Last week we had a lot of stuff about Iris Robinson and I'd say 90% were some form of The Graduate parody. That's not to say some weren't good, but they were all parodies of The Graduate - with a story about an older woman called Robinson seducing a younger man that's route one; the bleeding, dare I say it, obvious. That might sound harsher than I mean it to be. All I'm asking of you is this: when you're thinking of a funny angle on a story, be better than a Sun sub-editor. Could anyone have written that sketch or only you? Now, by way of variety and to give some respite from my endless stream of opinionated rule-making, I've asked some writers that I respect and, more importantly, have the email addresses for, to write down the one bit of advice they'd give to someone starting out writing for a show like Newsjack. First up is Tony Roche, writer of The Thick of It, In The Loop, The Comic Side of 7 Days , World Of Pub and many more. Tony... Always re-read what you've written before you send it. Always re-write what you've written if you think you can make it better. Persevere, persevere, persevere, then give up. Give all your writing fees to charity. Don't take other people's advice as gospel. Thanks, Tony. Considering the nature of these blogs, that last one's quite interesting and I'll be discussing it in my next dictatorial rant: Script Editors - Where Do They Get Off? Dan | ||
| Your Blue Monday Morning Zeitgeist Posted: 18 Jan 2010 06:51 AM PST SO I'M OFF on a flight to Edmonton today to do archive research at one of the University of Alberta libraries. While there I hope to immerse myself utterly in the fugue feeling of what my life might have been like had I taken the academic path and not done this silly masochistic writing thing. I'm gonna go out on a limb and say better sleep, and my wardrobe, number of interesting dinner/drinks companions & love of arcane knowledge would wind up being a bit of a wash. Do you know that today is supposedly, statistically, the most depressing day of the year? Man, I hope the pilot is in a good mood. These are some things that I'm watching that I think add up to one big thing. THE LITTLE SHOW THAT COULD While everyone fretted this way and that over various elements of the CBC lineup, Heartland has quietly become that network's highest rated scripted show, regularly cracking a million viewers. Sunday at 7pm used to be gravy for the CBC, a family hour when that meant something, and it seems like that show, along with unscripted fare like "Battle of the Blades", pull down numbers that seem to fit in the steroid-pumped PPM era, up against powerhouses like House. Multigen & friendly/accessible - the show's ascendancy seems like no accident. I'd be willing to bet that CBC goes for more straight up fare like this. The national broadcaster should resist what they've been doing the last few years -- panic, and over react, puttting all the eggs in that basket now. I look forward to a time when somebody strides out on the dais at some preview show and says, "and here's a show that's never gonna get a million, but it's a flat out great show; it could easily be on cable, but that kind of show is a part of our mandate at CBC, too." GOOD & GOODER I haven't really had a chance to spill too much ink over The Good Wife, and that's too bad. When it comes to working up a new spec script, this is the one that I'm telling writers to do. Others have written about how the show, minus its "ripped from the headlines" kicker of the politico wife, is rather old-fashioned, but I think that's the point. I've seen about five episodes of The Good Wife -- out of order, without staying up with the backstory. Every one has been incredibly tightly formatted, with classic, great structure -- and A-plots that put this firmly in the character-driven mystery camp. Every episode's main plot ultimately reveals some new aspect of Juliana Margulies' character; it's about HER. The other characters, too -- all help you to understand her better. Consequently, you watch one or two episodes, and you have a very strong sense of what the show is. This doesn't just stand for me. I've watched two of the eps with my father. My father, who's become my standard focus group of one, sometimes has trouble following some of the herkier or jerkier dramas with their POV bullet shots and fancy talk. Okay, yes, it's cause he falls asleep a lot in front of the TV and never sees the full thing. He doesn't fall asleep in front of The Good Wife. He stays engaged, and when the twists in the story come, we both nod sagely like we saw it coming, when really we didn't. With none of the tawdry, empty gimmickry of the CSI's and none of the fear-pumping ugliness at the heart of a Criminal Minds, I think The Good Wife has got something to it that could point the way to the next few (the last few?) broad based network hit shows... which brings us to... THE PEOPLEMETERS SPEAK Two key things have emerged from the data garnered by new peoplemeters & measurement technologies: more people are watching TV -- and especially network tv -- than we thought, and PVR's that add to viewing numbers do not necessarily strip the value from advertising -- because people who have and use PVR's a lot don't skip through the ads as much as everyone assumed. That's good news for both networks and network tv. Yes, long term, the network model is not viable, and something subscription based is the likely successor...but all the fire sale gloomy talk and NBC's premature surrender is now exposed for what it is: too much, too soon. There's still a few hands left to play in the game. None of this applies to the Canadian networks, of course. The simulcast model is pretty much dead. Happy Blue Monday. CROSSED WITH NOTHING Every year, with scores of new plots and shows it gets harder and harder to show the audience something they haven't seen before. So for several years now we've been seeing hybrids. Hybrids are shows that try to weld this to that... it's a medical drama, but it's also a mystery...It's a cop show, but it's also a supernatural thriller, etc. The Good Wife (see above) is pretty straight up. When you look at the wonderful USA dramas, you'll see more shows that are just what they are -- decent shows, fun, uncomplicated. WHITE COLLAR, about an unlikely team of FBI agent and con man, could have been out in the 80's. ROYAL PAINS explores a new area (The Hamptons, the very rich) but it's a fish-out-of-water Doctor show -- Northern Exposure with quirky rich people instead of quirky Alaskans. Maybe it's time to amp down the gimmicks and just go for a bit of straight genre -- whatever that genre is -- executed well? (side note here -- I managed to get ahold of THE ROCKFORD FILES pilot by David Shore. And. It's. AWESOME. Yayyy! Now all they have to do is cast those 4 great roles.) COMMUNITY, MODERN FAMILY, and PARKS & RECREATION are all excellent comedies -- but there's nothing particularly revolutionary about any of them. Yeah, Modern Family & Parks use The Office style confessional interviews -- but that's become a creaky old trope on its own. These trends, in and of themselves might be notable, but I think they add up to something...and it's something that would be well to note, because it's TV's traditional role. Times suck. People are agitated. They want TV to soothe, to entertain, and to a certain extent, to reassure. There is nothing wrong with any of these desires. And we who toil in the TV mines should take a second and realize that there's nothing wrong with making programs that someone can flip on at the end of the day and watch, knowing they'll be entertained and maybe even lifted up a little. Maybe that's what we can do to help people get through these challenging times. It's not a lot. But it's not nothing. Think about that when you're writing this week.  Right. That last one might just be me. --for updates and to continue the discussion in comments, please go directly to http://heywriterboy.blogspot.com-- | ||
| Posted: 18 Jan 2010 07:00 AM PST  "Ink and paper are sometimes passionate lovers, oftentimes brother and sister, and occasionally mortal enemies." -- Emme Woodhull-Bache | ||
| Adaptation Case Study # 1: War of the Worlds Posted: 18 Jan 2010 01:46 AM PST MEGA SPOILERS  War of the Worlds by HG Wells was one of my favourite books as a child. Like many popular novels, there have been many, many adaptations of it - stretching across the mediums, too. With this in mind then, I'm going to take a look at a book which captured the imagination of the public, starting incredibly before space travel was even possible. Enjoy...War of the Worlds, pt 1 - the beginning of Orson Welles' infamous 1938 radio broadcast which had people literally running for the hills! [More parts available via Youtube] I first listened to this broadcast as part of a media studies A Level project. I'd heard people really had thought the martians were arriving when they heard it back in 1938, but couldn't really relate; like most teenagers, my POV was the *only one* that did or could exist. However this proved a real eye opener: I suddenly realised that people in what I called "the olden days" were at the mercy of their media, quite literally - there wasn't the same opportunity to cross reference, there was the BBC or bust and if they said the aliens were coming, THE ALIENS WERE COMING. Still a really well put-together broadcast I think, if you haven't been able to listen to it, do. War of The Worlds - straight story Reading by Orson Welles & Richard Burton from SpokenVerse - quite a thrill to hear Orson Welles actually reading the text, even if he does sound a little bored! I don't know when this was recorded, presumably after the 1938 broadcast. I'd never heard it before the weekend - perhaps it was before Jeff Wayne's War of the Worlds (below), prompting him to hire Richard Burton? Pure speculation on my part, though. War of the Worlds - 1953 version trailer I saw this movie when my friend Helen brought it from a car boot sale on video for 20p and we watched it together. I hadn't left primary school, so I suppose I was about ten. It's quite faithful to the book, though the location changes from London to California and the protagonist is a physicist instead of a journalist; what's more his girlfriend, whom in the book he famously sees setting off on the boat without him, is a woman, Sylvia, he actually meets at the crash site instead. Overall I was satisfied by the adaptation as a child and found parts of it quite scary; however, due to the incredible leaps forward in technology in the last twenty years - particulary CGI - the monsters, space ship, etc now look quite dated. Despite this however, the actual storytelling still works for me. Jeff Wayne's War Of The Worlds - "Thunderchild" - a fan vid, comprising of Justin Hayward singing "Forever Autumn" as well Perhaps one of the mnost interesting adaptations, due to the fact one doesn't always see books reimagined as a prog rock offering. I was lucky enough to see Jeff Wayne and his orchestra perform this at the Bournemouth International Centre last year, having listened to the recording numerous times during my childhood and teens. Jeff Wayne takes a very "traditional" look at War of the Worlds, restoring the unnamed journalist and even the priest who attempts to drive back the creatures with the power of God. Whilst not fantastic music by any stretch of the imagination (not to mention horribly repetitive at times), Wayne does I think capture the drama of the novel with a combination of music, F/X and media, the icing on the cake being *that* Richard Burton narration - restored for the noughties by using an actor's moving lips over Burton's own holograph face which seems to "loom" over the proceedings for the audience. The youtube clip is a fan vid of one of my favourite parts of the whole proceedings, "Thunderchild" (from about 5 mins in, after "Forever Autumn"), which has the so-called "Voice of Humanity" describing the boat outrunning the machines, taking the Journalist's girlfriend away from him, but at least to safety; this is one of my favourite parts of the whole book, so I was thrilled to see the original artiste from the recording at the BIC, Chris Thompson, singing this. (Apparently there is a computer game too, though I've never seen/played it). Spielberg's War of the Worlds Trailer - with French subtitles, this blog IS international you know I didn't bother going to see Spielberg's "War of the Worlds" at the cinema; I mistakenly believed it would be just *another* retelling of the Journalist's journey. I ended up watching it when I'd just had Wee Girl - and couldn't believe the liberties taken with the source material; Josh Friedman and Spielberg must have had nerves of steel to mess with such a classic. But I for one really thought it paid off. The goal completely changes; instead of the Journalist merely trying to survive whilst documenting the apocalypse, Tom Cruise's absent father must take his children to his Ex in Boston, by hook or by crook. This neatly side steps the whole Deus Ex Machina of the aliens being defeated by the cold virus and introduces a whole set of new problems for the characters involved, most of which really worked - especially when Tom Cruise is forced to choose between his children on the hill. The real jewel in the crown though has to be the adaptation of the priest to the Apocalypto who threatens Cruise and his daughter's survival in the cellar by being completely nuts and trying to take on the creatures, whom Cruise is forced to kill to protect his child. And finally, just for fun: War of The Worlds in 30 seconds - with bunnies. SYLVIA! A surprisingly well done parody of the 1953 version. ------------------------------------------------- Have you seen/heard any of these versions - what did you think of them? What makes a "successful" adaptation in your eyes? Over to you... | ||
| Screenwriting News – 220th Edition Posted: 18 Jan 2010 05:05 AM PST
Film Review Online » Blog Archive » The Book of Eli – Screenwriter … Screenwriter for Hire | Screenwriter for Hire Freelance Screenwriters 'Thor' Roundup: New Casting, Screenwriter Discusses 'Adjustments … Casting Couch Radio: Show Notes – Screenwriter Steve Allrich Screenwriter » Nine out, Trek in at Oscars? Bookrastination: Book of Eli screenwriter interview on CBR software: screenwriter 6 « kiyong's blog of creative pursuits St. Pete Screenwriter (Michael France) « Screenwriting from Iowa Liberalguy: Fidel Castro: Hollywood screenwriter Utterly speechless – Rebel Without A Cause with its screenwriter … PAK-MODEL: Alan Campbell (screenwriter) Screenwriting — Two Screenplay Plots with Cell Phones | Boilers Screenwriting: KINDLE READER REVIEW – A Screenwriter's POV Screenwriting Dvd Why Can't Muslims Have Dogs? Journal of a Struggling Screenwriter – Freelance Writing Job … Screenwriting 101 or Misadventures in WA Film: Spitballing … Screenwriter » Movie hack hand-wringing in duplicate Cinema: [IndieFilmWorkers] Fwd: Screenwriting Workshop This Saturday! Journal of a Struggling Screenwriter – Freelance Writing Job I have an interest in screenwriting. Would it be more worthwhile … Aspiring Screenwriter: Giddy for Vertigo's scene at Fort Point's … Lavraki.com » Understanding Screenwriting #38 Aspiring Screenwriter: Feast your eyes on Coppola's Zoetrope: All … Screenwriting On The Blog: The Reader Journey of a Screenwriter: Not a One Trick Pony Related posts: | ||
| Does anyone know a good(inexpensive) and user friendly screenwriting software? Posted: 18 Jan 2010 05:04 AM PST | ||
| Posted: 18 Jan 2010 03:41 AM PST The mecurial David Melkevick has come up with a brilliant idea. We all know that screenwriters need to read more scripts. But how many of us actually do it? Well David has started his own script club. And I really recommend as many writers as possible get involved, read the scripts, think about them seriously, and get involved with the discussion that follows. If you miss a week okay, no problem. Just get back involved the week after. By the end of the year you could have read 50 more scripts than you otherwise might have done. And if your writing doesn't improve as a result, David will eat his hat. | ||
| Posted: 18 Jan 2010 04:21 AM PST Related posts: | ||
| Daily Screenwriting Jobs – 265th Edition Posted: 18 Jan 2010 04:02 AM PST
Script Writer Needed (Hollywood, CA) Training Video Script Writer Building the script requires you to: Freelance Entertainment Reporters/Journalists (Beverly Hills) Start up Internet entertainment company is looking for experienced freelance working reporters in entertainment (one on one interviews with people in the industry, overall biz chatter, movie awards season analysis, participation in movie junkets, film criticism, and television biz reportage). The right ca NEED MY SCRIPT PUT IN FINAL DRAFT FORM BY EXPERT (LOS ANGELES) WHAT I NEED IS FOR YOU TO HAVE THE MOST CURRENT VERSION OF FINAL DRAFT. I NEED YOU TO TYPE IT INTO FINAL DRAFT FORM. I LOOK OVER THE 1ST DRAFT AND MAKE CHANGES. THEN YOU EDITED IT AND GIVE ME THE SAVED DOC. Entertainment Editor (Philadelphia,PA) Job Description: FREELANCE / CONTRACT SCRIPT WRITER (Union Square) IOMEDIA is looking for a script writer for a 2 -4 minute corporate video – documentary style writing (A&E or History Channel style). This project will start within the next 5 business days and we prefer the writer to be in the NYC area and potentially work in our Union Square office. You will be working directly wit Entertainment Publicist Needed for PR (LA) Publicist would be hired to: COPYWRITER (COMMERICAL SCRIPT) (Seattle) Position: Copywriter (for a TV commercial script) Job Description: You will be writing a script for a television commercial for a new consumer produ Writers Needed for Entertainment Magazine -Lifestyles (urban, upscale, whats hot around Dallas) Screenwriter for Feature Film (Austin) Website Intro Script – 1/4 page (Dallas) FoodConnect Inc. is a growing company providing social media for food lovers around the world. Our visitors share recipes, post questions, view restaurant listings and share their expert advice. In addition to that, we also provide developmental services for our restaurant clients. We are based out of Vancouver and offer a flexible, cooperative, an short screen play needed for film When I take on a project I take it on completely and make the best quality product with the resources I have. If you have a good screen play or short story, send it my way and it will have a good chance of becoming a film. There are no guidelines for length, genre or stye, I am onl Seeking Script Writer For Rewrite I'm looking for a screenwriter who has written several scripts (although maybe none made into films) who would be willing to rewrite a feature length mockumentary style film along the lines of Best of Show or This is Spinal Tap. The film is darker than both of those, so we are looking for someone that has a dark sense of humor…black comedy is Energetic Arts & Entertainment Writers (Vancouver) Writers who: -love the arts: visual arts, music, fashion, culinary arts, etc. Movie Blogger – Filmonic Ghost Writer on Spy/Thriller Script (Greenwich Village) Growing Philadelphia website looking for entertainment editor (Philadelphia area) Want to enjoy a challenging opportunity to work with a website with a high ceiling? Then this is the position for you. A growing Philadelphia website is in need of an editor of our entertainment page. This person must be willing to go the extra mile for us. You will wear Writer Needed for Feature Film Visit www.rogerscinematic Related posts: | ||
| Frost Over The World – Gene Wilder- 18 May 07 Posted: 18 Jan 2010 03:56 AM PST Related posts: | ||
| Posted: 18 Jan 2010 01:08 AM PST The awards season kicked off properly this weekend in the USA. On Friday the Critics' Choice Awards were announced, and here are the two screenwriting categories: BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY Winner: Quentin Tarantino - Inglourious Basterds Nominees:
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY Winner: Jason Reitman, Sheldon Turner - Up In The Air Nominees:
Last night the winners of the Golden Globes were broadcast. The lone screenwriting category was: BEST SCREENPLAY - MOTION PICTURE Winner: Jason Reitman, Sheldon Turner - Up In The Air Nominees
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| Watch Armored Streaming Online Free Posted: 18 Jan 2010 03:27 AM PST
Armored is a 2009 American crime thriller film directed by Nimród Antal, written by first-time screenwriter James V. Simpson, and starring Matt Dillon, Jean Reno and Laurence Fishburne. It was released on December 4, 2009. Vacancy director Nimród Antal helms the crime thriller Armored, starring Matt Dillon as an armored truck guard who gets wrapped up in a heist scheme hatched by his friends. Stomp the Yard's Columbus Short co-stars in the James V. Simpson-scripted film, produced by Screen Gems Entertainment. A newbie guard for an armored truck company is coerced by his veteran coworkers to steal a truck containing $42 million. But a wrinkle in their supposedly foolproof plan divides the group, leading to a potentially deadly resolution. Ty Hackett (Columbus Short) is a young armored car guard. When he has difficulties making ends meet, the veteran guards convince him to join them in emptying a truck of its $42 million cargo. Conflict arises when the guards shoot a cop (Milo Ventimiglia) and Ty insists on helping him. A standoff ensues, with Ty locked in the armored car with the cop and the money. A crew of officers at an armored transport security firm risk their lives when they embark on the ultimate heist… against their own company. Armed with a seemingly fool-proof plan, the men plan on making off with a fortune with harm to none. But when an unexpected witness interferes, the plan quickly unravels and hell breaks loose; all bets are off and each man must fight to survive on a dog-eat-dog battleground made of steel. This is a great movie and sure to be a hit.I think it may evenbe a bigger hit than Twillight Saga: New Moon. But you can judge for yourself. I'm Jamila. I am a movie buff so I have created Watch New Movies Online Free for those of you who are like me. We love the movies but don't quite have the time to get out to see them. Image taken on 2007-02-26 18:25:37. Image Source. (Used with permission) Related posts: | ||
| Mia Hansen-Love wins Lumiere script award Posted: 18 Jan 2010 02:29 AM PST  Mia Hansen-Löve, writer-director of "Le père de mes enfants/Father of my Children" won the screenplay award at this year's Lumière awards in Paris, January 15 2010. The film, detailing the fall from grace of a film producer, was the surprise winner against multiple nominee "Un prophète/A Prophet". The awards are given by the foreign press for French or French-speaking films. Other winners include "Welcome", "A Prophet" (director and actor), actress Isabelle Adjani and best Francophone film for "J'ai tué ma mère" by Canada's Xavier Dolan. Read more about "Le père de mes enfants. Get more scriptwriting news on Screenplay Europe now. | ||
| Daily Dialogue -- January 18, 2010 Posted: 18 Jan 2010 03:00 AM PST "I really wish that you'd come home with me. You're so cute and I'm really good in bed, believe me. You smell good, too." -- Ben Sanderson (Nicholas Cage), Leaving Las Vegas (1995), screenplay by Mike Figgis, based on the book by John O'Brien | ||
| The Light That Shreds One Place And Another » Blog Archive <b>...</b> Posted: 18 Jan 2010 12:52 AM PST Screenplay format is for Hollywood executives. Each scripts have its own rules. Scripts are really like a sketch. Always try to stick to the script. Lots of time it's legal document because of the investors. ... The Light That Shreds One Place... - http://www.arkelik.com/ | ||
| how to format a script eBook Downloads Posted: 18 Jan 2010 12:20 AM PST FORMAT PRIMER · STANDARD SCREENPLAY FORMAT: The RULZ by Lydia Antonini The ... Screenplay format for corporate video scripts · Broadcast News/Fall 2009 ... | ||
| 'Avatar' is the biggest winner Posted: 18 Jan 2010 12:14 AM PST
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| 'Avatar,' 'The Hangover' win Golden Globes Posted: 18 Jan 2010 12:14 AM PST
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| Posted: 18 Jan 2010 12:14 AM PST Paul Dano has signed on to star in the indie drama For Ellen, with So Young Kim (In Between Days) directing from his screenplay. ... See all stories on this topic | ||
| michaeljacksondeadnews.com » Blog Archive » 'Up in the Air' wins <b>...</b> Posted: 17 Jan 2010 11:31 PM PST 'Up in the Air' wins for best screenplay (Los Angeles Times). January 17th, 2010 | by Yahoo! News Search Results for michael jackson dead | The room was full of Hollywood's brightest stars – but they all paled in comparison to Sophia ... michaeljacksondeadnews.com - http://www.michaeljacksondeadnews.com/ | ||
| Movies and Other Things...: 2009 Golden Globe for Best <b>Screenplay</b> <b>...</b> Posted: 17 Jan 2010 11:31 PM PST Up in the Air easily took home the Screenplay award tonight, assuring its status as Adapted Screenplay frontrunner. Jason Reitman's speech was pretty good. Good preparation for Oscar night. Too bad that Basterds didn't win. ... Movies and Other Things... - http://julianstark-moviesandotherthings.blogspot.com/ | ||
| Golden Globes Winners: Up In The Air Wins Best <b>Screenplay</b> Motion <b>...</b> Posted: 17 Jan 2010 11:31 PM PST Up In The Air has won best screenplay motion picture at the 2010 Golden Globes. Breaking News - http://www.oliverwillis.com/livenews/ | ||
| Sijmen's Oscar Experiment: <b>Screenplays</b> Posted: 17 Jan 2010 11:31 PM PST Screenplays. Original Screenplay 1. The Hurt Locker (25.28) 2. Inglorious Bastards (17.05) 3. A Serious Man (14.15) 4. Avatar (11.62) 5. 500 Days of Summer (10.99) 6. Up (10.58) 7. The Hangover (4.35) 8. The White Ribbon (4.02) ... Sijmen's Oscar Experiment - http://oscarexperiment.blogspot.com/ | ||
| 'non-Movie Star' George Clooney Posted: 17 Jan 2010 10:29 PM PST
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| Jason Reitman Gets Best Motion Picture <b>Screenplay</b> Award At Golden Globes! Posted: 17 Jan 2010 09:26 PM PST What a night it was for Jason Reitman, along with Sheldon Turner won for Best Motion Picture Screenplay for Up in the Air. What nice guy Jason was! ... See all stories on this topic | ||
| Posted: 18 Jan 2010 02:47 AM PST So I have completed the first official draft of my thriller script and I am sending it out to those who have expressed interest in either the idea or me as a writer. But instead of sitting back and waiting for any feedback, I am swiftly moving on to my next script. I can't sit still. Instead, as I print off scripts and send them out, I will also be rewriting my television spec pilot, which interested a few producers when pitching last year. This is a project that I have been developing for more than a year and this script will be my focus for the next few weeks. I love this next idea. It is exactly the kind of story I enjoy watching on television and so hopefully rewriting this script will prove a healthy distraction whilst my thriller script floats around on a number of desks over the coming weeks. Another reason why my spec pilot is an important venture is because I have to show agents that I am not a one trick pony; that I don't just have one story up my sleeve; that I can write and keep writing. This script is very different to the thriller. It is for a younger audience and the tone is lighter, much lighter: a welcome break from the dark themes my thriller explores. Alongside my spec pilot, I am developing a couple of treatments so when this latest script is finished, I have at least one story to move onto. With one of the ideas, I will be writing a novel alongside the screenplay. Whilst thrillers and teenage romps have a recognisable commercial value, drama with a female protagonist could be a challenge to sell – unless you're Nancy Myers or (the route I am choosing) have an already established audience via a novel. Michael Lee calls this juggling act having Multiple Lives. Michael explains: "The problem with some new writers is they get tunnel vision on a particular project. Especially when they start out. It was so hard getting that first one done they can't imagine having to go through that again and again. Or maybe they really are totally invested in this one story. It's something very close to their hearts and they've poured a lifetime of experience into the script. That's not something that can be duplicated again and again." So whilst I need to distract myself and will do so by moving onto my next story, I also need to prove that I am a writer with potential longevity. I consider my vocation as a self-starting business. Every business needs to deliver on products. Otherwise it will cease to generate business. My screenplays are my products and until I am commissioned to produce something for another supplier, I will continue on with my own personal line. Making sure that I have something fresh, interesting and original to say in my stories is the basis for my business. Click here to read Michael Lee's blog post in full. | ||
| Tallulah Morehead: Splattered by Golden Globs: Preening in the <b>...</b> Posted: 18 Jan 2010 01:13 AM PST Mo'Nique, God isn't a member of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, so She had nothing to do with your award. Precious is one of those movies that critics all praise to the skies, that are heralded as honest, searing, deeply-moving, ... Presenter Matthew Fox departed from the script to let slip, regarding the upcoming final season of Lost: It's all a dream. Doh! In announcing the winner of Best Actress in a Comedy, Musical, Improvised, or Pointless TV series, ... Online Shopping - http://e-shoppingonline.info/ | ||
| Award Season 2010 « Chris Pfaff's Weblog Posted: 18 Jan 2010 01:13 AM PST Larry seeks advice from three different rabbis, as he deals with being thrown from his house. The Coen Brothers create a world of period detail that, like their other period masterpieces ('Oh Brother, Where Art Thou? ... was working on a new film, and then sent Dafoe the script for what would become 'Antichrist.' George Romero Lives. 'Survival of the Dead' is the latest in what is now a 40-year-plus book of zombie work by the legendary independent director George Romero. ... Chris Pfaff's Weblog - http://chrispfaff.wordpress.com/ | ||
| Golden Globe awards: Play by play – We Love TV - Wilmington Star <b>...</b> Posted: 18 Jan 2010 01:13 AM PST The annual party where an obscure bunch of journalists (the Hollywood Foreign Press Association) showers Hollywood with praise. But, it's fun. I'll be blogging the show all night. Just hit refresh on your browser to see the latest news and .... Gerard Butler and Jennifer Aniston then give the Motion Picture Screenplay award to the Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner from 'Up in the Air." Reitman ribs George Clooney and gives a heartfelt thanks to his dad, Ivan Reitman. ... We Love TV - http://tv.blogs.starnewsonline.com/ | ||
| Posted: 18 Jan 2010 12:01 AM PST Stereotypical characters annoy the hell out of me, but stereotypical dialogues for stereotypical characters is worse. Let's try an experiment. I'll say a line, and you see if you can get an image in your head of the character and scene it's likely to appear in. "Get me a beer." Innocuous? Not if you read the scripts I do, for if you did you would know that a man asking a woman to get him an alcoholic beverage is perhaps one of the most unspeakably evil things he can ask her to do. If you see this line in a script, and it comes from a man to a woman who is not a bartender, then you can safely assume the writer wants you to know that this man is SCUM. Utter evil. He might as well have shot a dog, smothered a baby and killed someone for their ethnicity/sexual orientation. "Get me a beer." One of two things will happen. The woman will give in, which shows that she's a broken, submissive frail woman stuck in a loveless marriage she desperately needs to escape. OR she'll resist, at which point the man will backhand her and call her a misogynistic slur just so we get that he has no respect for her. If the woman brings the man a beer, it's never because it's no big deal for her to do a favor for her husband, and if she turns him down, the man never takes it maturely. But let's face it, the mere fact that he asks is iron clad evidence he's a cad. Note this - an abusive husband never asks for something non-alcoholic. The scene never plays out like this: HUSBAND: Get me the apple cider. WIFE: Sorry honey, I'm eating. Can't you get it yourself? HUSBAND: CUNT! Husband backhands Wife, then shoves her into a wall. Yet if you replace "apple cider" with "beer" I've read that scene a hundred times. I can feel some of you retreating because of my use of the "c word." (No, not "cider" you morons!) I assure you it was only for education purposes. The worst was a script I read where an entire scene hinged on if the woman was going to give in and get the beer. It starts with some social worker waiting for the woman to get back to her trailer. As that woman gets home, her husband sticks his head out of the trailer and shouts at her, "Where the hell have you been? Get yer ass in here and get me a beer!" The social worker tells the woman that she doesn't have to live like this, remaining stuck in an abusive relationship, that she can help her. The man shouts to his wife, "Well? You comin'?" The wife's shoulders slump and she looks back and forth between the husband and the social worker, eventually turning towards the trailer with a sad look at the social worker and then telling her husband, "I'll get you your beer." And then we're all supposed to feel sad for this poor abused woman. So think about that the next time you ask your wife to bring you a frosty beverage simply because she's in closer proximity to the fridge. | ||
| Filmmaking News – 213th Edition Posted: 17 Jan 2010 11:49 PM PST
Lia Scott Price's Writing and Filmmaking Blog: My Redecorated Office Creative certification with Premiere Pro Application: Master the … Documentary Filmmaking dvd offers tips from the trenches | Dan McComb Screenwriting From Iowa » Filmmaking Quote #10 (Lee Daniels) Gen-Y Films: The Filmmaking Journal Hollywood Biz: HollywoodBiz: Producer Ryan Kavanaugh Brings … FilmProduced.com » Blog Archive » "The GibsonStyle" Website, Intro … Lia Scott Price's Writing and Filmmaking Blog: Era of Big Movie … Related posts: | ||
| Posted: 17 Jan 2010 11:40 PM PST Related posts: | ||
| Exclusive Spike Jonze Interview + Tub! Bobby Goes To Sundance # 1 Posted: 17 Jan 2010 10:56 PM PST Related posts: | ||
| Oscar Race Begins at Golden Globes Posted: 17 Jan 2010 09:37 PM PST
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| Magic Tricks, Cupcakes and Footwear: Partying, Golden Globe-Style Posted: 17 Jan 2010 03:35 PM PST Mark Boal, the screenwriter and a producer of the film, was also excited about getting some cool-uncle points from his nieces because he would be seated ... See all stories on this topic | ||
| Posted: 17 Jan 2010 10:29 PM PST
In many films, people never discuss ideas, be they moral or political. And when those kinds of discussions are introduced, it often sounds false. What I've tried to do—and this is what I'm happiest with in my films—[is to] show people discussing morality, whatever that might mean, in a completely natural way. -- Eric Rohmer Just this morning, a friend of mine was decrying what's become the obligatory Female Friends Talking Trash Round the Table scene in today's comedies and romantic comedies. "We don't talk like that!" she protested. "No group of women I've ever been in or seen in real life does." This women-sitting-around-cracking-wise scene has become so codified, I suggested, because screenwriters now think they need to satisfy the audience's expectations for such a chick flick staple, post-Sex and the City. "There's your writers to blame," a writer in the room noted. "The characters in those scenes were really gay men." Wouldn't it be cool if someone would make a movie where not just women, but women and men sat around and talked the way people do in real life? Taking their time, in the awkward and unpolished rhythms of reality's tensions and relaxations?
Well, somebody did - dozens of such films, actually - and he's only recently left the building. Homages to Eric Rohmer have been quietly accruing in the days since his death last week at the age of 89. And a through-line in the bulk of them was an awed and tacitly nostalgic appreciation of someone who had an ear for conversation. I'm not sure any filmmaker has ever made more movies anatomizing love. Certainly no one filled them with so much talk. His characters yak and yak and then yak some more. They theorize, rationalize, pitch woo, lament their romantic woes, ponder Pascal's wager, and often talk themselves into falling for the wrong person. Yet it was part of Rohmer's genius to show how, beneath all those ping-pong-match dialogues and tireless self-explanations, his men and women are driven by impulses they don't understand. Their language is a thicket covering what's really going on. While it may seem easy to show the gap between language and behavior, it's actually hard to do this without sinking into broad comedy. Rohmer never did. Instead, this hugely intelligent man became one of cinema's great masters at capturing fleeting, sometimes trivial moments, be it sunlight through a window (he liked available light) or a middle-aged diplomat developing an unexpected obsession with touching a young girl's knee.
This tribute by John Powers goes on to say much of what I'd have wanted to say about this indelibly auteur-ist artist, a kind of Gallic Woody Allen in the workmanlike, churn-them-out stream of variations he wove on his basic themes (the difficulty of being moral, for one) in over 40 films over some five decades. The NY Times obit last week acknowledged 1969's My Night at Maud's as the Rohmer masterpiece by critical consensus, but the filmmaker was still working in 2007 and only recently announced his retirement.
In each of his "Six Moral Tales," a man who is married or committed to a woman finds himself tempted to stray but is ultimately able to resist. His films are as much about what does not happen between his characters as what does, a tendency that enchanted critics as often as it drove audience members to distraction. "I saw a Rohmer movie once," observes Gene Hackman's character in Arthur Penn's Night Moves (1975). "It was kind of like watching paint dry." This wry, quintessentially American dismissal (by a gumshoe, after all) of the French filmmaker's work seems to have stuck - people don't generally think of Rohmer's work as attention-grabbing or sexy. But although my favorite film of his is the atypical Summer - a compassionate ode to loneliness - Rohmer was a consummate portraitist of coupling. The heart of his filmography could serve as a master class in classical romantic comedy. So if you're working on one, it would be worth your while to visit his gallery of little beauties - Maud, Claire, Chloe, Pauline and the rest. What you'll find in Rohmer World, too, is another increasingly scarce commodity in our loud and often dissonant cinematic moment: exquisite little bits of silence. Rohmer's films celebrate the tiny slivers of inference and the tantalizing unspoken that make encounters between creatures of the opposite sex so intriguing and ultimately mysterious. Is everything going on in that seemingly pregnant pause, or nothing? Did the long speech that preceded it express what she feels about him, or eloquently circumvent it? These are the kinds of eternal questions that lap at the edges of Rohmer's sun-on-the-sea frames, which are likely to keep delighting and infuriating audiences for many decades to come.
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| Filmmaking and photography workshops in Cairo? Posted: 17 Jan 2010 10:21 PM PST
Image taken on 2006-04-26 18:34:25. Image Source. (Used with permission) Related posts: | ||
| Like a Running Dog, Vol. 1: Los Angeles, 1970-1972 Posted: 17 Jan 2010 09:44 PM PST Product Description Accompanied by his dog Kelly and with a phone number for a New Mexico rock band living in L.A., Blake begins his climb to fame. The climb, however, is steep and Blake soon learns that whatever progress he is making is being chipped away by the tedium of everyday survival, unbearable living situations, and rejection. Still, Blake manages to get his foot in at the Los Angeles Free Press and to write his first screenplay. Like A Running Dog is written in the poetic and unpretentious style for which Michael Blake has become known and loved. The autobiography is replete with humorous and melodramatic situations shared by most of his contemporary artistic peers. It recounts an underground scene fueled by ideological beliefs, strong desires to change the world and, on occasion, ego clashes and personal vendettas. A must-read for anybody whose sense of curiosity is intact. Like a Running Dog, Vol. 1: Los Angeles, 1970-1972 Related posts: | ||
| Digital Movies with QuickTime Pro Posted: 17 Jan 2010 09:09 PM PST Product Description Features On the DVD! Digital Movies with QuickTime Pro Related posts: | ||
| Posted: 17 Jan 2010 08:56 PM PST Wow, what a beautiful, elegiac, textured movie A SINGLE MAN is. Some wonderful meditations on grief, especially the grief of the gay lover in the 1960s, so you're not invited to your boyfriend's funeral. Colin Firth deserved his Golden Globe nomination. He does such a great combination of stoicly repressed but sadness leaking out. Leaking enough so that insightful people can pick up on it, which is mostly what the story is about, a 1.5-day slice in his life encountering these people as he lives in his wonderful glass house near the L.A. beaches and teaches English to kids who can sit and smoke during class. What raises it are the director's design sense (he's Tom Ford, a gay Austinite and fashion designer who moved to Europe to make his fortune) and the performances. Everybody is a dream, Colin especially, but drunken and gorgeous Julianne Moore, and blue-eyed, pink-lipped Nicholas Hoult as an admiring student. Nicholas may impress you even more when you learn he's a Brit kid; he played that 12 year old in ABOUT A BOY who burrows his way into Hugh Grant's life. Even Matthew Goode is good in a part that's underwritten and is mostly an archetype: the lost, good, loving, beautiful soulmate. What Colin does is so deeply and wonderfully create a man who's a shell of himself through grief, but dang, if he doesn't make a gorgeous, styling shell. And the more he plans to leave this world, the more he notices every little color, conversation, dance, memory and smell. The whole movie is about putting a cinematic image to emotions, and between the vision of the director and the acting of Colin, wow, it's a killer. Again and again, the shots are framed, the actors are posed, the colors are manipulated as if this is a fashion shoot. And it totally works. Everything is so fascinating to look at. Like couture photography in motion. Check out the way the annoying family next door is dressed, made up and filmed. Wow, and it's Tom Ford's first movie too! Then there's a strange sort of arc in the movie, and an emotional gut punch of an ending. Wow. Based on a Christopher Isherwood novel, which makes me wonder how much of this was in the book? In a somewhat tacky aside, Colin Firth and Rupert Everett are close in age, careers started off in the same public school drama in England. Rupert has become a ghastly mask of tightened flesh and shiny botoxed forehead. His cheeks have been filled in with wax, his eyelids gape back from his eyeballs, it's so horrid. But Colin has had really wonderful work done. He has no bags under his eyes or crowfeet, yet still looks older and distinguished. Has a small sag in his jaw, which is expected at his age. The director forced him to lose 40 lbs and get tanned, and he's really gorgeous. He wears that hot, black-and-white 60's suit too. Even kissing on other men, he's still to swoon over! | ||
| YOUTH IN REVOLT (2010) Screenplay Posted: 17 Jan 2010 08:05 PM PST | ||
| Posted: 17 Jan 2010 09:00 PM PST Happy Martin Luther King Jr. Day everybody!!!! From time to time I like to make recommendations. I get no kick-backs, happy endings, or any money from these endorsements. But if the subject matter interests you I think they're worth your consideration.  I just finished a hilarious book called L.A. NUTS by Joe Dungan. It's a series of extremely funny essays about living in Los Angeles. Every page is filled with colorful characters and wry observations. You'll be laughing and taking notes on just who and what to avoid. Check it out here.Here are a couple of internet radio stations I love. When I write usually I have one of them playing so if the posts are lame blame one of them.  GREAT BIG RADIO features nothing but kick-ass rock tunes from the 70's-90's along with an irreverent announcer. And from time to time they do special features. Recently they highlighted the music of 1972. Who knew there were so many truly terrible songs in 1972? The drug problem back then must've been much worse than I thought at the time. Hear GREAT BIG RADIO here. And for you fellow boomers, there's RICHBRORADIO. This is an oldies station that digs deep. Reeeeeeeal deep. Songs from the 50's-70's that you haven't heard since, well the 50's-70's. Very different from your normal terrestrial oldies station that plays Pretty Woman, Respect, Hotel California, and that's it. With RICHBRORADIO you get great variety, vintage radio jingles, and special features as well -- salutes to Elvis, the Beatles, and Lesley Gore. When you're in the mood for the Way-Back Machine, here's your transport. | ||
| Screenplay News – 190th Edition Posted: 17 Jan 2010 08:15 PM PST
Screenplay: Finished by ArabInAmerica | Muslim Blogs Online … Avatar Screenplay Online For Free, Includes Cut Scenes | Moovimix … Avatar Screenplay Online For Free, Includes Cut Scenes · Celebrity … If Life Were A Screenplay If Life Were A Screenplay: Indiana Jones Julia vs. Jesus moved… « Anatomy of a Screenplay tikiwanderer: Winding up a character – screenplay thoughts Iomega ScreenPlay Director HD Media Player – Lecteur AV numérique … Avatar Screenplay Available Online | The 8th Circuit Screenplay for 'Everyone is a boss' (Non proper format … Infocus Screenplay 4805 Projector Lamp Replacement « Infocus … Iomega ScreenPlay Sweepstakes Iomega ScreenPlay Sweepstakes Avatar Screenplay Online For Free, Includes Cut Scenes | The … College Textbooks Reviews: Screenplay: The Foundations of … DEVELOPING THE SCREENPLAY: D.I.Y. Welcome to the New World of … Screenplay for 'Gassy Air Lines' (Non Proper format) « Shrieking … Free digital copy of James Cameron's Avatar screenplay Freshers – a screenplay idea. – Sandbox BBS DEVELOPING THE SCREENPLAY Up in the Air Collects Golden Globe for Best Screenplay Tricky Moon Screenplay – This is the 2nd or 3rd Draft. « By Kendra … Jacqueline D. Leson: Best Screenplay Motion Picture Golden Globes Winners: Up In The Air Wins Best Screenplay Motion … Movies and Other Things…: 2009 Golden Globe for Best Screenplay … Movie Mobsters – Golden Globes: Best Screenplay – Motion Picture Screenwriting — Two Screenplay Plots with Cell Phones | Boilers The Screenplay: Just a note to say hello! Script Collector: YOUTH IN REVOLT (2010) Screenplay Related posts: | ||
| Death Cab for Cutie – A Movie Script Ending.. Posted: 17 Jan 2010 07:56 PM PST Related posts: | ||
| Upsets At the Globes: Reitman, Cameron Beat Tarantino, Bigelow Posted: 17 Jan 2010 07:35 PM PST There were some close races at the Golden Globes, including best screenplay and best director. Jason Reitman accepted the screenplay prize for Up in the Air ... See all stories on this topic | ||
| 'Mad Men' named best drama series at Golden Globes Posted: 17 Jan 2010 07:35 PM PST Host Ricky Gervais introduced the award for best movie screenplay as "a bit of downer" because it was about writers and not actors. ... See all stories on this topic | ||
| Partial list of Golden Globe Award winners Posted: 17 Jan 2010 07:35 PM PST —Animated Film: "Up." —Screenplay: Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner,... newsday.com is now available at no charge to Newsday and Optimum Online ... See all stories on this topic | ||
| Up in the Air Collects Golden Globe for Best <b>Screenplay</b> Posted: 17 Jan 2010 07:35 PM PST Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner collected the Golden Globe for Best Screenplay - Motion Picture (the Globes clump original and adapted into one category) for Up in the Air. Turner thanked Walter Kirn for his wonderful book, Paramount, ... About.com Hollywood Movies - http://movies.about.com/b/ | ||
| Posted: 17 Jan 2010 06:47 PM PST The Inglourious Basterds director, up for Best Director and Best Screenplay, relished the chaos of the skies. He said: "If I was a gal, I'd be freaking out ... See all stories on this topic | ||
| Orlando Sentinel Frankly My Dear – Avatar a WGA nominee for best <b>...</b> Posted: 17 Jan 2010 06:12 PM PST Avatar a WGA nominee for best screenplay More right wing backlash And what ARE ... Guild of America nominees for best original and best adapted screenplays ... | ||
| Psssst … Here's who will win the Golden Globes (Good news, 'Avatar' fans!) Posted: 17 Jan 2010 04:38 PM PST Looks like Quentin Tarantino ("Inglourious Basterds") has the screenplay prize. "Avatar" probably has score. We don't know who's ahead in the song and ... See all stories on this topic | ||
| Free digital copy of James Cameron's Avatar <b>screenplay</b> Posted: 17 Jan 2010 02:33 PM PST Free digital copy of James Cameron's Avatar screenplay. "Avatar is a 2009 American science fiction epic film written and directed by James Cameron and starring Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Sigourney Weaver, Michelle Rodriguez and ... Freebie Fanatics - http://freebiefanatics.blogspot.com/ | ||
| ReelHeART International Film Festival (RHIFF) June 21-26, 2010 <b>...</b> Posted: 17 Jan 2010 02:33 PM PST ReelHeART Film and Screenplay Submissions Closed. ReelHeART International Film Festival 2010 Submission Season Closed. Hello and Happy New Year! RH_Banner. I hope these first weeks of 2010 have been good to everyone. ... ReelHeART International Film... - http://www.reelheart.com/2010/ | ||
| Avatar <b>Screenplay</b> Available Online | The 8th Circuit Posted: 17 Jan 2010 02:33 PM PST While various drafts and treatments have been making their rounds on the internet for quite some time now, Fox has gone ahead and officially posted the Avatar screenplay online. Dated 2007 and including a number of cut scenes, ... The 8th Circuit - http://8th-circuit.com/ | ||
| Factory-Reconditioned InFocus SP4800 <b>ScreenPlay</b> Video Projector <b>...</b> Posted: 17 Jan 2010 02:33 PM PST It's the size of the image that puts the theater in home theater. With a screen size of up to 12 feet, the ScreenPlay 4800 makes those so-called big-screens seem puny. Get a true theater for your hom. Home Theatre Projectors - http://hometheatreprojectors.org/ | ||
| Filmmaking News from Digg.com – 123th Edition Posted: 17 Jan 2010 07:26 PM PST
Declaration of Indies: Just Sell It Yourself! Indie film 'Night Shift' now in pre-production They Really Like Me DSLR Filmmaking: January 20, 2010 Presented by AJA Sytems Related posts: | ||
| Posted: 17 Jan 2010 12:17 PM PST BIG MONEY WEEK Here's Roger with the first review of Big Money Week! To say he gets things started is an understatement. I'm going to have to read this thing! Genre: Historical Adventure Premise: The reclusive "Father of Modern Magic", Jean Eugene Robert-Houdin, is called upon by the French government to debunk an Algerian sorcerer who is using his feats of magic to spearhead a civil war. About: Penned back in '94, this script was part of a fierce bidding war that involved Disney, Tri-Star and Steven Spielberg (people really really wanted this script). Andy Vajna's Cinergi Pictures bought the script for $1 million dollars (1.45 million adjusted for inflation). Not only was Disney able to land Frank Marshall as director, but Sean Connery was attached to the lead role. Unfortunately, Sean Connery demanded rewrite after rewrite until Frank Marshall was pulled off the project by Paramount's Sherry Lansing because he was under contract to direct Congo (why Lord, why?). Kevin Brodie (A Dog of Flanders) was attached to direct and the project lingered in development hell until January 2000, when Catherine Zeta-Jones' production company, Zeta Films, acquired the rights to the script. Naturally, Michael Douglas was attached to the lead role, with Catherine starring opposite him as Robert-Houdin's wife. Writers: Lee and Janet Scott Batchler. The husband-and-wife team who worked on Batman Forever. Other projects include My Name is Modesty and Pompeii, an epic drama telling the famous story of the destruction of that city. They also wrote a project for Paramount called Alpha, a fast-paced adventure about a team of military working dogs and their trainers. Here we have "Smoke and Mirrors", an Original Screenplay by Lee Batchler and Janet Scott Batchler.  Original? Why yes, indeed. As Charlie Murphy might say, you can't make this shit up. It is based on trufax, after all. Is this that script about Houdini? Naw, man. This is that script about Jean Eugene Robert-Houdin. He's the guy that Houdini wanted to be. Not only was Robert-Houdin a conjurer and illusionist, he was an inventor and a man of science as well. Some will argue that a greater magician has never lived since. I mean, Ehrich Weiss wanted to be like this man so bad he changed his name to Harry Houdini. Interesting. But what's so great about a Magic Man biopic? Dude, did you know that, in 1856, Napoleon asked Robert-Houdin to duel a fucking sorcerer in French Algeria to prove to the murderous Marabout Tribe that French magic was superior to their primitive tribal magic, and as a result, quell a bloody uprising? This is no boring biopic. This is the type of real-life stuff Susanna Clarke must have turned to for research and inspiration during the ten years she spent writing Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell. This is a great story. And it's told so well it makes me want to set myself on fire. Concerning this script, I have no criticism. What I do have is gushing enthusiasm and a hope to write a review that's a curious examination of how to flawlessly tell a story. You want an example of a truly great screenplay? "Smoke and Mirrors" is your grail. "Smoke and Mirrors" is the high watermark all us screenwriters aim for. Forget dollar signs. As a screenwriter, I'd rather take a great story to tell, a mastery of the craft, and some of that special magic, that lightning in a bottle we call perfect execution, any day of the week. To me, "Smoke and Mirrors" is flawless storytelling. The Pledge. When we first meet Zoras Al Khatim he's walking out of a bonfire like a fucking demon. And that might not be too far off the mark, as this guy riles up the Kabyle Nation with true totalitarian butcher rhetoric, "The white-skinned devils who occupy our land will die!" And because he can control the dark forces, the people believe he is a prophet, a messenger and voice of Allah. This is problematic for the French Army who are trying to maintain order in these pacified regions. There's so much goddamned bloodshed the area is closed off to colonization by Europeans. It's, as they say, SRS BZNS. But what if a civilized and genteel man could in fact prove to these tribespeople and natives that this "magic" was just old-fashioned slight-of-hand trickery? And as an audience, what if we were to find out that this "faux magic" was actually bon-a-fide? They're good questions, and we discover the answer to both of them when Robert-Houdin enters the Algiers arena with this Marabout sorcerer. But first we must set-up the rest of our players on this epic stage. After we meet our mysterious villain, we are introduced to a young expatriate American, an officer of the French Foreign Legion, Captain Trey Darcy. It's an electric sequence. Most massacres usually are. It evokes one of my favorite sequences from Michael Mann's The Last of the Mohicans, when Hawkeye saves Cora and Alice from the Hurons during the chaos of an ambush. Here, Darcy and his Corporal, a bull of a Spaniard named Augustino Bartolote, lead 15 other Legionnaires in battle against a hundred Kabyle Warriors who are slaughtering a caravan of French civilians. Somehow, probably due to their suicidal fighting prowess, Darcy and his men chase off the superior numbers of the Kabyle savages. But they're not unfazed. Looking around at the extent of the massacre, at the bodies of mothers and children, Bartolote (a man who joined the French Foreign Legion to escape the gallows for murdering a priest), sickeningly exclaims, "Holy Mary, Mother of Jesus." Cut to France as Colonel Jules Gastinot, a French Army functionary, arrives at Robert-Houdin's brooding and cryptic 17th century estate. It is here that Gastinot discovers many marvels. A brass plate with a grotesque demon head knocker engraved with the word Frappez that switches to Entrez when the knocker is rapped. The JJ Merlin-esque automatons and steampunk toys in Robert-Houdin's workshop. The most stunning marvel of all though is Robert-Houdin's fiercely intelligent and radiant wife, Colette. Colette is probably the most vividly portrayed female character I've seen in a script since I started contributing to ScriptShadow. Granted, I tend to read a lot of "guy scripts", but I challenge you guys to find an adventure script with a female character who is rendered as well as Colette. She's witty, charming, sexy and strong. A great role for a great actress. She's not just a 19th Century Trophy Wife either, she is her husband's teammate and partner, who has perhaps sacrificed some of her own potential in order play this part. Her loyalty to Robert-Houdin is ultimately put to the test when she falls in love with Trey Darcy. I'm not usually a fan of love triangles because of the Soap Opera Factor, but here, it feels honest. Truthful. It's Passion vs. Duty/Enduring Love. I'm guessing that this love triangle is written so well because this script is written by a husband and wife team. Not only that, but the Batchlers are real writers. When Gastinot is finally allowed to enter Robert-Houdin's workshop, there is a voice moving throughout the room. But no matter where Gastinot looks, there's no sign of the man. Where is Robert-Houdin? How is he going to make his grand entrance? In perfect magical-realist fashion, Robert-Houdin walks out of a mirror. And it's little "big" choices like this that make every scene seem like an expertly performed magic trick. Every scene unfolds, layers peel away, and revelations, reversals and twists wait underneath to surprise you. Sure, there's a denial of the call at first. Robert-Houdin is no longer a showman, but a scientist. He's dedicated his gift of invention to science and he will not be a pawn for political propaganda. But Gastinot is barely out the door when the magician finally answers the call to adventure. In Algiers, Robert-Houdin makes a new enemy. The first matter of business, besides taking in some of the local flavor that comes with inspecting the opera house (where his show is to be held) and checking into the Hotel D'Orient, is to get a nice stiff drink. And to expose a French Officer as a cheat in front of a packed Gentleman's Club during a game of poker with the style and aplomb only a world famous illusionist can muster. When Major Guillaume accuses Robert-Houdin of insulting his honor, our man replies, "Since there is no honor in cheating at cards, I have not disparaged yours in any way." In a bait and switch that astonishes his audience, Robert-Houdin switches his cards with Guillaume's (in plain sight) to defeat the cheater and win a high-stakes pot. Again, another great scene where Robert-Houdin (and the writers), flip the scene on its head to surprise our expectations and to delight our story senses. Major Guillaume is not one to be embarrassed in public, and he catches Robert-Houdin in an alley and, with the help of his cronies, beats the shit out of him. As he's about to deliver the coup de grace, Trey Darcy arrives to simultaneously physically maim and disfigure every French soldier while saving the magician from certain death. The Turn. Robert-Houdin and the Legionnaire bond over drinks, and Colette is both grateful and drawn to the man who saved her husband. Maximum Drama achieved when Darcy and Colette dance a waltz, and we learn that the soldier of fortune has a wooden prosthetic hand. He lost his real hand whilst fighting in the Crimea. They flirt and Colette can't help but be drawn to the mysterious expatriate. You know, it's the whole romantic mystery that comes with the Legionnaire package. When we find out that Guillaume is still alive, Darcy is whipped and thrown into a hotbox by the French Army, presumably left to shrivel and die in the suffocating coffin that sits underneath the Algerian sun. Meanwhile, events turn weird for Robert-Houdin and Colette when they discover their scorched hotel room. Miraculously their valuables have been left intact despite the impact of the damage. "Fire is the most dangerous and unpredictable of the elements. Whoever did this wanted to show me can control the uncontrollable." Robert-Houdin finds out Darcy is being tortured, and he appeals to the top French authority, the Marshal-General, to free his friend. His Excellency denies and a wager is made by Robert-Houdin to up-the-stakes, "If my performance produces no good political results, you can send me packing on the next ship. Vilify me in the newspapers, gloat all you want. But if I succeed, you give me your word of honor to release Captain Darcy immediately." His Excellency accepts. Not only does Robert-Houdin win the wager, he terrifies the Marabouts in the audience by manipulating the trajectory of bullets and teleporting a Moorish Chieftain. His feats free Darcy and catch the attention of Bou-Allem, the single most powerful Arab in the North. Robert-Houdin and Colette are off to Bou-Allem's palace, escorted and protected by Darcy, Bartolote, and the Legionnaires. The Midpoint. Like the prophet Elijah battling the 450 prophets of Baal and the 400 prophets of Asherah at Mount Carmel, Robert-Houdin duels Zoras Al Khatim and his disciples in front Bou-Allem and the entire royal household. Bou-Allem warns us, "If you do not prevail, and should Zoras persuade me you are indeed the enemy of Allah, it will be my duty to kill you. Please do not take it personally." The following magic show that pits the world of science against the world of the occult is some of the best scriptwriting I've ever seen. Zoras again walks out of a bonfire, revealing to the Bou-Allem and the audience that he can speak a European language, claiming that Allah just granted him the power. "Would it not be a fair test to now ask your Christian god to reveal to you the Berber language in a similar manner? This way we shall know whose god is the more powerful." Houdini (not Houdin) When Zoras performs some death-defying feats (walking through fire, surviving the bites of poisonous scorpions, grotesque swordplay) and grisly self-mutilation, Colette is disturbed. "What is he?" But her husband is not so impressed. He methodically reveals all the secrets of Zoras' "magic" to Bou-Allem. And that's the worst possible fate for a magician, having all their tricks laid bare in front of the public eye. When science takes away the glamour and the curtain, what was once magical now seems dull and trite in comparison. Then to punctuate his point, he levitates Colette into the air, scaring Zoras' disciples. Angry, yet not to be deterred, Zoras challenges Robert-Houdin to a real duel. Zoras' pulls out a set of pistols and says, "Let me shoot at you now with one of these pistols. If you do not die, then I give you permission to shoot at me. (to Bou-Allem) By this you will know whom Allah will favor." Robert-Houdin accepts. "However, for such strong magic, defying the very hand of death itself, I require six hours of prayers." Robert-Houdin now has six hours to invent a way to survive a bullet. Colette is not too pleased and retreats to her room, where Darcy saves her from the cobra and asps someone has planted in her room. It's a hot and heavy moment where the writers milk the attraction these characters have for each other for Maximum Titillation. Things don't get more sensual than a heroine belly-dancing her way out of a cobra attack so her forbidden suitor can decapitate it with a sword. We're shown Robert-Houdin at the end of his wits, mere hours away from his probable death, at a complete loss of how he's going to pull off this final escape trick. It's a cliffhanger moment and it creates the sense of suspense that saturates the scene portraying the actual gun-duel. In the palace courtyard, while Zoras carves a mark onto each of the bullets so the Frenchman can show them to the audience, the sorcerer calls Robert-Houdin an infidel and proclaims, "You will soon burn in the deepest pits of hell." The guns are openly loaded in front of the audience. I don't know how Robert-Houdin does it, but he survives the gunshot. The writers don't reveal the trick to us, because, if they did, it would have taken away all the suspense they meticulously set up. I'm not sure, but I think he used slight-of-hand to switch the bullets and electromagnetism to manipulate the pistol. Robert-Houdin catches the bullet in his teeth, shocking the crowd, his wife, and Darcy. He then picks up the other gun and follows Zoras around the courtyard. Zoras cowers before the Frenchman. "Is French magic greater than Kabyle magic?" "Y-you are greater. Your magic is true." Robert-Houdin spares the sorcerer's life, which is a mistake, because pretty soon, we're going to be in the midst of an epic battle between Legionnaires and a couple hundred Kabyle warriors. The Prestige. The spectacular finale takes place at The Fortress of the Assassins, an ancient Hashshashin (where we get our word 'assassin') stronghold that's part medieval castle and Persian monastery. Zoras gathers his troops to slaughter Robert-Houdin and this is where the Legionnaires make their last stand. I couldn't think of a better setting. To complicate things, the fortress is full of traps, which Robert-Houdin deconstructs so the Legionnaires can use them to their advantage. Once again, our magician must use his resourcefulness like he's some kind of super MacGuyver to invent devices and devise strategies, all so he can defeat the superior numbers of Zoras and his army. There are battles in the 3rd Act that read like some of the best sequences out of another favorite historical adventure script of mine, Walon Green's Crusade. Or think of the best swashbuckling stuff out of Pirates of the Caribbean and the rollicking action set-pieces in Frank Darabont's great Indiana Jones & The City of the Gods script and you get the idea. Since the writers hadn't made any mistakes up to this point, I felt if they were going to make a miscalculation, it was going to have to be somewhere in the endgame. But you know what? They don't. Instead, you're invested in every character's fate and I'm happy to say that the riveting resolution unfolds dramatically and the effect is nothing short of cathartic. Heady, even. The most delicate and fragile thread, Colette and Darcy's story, is treated with so much honesty and honor you can't help but accept its conclusion. "Smoke and Mirrors" is truly the work of master craftsmen. This is the type of script I aspire to write someday. It gives me hope, it makes me believe, and it gives me a new hero in Jean Eugene Robert-Houdin. If I could take a ride in the TARDIS, I would go back in time, hand this script to David Lean, and wait for cinematic magic to happen. Script link: Smoke and Mirrors (This script is meant for educational purposes only. If you are the writer or copyright holder of this script and would like it taken down, please e-mail me at Carsonreeves1@gmail.com and I will do so immediately) What I learned: This script is suspenseful as hell. But why was it so suspenseful? Every time Robert-Houdin performed, someone's life was on the line. That's the simple genius behind the trick. Every task your protagonist has to perform should have high stakes. And as the protagonist completes each task and moves on to the next, crank up the stakes. The stakes in "Smoke and Mirrors" have a clear ascendant progression: (1) Darcy's life, (2) Robert-Houdin's life (3) and collectively, the lives of Robert-Houdin, Colette, Darcy and all of the Legionnaires. Here's the other lesson: Every overarching thematic conflict in this script, Science vs. Magic, God vs. Allah, France vs. Kabyle, Civilized Man vs. the Savage, is boiled down to the two characters who come from each side. Robert-Houdin and the sorcerer, Zoras Al Khatim. Their intimate battle of wills puts two entire nations at stake. By making your characters symbols of bigger conflicts, you widen scope of your story. It's how you can tell an epic story but at the same time make it personal and intimate. There are many other lessons and tricks to be learned in this script, you only have to look closer to discover them.
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| Daily Screenwriting Jobs – 264th Edition Posted: 17 Jan 2010 06:01 PM PST
Script Writer Needed (Hollywood, CA) Training Video Script Writer Building the script requires you to: Freelance Entertainment Reporters/Journalists (Beverly Hills) Start up Internet entertainment company is looking for experienced freelance working reporters in entertainment (one on one interviews with people in the industry, overall biz chatter, movie awards season analysis, participation in movie junkets, film criticism, and television biz reportage). The right ca NEED MY SCRIPT PUT IN FINAL DRAFT FORM BY EXPERT (LOS ANGELES) WHAT I NEED IS FOR YOU TO HAVE THE MOST CURRENT VERSION OF FINAL DRAFT. I NEED YOU TO TYPE IT INTO FINAL DRAFT FORM. I LOOK OVER THE 1ST DRAFT AND MAKE CHANGES. THEN YOU EDITED IT AND GIVE ME THE SAVED DOC. Entertainment Editor (Philadelphia,PA) Job Description: FREELANCE / CONTRACT SCRIPT WRITER (Union Square) IOMEDIA is looking for a script writer for a 2 -4 minute corporate video – documentary style writing (A&E or History Channel style). This project will start within the next 5 business days and we prefer the writer to be in the NYC area and potentially work in our Union Square office. You will be working directly wit Entertainment Publicist Needed for PR (LA) Publicist would be hired to: COPYWRITER (COMMERICAL SCRIPT) (Seattle) Position: Copywriter (for a TV commercial script) Job Description: You will be writing a script for a television commercial for a new consumer produ Writers Needed for Entertainment Magazine -Lifestyles (urban, upscale, whats hot around Dallas) Screenwriter for Feature Film (Austin) Website Intro Script – 1/4 page (Dallas) FoodConnect Inc. is a growing company providing social media for food lovers around the world. Our visitors share recipes, post questions, view restaurant listings and share their expert advice. In addition to that, we also provide developmental services for our restaurant clients. We are based out of Vancouver and offer a flexible, cooperative, an short screen play needed for film When I take on a project I take it on completely and make the best quality product with the resources I have. If you have a good screen play or short story, send it my way and it will have a good chance of becoming a film. There are no guidelines for length, genre or stye, I am onl Seeking Script Writer For Rewrite I'm looking for a screenwriter who has written several scripts (although maybe none made into films) who would be willing to rewrite a feature length mockumentary style film along the lines of Best of Show or This is Spinal Tap. The film is darker than both of those, so we are looking for someone that has a dark sense of humor…black comedy is Energetic Arts & Entertainment Writers (Vancouver) Writers who: -love the arts: visual arts, music, fashion, culinary arts, etc. Movie Blogger – Filmonic Ghost Writer on Spy/Thriller Script (Greenwich Village) Growing Philadelphia website looking for entertainment editor (Philadelphia area) Want to enjoy a challenging opportunity to work with a website with a high ceiling? Then this is the position for you. A growing Philadelphia website is in need of an editor of our entertainment page. This person must be willing to go the extra mile for us. You will wear Writer Needed for Feature Film Visit www.rogerscinematic Related posts: | ||
| "Declaration of Indies: Just Sell It Yourself!" Posted: 17 Jan 2010 05:00 PM PST For longtime GITS readers, this NY Times article should sound some familiar refrains: LAST November inside a conference room at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, a film consultant named Peter Broderick was doing his best to foment a revolution. Mr. Broderick, who helps filmmakers find their way into the marketplace, was spreading the word on an Internet-era approach to releasing movies that he believes empowers filmmakers without impoverishing them economically or emotionally. Mr. Broderick divides distribution into the Old World and New, infusing his PowerPoint presentation with insurgent rhetoric. He has written a "declaration of independence" for filmmakers that — as he did that afternoon — he reads while wearing a tricorn hat.We covered the Anvil story here back in August, noting that Gervasi, the film's director, is also a screenwriter. This new NY Times article suggests what we've been discussing here - the emergence of an alternative form of movie distribution: Some self-distributed titles find their audiences with help from consultants, while others make their way into the marketplace with the help of consultants and companies that take a fee, rather than a percentage of the profits and all the distribution rights. Innovative strategies abound. Mr. Broderick is an advocate of what he calls hybrid distribution, which, as he has put it, "combines direct sales by filmmakers with distribution by third parties." Thus filmmakers hold on to their sales rights and sell the DVD retail rights to one buyer and the video-on-demand rights to another and so on — rather than handing them all over to one distributor, as has been traditional. This allows filmmakers to reach audiences directly while controlling their own work and destinies, at least in theory."Transmedia": There's your new bit of hip lingo to lay down at your next social event. And it's at the core of this alternative model because if the distribution problem can be licked, the next conundrum is marketing. You can make a movie. You can get it distributed. But how to get eyeballs to see it? Fortunately outfits like YouTube can not only serve as a digital distribution platforms, they can also function in part as marketing conveyances in conjunction with a guerilla style plan using social networks and whatever other BWOW (By Word Of Web) ideas the filmmaking team comes up with. For right now, the most positive thing I see is that there are consultants like Broderick who offer ala carte services so filmmakers can tailor whatever portion of their budget they can to areas where they need the most help re distribution and marketing. And this simply has to succeed as noted by filmmaker Jon Reiss in the NY Times article: "This is the other voice of film," Mr. Reiss said with urgency, "and if this dies, all we're left with is the monopoly." | ||
| Question: "How to make characters' dialogue not sound like me?" Posted: 17 Jan 2010 03:00 PM PST An Open Forum question emailed to me by Philip: I just stumbled upon your blog! I really like it. I have a question for you and I would be very happy if you could answer it.Great question and I'm sure GITS readers will have lots to say in response. Let me first say that you've already taken a huge step toward learning how to write good dialogue, simply by recognizing this is an issue. Many aspiring screenwriters do not, reflected in the fact that all their characters sound pretty much the same. So being attuned to this concern in and of itself has set you onto a good path. The next thing is this: How much of characters sounding like your "own voice" derives from the actual written dialogue versus the way you 'hear' the dialogue? Is it possible that the characters, in fact, do sound distinguishable from each other, but you are only capable of seeing your hand in the writing of all your dialogue? I suppose the best way to test this out is for you to have other people read your script, then ask them point blank: Did the characters sound like unique individual or did they all sound just like me? But assuming your characters actually do come off sounding like you, my best piece of advice is simply this: Go into your characters. As deeply as you can. Dig into them - their backstories, personal histories, personalities, and so on. If you can ground each of your characters within their own personal history, then that should result in each of them having their own voice. It stands to reason because their dialogue will be a unique reflection of where they lived (region can affect accent and colloquialisms), what type of education they had (can affect the breadth of their vocabulary), what type of jobs they've had (slang and lingo), what type of personality they have (introvert versus extrovert, chatty versus quite), and on and on and on. Think about it: How we talk and what we say is directly tied to who we are. Therefore, the more you know about who each of your characters are, in theory at least that should impact their respective ways of communicating verbally. Another thing to do is pay particular attention to dialogue when you watch movies. For example, we just screened the Pixar movie Up in my newest screenwriting class at UNC - and I was struck by how distinctive each of the characters' 'voices' were. Here are some representative lines from various key characters: Carl Frederickson: I am nobody's master, got it? [points cane at Dug] I don't want you here... [points cane at Kevin] I don't want you here... [addresses Russell] I'm stuck with you, but if you two don't clear out of here by the time...Carl sounds like a cranky old man with language (e.g., "clear out") that fits his age. Russell is an excited kid, again with language suitable for his age, gender, and upbringing ("Look at this stuff. Wow!"). Compare the two dogs: Alpha the self-important officious leader ("you too shall have much rewardings from Master for the toil factor you wage") to the excited, good-natured, and gregarious Dug ("He is a good and smart master"). Then Muntz who reveals himself as the obsessed wounded hero that he is. So watch movies and read scripts - and when you do, take special note of how the writers managed to distinguish each character's 'voice.' Also if you have Final Draft or Movie Magic Screenwriting software, you can print out every side of dialogue per each character, one at a time. That way you can read a character's dialogue in continuum which should give you a sense of whether they have a distinctive voice, and if they do, perhaps punch it up so it has even more of that unique feel and tone. Finally read your dialogue aloud. You'd be amazed at how much you'll tweak the written words based on how it sounds when you say and hear it aloud. Hope those thoughts are helpful. How about you, GITS readers? What do you do to give your characters unique, distinctive voices? | ||
| Posted: 17 Jan 2010 06:00 PM PST Because a) I never do, b) the Golden Globes are a joke, c) I'm on KABC so couldn't watch them until late, d) 24 premieres, and e) I've never even been nominated. And I once bought these foreign press members lunch! The only things I'm sorry I'm missing -- Ricky Gervais (who I know will be hilarious) and the red carpet show watching all those stars get out of their limos in the rain. Just remember -- Pia Zadora won a Golden Globe. | ||
| "BlueCat Screenwriting" sent you a message on Facebook... Posted: 17 Jan 2010 04:46 PM PST BlueCat Screenwriting sent a message to the members of BlueCat Screenwriting. -------------------- Subject: Join BlueCat on January 20th for Fellini Day! Join BlueCat on January 20th for Fellini Day! In honor of one of the most creative screenwriters of all time, we are very happy to announce Fellini Day. On the birthday of one of our favorite writers, every screenplay entered on January 20th will receive their analysis 8 1/2 days later. To be eligible to receive your Fellini Day analysis, you must enter your screenplay between 12:01 AM and 11:59 PM (Pacific Standard Time) on Tuesday, January 20th. All screenplays entered on January 20th will receive their analysis on Thursday, January 29th. Happy Birthday Fellini! SUBMIT YOUR SCREENPLAY: http://www.facebook.com/l/99a36;www.bluecatscreenplay.com 2010 BLUECAT SCREENPLAY COMPETITION Every screenplay receives written analysis *Winner receives $10,000 *Four Finalists receive $1500 each. *The best screenplay from the UK will be awarded $2500 *The best screenplay outside the USA, Canada and the UK will be awarded $2500 DEADLINE: March 1, 2010 ($50 entry fee) April 1, 2010 ($60 entry fee) BlueCat Screenplay Competition PO Box 2635 Hollywood, CA 90078 http://www.facebook.com/l/99a36;www.bluecatscreenplay.com Facebook: http://facebook.com/pages/BlueCat-Screenplay-Competiton/140069287677 MySpace: http://www.facebook.com/l/99a36;www.myspace.com/bluecatscreenplay Twitter: http://www.facebook.com/l/99a36;https://twitter.com/BlueCatPictures -------------------- To reply to this message, follow the link below: http://www.facebook.com/n/?inbox%2Freadmessage.php&t=255508333236&mid=1bd817dG5af221b7G147b113G0 | ||
| "Secrets of Screenwriting Group" sent you a message on Facebook... Posted: 17 Jan 2010 04:44 PM PST Glenn M. Benest sent a message to the members of Secrets of Screenwriting Group. -------------------- Subject: COMMUNICATION #97 - Writing Great Dialogue - (part 48) Hello, everyone. As promised, here is more of "UP IN THE AIR," screenplay by Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner, adapted from the book by Walter Kim. When I think about this script, the scenes that most stand out in my mind are the SLAMS. Ryan, played by George Clooney, lives his lives up in the air, he attempts to ignore or deny any entanglements with people or emotional responsibilities. He wants to travel as light as possible – not getting involved with lovers, family or friends. He gets handcuffed to Natalie (played by Anna Kendrick) – she's a twenty-something business school grad who moved to the Midwest to follow her boyfriend – she thought they'd eventually get married and have children. She's the opposite of Ryan, emotionally vulnerable, willing to sacrifice her own career to have those emotional commitments that Ryan is trying so desperately to avoid. Notice how many, many films use this device of a handcuff. It forces two very different people together – who then end up SLAMMING one another. It forces each one of them to face their FLBW (Fear, Limitation, Block or Wound). Those that have the strength or will of purpose will overcome that character flaw and hopefully grow in the process. Think of Midnight Cowboy, 48 Hours, The Defiant Ones, Romancing The Stone – they are all built on this device – the handcuff… If you missed last week's post, the woman they are talking about (Alex) is Ryan's new girlfriend – someone he very much wants to keep as a casual relationship. EXT. OCEAN BOARDWALK – DAY The walkway overlooks a large MARINA filled with giant YACHTS. Ryan and Natalie are doing the photo thing with the CUT OUT of the engagement portrait again. NATALIE What happened to Alex? RYAN Had to skip town early to make a meeting. NATALIE That's too bad. Where does she live? RYAN Chicago. NATALIE You thinking of going to see her? RYAN I don't know. We just don't have that kind of relationship. NATALIE What kind of relationship do you have? RYAN It's, you know, casual. NATALIE Sounds pretty special. RYAN It works for us. NATALIE Think there's any future there? RYAN Never thought about it. What's going on here? NATALIE Really never thought about it? RYAN (a good lie) No. NATALIE How can you not think about these things? How does it not even cross your mind that you might want to have a future with somebody? RYAN It's simple, you know that moment when you look into someone's eyes and you feel them looking right into your soul, and the whole world goes quiet for a second. NATALIE (finally, a break through) Yes. RYAN Right. Well, I don't. NATALIE You're an asshole. Natalie knocks over the CUT OUT and stands up. RYAN Oh come on, I'm just dicking around. I need your help. NATALIE Don't you think it's worth giving her a chance? RYAN A chance to what? NATALIE A chance at something real? RYAN Natalie, your definition of "real" is going to evolve as you get older… NATALIE Would you stop condescending for one second? Or is that one of the principles of your bullshit philosophy? RYAN Bullshit philosophy? NATALIE The isolation? The traveling? Is that supposed to be charming? RYAN No, it's simply a life choice. NATALIE It's a cocoon of self-banishment. RYAN Wow. Big words. NATALIE Screw you. RYAN Well, screw you too. NATALIE You've set up a way of life that basically makes it impossible for you to make any human connections. Now, somehow, this woman runs the gauntlet of your ridiculous "life choice" and comes out the other end with a smile – Just so you can call her casual. Jesus. I need to grow up? You're a twelve year old. Natalie begins walking away.] RYAN I don't have a gauntlet of… A GUST OF WIND suddenly blows the CUT OUT across the boardwalk into the ocean. RYAN Fuck! Ryan goes running after the CUT OUT. He climbs down a GANGWAY to a dock that is closest of the CUT OUT, which is beginning to sink in the filthy water. Ryan reaches… and reaches… and just as he's got a finger tip on the photo… FALLS IN. As you can see, there is so much symbolism going on here. Ryan falls into the water – he's getting in over his head here. He's losing his self satisfied way of looking at the world. Even the title: "Up In The Air," is symbolic. He's up in the air literally and figuratively, never really grounded, never really making a strong commitment to anything. And there's where I'd like to leave this discussion. And ask you all a question – to those that have seen the film. Were you all satisfied with the ending? Did it leave any of you Up In The Air as well? Was that good or bad? Did that disappoint you or did you find that satisfying? I have been going round and round on this. I'd love to hear your feedback. Go to DISCUSSIONS and let me know – it'll get posted on our wall. Until then – KEEPING WRITING! -------------------- To reply to this message, follow the link below: http://www.facebook.com/n/?inbox%2Freadmessage.php&t=1324073667720&mid=1bd4d2cG5af221b7G1476f7eG0 | ||
| ScreenTalk #23: Tales From the Script! Posted: 17 Jan 2010 05:08 PM PST
Call-in Number: (646) 716-5193 | ||
| Posted: 17 Jan 2010 04:39 PM PST When you get into the all time top-selling scripts, there are some discrepancies as to the actual order. That's because numbers have been distorted through the years and there are provisions attached to some of the numbers. For example, I guess Steinbeck's Point Of View is the biggest sale of all time at 6.5 million, but something like two million of that was provisional, based on the script going into production, and three million of that included potential future deals? M. Night was paid in the vicinity of 7.5 million for The Village (yeah, I know) but a good portion of that was his directing fee. The number one top selling spec (not including inflation) of all time seems to be Deja Vu, which sold for 5 million dollars. Surprisingly, there are only about 30 scripts that have sold for 2 million dollars or more, and a lot of them have been turned into movies, leaving me with less choices than I'd like, and forcing me to dip into the scripts that "only" sold for like a million dollars. Pft. Now we've reviewed big-selling specs before. We did a week last year where we reviewed the top selling specs of 2008. Here are those five reviews... The Low Dweller Pierre Pierre The Long Run Wedding Banned Dan Minter: Badass For Hire We've also reviewed million dollar seller The Cheese Stands Alone and 2 million dollar sale River Road (The Cross). I haven't been able to get my hands on some older unproduced specs though, so if you have Bad Dog (3 mil), Alpha (1.5), The Worst Man (2.5), The Arrangement (2 mil), or Vito (2 mil), please e-mail them to me and maybe we can do a second week of this in the near future. We're going to start out with one of the monster spec sale's little brothers. "Smoke and Mirrors" brought in the eensy teensy amount of just one million dollars, but for those who remember, this was a heavily coveted script whose bidding war made headlines. So scroll down and check out Roger's review. It definitely kicks Big Money Week off with a bang. | ||
| Posted: 17 Jan 2010 05:25 PM PST Product Description Selling Yourself as a Scriptwriter in Hollywood is your most important resource as you begin your career as a professional screenwriter. LEARN THE HOLLYWOOD LITERARY MARKETPLACE ABOVE ALL ELSE YOU MUST LOOK PROFESSIONAL LEARN PROFESSIONAL TRICKS-OF-THE-TRADE BE AWARE OF THE DOs AND THE DON'Ts GETTING YOUR SCREENPLAY KNOWN IN HOLLYWOOD A PRODUCER OR AGENT WANTS TO READ YOUR SCRIPT SCREENWRITING CONTESTS & FELLOWSHIPS The Peterbrook Series Related posts: | ||
| Screenwriting News – 219th Edition Posted: 17 Jan 2010 05:24 PM PST
Screenwriter for Hire | Screenwriter for Hire Freelance Screenwriters Casting Couch Radio: Show Notes – Screenwriter Steve Allrich Screenwriter » Nine out, Trek in at Oscars? software: screenwriter 6 « kiyong's blog of creative pursuits St. Pete Screenwriter (Michael France) « Screenwriting from Iowa Frozen River. | The Screenwriting Craft Liberalguy: Fidel Castro: Hollywood screenwriter College Textbooks Reviews: Screenplay: The Foundations of … Screenwriter » One of the five best sitcoms ever is finally available. The Screenwriting Formula | The Story Department Screenwriter Jim Britt Hopes "To Save a Life" Will Inspire Teens … TAMK taide&viestintä – hakublogi: Neljäs MA in Screenwriting … Screenwriter's Summit | FILMandMOVIEmaking.com Script & Screenwriting Tips: Wondering if your main character is … ClassicForever: Utterly speechless – Rebel Without A Cause with … 2 Years at Screenwriting for Hollywood ! | Vampire News » Blog Archive » Daybreakers (2010): Review By Corey … Screenwriting: KINDLE READER REVIEW – A Screenwriter's POV PAK-MODEL: Alan Campbell (screenwriter) Screenwriting From Iowa » Filmmaking Quote #10 (Lee Daniels) Screenwriting: KINDLE READER REVIEW – A Screenwriter's POV Let's Schmooze – Doug Eboch on Screenwriting: E.T. Analysis Part … Screenwriter » Movie hack hand-wringing in duplicate Getting into screenwriting « Theshortywriter's Blog Journal of a Struggling Screenwriter – Freelance Writing Job Related posts: | ||
| Posted: 17 Jan 2010 05:20 PM PST 52 pages in. Nearly half done with my outline. Still probably have 10 pages to go in script before I'm halfway through. I have off tomorrow so I'm hoping to write another 20 pages. I've honestly never written this close to an outline before. I find it easier actually because it's mindless. I'm literally just transcribing scene by scene. I never have to stop and say, what happens next, which makes my process much faster. Still rubbish though right now. | ||
| Amazon.com: K. Groh's review of One Amazing Thing Posted: 17 Jan 2010 04:59 PM PST Your Amazon.com | Today's Deals | Gifts & Wish Lists | Gift Cards · Your Account | Help ... more dramatic but because it was not, it was more believable and less Hollywood script. ... I wondered what this most recent experience would do for them. ... Latest activity 3 hours ago. 5361 customers have contributed 6130 ... | ||
| News [Archive] - Watch Movies Online for Free - MoviesThe.com Posted: 17 Jan 2010 04:59 PM PST ... Bello joins Adam Sandler comedy - Reuters · Latest Hollywood script deals - Reuters ... Budget-conscious Hollywood in grip of remake fever - Reuters ... | ||
| ABC picks up '187 Detroit' pilot - Analysis Posted: 17 Jan 2010 04:59 PM PST Latest Hollywood script deals - Yahoo!7 News - ... 4 months before. Cartoon Network picks up two new comedies - Yahoo!7 News - ... 5 months ... | ||
| Best <b>Deals</b> on Disneyland Resturants? - Talk Disney Vacation <b>...</b> Posted: 17 Jan 2010 04:59 PM PST Latest Hollywood Script Deals, disneyaholic, TD archives, 0, 04-18-2003 12:34 AM . $1b Disney deals offer 4000 jobs, MickeysGirl, TD archives ... | ||
| The Orphanage Streaming « mekhi4127292 Posted: 17 Jan 2010 03:05 PM PST The position deals with a woman named Laura (Belen Rueda) who purchases her beloved childhood orphanage with dreams of restoring and reopening the long abandoned facility as a region for disabled children. ... THE ORPHANAGE is the latest supernatural film from Spain which definitely has the feel of Guillermo del Toro's influence. Directed by Juan Antonio Bayona, based on the screenplay by Sergio Sanchez; the film is an absorbing, creative gothic awe film that follows the ... mekhi4127292 - http://mekhi4127292.jwcetips.com/ | ||
| 'Bling ring' on trial for <b>Hollywood</b> celebrity burglaries | Pj News <b>...</b> Posted: 17 Jan 2010 03:05 PM PST The gang's modus operandi seems disarmingly simple, police say, comprising merely consulting gossip websites such as TMZ or supermarket tabloids to check the latest fashions and designer jewels being worn by Hollywood's young stars. They would then use the same websites, .... I really did the best I could to morph into this woman who goes into this office every day and deals with people needing something from her, trying to get things from her, maybe being disingenuous." ... Pj News| Latest Daily News About... - http://www.pjnews.org/ | ||
| Quirky comedy becomes first independent film in history to feature a coherent plot Posted: 17 Jan 2010 03:17 PM PST Viewers amazed at linear storyline When Lars Thompson entered the Alamo Drafthouse in Austin, Texas, he thought he was about to watch yet another convoluted Indie film with overbearing themes and dubious plot twists. Instead, the 32-year-old bike messenger was treated to a simple movie about an unhappy dentist who inherits his father's used car dealership. "That was it. That was the whole story!" said Thompson, energized by the fact he actually understood the plot. "The guy was unhappy, he got his dad's car dealership, some funny shit went down, and then he was happy. If this is what those 'Hollywood' movies are like, then count me in. I had no idea what I was missing!" Thompson, who has only seen obscure Indie films ever since he dated a free-spirited artist in college, was completely unaware that movies are much better when they have traditional elements like story, plot and structure. "All this time I thought it was normal for characters to recite inane poetry while staring at a body of water," he said. "But now I realize plot is much, much better. I think I might even see Iron Man 2 when it comes out. Sounds fun…and I bet I'll totally be able to follow it." | ||
| How Much Coincidence Can Your Audience Swallow? Posted: 17 Jan 2010 07:34 AM PST One of the worst things that can happen when you're watching a movie is when you just don't believe a chance event, and your suspension of disbelief is knocked out of the window. You're no longer being swept along by the story and you're suddenly acutely aware that someone wrote that distracting moment you just witnessed. If you're a screenwriter, moments like that don't just spoil the fun of the movie, they also make you wonder if you aren't guilty of the same sin in your own writing. It's not that coincidence doesn't work in movies, but you need to be aware of when you're using coincidence as an integral part of the story rather than merely for convenience's sake. Which is not as straightforward as it sounds. I've had discussions with my writing partner about events which to me seem ludicrously coincidental, whereas to him they seem like the kind of thing that "could happen." And vice versa. To some extent it's subjective, but there are some objective criteria: Does the coincidence fit with the story world? It's one thing for Charles Dickens to have characters bump into each other just in time to move the plot forward, but does it work in your screenplay? Different genres deal differently with coincidence too. In a comedy caper, a chance meeting with someone from a previous scene in a completely different context can be hilarious whereas the same event will feel contrived in a thriller. Is it something you've experienced yourself or has it happened to someone you know? How many times have you bumped into a significant person in the rush hour bustle at a crowded railway station or at a busy airport terminal? How many times have you used your spouse's/child's mobile and forgotten to delete a revealing text message? What about going shopping to chase away post-divorce blues and being tapped on the shoulder by a former lover who emigrated to the other side of the world twenty years ago? Does the coincidence harm your main character or help them? Generally, you have less credibility when it helps them (whatever that says about how our brains work). It feels like a cop-out, like the character is being let off the hook. Whereas if it makes things worse for them… the raised stakes can sometimes distract your attention from the coincidence. Sometimes. Is the coincidence a pay-off of something that was set up in an earlier scene? If the coincidence is the result of something hinted at or established earlier in the script, it can feel less like a coincidence, even though it still is. If it comes right out of the blue, the same event can feel terribly contrived. Is coincidence an integral part of your story's theme? A movie like Magnolia can take liberties with coincidence because it's part and parcel of what the film is exploring. Some writers keep coincidence journals, noting down chance events that happen to them which seem somehow significant. Not a bad idea, I guess, even just to sharpen your sense of what you think qualifies as believable. And paying more attention to the phenomenon increases the likelihood of noticing coincidences when they occur. In any case, I think coincidence as a tool in a screenplay should be handled with great care and integrity. For your own sake, if nothing else. After all, the last thing you want to do is throw a glass of cold water in the reader's/audience's face and jolt them out of your story. | ||
| Screenwriting News from Digg.com – 104th Edition Posted: 17 Jan 2010 04:15 PM PST
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| Filmmaking Quote #10 (Lee Daniels) Posted: 17 Jan 2010 02:42 PM PST "I was sort of stuck in a quandary when I left college because I thought I was going to end up a writer. I found that my work wasn't as great as I thought it was. So I ended up doing what people from West Philly end up doing–hustling." Lee Daniels Blackfilm.com Producer/Director Lee Daniels spent two-years at [...] | ||
| Screenwriting for Hollywood is 2 Years Old! Posted: 17 Jan 2010 11:33 AM PST by Jaden Screenwriting for Hollywood is two years old; it's hard to believe. 144 posts have been written, averaging 6 posts per month, about which 1,230 visitor comments were made. "Most Famous PG Underwear Scenes in Cinema" is hands down the most popular post I have written with 21,930 page views as of today. Thank you to Melissa [...] | ||
| Posted: 17 Jan 2010 12:35 PM PST Talentville is a new website intended to be a home for emerging writers to cross-pollinate. Like Triggerstreet and Zoetrope, you can review each other's scripts. There's a neat mechanism where each review you write generates you "Talent Dollars" which enable you to "buy" a review of your script. And there will be lots of goodies as founder Ben Cahan (who helped found Final Draft) adds features. Right now the site is in Beta, but if you join now you get an immediate upgrade to your citizenship level (see the site) and some free Talent Dollars. Check it out, and let us know what you think in the comments! | ||
| Posted: 17 Jan 2010 02:07 PM PST
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| SPEC: THE BYE BYE MAN by David Prior Posted: 15 Jan 2010 12:04 PM PST THE BYE BYE MAN by David Prior Logline: Story is based on true and terrifying events that occurred in Wisconsin in the 1990's Intrepid is into distributors today with an elevated horror-thriller script by David Prior, who will also direct. Prior is a protege of David Fincher and Fincher will produce the project with Intrepid. Prior is repped by Greg Pedicin (Gersh) and manager Jeremy Platt | ||
| SPEC: THE THEORY OF INVISIBILITY by Aimee Pitta Posted: 15 Jan 2010 11:42 AM PST THE THEORY OF INVISIBILITY by Aimee Pitta Out from Rebecca Green who is attached to produce Logline: Stranger Than Fiction meets It's A Wonderful Life. As a coping mechanism to deal with the death of her husband and son, Emme Taylor wakes up one day to discover that she has literally turned invisible. Surprised and delighted that she no longer has to face the world, Emme sets out to discover how long her invisibility will last and in doing so, uncovers a secret society of invisible people. However, an unexpected turn of events forces Emme to decide if sacrificing her newfound invisibility is worth saving the life of someone she loves. Get the script here. | ||
| Spec: LAUREN PEMBERTON IS NO LONGER IN A RELATIONSHIP Posted: 13 Jan 2010 03:53 PM PST LAUREN PEMBERTON IS NO LONGER IN A RELATIONSHIP by Isaac Aptaker and Elizabeth Berger Out from Sara Bottfeld and Eryn Brown / Industry Ent. Robert Cort attached to produce. Logline: "Something About Mary" for the Facebook generation. Get the script here. | ||
| Posted: 13 Jan 2010 11:06 AM PST NOMAN by Nathan Hope Out from Mike Esola/WME Logline: A witness protection program thriller. | ||
| SPEC: ON A STEEL HORSE I RIDE by Agnew & Jorne Posted: 12 Jan 2010 04:44 PM PST ON A STEEL HORSE I RIDE by Agnew & Jorne Out from ICM and Underground Mandeville attached to produce Logline: R-rated comedy set against the Jersey Shore. Get the script here. | ||
| SPEC: CASH MONEY DOLLARS by Neveldine & Taylor Posted: 11 Jan 2010 06:02 PM PST CASH MONEY DOLLARS by Neveldine & Taylor Out from UTA (Ramses Ishak & Mike Sheresky) Lorenzo di Bonaventura attached to produce. Logline: An unlikely trio – shady LA private dick, kick-ass NY female Secret Service agent, and African-American Texas Ranger – team up to stop a new wave of terrorist operations and save America. Into all territories today: WB, Disney, New Regency, Fox, Sony, DreamWorks, Uni. | ||
| Posted: 11 Jan 2010 01:03 PM PST EVERLY by Yale Hannon Out from Luke Rivett at Anonymous Content Anonymous Content Producing Logline: Everly is trapped in her apartment and must defend herself against vicious attacks by a ruthless army of Yakuza henchman. The camera never leaves the apartment. Panic Room meets Crank. To buyers only on Tuesday. | ||
| SPEC: ECHOES by Richard Potter and Matthew Stravitz Posted: 08 Jan 2010 10:17 AM PST ECHOES by Richard Potter and Matthew Stravitz Out from Ramses Ishak/Mike Sheresky (UTA) & Danny Sherman (Principal Entertainment). Logline: Psychological Thriller in the vein of SHUTTER ISLAND and THE SIXTH SENSE. A catastrophic military accident leaves only one survivor, who is miraculously unharmed, but has no memory of the event. A psychiatrist is brought in to treat him in the hospital's infamous Building 11. At first the doctor dismisses the strange visions that his patient reports, but then realizes that the visions, Building 11, and even the patient himself are pieces of a haunting puzzle that will lead him on a mysterious and terrifying journey.
From the writers of SIGNALS. Get the script here. | ||
| The Art and Craft of <b>Screenwriting</b>: Fundamentals, Methods and <b>...</b> Posted: 17 Jan 2010 06:52 AM PST This guide for screenwriters and those interested in the screenwriting process has important information on every facet of the screenwriter's trade. Bizomy.com - http://bizomy.com/ | ||
| Filmmaking Quote #9 (Adolph Zukor) « <b>Screenwriting</b> from Iowa Posted: 17 Jan 2010 06:52 AM PST on January 16, 2010 at 7:23 pm Screenwriting From Iowa » Filmmaking Quote #9 (Adolph Zukor). [...] There are many ways in which the Internet today is like nickelodeons of 100 years ago. "You have to understand what was happening in this ... Screenwriting from Iowa - http://screenwritingfromiowa.wordpress.com/ | ||
| <b>Screenwriting</b> News – 218th Edition « <b>Screenwriting</b> News « News <b>...</b> Posted: 17 Jan 2010 06:52 AM PST 'Thor' Roundup: New Casting, Screenwriter Discusses 'Adjustments … With principle photography on director Kenneth Branagh's much anticipated "Thor" adaptation finally starting this week, Ashley Miller — one of the screenwriters attached ... Screenwriting Basics - http://www.screenwritingbasics.com/ | ||
| Frozen River. | The <b>Screenwriting</b> Craft Posted: 17 Jan 2010 06:52 AM PST Here's to 2010 - Unk Post from: Screenwriting blog of The Unknown Screenwriter Here's to 2010. 2 weeks ago. Was it something I wrote? You don't have to be crazy..... - to work here, but it helps. Yep a cliche that a writer would never ... The Screenwriting Craft - http://thescreenwritingcraft.blogspot.com/ | ||
| "The Jason Reitman Press Tour Simulator" Posted: 17 Jan 2010 12:00 PM PST Bumping around the screenwriting blogs, I found this at Burbanked Movie Blog: This is a terrifically cool piece that director Jason Reitman put together following the press junket tour for his movie [Up in the Air]. Essentially it's just a fast-paced look at the bizarre press rituals filmmakers go through to promote their films. I love these kinds of behind-the-scenes bits, especially when we get to see them during the film's theatrical run. What exactly did we do before we were blessed with internet to give us these wonderful goodies?Here's the video from Jason Reitman Those of you who've seen Up in the Air, what do you think of it? |
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