Where the Wild Things Are
What makes adapting beloved children's books so daunting? Is it the pressure of pleasing all the book's cross-generational fans? Is it the task of making the author of the original story happy with the outcome? Is it the work of avoiding the tendency of other children's-book films to fall into a gimmicky trap? Yes, yes and yes. Oscar®-nominee Spike Jonze and Pulitzer-nominee Dave Eggers talk about how they met these challenges and more for their highly anticipated Where the Wild Things Are.
Truth is Beauty: Jane Campion's Bright Star
If the love story of John Keats and Fanny Brawne -- lofty and unconsummated; defined by ecstatic verse but behavioral decorum; a mere three years in duration before the poet's untimely death -- seems an unlikely subject for a feature film, you haven't reckoned on the knack of Oscar®-winner Jane Campion for reimagining the romantic past. She explains to Script how she put poetry in motion.
Script to Screen: Laeta Kalogridis' Shutter Island
As the screenwriter of epic historic drama (Alexander) and sci-fi series TV (Bionic Woman), Laeta Kalogridis always wanted to write a thriller but resisted the form. After reading Dennis Lehane's novel Shutter Island, Kalogridis decided to try the thriller genre via classic noir. Her adaptation earned the attention of noir fan Martin Scorsese, who ultimately decided to direct the film, bringing with him Leonardo DiCaprio and Ben Kingsley to star.
Writers on Writing: The Burning Plain
With acclaimed screenplays like Amores Perros, The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada, and Babel, Guillermo Arriaga has become one of the most important writers to cross the U.S.-Mexico border. When he completed his latest script, The Burning Plain, he decided to take his singular voice behind the camera as well. Here, Arriaga explains his writing process and how he took to directing his first feature.
Exposition is a Pain in the Ass
Expository dialogue is often awkward -- as a writer to create, and as an audience to listen to. In short, it's a pain in the ass. But a few storyists have managed to create exposition as a seamless part of the narrative, providing pain-free examples for the scribes among us.
New Media: The State of Online Media
Where is this online creative utopia everyone keeps promising? Has the online-media boom gone bust already? Not quite, but the rules are constantly changing. Learn what new-media experts at NATPE '09 had to say about the state of online media.
Screenwriting Snafus
Story analyst Staton Rabin has read spec scripts numbering in the thousands, and the avoidable errors in both mechanics and style sometimes give her a pounding headache. To help Rabin avoid her next migraine, apply her tips for structuring a great spec.
Training for the New Frontier
With young professionals looking for jobs in every corner of the industry -- and finding them increasingly in reality television, new media, and videogames -- course content geared toward these emerging opportunities would be a welcome addition to any curriculum. What are traditional film and screenwriting programs doing to prepare their students for a new Hollywood?
Small Screen: FlashForward
As ABC looks for another show to generate the same fan mania as Lost and the same awards as Grey's Anatomy, industry veterans David S. Goyer and Brannon Braga, with ABC's trusted Marc Guggenheim, combine character drama and sci-fi elements in this fall's FlashForward.
Independents: Ensemble Casts
Seventy years ago, the Oscar®-nominated Stagecoach showed us how to create the perfect ensemble drama. Directors like Robert Altman and writers like David Mamet have made the ensemble essential to their long and distinguished careers. What's so dynamic about ensemble casts, and how do they help shape a story?
10 Big Mistakes (According to Agents and Managers)
You want to know how agents and managers think and what they are looking for? Well, they're telling you. Jim Cirile interviews seven industry pros about the mistakes newbie writers make -- from negligent financial planning to poor interpersonal communication -- and explains how you can avoid falling through the same trapdoors.
Classes On CD - Recession Sale!
Blue Books are back!
- Sweet 17 Bonus - a Joe Eszterhas book!
- Bill
TODAY'S SCRIPT TIP: "Changing Clothes" and the DOOMSDAY drinking game - every time you see a direct rip from another movie, do a shot! You'll be trashed before the opening credits.
Yesterday's Dinner: Fish & Chips.
Bicycle: A nice ride to a Starbucks just far enough to get the blood flowing, not so far that I died from heatstroke. Yesterday was kind of my first normal day in a few weeks: wasn't trying to catch up on sleep and didn't have a bunch of stupid errands to do - I just did some writing. That's the plan for today, too.
3 comments:
I agree 100% on Doomsday. I wanted to like it. Really, I did. But you pretty much summed it up.
I read October 2005 draft of "Where The Wild Things Are" and it was awful. Characters don´t have any goals, they sit on the island and nothing is happening for 80 minutes. The trailer is good, though.
There's this thing I call the "cover curse" with Script Mag - often the film on the cover has high expectations... which is doesn't live up to. Films on the cover often flop.
I know that WILD THINGS has been a troubled production, I think they did some "reshaping" of the film after some test screenings. So maybe they fixed the issues from that draft you read.
The thing I'll never understand is why they shoot scripts that have problems... except in my experience those problems are often due to changes made, so egos are on the line.
- Bill
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