Saturday, September 29, 2012
Raindance Opening Night: HERE COMES THE DEVIL
Before the film is an improv troop to warm up the audience - and they are only mildly funny... but they do a pun-filled skit that uses the titles of Hitchcock films which might help me fill my class at the end of the festival on Hitchcock movies. Since I’m not being paid to do these classes, the audience headcount becomes my “payment”. After the comedy, the horror!
After the blog entry on depressing and odd films, the festival opens with a genre film. A very interesting and original horror film from Mexico called HERE COMES THE DEVIL. It opens with two naked women in bed together - one lesbian and one curious. Afterwards the curious woman feels guilty and strange... and then there is an unexpected knock at the door. The lesbian woman answers... and it’s a crazed serial killer who chops off all of her fingers and puts them in a bag! There is a fight, the serial killer is wounded, and we follow him as he drags himself back to this odd rock formation.
Years later, a family on holiday stops at the base of the same rock formation. The two tween kids - a boy and a girl - ask if they can explore the rocks. The parents tell them to be back in an hour... and once the kids have gone the parents begin fooling around in the car. They haven’t had sex in ages because the kids are always around. Afterwards they fall asleep in the car... and when they wake up the kids have not returned. They go to the police and report the disappearance, and then check into a motel to wait for word. The next morning the kids are discovered walking down the street - but they seem... different. More sullen than usual. Hard to tell with kids that age. They head home, but mom thinks the kids are really acting strange and...
More would spoil it for you, but the film is very disturbing and the filmmaker compared it to Weir’s PICNIC AT HANGING ROCK and Roeg’s DON’T LOOK NOW - which are two of my favorite low-key horror films. There are also traces of LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT and COLUMBO and THE EXORCIST and CARRIE. The thing I liked about it is that it was a completely original horror film - not vampires or zombies or anything like that... but a cursed *place* and anyone who goes there is changed. What ends up great about this concept is that when mom and later dad go to the rock formation we worry that *they* will not return the same. The movie is very disturbing and gives us a look at Mexican middle class life, rocked by terrors both human and supernatural. Great performances by all - and there’s even a kind of Mexican Michael Berryman type weirdo who lives in a trailer at the base of the rock formation... and may have some sinister hobbies. I mentioned in my tweets that the film had more nudity than I expected from a Catholic country, but it also has the sort of haunting and disturbing horror that makes you worried about people you *think* you know - what if they have been to this rock formation and the evil has rubbed off on them?
There was an afterparty at Café Paris with The Real Tuesday Weld playing. I met Josh, a documentary filmmaker from Oregon who has a film at the festival and a guy who follows me on Facebook and has a short in the student films. Because I was tired and jet lagged - a couple of bees pretty much did me in and I went back to my hotel room to see if I could sleep even though my bodyclock was saying it was daytime. Eventually I fell asleep...
- Bill
Thursday, September 27, 2012
They Aren't All Depressing
It's the end of day 2 of the festival and I have fallen behind on my reports - but I thought I'd mention that I've seen some great films... and full reviews will follow.
The opening night film was a very disturbing horror film from Mexico called HERE COMES THE DEVIL, and it was not at all depressing... though after seeing it you will never trust anyone again.
I saw a pair of docs from the same "label" - one on a wrestler in Scotland and one on skin bleaching in Jamaica - though the skin bleaching thing is kind of scary, the people were not depressed or morose. The wrestling doc was funny and uplifting.
And I also saw an amazing film - HOW DO YOU WRITE A JOE SCHERMANN SONG? - which is a musical... but not like CATS. It plays again on Monday at 1pm, and if you're around - go see it! It's a strange hybrid of indie film and Broadway musical, and you'll laugh, you'll fall in love, you'll cry, and you'll end up with some of the songs stuck in your head. The amazing thing about the film: funded with a Kickstarter program and made for pocket change. I didn't know that when I saw the movie, and just assumed that it cost much much more than it did - looks like a much bigger film.
Story in a nutshell: struggling songwriter teaches music and plays for auditions and does anything else to make a buck, lives with a struggling actress who does Princess Parties and anything else to make a buck - and both are *fighting* for their big break. Songwriter's oldest friend tells him that it's a numbers game, and you only need *one person* to see your talent and give you that break that starts your career.
Reviews to come!
- Bill
My Screenwriting Classes At Raindance
So, in addition to being on *two* juries, they asked if I would do some lunchtime classes during the festival and I agreed. In the past I had done 4-5 classes, this time I'm doing *7* classes! I'm not sure when I supposed to sleep. But this is the deal of the century - the classes are L5 (except fore the two Saturday classes which are only L10) and several of them are brand new.
Script Classes from A Fiver!
SECRETS OF ACTION SCREENWRITING
Saturday 29 September - 16:00 Tickets £10.00 Call 08712 240 242
The class of the book! How to write an effective plot twist, create unbearable suspense, design an exciting action sequence, create a high concept villain's plan, use diversion & anticipation to make your script unpredictable, and create great heroes and villains. Why an action scene is a *character* scene and a *story* scene - or it's rubbish. How to write a page-turner action script. Dozens of techniques that can be used in any genre.
WRITING HORROR
Monday 1 October - 12:30 Tickets £5.00 Call 08712 240 242
From MARTYRS to ORPHAN, horror is hot! You'll learn everything you need to know to write in this genre, from creating dread, loss of free will, fear of the unknown, classic horror (like THE OTHERS) vs. Stalk & Slash and Modern Horror. How to create a monster. What do ROSEMARY'S BABY, NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD, THE EXORCIST, BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN, THE OTHERS have in common? This class will tell you! All of the critical elements necessary to write a script that scares audience.
TAKE ‘EM IN TEN
Tuesday 2 October - 12:30 Tickets £5.00 Call 08712 240 242
By page ten you have either hooked your reader and made them want to read more, or lost them... and they set your script aside. You don't get a second chance to make a good first impression! This class will teach you techniques that will make your first page exciting and engaging to readers, and methods to hook readers by page ten so that they *must* find out how your story ends.
YOUR IDEA MACHINE
Wednesday 3 October - 12:30 Tickets £5.00 Call 08712 240 242
How to find and develop ideas that Hollywood is looking for and you are passionate about. A great script with a dull idea is a dull script. Learn tools like Magnification, Flipping, Substitution, Cousins, Word Association, why High Concept is *Your* Concept, finding your personal themes in high concept ideas.
FOUND & CONTAINED
Thursday 4 October - 12:30 Tickets £5.00 Call 08712 240 242
Two of the hottest types of stories right now are Found Footage films like CHRONICLE and PROJECT X and the PARANORMAL ACTIVITY movies, and Contained Films like BURIED and CUBE and BRAKE and PHONE BOOTH. But how do you come up with ideas like this and how do you write them? We'll look at both types of films, plus the history of each in this class.
DO IT YOURSELF
Friday 5 October - 12:30 Tickets £5.00 Call 08712 240 242
Making your own film? Writing for a niche market? Writing a web series? This class covers everything you need to know - from Central Locations to Confined Cameos to Robert Rodriguez's school bus. Using examples from MOON, THE COOLER, STATION AGENT and films produced by the instructor for pocket change, this class is packed with information. How Indie films challenge the audience (while mainstream films reassure the audience). Writing for a budget, writing for non-actors, getting the most production value out of your budget.
EXPERIMENTS IN TERROR
Saturday 6 October - 16:00 Tickets £10.00 Call 08712 240 242
Radical story experiments from the films of Alfred Hitrchcock. From False Flashbacks to Multiple Stories (like PULP FICTION) to Single Shot Films to Parallel Stories to Fixed Point Of View to Villain Protagonists to Symbolism to Dream Sequences (from Dali!) - Hitchcock's stories often used experimental storytelling techniques that are seen as unusual and cutting edge *today*. Discover how you can use these techniques in *your* screenplays.
- Bill
- Bill
Raindance: Pre-Opening Night
I arrive in London sleepy and disoriented and a night of sleep doesn’t really help. I wake up on Wednesday, which is opening night of the festival, and walk down to Raindance’s new offices. The old offices were in the heart of Soho, in a basement which had film production companies on the floors above. One day on the way to the old office I passed Hugh Grant - it reminded me of the time Gene Hackman and I were waiting to cross a street together in Beverly Hills. The old Raindance office was cramped. The new offices are near Charing Cross Railway Station in the old rehearsal place for The Players Theatre Company - there’s a theatre named after them a few blocks away. It’s still a basement - but a very large area with offices, two rehearsal spaces, and enough room for a jet lagged writer to have a seat and chat while the insanity of festival organization goes on around him.
One of the odd things about a commercial Hollywood writer at a film festival is that festivals often cater to odd tastes that mainstream cinema - and even arthouse cinema - tends to ignore. So there are always a handful of films that you can’t see anywhere else - and maybe for good reason. I had a conversation later that night with a couple of Facebook Friend filmmakers I had never met F2F before about the problems of a US film industry that is *too focused* on the bottom line - and allows great films with a limited audience to go unseen. But there are also films with audiences so slight that one cinema showing at a film festival attracts every single person in the world who would ever want to see this film - and half of the people in the cinema might be people like me who want those two hours of my life back after the house lights go on.
In the Raindance Office they see me as a new volunteer to do Q&A after some film screenings. But here’s the problem: the Raindance staff has already requested to do the Q&As for films that interest them - some films many staff members *fight* over to do the Q&A - and what is left are the films that no staff member wants to do the Q&A for (and a few that no staff member has selected). As they pitch me these films to do Q&A for, I look them up in the festivals program and read the descriptions... and I don’t want to do most of them. There are a couple that I say yes to - a thriller and a couple of indie films where the “making of” story sounds like it would be interesting - but when I look up many of the others my answer is that I am not interested at all...
Most of these films actually have the word “depressing” in the description that was designed to make you want to see the film! The descriptions for these films all sound the same - two people in a room struggle with depression. They all took place in the winter. So here’s what I would have asked the filmmakers if I had done the Q&A....
Depression is a serious illness. Why would you want to make a film with the intention of *infecting* other people with this illness? Why would you want to be the Typhoid Mary of depression? Infecting total strangers around with world with this illness? How can you *morally* allow your film to be shown to an unsuspecting audience? I suspect none of the filmmakers have considered the moral implications of making a depressing film. I’m sure they were all thinking that this is self expression or showing reality as they see it - but are either of those a good reason to infect strangers with your illness?
Of course, they have the right to make their movies... but while people jump on violence in cinema and sex in cinema, why does no one jump on depression in cinema? When I see violence in a film, I do not wish to go out and perform violence. But when I see a depressing movie, I do become depressed. So when I return from the festival I’m going to make up some picket signs and pamphlets and begin my crusade to put an end to depressing films. The world is an unhappy place and you are going to die - do we really need movies that rub our noses in it? Hate me if you want - I *am* a crazy crackpot.
Speaking of crazy crackpots - that’s one of the other kinds of extreme narrowcast films you will find at festivals. Folks who have a “unique vision”, as in: no one else understands their films. You can watch them as some sort of art curio - but that doesn’t make them any more accessible. There’s a survival of the fittest in all things - including cinema. Some films go largely unseen for good reason. There are films which are the arthouse version of BIRDEMIC - so bad or odd that they become an “I dare you to see it” sort of thing. Of course, when we’re dealing with an arthouse movie, sometimes the oddity of the film is mistaken for art... often on purpose. Any film which rebels against the conventions of cinema is automatically “great art”. Focus? Sound? Lighting? Good acting? Making sense? Our film rebels against those concepts and is a blurry mess of images too dark to fully make out with mumbling non-actors who all dress exactly the same! Critics hate my movie - and I wear that as a badge of honor! Audiences hate my movie - and that proves that it’s great! Everything anyone says is “wrong” with my film is proof that it is genius! Yes, I accidentally shot an entire reel without removing the lens cap - but that reel defies the conventions of cinema! Here’s my question about films like this: If the filmmaker doesn’t make the film for the critics or audience - only for themselves - why do they show it to anybody? Why not simply make the film and shelve it? If it is *really* made only for themselves, why would they even want others to see it?
Well, I declined to do Q&A on any of those films.
Before leaving the office, Julian (Festival Director this year) mentions that there’s a cocktail party for the jury members and some select guests at 4:30... right before the opening night film. I look at the time - it is 3:00. I have my backpack and laptop - which means I have to walk back to my hotel and drop them off. By the time I make the round trip, it’s almost 4:30 and I have yet to have a meal. I am jet lagged and exhausted and... there are free beers!
I meet a couple of the other jurors, and some of the special guests (mostly sponsors of the festival) and have some free beer (mistake) and chat up the pretty bartender. I talk to one of the special guests who has a filmmaking program in Ireland and wonders if I teach screenwriting as well as write screenplays - yes, I do. So I may be headed to Ireland next year. I talk to some other folks - but the beers have hit me hard and I just want to go to sleep. But, I won’t be able to sleep, because the opening night film will begin soon, so our group walks from the bar to the cinema... where the jury members have roped off seats in the back of the cinema. I've never sat in the roped off seats before! Even at the premieres of my films, as screenwriter you don’t get a special roped off seat. The stars do, I don’t. I grab the seat on the aisle so that my knees won’t be under my chin for the whole film, and...
I wish I had eaten something.
- Bill
PS: Let the hate mail begin: Should depressing films be banned? Let's discuss it!
Saturday, September 22, 2012
Raindance Film Festival
Okay, if you hadn't heard yet I've been called to London for jury duty at the Raindance International Film Festival.
I plan on posting my adventures here on the blog for the next couple of weeks, depending on how much sleep I get and how much spare time I have.
Here is the Film Fest's homepage: Raindance Film Festival
Here is the trailer for the fest:
And in addition to being on the jury and attempting to OD on cinema, I'm doing some afternoon classes on screenwriting. Some of which I may be making up as I go along!
- Bill
I plan on posting my adventures here on the blog for the next couple of weeks, depending on how much sleep I get and how much spare time I have.
Here is the Film Fest's homepage: Raindance Film Festival
Here is the trailer for the fest:
And in addition to being on the jury and attempting to OD on cinema, I'm doing some afternoon classes on screenwriting. Some of which I may be making up as I go along!
- Bill
Wednesday, September 12, 2012
Lancelot Link: Battle For The Planet Of The Links!
Lancelot Link Thursday! Summer is over... and now on to those artsie films of fall! Here are this week's links to some great screenwriting and film articles, plus some fun stuff that may be of interest to you. Brought to you by that suave and sophisticated secret agent...
Here are eight cool links plus this week's car chase...
1) The 10 Most Inventive Shots In Film History.
2) Will the studio like my screenplay idea?
3) Ben Affleck on ARGO.
4) Celebrity Mugshots... from the Roaring 20s!
5) Amazon Studio's First Movie?
6) How a movie that made $450 million can be in the red!
7) What if Ebert's review isn't good?
8) Not many tickets sold last weekened.
This week's car chase is in black & white...
THEIVE'S HIGHWAY (1949).
- Bill
Here are eight cool links plus this week's car chase...
1) The 10 Most Inventive Shots In Film History.
2) Will the studio like my screenplay idea?
3) Ben Affleck on ARGO.
4) Celebrity Mugshots... from the Roaring 20s!
5) Amazon Studio's First Movie?
6) How a movie that made $450 million can be in the red!
7) What if Ebert's review isn't good?
8) Not many tickets sold last weekened.
This week's car chase is in black & white...
THEIVE'S HIGHWAY (1949).
- Bill
Thursday, August 30, 2012
Lancelot Link: The Phantom Link
Lancelot Link Thursday! Gearing up for Labor Day Holiday Weekend and the Big Labor Day Movie Releases like... ??? Here are this week's links to some great screenwriting and film articles, plus some fun stuff that may be of interest to you. Brought to you by that suave and sophisticated secret agent...
Here are four cool links plus this week's car chase...
1) August Pitch Report
2) Hottest new screenwriter? Stanley Kubrick!
3) Which director made *more* than Spielberg last year?
4) Bates Motel TV series (second try) details.
And the car chase of the week...
Okay, it wasn't cars.
- Bill
Here are four cool links plus this week's car chase...
1) August Pitch Report
2) Hottest new screenwriter? Stanley Kubrick!
3) Which director made *more* than Spielberg last year?
4) Bates Motel TV series (second try) details.
And the car chase of the week...
Okay, it wasn't cars.
- Bill
Sunday, August 26, 2012
Thursday, August 23, 2012
Lancelot Link: Son Of Lancelot
Lancelot Link Thursday! Joss Whedon wants you to e-mail your local cinema and have them book an indie movie so that you can boycott it! That story, plus more in this week's links to some great screenwriting and film articles, plus some fun stuff that may be of interest to you. Brought to you by that suave and sophisticated secret agent...
Here are seven cool links plus this week's car chase...
1) Joss Whedon wants you to get your local cinema to book this film... so that you can boycott it! Seems he feels it threatens his AVENGERS box office numbers and screen count!
2) THE DARK KNIGHT RISES shooting script. Because I love you.
3) Movie Remakes You Want To Avoid!
4) The Young And Hungry Screenwriters List! "Put this man in cell #1 and give him a sandwich!"
5A) That Sight & Sound Poll broken down by critics - a full 250 films!
5B) Who Voted For What?
6) Studio Theme Music & Fanfares!
7) The Screenwriting News from Go Into The Story.
And the Car Chase Of The Week...
Before there was PREMIUM RUSH, there was QUICKSILVER about a bike messenger who...
- Bill
Here are seven cool links plus this week's car chase...
1) Joss Whedon wants you to get your local cinema to book this film... so that you can boycott it! Seems he feels it threatens his AVENGERS box office numbers and screen count!
2) THE DARK KNIGHT RISES shooting script. Because I love you.
3) Movie Remakes You Want To Avoid!
4) The Young And Hungry Screenwriters List! "Put this man in cell #1 and give him a sandwich!"
5A) That Sight & Sound Poll broken down by critics - a full 250 films!
5B) Who Voted For What?
6) Studio Theme Music & Fanfares!
7) The Screenwriting News from Go Into The Story.
And the Car Chase Of The Week...
Before there was PREMIUM RUSH, there was QUICKSILVER about a bike messenger who...
- Bill
Wednesday, August 15, 2012
Lancelot Link: Short Version
Lancelot Link Thursday! To prepare you for the new EXPENDABLES movie here are this week's links to some great screenwriting and film articles, plus some fun stuff that may be of interest to you. Brought to you by that suave and sophisticated secret agent...
Here are five cool links plus this week's car chase...
1) Tips From Famous Writers.
2) Failed Pitch for E.T.
3) Martha Coolidge on Women In Film... and how to get more of them in there.
4 Movies that weren't *supposed* to be funny.
5) William Friedkin's Favaorite Films.
6) Car Chase Of The Week...
How bad can you get? From SHADOW MAN...
- Bill
Here are five cool links plus this week's car chase...
1) Tips From Famous Writers.
2) Failed Pitch for E.T.
3) Martha Coolidge on Women In Film... and how to get more of them in there.
4 Movies that weren't *supposed* to be funny.
5) William Friedkin's Favaorite Films.
6) Car Chase Of The Week...
How bad can you get? From SHADOW MAN...
- Bill
Wednesday, August 08, 2012
Lancelot Link: Legacy.
Lancelot Link Thursday! To prepare you for the new BOURNE movie here are this week's links to some great screenwriting and film articles, plus some fun stuff that may be of interest to you. Brought to you by that suave and sophisticated secret agent...
Here are four cool links plus this week's car chase...
1) How Stories Work.
2) The KARATE KID Audition Tapes!
3) ROCKY Test Movie.
4) Old Tony Gilroy Interview.
And the car chase of the week...
- Bill
Here are four cool links plus this week's car chase...
1) How Stories Work.
2) The KARATE KID Audition Tapes!
3) ROCKY Test Movie.
4) Old Tony Gilroy Interview.
And the car chase of the week...
- Bill
Wednesday, August 01, 2012
Lancelot Link: Phantom Menace
Lancelot Link Thursday! To prepare you for the last BATMAN movie (until the In High School reboot) here are this week's links to some great screenwriting and film articles, plus some fun stuff that may be of interest to you. Brought to you by that suave and sophisticated secret agent...
Here are five cool links plus this week's car chase...
1) Sight & Sound's Top 50 Movies Of All Time! - New List!
2) Producer Gavin Palone vs. Blogger Nikki Fink.
3) New SKYFALL trailer.
4) WGA Report - why being a screenwriter sucks.
5) Are remakes a *good* thing?
6) Car chase of the week...
I was going to run the *awful* car chase from the original TOTAL RECALL, but couldn't embed it. So here's a good one from BOURNE to prepare you for *that* new film.
- Bill
Here are five cool links plus this week's car chase...
1) Sight & Sound's Top 50 Movies Of All Time! - New List!
2) Producer Gavin Palone vs. Blogger Nikki Fink.
3) New SKYFALL trailer.
4) WGA Report - why being a screenwriter sucks.
5) Are remakes a *good* thing?
6) Car chase of the week...
I was going to run the *awful* car chase from the original TOTAL RECALL, but couldn't embed it. So here's a good one from BOURNE to prepare you for *that* new film.
- Bill
Sunday, July 15, 2012
Who Is That?
These days Movies and TV shows use star power to entice the audience to watch, and these days you are more likely to see a bunch of big star faces on a poster than a piece of concept art that gives you an idea of what the film might be about. Instead of selling a movie or TV show on the story, they seem to be selling the stars - it's George Clooney in some movie! Often you get that "three face advert" with the star and two co-star's faces... but no clue to what the movie or TV show might be about. I prefer those old movie posters that were all about the story - and lately on Thursday's links I've posted some great retro posters and posters from other parts of the world where the story is summed up in a great image.
But here's my question: If you are going to sell a movie or TV series on the face of the star, shouldn't we be able to instantly recognize that face?
Who is this:
Okay, by now you may know - because there have been other promos for the show. But when I first saw this advert on the side of a bus in Los Angeles, I wondered who that was. Took me a while to figure it out, because they have airbrushed and photoshopped the hell out of her. They have taken a very attractive 63 year old woman and removed all of the lines from her face... including the ones that identify her. So she may look younger in the photo, but she also doesn't look anything like the movie star we know and love. I had to see that poster a few times before I figured out who it was... and I may have only figured it out because I finally read her name on the poster. Oh, wow, that's who that is!
But what good does it do to use a star's face to sell your TV show or movie if you make that star's face difficult to recognize? That doesn't make any sense at all! And it's not like this is some show they need to sell to the 15-25 year old audience...
I think this ties in to larger issues of aging in Hollywood, but what's crazy to me is that it's reached a point where it's *hurting* the business. If they make the stars look younger and we can't recognize them - what's the point of putting them on the poster?
- Bill
But here's my question: If you are going to sell a movie or TV series on the face of the star, shouldn't we be able to instantly recognize that face?
Who is this:
Okay, by now you may know - because there have been other promos for the show. But when I first saw this advert on the side of a bus in Los Angeles, I wondered who that was. Took me a while to figure it out, because they have airbrushed and photoshopped the hell out of her. They have taken a very attractive 63 year old woman and removed all of the lines from her face... including the ones that identify her. So she may look younger in the photo, but she also doesn't look anything like the movie star we know and love. I had to see that poster a few times before I figured out who it was... and I may have only figured it out because I finally read her name on the poster. Oh, wow, that's who that is!
But what good does it do to use a star's face to sell your TV show or movie if you make that star's face difficult to recognize? That doesn't make any sense at all! And it's not like this is some show they need to sell to the 15-25 year old audience...
I think this ties in to larger issues of aging in Hollywood, but what's crazy to me is that it's reached a point where it's *hurting* the business. If they make the stars look younger and we can't recognize them - what's the point of putting them on the poster?
- Bill
Wednesday, July 11, 2012
Warning! Steel Sharks! Avoid TV!
UPDATE: STEEL SHARKS is on STARZ IN BLACK on Friday July 13th @ 5:35 AM and Thursday July 19th @ 7:00 AM - it was on during evening hours earlier in the month but I forgot to warn you.
Also playing on ENCORE ACTION on Thursday August 2nd @ 5:05 AM and 5:10 PM and August 6th @ 3:00 AM.
It has already played on Showtime and Encore Regular in May.
- Bill
***
STEEL SHARKS on Showtime!
STEEL SHARKS airtimes on Encore!
- Bill
Also playing on ENCORE ACTION on Thursday August 2nd @ 5:05 AM and 5:10 PM and August 6th @ 3:00 AM.
It has already played on Showtime and Encore Regular in May.
- Bill
***
STEEL SHARKS on Showtime!
STEEL SHARKS airtimes on Encore!
- Bill
IT'S BACK!
*** SECRETS OF ACTION SCREENWRITING *** - For Kindle!
*** SECRETS OF ACTION SCREENWRITING *** - For Nook!
Why pay $510 for a *used* copy of the 2000 version when you can buy the Expanded 2011 Version - now over 500 pages - for $9.99? NEW Chapters! NEW Techniques! NEW Examples! It's the book pro screenwriters recommend! An Oscar Winner and the co-writer of FOUR of the Top 20 Box Office Movies Of All Time recommend it! (which is probably why someone is selling a used copy for $510.) Filled with techniques you will not find anywhere else!
Only $9.99 - and no postage!
NEW!
*** DIALOGUE SECRETS *** - For Kindle!
*** DIALOGUE SECRETS *** - For Nook! (coming soon)
Expanded version with dozens of ways to improve your dialogue! Print version is 48 pages, Kindle version is almost 200 pages!
Only $2.99 - and no postage!
NEW!
*** YOUR IDEA MACHINE *** - For Kindle!
*** YOUR IDEA MACHINE *** - For Nook!
Expanded version with more ways to find great ideas! Print version is 48 pages, Kindle version is around 155 pages!
Only $2.99 - and no postage!
NEW!
*** CREATING STRONG PROTAGONISTS *** - For Kindle!
*** CREATING STRONG PROTAGONISTS *** - For Nook! (coming soon)
Expanded version with more ways to create interesting protagonists! Print version is 48 pages, Kindle version is once again around 155 pages!
Only $2.99 - and no postage!
Wednesday, July 04, 2012
Lancelot Link: Left Over July 4th BBQed Links.
Lancelot Link Thursday! To prepare you for the SPIDER-MAN reboot here are this week's links to some great screenwriting and film articles, plus some fun stuff that may be of interest to you. Brought to you by that suave and sophisticated secret agent...
Here are five cool links plus this week's car chase...
1) Movie Flow Chart
2) TAXI DRIVER in 2012.
3) Highest Paid Actors - the Forbes List.
4) DELIVERANCE turns 40.
5) DELIVERANCE turns 40 - my article.
And the car chase of the week...
- Bill
Here are five cool links plus this week's car chase...
1) Movie Flow Chart
2) TAXI DRIVER in 2012.
3) Highest Paid Actors - the Forbes List.
4) DELIVERANCE turns 40.
5) DELIVERANCE turns 40 - my article.
And the car chase of the week...
- Bill
Wednesday, June 27, 2012
Lancelot Link: Knil Tolecnal!
Lancelot Link Thursday! To prepare you for MAGIC MIKE here are this week's links to some great screenwriting and film articles, plus some fun stuff that may be of interest to you. Brought to you by that suave and sophisticated secret agent...
Here are seven cool links plus this week's car chase...
1) Tom Hanks on Nora Ephron.
2) Billy Mernit on Nora Ephron.
3) Shane Black on Action Movies.
4) Timeline for PULP FICTION.
5) What happens when a Pixar illustrator turns R rated movies into a kid's book?
6) The recycled dialogue of Aaron Sorkin.
7) 10 Rules Of Hollywood Blockbusters That Hollywood Forgot.
And the car chase of the week...
From one of several movies titled BLACK RAIN.
- Bill
Here are seven cool links plus this week's car chase...
1) Tom Hanks on Nora Ephron.
2) Billy Mernit on Nora Ephron.
3) Shane Black on Action Movies.
4) Timeline for PULP FICTION.
5) What happens when a Pixar illustrator turns R rated movies into a kid's book?
6) The recycled dialogue of Aaron Sorkin.
7) 10 Rules Of Hollywood Blockbusters That Hollywood Forgot.
And the car chase of the week...
From one of several movies titled BLACK RAIN.
- Bill
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Thursday, June 21, 2012
Lancelot Link: Part 2
Lancelot Link Thursday! Before there was Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter there was Lancelot Link: Spy! This week's links to some great screenwriting and film articles, plus some fun stuff that may be of interest to you. Brought to you by that suave and sophisticated secret agent...
Here are four cool links plus this week's car chase...
1) Looking For Some Classic Horror Scripts To Read?
2) BLADE RUNNER in watercolors.
3) Symbolism In Novels - The Untold Story!
4) Suicide Notes Of The Rich And Famous.
And the car chase of the week...
- Bill
Here are four cool links plus this week's car chase...
1) Looking For Some Classic Horror Scripts To Read?
2) BLADE RUNNER in watercolors.
3) Symbolism In Novels - The Untold Story!
4) Suicide Notes Of The Rich And Famous.
And the car chase of the week...
- Bill
Wednesday, June 20, 2012
Mobile Phone Nightmare Continues
So, I have been without a working phone for well over 2 weeks. My old phone went swimming a couple of months ago, I got a new smart phone... and it had trouble booting right out of the box. But after that it worked well for a month (with some small issues) and then started crapping out again and again. Over 2 weeks ago it got stuck in the boot-loop, yelling DROID! every few minutes.
I took it to the Verizon store, where they did a "factory re-boot"... which worked for a day. A little over a week ago I went back and told them the danged phone still didn't work - they tried the factory reboot again and nothing happened... so they ordered me a replacement phone.
I waited for the danged thing to arrive for over a week - and it never did.
I was having dinner with a friend who was telling me about ordering a replacement credit card that never arrived, and when he called the bank they told him it had never actually been ordered. Someone forgot to push the button.
So I went to the Verizon store again yesterday to make sure someone pushed the button... and that's why my phone never arrived. It was never ordered. So we went through the whole things again - they needed to make sure the phone could not be factory rebooted before ordering me a new phone... and *this time* I asked for paperwork on the order. Got it. So I should have a phone again on Thursday. Sorry if I never returned your call...
UPDATE: I know have a working phone.
- Bill
IMPORTANT UPDATE:
TODAY'S SCRIPT TIP: Cool World -
Dinner: Popeye's Chicken.
Pages: A new chapter for a Blue Book expansion.
Bicycle: After a few long rides, some short ones.
Movies: HYSTERIA.
Otherwise known as “That vibrator movie with Maggie Gyllenhaal”.
Amusing little film that seems as if it were made for an American audience by British people... who don’t really understand American audiences. The film is the result of about a dozen European production companies and studios working together, and though it takes place in London was filmed in Luxembourg. Though the love/hate relationship between Gyllenhaal and Hugh Dancy seems perfect for a barrage of clever zingers like the banter from a Howard Hawks movie or a Tracy/Hepburn movie; the writers decided to make it more subdued humor... at times almost a comedy of manners. Though I wouldn’t want to be the development executive giving them a note like “Should be banter instead of soft comedy” - it *does* seem like the male/female relationship and some of the story elements fit that style of comedy better. But what they did, they did well. So it’s a light comedy that seems to be made up of three different stories that somehow all manage to work together pretty well.
One story is about a wealthy doctor’s daughter (Maggie Gyllenhaal) who is so fiercely independent that she turns her back on society and spends her time working with the poor and destitute in a shelter - she has run ins with her father who wants her to get over this silliness and take her place in society.
The second story is about a once idealistic doctor (Hugh Dancy) who sells out and becomes the Victorian England version of a Beverly Hills plastic surgeon, providing manual stimulation to wealthy women with symptoms of frustration and dissatisfaction and sometimes even anger - which is known as the medical condition “Hysteria”. He diddles them, they feel better... they make lots of future appointments. He has kind of a coming of age story when after becoming engaged to his boss’s daughter and seeing a day when he might someday take over the practice and hire other young doctors to manually stimulate wealthy women, finds his idealism again.
The third story is about the accidental invention of the vibrator by a wealthy wacky inventor (an almost unrecognizable Rupert Everett) who was trying to make an electric feather duster to help with house work.
Though there’s a title card that says “based on true events” or some such thing, I believe the third story probably has some truth to it and the other two are pure fiction. Fiction created to take what’s probably a fairly boring story and make it fun. And the writers actually make it work as one story (with some rough edges from time to time). The father of the independent woman is the doctor who owns the diddle practice our once idealistic doctor goes to work for, and the wacky inventor is our idealistic doctor’s college chum and best friend. There are times when the film cuts between the three where it becomes obvious that these are three different stories glues together by that montage. Other scenes that work perfectly in their own story seem to intrude on one of the others - especially a longish courtroom scene. And in order to tie the stories together with a happy ending, some things are resolved waaaaay too easy. But if you are an American who enjoys British films, this will probably be an enjoyable couple of hours in the cinema.
Oh, stay for the credits to see a history of vibrators - photos that run along the side of the credits.
- Bill
I took it to the Verizon store, where they did a "factory re-boot"... which worked for a day. A little over a week ago I went back and told them the danged phone still didn't work - they tried the factory reboot again and nothing happened... so they ordered me a replacement phone.
I waited for the danged thing to arrive for over a week - and it never did.
I was having dinner with a friend who was telling me about ordering a replacement credit card that never arrived, and when he called the bank they told him it had never actually been ordered. Someone forgot to push the button.
So I went to the Verizon store again yesterday to make sure someone pushed the button... and that's why my phone never arrived. It was never ordered. So we went through the whole things again - they needed to make sure the phone could not be factory rebooted before ordering me a new phone... and *this time* I asked for paperwork on the order. Got it. So I should have a phone again on Thursday. Sorry if I never returned your call...
UPDATE: I know have a working phone.
- Bill
TODAY'S SCRIPT TIP: Cool World -
Dinner: Popeye's Chicken.
Pages: A new chapter for a Blue Book expansion.
Bicycle: After a few long rides, some short ones.
Movies: HYSTERIA.
Otherwise known as “That vibrator movie with Maggie Gyllenhaal”.
Amusing little film that seems as if it were made for an American audience by British people... who don’t really understand American audiences. The film is the result of about a dozen European production companies and studios working together, and though it takes place in London was filmed in Luxembourg. Though the love/hate relationship between Gyllenhaal and Hugh Dancy seems perfect for a barrage of clever zingers like the banter from a Howard Hawks movie or a Tracy/Hepburn movie; the writers decided to make it more subdued humor... at times almost a comedy of manners. Though I wouldn’t want to be the development executive giving them a note like “Should be banter instead of soft comedy” - it *does* seem like the male/female relationship and some of the story elements fit that style of comedy better. But what they did, they did well. So it’s a light comedy that seems to be made up of three different stories that somehow all manage to work together pretty well.
One story is about a wealthy doctor’s daughter (Maggie Gyllenhaal) who is so fiercely independent that she turns her back on society and spends her time working with the poor and destitute in a shelter - she has run ins with her father who wants her to get over this silliness and take her place in society.
The second story is about a once idealistic doctor (Hugh Dancy) who sells out and becomes the Victorian England version of a Beverly Hills plastic surgeon, providing manual stimulation to wealthy women with symptoms of frustration and dissatisfaction and sometimes even anger - which is known as the medical condition “Hysteria”. He diddles them, they feel better... they make lots of future appointments. He has kind of a coming of age story when after becoming engaged to his boss’s daughter and seeing a day when he might someday take over the practice and hire other young doctors to manually stimulate wealthy women, finds his idealism again.
The third story is about the accidental invention of the vibrator by a wealthy wacky inventor (an almost unrecognizable Rupert Everett) who was trying to make an electric feather duster to help with house work.
Though there’s a title card that says “based on true events” or some such thing, I believe the third story probably has some truth to it and the other two are pure fiction. Fiction created to take what’s probably a fairly boring story and make it fun. And the writers actually make it work as one story (with some rough edges from time to time). The father of the independent woman is the doctor who owns the diddle practice our once idealistic doctor goes to work for, and the wacky inventor is our idealistic doctor’s college chum and best friend. There are times when the film cuts between the three where it becomes obvious that these are three different stories glues together by that montage. Other scenes that work perfectly in their own story seem to intrude on one of the others - especially a longish courtroom scene. And in order to tie the stories together with a happy ending, some things are resolved waaaaay too easy. But if you are an American who enjoys British films, this will probably be an enjoyable couple of hours in the cinema.
Oh, stay for the credits to see a history of vibrators - photos that run along the side of the credits.
- Bill
Wednesday, June 13, 2012
Lancelot Link: 2 Lancelot 2 Link!
Lancelot Link Thursday! This week's links to some great screenwriting and film articles, plus some fun stuff that may be of interest to you. Brought to you by that suave and sophisticated secret agent...
Here are six cool links plus this week's car chase...
1) Francis Ford Coppola interview.
2) The 22 Rules Of Screenwriting... from Pixar.
3) Exploitation Movie Posters Throughout History.
4) How Not To Write A Screenplay.
5) *Prehistoric* Movies... and the first directors were women!
6) 70mm Film Festival - $20!
And the Car Chase Of The Week...
DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER - just before Roger Moore and hick cops became the new low for Bond movies, this moon-buggy chase.
- Bill
Here are six cool links plus this week's car chase...
1) Francis Ford Coppola interview.
2) The 22 Rules Of Screenwriting... from Pixar.
3) Exploitation Movie Posters Throughout History.
4) How Not To Write A Screenplay.
5) *Prehistoric* Movies... and the first directors were women!
6) 70mm Film Festival - $20!
And the Car Chase Of The Week...
DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER - just before Roger Moore and hick cops became the new low for Bond movies, this moon-buggy chase.
- Bill
Sunday, June 10, 2012
Take Him To The Rack!
So, you may be wondering why the promised new Fridays With Hitchcock was *again* delayed...
A coupled of weeks ago I rode my bike to Big 5 Sporting Goods to buy a new backpack. My old one - a couple years old and an ugly powder blue - was starting to tear. It was still usable, but why not get a new one? When I pulled up at Big 5, there was a banner announcing a bike sale. Though my trusty Schwinn is about 3 years old, it’s in okay shape (one of the shifters is loose) and I just replaced both tubes and even took some furniture polish to the frame to make it look pretty. No reason to replace it. Rides well. Broken in but not broken.
But at Big 5 - no place to lock it. Though they had that big banner announcing a bike sale, there was no place to lock a bike outside. No bike rack. The best you could do is lock to the pole announcing that this space is Handicapped Parking. There were two of those... and the other one had two bikes locked to it. When I began locking my bike, the couple came out of Big 5 and I joked about the bike sale banner but no place to lock up... and as fellow members of the chain gang, they joked back... and we had a conversation about all of the places where they don’t provide anyplace for you to lock a bike... yet they’ll gladly sell you one.
And that makes no sense.
Here in Los Angeles we have pollution problems (you may have heard) so there’s this thing called Ride Share Thursday. You see, the smog was so bad at one point that 7% of all natural cause deaths in Los Angeles were directly related to auto pollution. So the EPA demanded the city clean up their act - which is where this toy subway came from. But also a bunch of voluntary things like Ride Share Thursday, where people are encouraged to car pool and bike and use public transit to work. I don’t think anyone actually does it - but the city is promoting the idea of people bicycling... yet many business have no place to park your bike once you get there. Imagine driving to the mall in your car... and there being no parking at all! Slowly the city has begun putting up these upside down U shaped “racks” all over town, so there are now some places to lock up. Still some sections of town where you have to lock to a light pole or something.
I often go to the AMC theaters in Burbank... which have no place to lock a bike at all. A couple of years ago at the AMC North, I locked my bike to the little fence that separates the parking lot and sidewalk - and a Security Guy told me I couldn’t park there. I asked him *where* I was supposed to park, and he said not his problem. So I had to take my bike off the mall property and lock it to a light pole. The problem with that is - locked next to the cinema is safer than out on the street.
When I went to see AVENGERS at the AMC 16 (the big new cinema in its own outdoor mall) there were at least *60* bicycles parked around the outdoor mall - locked to light poles, trees, stairway railings, etc. Because there are hundreds of parking spaces for cars and not a single place to lock a bike - anything you could lock to was taken! I ended up parking my bike way down the street on one of Burbank City’s bicycle shaped “racks”. But I wondered why the mall didn’t have anyplace to lock a bike, when obviously they have plenty of customers who ride there? One of the other malls I go to regularly (an uncrowded Starbucks) has a section of their parking lot designed for bicycles and motorcycles. A couple of okay bike racks (there are good bike racks and basically pointless ones) - and they are always filled. But the AMC and mall have no place to park cycles of any kind. It’s not uncommon to see motorcycles sharing a space between a couple of parked cars. Just seems short sighted... and unfair, if not somehow illegal. I mean, if the city *requires* so many parking spaces for the mall - when they built the new cinemas they had to build a new parking structure to get their permit so that all of those people who go to the movies will have a place to park... and it’s still mega-crowded on Friday and Saturday night and you have to park your car in the city structure a few blocks away and hike - why doesn't the city require places for bikes and motorcycles to park? And why doesn’t the property owner do it without regulation? Nobody does *anything* without regulation and laws! If there weren’t health codes, you’d be eating plate scrapings from the last customer... and some places, you still might. But with bicycles - nobody cares. So, well over 60 customers on opening night of AVENGERS get screwed and have to fend for themselves.
I was there once and saw two Bike Cops trying to figure out where to lock up when they went into Chipotle to get a burrito. They ended up handcuffing their bikes to a tree!
7 DAY STRETCH
So, at the end of week before last I go to see BATTLESHIP at the AMC 16, and there are about a dozen bikes locked to light posts and stair rails, and I go to lock up on a tree and a passing Security Guy says I can’t do that. I ask where I’m supposed to lock, he says not his problem... and I wait until he leaves and lock up to a light pole. I grab a burrito and see the wonderful fabulous imitation Michael Bay movie and go down the stairs to grab my bike... and it’s not there. I look around - maybe I parked it somewhere else? The problem with somewhere you regularly go to is that your memory may play tricks on you - so maybe I parked it on that pole last time and this time I parked it on the other side of the outdoor mall? Nope. No bike.
So I call Mall Security on my new phone - which has problems - and get them to send a guy over so that he can take down my info and tell me I wasn’t supposed to park there and there isn’t a place to park bikes at the mall and I should file a police report... and that *maybe* they have the thief on tape, because I managed to lock to a light pole right in the line of sight of a security camera. None of this makes me happy.
I go home (an adventure!) and the next day take the bus to Target and buy a new bike (driving one vehicle to buy another vehicle makes no sense to me... and then I have a bike hanging out of my trunk). Because I was stinging from having my bike stolen, I bought a cheap bike and an expensive lock. One of those $100 Made In China bikes. As soon as I rode it away - heading down Victory into Burbank to the police station - I regretted not just buying another Schwinn - because even if Schwinns are all made in China now, they are better made than the $100 bike... which was heavy and sluggish and the brakes and gear shifters were too close together and difficult to operate. You don’t really want brakes that are difficult to use.
So I get to Burbank Police Department, where I wait 45 minutes for an officer to come out and fill out a police report... only to tell me I should have reported the theft immediately after it happened, because they may have pulled over a truck filled with bicycles and recovered mine. I asked if they *had* pulled over a truck full of bicycles the night before, he said no. So, um, why are you giving me a hard time? Yes - I said that out loud. I’m lucky I got out of the police station without being arrested. Oh, by the way - no place to lock a bike at the police station. I locked to the stair railing.
The officer told me they seldom recover bikes... even though the mall had video of the guy stealing my bike! He also told me bikes get stolen from there often.
Oh, and this was *right before* the Great American Pitchfest.
CALLS FOR HELP
Meanwhile, my new phone is a piece of junk. After working fine for a month, it suddenly has begun freezing and getting stuck in a reboot-loop yelling DROID! constantly. One night the phone wakes me up yelling DROID! over and over again for almost an hour... then just dying. The problem is - my phone is now my watch and my phone book and my calendar and all kinds of other things. When my phone dies, I’m lost. This new phone replaced my old one that accidentally went swimming. It was just a regular phone, this new one is a *smart* phone.
The old phone came with an instruction book. The smart phone came with a quick start guide... and the instructions on the phone itself. Some instructional videos, too. The problem was - there were no instructions on how to find the instructions on the phone. I found them once, and then couldn't find them again. So some things the phone could do... I didn’t do because I couldn’t figure it out.
Okay, here’s the problem: when the phone starts going crazy and yelling DROID! all day, and you want to look at the instructions and see if there’s something simple you can do... the instructions are on the phone. You know, the phone that isn’t working.
Before I went online and found the instructions and read them (not very informative when it comes to things going wrong, but *really* informative when it comes to buying aps), I pulled out the battery to force it to reboot. And *sometimes* that worked... and sometimes it got caught in the DROID! cycle again. Then, my phone wiped all of my contacts and phone numbers and past texts and everything. This happened overnight without me pulling the battery or playing with it in any way. I can’t call anyone - I don’t know their number! And the damned phone still keeps yelling DROID!
Meanwhile, that new backpack I bought? Begins tearing like crazy. The fabric is cheaper than the old backpack, and every seam begins to tear open. Guess what? I threw out the old backpack! So now I need to get a new backpack and a new phone and...
RACK ‘EM UP!
I ride the cheapo bike all week, and don’t like it anymore. I have drinks with friends in downtown Hollywood - where you wouldn’t want to park your car - and lock my bike on a U on the street with the expensive lock and my phone yelling DROID! from my shirt pocket. I have to pull the battery to shut the damned thing up, and when I come out of the bar my bike is still there by some miracle... and not gang tagged or defaced in any way.
A couple of bikes back I had a side-saddle basket on back, and when I parked it on the street I would return to a basket full of trash. I’d ride to the nearest trash can and throw it away... then find someplace to wash my hands. But no one left garbage on my bike that night.
I need to take my mind off the phone and backpack issues, so at the end of last week - seven days after my old bike was stolen - I park my crappy new bike outside the AMC 16 in Burbank, using that super-strong lock to lock it to a light pole... my phone yelling DROID! the whole time. This time I pick a light pole in front of a restaurant, where people might notice someone with bolt cutters or a torch stealing bicycles. I go see SNOW WHITE AND THE HUNTSMAN, pull the battery fron my phone so that it will stop yelling DROID! Two hours later I leave the cinema and go to my crappy bike... and it’s gone. The lock sliced by some freakin’ industrial boltcutters or something. I walk directly to the police station and report it stolen to a cute Aussie or NZ female officer, and have another exciting trek home by bus.
Two bikes stolen in one week!
My phone completely screwed up!
My backpack falling apart!
The next day I go back to Target and buy a fucking new Schwinn and a kryptonite lock *and* a cable lock. Oh, and a can of flat gray spray paint. When I get the bike home, I deface it with the spray paint. Then I go to the Verizon store where they tell me my DROID! yelling phone is just stuck in a loop and they can do a factory reboot... but my contacts are gone forever. I have a old phone somewhere that can be used to transfer them... whenever I find that old phone.
They fix the phone, I get on my defaced bike (not stolen) and go home.
I am awoken in the middle of the night by the phone yelling DROID! over and over again. It’s still broken.
That was my week. This one *has* to be better. It will begin with me buying a new backpack and then shoving my phone up the butt of someone at the Verizon store.
I will never see another movie at AMC Burbank again, and plan to boycott all businesses that do not have bike racks.
- Bill
PS: On Saturday - with my DROID! yelling phone turned off - I spoke to the Scriptwriter's Network on the Universal Lot along with Zak Penn. It went better that the week that had preceded it... almost anything would have.
A coupled of weeks ago I rode my bike to Big 5 Sporting Goods to buy a new backpack. My old one - a couple years old and an ugly powder blue - was starting to tear. It was still usable, but why not get a new one? When I pulled up at Big 5, there was a banner announcing a bike sale. Though my trusty Schwinn is about 3 years old, it’s in okay shape (one of the shifters is loose) and I just replaced both tubes and even took some furniture polish to the frame to make it look pretty. No reason to replace it. Rides well. Broken in but not broken.
But at Big 5 - no place to lock it. Though they had that big banner announcing a bike sale, there was no place to lock a bike outside. No bike rack. The best you could do is lock to the pole announcing that this space is Handicapped Parking. There were two of those... and the other one had two bikes locked to it. When I began locking my bike, the couple came out of Big 5 and I joked about the bike sale banner but no place to lock up... and as fellow members of the chain gang, they joked back... and we had a conversation about all of the places where they don’t provide anyplace for you to lock a bike... yet they’ll gladly sell you one.
And that makes no sense.
Here in Los Angeles we have pollution problems (you may have heard) so there’s this thing called Ride Share Thursday. You see, the smog was so bad at one point that 7% of all natural cause deaths in Los Angeles were directly related to auto pollution. So the EPA demanded the city clean up their act - which is where this toy subway came from. But also a bunch of voluntary things like Ride Share Thursday, where people are encouraged to car pool and bike and use public transit to work. I don’t think anyone actually does it - but the city is promoting the idea of people bicycling... yet many business have no place to park your bike once you get there. Imagine driving to the mall in your car... and there being no parking at all! Slowly the city has begun putting up these upside down U shaped “racks” all over town, so there are now some places to lock up. Still some sections of town where you have to lock to a light pole or something.
I often go to the AMC theaters in Burbank... which have no place to lock a bike at all. A couple of years ago at the AMC North, I locked my bike to the little fence that separates the parking lot and sidewalk - and a Security Guy told me I couldn’t park there. I asked him *where* I was supposed to park, and he said not his problem. So I had to take my bike off the mall property and lock it to a light pole. The problem with that is - locked next to the cinema is safer than out on the street.
When I went to see AVENGERS at the AMC 16 (the big new cinema in its own outdoor mall) there were at least *60* bicycles parked around the outdoor mall - locked to light poles, trees, stairway railings, etc. Because there are hundreds of parking spaces for cars and not a single place to lock a bike - anything you could lock to was taken! I ended up parking my bike way down the street on one of Burbank City’s bicycle shaped “racks”. But I wondered why the mall didn’t have anyplace to lock a bike, when obviously they have plenty of customers who ride there? One of the other malls I go to regularly (an uncrowded Starbucks) has a section of their parking lot designed for bicycles and motorcycles. A couple of okay bike racks (there are good bike racks and basically pointless ones) - and they are always filled. But the AMC and mall have no place to park cycles of any kind. It’s not uncommon to see motorcycles sharing a space between a couple of parked cars. Just seems short sighted... and unfair, if not somehow illegal. I mean, if the city *requires* so many parking spaces for the mall - when they built the new cinemas they had to build a new parking structure to get their permit so that all of those people who go to the movies will have a place to park... and it’s still mega-crowded on Friday and Saturday night and you have to park your car in the city structure a few blocks away and hike - why doesn't the city require places for bikes and motorcycles to park? And why doesn’t the property owner do it without regulation? Nobody does *anything* without regulation and laws! If there weren’t health codes, you’d be eating plate scrapings from the last customer... and some places, you still might. But with bicycles - nobody cares. So, well over 60 customers on opening night of AVENGERS get screwed and have to fend for themselves.
I was there once and saw two Bike Cops trying to figure out where to lock up when they went into Chipotle to get a burrito. They ended up handcuffing their bikes to a tree!
7 DAY STRETCH
So, at the end of week before last I go to see BATTLESHIP at the AMC 16, and there are about a dozen bikes locked to light posts and stair rails, and I go to lock up on a tree and a passing Security Guy says I can’t do that. I ask where I’m supposed to lock, he says not his problem... and I wait until he leaves and lock up to a light pole. I grab a burrito and see the wonderful fabulous imitation Michael Bay movie and go down the stairs to grab my bike... and it’s not there. I look around - maybe I parked it somewhere else? The problem with somewhere you regularly go to is that your memory may play tricks on you - so maybe I parked it on that pole last time and this time I parked it on the other side of the outdoor mall? Nope. No bike.
So I call Mall Security on my new phone - which has problems - and get them to send a guy over so that he can take down my info and tell me I wasn’t supposed to park there and there isn’t a place to park bikes at the mall and I should file a police report... and that *maybe* they have the thief on tape, because I managed to lock to a light pole right in the line of sight of a security camera. None of this makes me happy.
I go home (an adventure!) and the next day take the bus to Target and buy a new bike (driving one vehicle to buy another vehicle makes no sense to me... and then I have a bike hanging out of my trunk). Because I was stinging from having my bike stolen, I bought a cheap bike and an expensive lock. One of those $100 Made In China bikes. As soon as I rode it away - heading down Victory into Burbank to the police station - I regretted not just buying another Schwinn - because even if Schwinns are all made in China now, they are better made than the $100 bike... which was heavy and sluggish and the brakes and gear shifters were too close together and difficult to operate. You don’t really want brakes that are difficult to use.
So I get to Burbank Police Department, where I wait 45 minutes for an officer to come out and fill out a police report... only to tell me I should have reported the theft immediately after it happened, because they may have pulled over a truck filled with bicycles and recovered mine. I asked if they *had* pulled over a truck full of bicycles the night before, he said no. So, um, why are you giving me a hard time? Yes - I said that out loud. I’m lucky I got out of the police station without being arrested. Oh, by the way - no place to lock a bike at the police station. I locked to the stair railing.
The officer told me they seldom recover bikes... even though the mall had video of the guy stealing my bike! He also told me bikes get stolen from there often.
Oh, and this was *right before* the Great American Pitchfest.
CALLS FOR HELP
Meanwhile, my new phone is a piece of junk. After working fine for a month, it suddenly has begun freezing and getting stuck in a reboot-loop yelling DROID! constantly. One night the phone wakes me up yelling DROID! over and over again for almost an hour... then just dying. The problem is - my phone is now my watch and my phone book and my calendar and all kinds of other things. When my phone dies, I’m lost. This new phone replaced my old one that accidentally went swimming. It was just a regular phone, this new one is a *smart* phone.
The old phone came with an instruction book. The smart phone came with a quick start guide... and the instructions on the phone itself. Some instructional videos, too. The problem was - there were no instructions on how to find the instructions on the phone. I found them once, and then couldn't find them again. So some things the phone could do... I didn’t do because I couldn’t figure it out.
Okay, here’s the problem: when the phone starts going crazy and yelling DROID! all day, and you want to look at the instructions and see if there’s something simple you can do... the instructions are on the phone. You know, the phone that isn’t working.
Before I went online and found the instructions and read them (not very informative when it comes to things going wrong, but *really* informative when it comes to buying aps), I pulled out the battery to force it to reboot. And *sometimes* that worked... and sometimes it got caught in the DROID! cycle again. Then, my phone wiped all of my contacts and phone numbers and past texts and everything. This happened overnight without me pulling the battery or playing with it in any way. I can’t call anyone - I don’t know their number! And the damned phone still keeps yelling DROID!
Meanwhile, that new backpack I bought? Begins tearing like crazy. The fabric is cheaper than the old backpack, and every seam begins to tear open. Guess what? I threw out the old backpack! So now I need to get a new backpack and a new phone and...
RACK ‘EM UP!
I ride the cheapo bike all week, and don’t like it anymore. I have drinks with friends in downtown Hollywood - where you wouldn’t want to park your car - and lock my bike on a U on the street with the expensive lock and my phone yelling DROID! from my shirt pocket. I have to pull the battery to shut the damned thing up, and when I come out of the bar my bike is still there by some miracle... and not gang tagged or defaced in any way.
A couple of bikes back I had a side-saddle basket on back, and when I parked it on the street I would return to a basket full of trash. I’d ride to the nearest trash can and throw it away... then find someplace to wash my hands. But no one left garbage on my bike that night.
I need to take my mind off the phone and backpack issues, so at the end of last week - seven days after my old bike was stolen - I park my crappy new bike outside the AMC 16 in Burbank, using that super-strong lock to lock it to a light pole... my phone yelling DROID! the whole time. This time I pick a light pole in front of a restaurant, where people might notice someone with bolt cutters or a torch stealing bicycles. I go see SNOW WHITE AND THE HUNTSMAN, pull the battery fron my phone so that it will stop yelling DROID! Two hours later I leave the cinema and go to my crappy bike... and it’s gone. The lock sliced by some freakin’ industrial boltcutters or something. I walk directly to the police station and report it stolen to a cute Aussie or NZ female officer, and have another exciting trek home by bus.
Two bikes stolen in one week!
My phone completely screwed up!
My backpack falling apart!
The next day I go back to Target and buy a fucking new Schwinn and a kryptonite lock *and* a cable lock. Oh, and a can of flat gray spray paint. When I get the bike home, I deface it with the spray paint. Then I go to the Verizon store where they tell me my DROID! yelling phone is just stuck in a loop and they can do a factory reboot... but my contacts are gone forever. I have a old phone somewhere that can be used to transfer them... whenever I find that old phone.
They fix the phone, I get on my defaced bike (not stolen) and go home.
I am awoken in the middle of the night by the phone yelling DROID! over and over again. It’s still broken.
That was my week. This one *has* to be better. It will begin with me buying a new backpack and then shoving my phone up the butt of someone at the Verizon store.
I will never see another movie at AMC Burbank again, and plan to boycott all businesses that do not have bike racks.
- Bill
PS: On Saturday - with my DROID! yelling phone turned off - I spoke to the Scriptwriter's Network on the Universal Lot along with Zak Penn. It went better that the week that had preceded it... almost anything would have.
Thursday, June 07, 2012
Lancelot Link: Vampire Hunter
Lancelot Link Thursday! This week's links to some great screenwriting and film articles, plus some fun stuff that may be of interest to you. Brought to you by that suave and sophisticated secret agent...
Here are seven cool links plus this week's car chase...
1) Blog about making a no-budget film - is filled with valuable lessons.
2) PROMETHEUS screenwriter Jon Spaihts.
3) Indie Blockbusters? How the LOTR movies saved indie films... until WB killed them!
4) Turn any website into Samuel L. Jackson's website with this handy gizmo!
5) DJANGO UNCHAINED trailer...
6) Super 8mm behind the scenes footage from REVENGE OF THE JEDI!
7) James Bond at 50... this is the 50 year anniversary of Dr. NO.
Car Chase Of The Week:
Top 5 James Bond Car Chases...
- Bill
Here are seven cool links plus this week's car chase...
1) Blog about making a no-budget film - is filled with valuable lessons.
2) PROMETHEUS screenwriter Jon Spaihts.
3) Indie Blockbusters? How the LOTR movies saved indie films... until WB killed them!
4) Turn any website into Samuel L. Jackson's website with this handy gizmo!
5) DJANGO UNCHAINED trailer...
6) Super 8mm behind the scenes footage from REVENGE OF THE JEDI!
7) James Bond at 50... this is the 50 year anniversary of Dr. NO.
Car Chase Of The Week:
Top 5 James Bond Car Chases...
- Bill
Thursday, May 31, 2012
Lancelot Link:s
Lancelot Link Thursday! This week's links to some great screenwriting and film articles, plus some fun stuff that may be of interest to you. Brought to you by that suave and sophisticated secret agent...
Here are five cool links plus this week's car chase...
1) Famous notebooks of Famous Writers.
2) SNOW WHITE AND THE HUNTSMAN - writer interview!
3) Aaron Sorkin on Steve Jobs bio-pic.
4) PIRANHA 3DD - director and writers explain the Academy Award Issues.
5) Writer Roundtable - Getting Notes.
And the car chase of the week...
From THE STREETS OF SAN FRANCISCO (a Quinn-Martin Production) - tonight's Guest Star - Leslie Nielsen. This was TV in the 70s... lots of stunts!
- Bill
Here are five cool links plus this week's car chase...
1) Famous notebooks of Famous Writers.
2) SNOW WHITE AND THE HUNTSMAN - writer interview!
3) Aaron Sorkin on Steve Jobs bio-pic.
4) PIRANHA 3DD - director and writers explain the Academy Award Issues.
5) Writer Roundtable - Getting Notes.
And the car chase of the week...
From THE STREETS OF SAN FRANCISCO (a Quinn-Martin Production) - tonight's Guest Star - Leslie Nielsen. This was TV in the 70s... lots of stunts!
- Bill
FINALLY!
*** THE SECRETS OF ACTION SCREENWRITING *** - For Kindle!
*** THE SECRETS OF ACTION SCREENWRITING *** - For Nook!
Why pay $510 for a used version of the 240 page 2000 version that used to retail for $21.95? (check it out!) when you can get the NEW EXPANDED VERSION - over 500 pages - for just $9.99? New chapters, New examples, New techniques!
"SECRETS OF ACTION SCREENWRITING is the best book on the practical nuts-and-bolts mechanics of writing a screenplay I've ever read." - Ted Elliott, co-writer of MASK OF ZORRO, SHREK, PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN and the sequels (with Terry Rossio).(ie; 4 of the top 20 Box Office Hits Of ALL TIME.)
Only $9.99 - and no postage!
Tuesday, May 29, 2012
Book Report:
Bottom Deal
So, I’ve read a pile of books since the last report, but never got around to typing them up. For some reason I have never read Lawrence Block’s Hit Man series - though I’ve read almost everything else he’s written. So, I finally got around to that - and the first book HIT MAN is interesting, so I’ll have an entry on that soon, but first...
BOTTOM DEAL by Robert Gregory Browne.
I don’t know if I’ve ever met Robert in person, because there were some group meet ups ages ago where I met a few dozen people I knew from online all at the same time, but I’ve known him from online for a couple of *decades*. He was probably one of the first people to buy the action book, long ago. He’s a Nicholl Award Winning screenwriter and novelist and a year ago one of his books was made into a TV series pilot for CBS ... which didn’t seem to get picked up. That’s a shame, because the book kicked ass. I’ll talk about it later, but first this novelette (or novella - I really don’t know where the cut off is).
BOTTOM DEAL is about gambling addict ex-Las Vegas Homicide Detective Nick Jennings who has drifted to the wrong side of the law... and gets a call from a woman from his past, Holly. An ex-hooker who pulled a PRETTY WOMAN and married a rich client, got out of the business and lived happily ever after. But now she’s in trouble and says people are trying to kill her. Exaggeration or a serious problem? By the time Jennings finds her, she’s been killed with *his* gun at *his* apartment - and he seems to be the prime suspect. Now he has to find the killer before they get enough evidence to arrest him... but he just keeps finding more damned dead people!
The story is some great hardboiled writing that reminded me of pre-Marlowe Chandler stuff. I read a bunch of crime stuff, but the thing that I miss are those long short stories that are halfway between novel and short. Not a quicky, but also not a novel. There’s almost a movie’s worth of plot - or at least an hour of TV’s worth. This story is also testosterone tough guy stuff - with that great smart ass attitude and banter between the detective hero and the cops who want to arrest him (one is his ex-wife... and her partner who wants to get Jennings to throw a punch so that he can beat the crap out of him and then arrest him for hitting an officer). The story takes us on a tour of Vegas we don’t normally see - the crappy casinos and fleatrap apartment buildings that don’t make the TV commercials. Hey, it’s 99 cents for Kindle and nook - and a fun read.
For more info on: BOTTOM DEAL - on Amazon.
KISS HER GOODBYE by Robert Gregory Browne.
Robert’s novel that was almost a TV series - KISS HER GOODBYE - is about an AFT Agent chasing a Manson-like cult leader who can get so deep into your mind that he haunts your dreams... and maybe controls you. When the AFT Agent’s estranged teenaged daughter gets kidnaped by the cult leader and *buried alive*, he now has the ultimate ticking clock to arrest the cult leader and get him to tell the location of his daughter... but *nothing* goes as planned. The story takes place is Chicago - and like BOTTOM DEAL, Robert shows us places that usually don’t pop up on the average movie or TV show. This book is a real page turner, and the mind control aspects of the cult leader are trippy and take the book into an almost supernatural realm. I read this in paperback when it came out, but now you can get it on Kindle for $3.99 - the pacing is relentless and every time you think you know what is going to happen, something far worse happens. There’s a scene halfway through that is like nothing I have ever read in a thriller before - a “You can’t do that!” moment, because it is so savage. If you think that might be a spoiler about the daughter - boy are you wrong! This story is completely unpredictable! It out TAKENs TAKEN!
For more info on: KISS HER GOODBYE on Amazon.
TRIAL JUNKIES by Robert Gregory Browne.
Robert’s *new* book is TRIAL JUNKIES, which I just bought (for Kindle) but haven’t started reading, yet. It’s currently the #2 Legal Thriller on Amazon... and #81 in *all fiction*. That puts him in the top 100 with all of the best selling writers. He was #1 in Legal Thrillers for a while - which put him *ahead* of the new John Grisham novel! I believe it’s an e-book original - another example of a professional writer going to where the market is. The book is also at $3.99 for Kindle.
Because I have yet to read it, here’s the official Amazon description:
THE #1 HOT NEW RELEASE AND #2 BEST SELLING LEGAL THRILLER ON AMAZON U.S.!
The first book in a new series from ITW Thriller Award nominee, Robert Gregory Browne:
"A MYSTERY I DARE YOU SOLVE"
Ethan "Hutch" Hutchinson hasn't seen his old college pals in nearly ten years. Now fate has brought them together again as one of the gang is put on trial for a brutal, senseless murder.
The Chicago police and prosecutor think they have their perp, but Hutch isn't about to sit silently in a courtroom as someone he cares about is wrongfully convicted.
"CATCH-YOUR-BREATH PLOT TWISTS"
When Hutch and his friends join forces to search for the real killer, what they find shatters every notion they have about friendship, loss and redemption... and may very well cost Hutch--and the woman he loves--their lives.
For more info on: TRIAL JUNKIES on Amazon.
After I read this, I hope to find time to do a book report on it... though I’m way behind on those as it stands... and by then Robert will probably have a couple books in this series!
- Bill
BOTTOM DEAL by Robert Gregory Browne.
I don’t know if I’ve ever met Robert in person, because there were some group meet ups ages ago where I met a few dozen people I knew from online all at the same time, but I’ve known him from online for a couple of *decades*. He was probably one of the first people to buy the action book, long ago. He’s a Nicholl Award Winning screenwriter and novelist and a year ago one of his books was made into a TV series pilot for CBS ... which didn’t seem to get picked up. That’s a shame, because the book kicked ass. I’ll talk about it later, but first this novelette (or novella - I really don’t know where the cut off is).
BOTTOM DEAL is about gambling addict ex-Las Vegas Homicide Detective Nick Jennings who has drifted to the wrong side of the law... and gets a call from a woman from his past, Holly. An ex-hooker who pulled a PRETTY WOMAN and married a rich client, got out of the business and lived happily ever after. But now she’s in trouble and says people are trying to kill her. Exaggeration or a serious problem? By the time Jennings finds her, she’s been killed with *his* gun at *his* apartment - and he seems to be the prime suspect. Now he has to find the killer before they get enough evidence to arrest him... but he just keeps finding more damned dead people!
The story is some great hardboiled writing that reminded me of pre-Marlowe Chandler stuff. I read a bunch of crime stuff, but the thing that I miss are those long short stories that are halfway between novel and short. Not a quicky, but also not a novel. There’s almost a movie’s worth of plot - or at least an hour of TV’s worth. This story is also testosterone tough guy stuff - with that great smart ass attitude and banter between the detective hero and the cops who want to arrest him (one is his ex-wife... and her partner who wants to get Jennings to throw a punch so that he can beat the crap out of him and then arrest him for hitting an officer). The story takes us on a tour of Vegas we don’t normally see - the crappy casinos and fleatrap apartment buildings that don’t make the TV commercials. Hey, it’s 99 cents for Kindle and nook - and a fun read.
For more info on: BOTTOM DEAL - on Amazon.
KISS HER GOODBYE by Robert Gregory Browne.
Robert’s novel that was almost a TV series - KISS HER GOODBYE - is about an AFT Agent chasing a Manson-like cult leader who can get so deep into your mind that he haunts your dreams... and maybe controls you. When the AFT Agent’s estranged teenaged daughter gets kidnaped by the cult leader and *buried alive*, he now has the ultimate ticking clock to arrest the cult leader and get him to tell the location of his daughter... but *nothing* goes as planned. The story takes place is Chicago - and like BOTTOM DEAL, Robert shows us places that usually don’t pop up on the average movie or TV show. This book is a real page turner, and the mind control aspects of the cult leader are trippy and take the book into an almost supernatural realm. I read this in paperback when it came out, but now you can get it on Kindle for $3.99 - the pacing is relentless and every time you think you know what is going to happen, something far worse happens. There’s a scene halfway through that is like nothing I have ever read in a thriller before - a “You can’t do that!” moment, because it is so savage. If you think that might be a spoiler about the daughter - boy are you wrong! This story is completely unpredictable! It out TAKENs TAKEN!
For more info on: KISS HER GOODBYE on Amazon.
TRIAL JUNKIES by Robert Gregory Browne.
Robert’s *new* book is TRIAL JUNKIES, which I just bought (for Kindle) but haven’t started reading, yet. It’s currently the #2 Legal Thriller on Amazon... and #81 in *all fiction*. That puts him in the top 100 with all of the best selling writers. He was #1 in Legal Thrillers for a while - which put him *ahead* of the new John Grisham novel! I believe it’s an e-book original - another example of a professional writer going to where the market is. The book is also at $3.99 for Kindle.
Because I have yet to read it, here’s the official Amazon description:
THE #1 HOT NEW RELEASE AND #2 BEST SELLING LEGAL THRILLER ON AMAZON U.S.!
The first book in a new series from ITW Thriller Award nominee, Robert Gregory Browne:
"A MYSTERY I DARE YOU SOLVE"
Ethan "Hutch" Hutchinson hasn't seen his old college pals in nearly ten years. Now fate has brought them together again as one of the gang is put on trial for a brutal, senseless murder.
The Chicago police and prosecutor think they have their perp, but Hutch isn't about to sit silently in a courtroom as someone he cares about is wrongfully convicted.
"CATCH-YOUR-BREATH PLOT TWISTS"
When Hutch and his friends join forces to search for the real killer, what they find shatters every notion they have about friendship, loss and redemption... and may very well cost Hutch--and the woman he loves--their lives.
For more info on: TRIAL JUNKIES on Amazon.
After I read this, I hope to find time to do a book report on it... though I’m way behind on those as it stands... and by then Robert will probably have a couple books in this series!
- Bill
Thursday, May 24, 2012
Lancelot Link: Risk Addiction!
Lancelot Link Thursday! This week's links to some great screenwriting and film articles, plus some fun stuff that may be of interest to you. Brought to you by that suave and sophisticated secret agent...
Here are seven cool links plus this week's car chase...
1) EVERY line Rihanna says in the movie BATTLESHIP.
2) THE WIRE's Bible.
3) PROMETHEUS writer Jon Spaihts on creating a great space movie.
4) Ken Burns on Storytelling - is it *all* manipulation?
5) Stephen King's 20 Writing Tips.
6) TV Writer Round Table
7) They are closing post offices... but issuing these cool new stamps!
And the Car Chase Of The Week!
From DRIVE...
- Bill
Here are seven cool links plus this week's car chase...
1) EVERY line Rihanna says in the movie BATTLESHIP.
2) THE WIRE's Bible.
3) PROMETHEUS writer Jon Spaihts on creating a great space movie.
4) Ken Burns on Storytelling - is it *all* manipulation?
5) Stephen King's 20 Writing Tips.
6) TV Writer Round Table
7) They are closing post offices... but issuing these cool new stamps!
And the Car Chase Of The Week!
From DRIVE...
- Bill
Monday, May 21, 2012
Hacked!
So, a friend of mine's FB account got hacked on Friday and ran *shoe adverts* all day long - click to buy expensive sports shoes. It reminded me of the time my FB account got hacked over the holidays a couple of years ago, so instead of writing a new blog entry, here's a link to that old one...
http://sex-in-a-sub.blogspot.com/2010/01/new-script-tips.html
The strange part of this is how some stranger can suddenly take over our lives and do all kinds of crazy things we would never do (pimp sports shoes), and then leave *us* holding the bag. There's some thriller or mystery script in here somewhere (though it would have to be nothing like SHATTERDAY because that Ellison dude sues). When I was hacked two years ago, they posted messages on my friends walls from me saying all kinds of weird crap. Actually ruined a few friendships. What makes it worse is that a couple of those people have since passed away, and some crazy hacker's weird message is probably the last thing they read "from me".
Anyway - I'm sure there's a thriller story in here somewhere... except it would be a lot of looking at computer screens. If you ever see me on FB trying to sell you shoes - ignore it. Why the heck would I post about shoes?
- Bill
IMPORTANT UPDATE:
TODAY'S SCRIPT TIP: Balance - and TERMINATOR 5!
Dinner: Subway BBQ Chicken sandwich.
Pages: I'm almost done with this script... almost.
Bicycle: Short bike ride today, tomorrow they try to figure out how to tape the lot pass on the handle bars - I have a meeting.
http://sex-in-a-sub.blogspot.com/2010/01/new-script-tips.html
The strange part of this is how some stranger can suddenly take over our lives and do all kinds of crazy things we would never do (pimp sports shoes), and then leave *us* holding the bag. There's some thriller or mystery script in here somewhere (though it would have to be nothing like SHATTERDAY because that Ellison dude sues). When I was hacked two years ago, they posted messages on my friends walls from me saying all kinds of weird crap. Actually ruined a few friendships. What makes it worse is that a couple of those people have since passed away, and some crazy hacker's weird message is probably the last thing they read "from me".
Anyway - I'm sure there's a thriller story in here somewhere... except it would be a lot of looking at computer screens. If you ever see me on FB trying to sell you shoes - ignore it. Why the heck would I post about shoes?
- Bill
TODAY'S SCRIPT TIP: Balance - and TERMINATOR 5!
Dinner: Subway BBQ Chicken sandwich.
Pages: I'm almost done with this script... almost.
Bicycle: Short bike ride today, tomorrow they try to figure out how to tape the lot pass on the handle bars - I have a meeting.
SKYFALL...
Because this is a teaser it's short on details, long on mood... but part of this reminds me of the opening of the *novel* MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN where Bond becomes a Manchurian Candidate who can be triggered by a code word... to kill M!
One of the things that this new go-round of films might consider is taking the plots from the novels, many of which have completely different stories than the films which share their titles. They did that with CASINO - which is very much like the novel, down to Bond getting his testicles whipped.
I hope this film is better than the last one - with that henchman who rivals Odd Job named Bowl Cut (or something) and that plot to do whatever it was they were doing. It seemed like the idea of hiring Marc Forster completely backfired and they ended up with the KITE RUNNER version of Bond. I think this concept of finding art house directors is just a mistake - and when you look at the directors who made the Bond films that brought the series back from failure, we're talking about... Martin Campbell (GOLDENEYE and CASINO). The other directors who have made big money Bond films tend to be action guys. The art house director experiment often fails - and I wonder whether AMAZING SPIDER-MAN will work. It's as if Hollywood is unable to figure out who actually has the skills to pull off a movie, so they make what they think is a creative decision to hire the *least likely* director to make this kind of film and hope that director who has maybe done some art house dramas can pull off a big action-based franchise film. See, that doesn't even make sense when you type it.
I think the reason why SKYFALL *may* have a chance at working is that Sam Mendes has done REVOLUTIONARY ROAD... but also ROAD TO PERDITION (arty - but with action scenes). But he's still not even on the list of directors I would ever consider to make a Bond film. An action film is all about the action - the story is *told* through the action. So you can't just hand that stuff off to some second unit guy - the DIRECTOR needs to understand action scenes. Someone like Roger Spottiswood or Martin Campbell know action, but Marc Forster didn't seem to have a clue.
Remember how we got Indiana Jones? Spielberg wanted to direct a Bond film... he was the hottest director in town, and they turned him down. When he told Lucas about this, Lucas came up with a project for Spielberg to direct that would be "better than Bond". Imagine the Spielberg Bond film!
- Bill
One of the things that this new go-round of films might consider is taking the plots from the novels, many of which have completely different stories than the films which share their titles. They did that with CASINO - which is very much like the novel, down to Bond getting his testicles whipped.
I hope this film is better than the last one - with that henchman who rivals Odd Job named Bowl Cut (or something) and that plot to do whatever it was they were doing. It seemed like the idea of hiring Marc Forster completely backfired and they ended up with the KITE RUNNER version of Bond. I think this concept of finding art house directors is just a mistake - and when you look at the directors who made the Bond films that brought the series back from failure, we're talking about... Martin Campbell (GOLDENEYE and CASINO). The other directors who have made big money Bond films tend to be action guys. The art house director experiment often fails - and I wonder whether AMAZING SPIDER-MAN will work. It's as if Hollywood is unable to figure out who actually has the skills to pull off a movie, so they make what they think is a creative decision to hire the *least likely* director to make this kind of film and hope that director who has maybe done some art house dramas can pull off a big action-based franchise film. See, that doesn't even make sense when you type it.
I think the reason why SKYFALL *may* have a chance at working is that Sam Mendes has done REVOLUTIONARY ROAD... but also ROAD TO PERDITION (arty - but with action scenes). But he's still not even on the list of directors I would ever consider to make a Bond film. An action film is all about the action - the story is *told* through the action. So you can't just hand that stuff off to some second unit guy - the DIRECTOR needs to understand action scenes. Someone like Roger Spottiswood or Martin Campbell know action, but Marc Forster didn't seem to have a clue.
Remember how we got Indiana Jones? Spielberg wanted to direct a Bond film... he was the hottest director in town, and they turned him down. When he told Lucas about this, Lucas came up with a project for Spielberg to direct that would be "better than Bond". Imagine the Spielberg Bond film!
- Bill
Thursday, May 17, 2012
Lancelot Link: US Monkeys
Lancelot Link Thursday! This week's links to some great screenwriting and film articles, plus some fun stuff that may be of interest to you. Brought to you by that suave and sophisticated secret agent...
Here are nine cool links plus this week's car chase...
1) HULK on Mark Ruffalo's portrayal. One of the best pieces of film crit and screenwriting advice I have ever read from a huge green mutant dude.
2 *Every* screenwriter gets notes.
3) The Amazing Doc Series 7 UP.
4) Periodic Table Of Storytelling.
5) A Letter From Hitchcock To Children.
6) James Bond Girls Today!
7) An Interview With John Hughes.
8) MULHOLLAND DRIVE - the movie Vs. the TV pilot.
9) How A Book is Born.
And... the car chase of the week!
Okay, if I say that's my favorite part of THE OTHER GUYS, does that make it sound like I don't like Will Ferrell's Gator character? Because I hate that character.
- Bill
Here are nine cool links plus this week's car chase...
1) HULK on Mark Ruffalo's portrayal. One of the best pieces of film crit and screenwriting advice I have ever read from a huge green mutant dude.
2 *Every* screenwriter gets notes.
3) The Amazing Doc Series 7 UP.
4) Periodic Table Of Storytelling.
5) A Letter From Hitchcock To Children.
6) James Bond Girls Today!
7) An Interview With John Hughes.
8) MULHOLLAND DRIVE - the movie Vs. the TV pilot.
9) How A Book is Born.
And... the car chase of the week!
Okay, if I say that's my favorite part of THE OTHER GUYS, does that make it sound like I don't like Will Ferrell's Gator character? Because I hate that character.
- Bill
Thursday, May 10, 2012
Lancelot Link: Monkeys Never Sleep
Lancelot Link Thursday! This week's links to some great screenwriting and film articles, plus some fun stuff that may be of interest to you. Brought to you by that suave and sophisticated secret agent...
Here are five cool links plus this week's car chase...
1) Summer Blockbusters... re-imagined as Indies.
2) Failed HBO Shows.
3) Interview With AVENGERS Screenwriter!
4) Final Shots Of Great Films - what was that last image?
5) Best Pilot Scripts - coming soon to a TV near you.
6) LANCELOT LINK is now on DVD!
And the Car Chase Of The Week...
- Bill
PS: This is the greatest season of CASTLE, with no shortage of GREAT episodes, but Monday night was amazing. Yeah, it's a crime show, yeah it's a rom-com, yeah it's fun... but this is the greatest drama on TV. This season has been all about characters - and Monday gave us so many amazing scenes that push the characters up against a wall and force them to make tough decisions and deal with tough emotions.
Here are five cool links plus this week's car chase...
1) Summer Blockbusters... re-imagined as Indies.
2) Failed HBO Shows.
3) Interview With AVENGERS Screenwriter!
4) Final Shots Of Great Films - what was that last image?
5) Best Pilot Scripts - coming soon to a TV near you.
6) LANCELOT LINK is now on DVD!
And the Car Chase Of The Week...
- Bill
PS: This is the greatest season of CASTLE, with no shortage of GREAT episodes, but Monday night was amazing. Yeah, it's a crime show, yeah it's a rom-com, yeah it's fun... but this is the greatest drama on TV. This season has been all about characters - and Monday gave us so many amazing scenes that push the characters up against a wall and force them to make tough decisions and deal with tough emotions.
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