Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Two Things!

The original plan was to have something new for today's blog... well, so much for plans! So here's an article...

STORY LINK - How To Survive A Screenwriting Conference.

And here's some inspiration for those of you thinking about writing a SyFy Channel movie...

Gene Splicing Gone Wrong!

Oh, and I am teaching 2 classes at Expo this year:
Noir & Mysteries on Friday 10/8 @ 2pm, and
Generating High Concept Ideas on Friday 10/8 @ 4pm.

Screenwriting Expo 2010.

- Bill

Thursday, September 23, 2010

Lancelot Link Thursday

Lancelot Link Thursday! For those of you who wonder if in the future, monkeys will be running all of the major studios... and doing a better job... here are some articles about screenwriting and the biz 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) Thursday is tweet "Harry Connolly GAME OF CAGES" day - if we all tweet it, maybe it will trend? That would be cool. It's an exciting book, let's see if *we* can add something to that twitter trending list!

"Harry Connolly GAME OF CAGES"

2) Your Spy Dictionary Has Arrived! - thanks to Jeff!

3) Offended By The Rank Objectification Of Writers - we are not sex objects! - um, you may not want to let any attractive members of the opposite sex read this.

4) Chuck Lorre Vanity Cards! - when you are creator/producer of a TV show, they give you a place at the end of the show for your company logo. Chuck Lorre (DHARMA & GREG, TWO AND A HALF MEN, BIG BANG THEORY) uses that space for rants... that you can not read because they're only up for a few seconds. But if you Tivo his shows, you can pause and read them... and they are funny! That link takes you to all of them, pre-paused for your reading pleasure!

5) And today's car chase...

Burt Reynolds in WHITE LIGHTNING! One of those moonshine movies... and Reynolds made 2 playing the same character (the other one, GATOR, features boat chases and ultra hot Lauren Hutton). Since most of the car chases have been urban, here's one in the country...



Corn fields and quarries and lots of dust.

- Bill

IMPORTANT UPDATE:

TODAY'S SCRIPT TIP: Thick, Juicy Scenes - and Jack Black.
Dinner: Tortas burrito.
Pages: Awful writing day.
Bicycle: Yes, rode west for a medium ride.

Tweet It!

Thursday is tweet "Harry Connolly GAME OF CAGES" day - if we all tweet it, maybe it will trend? That would be cool. It's an exciting book, let's see if *we* can add something to that twitter trending list!

"Harry Connolly GAME OF CAGES"

- Bill

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Common Screenplay Cliches

So, what do *you* think are the most common cliches in the screenplays of new writers? Post them in the comments section!

(looking for script problems for a new article for Script Mag)

- Bill

We'll Always Have Paris

I was going to write a new blog entry for today, but was too broken up about Paris Hilton being banned from Japan.

So here's a clip from one of my favorite movies, Bertolucci's 1900...



These two boys grow up to be DeNiro and Depardieu. The film looks at their relationship from 1900 to 1976... with the history of Italy as the "background". Ends with two old men on those railroad tracks, waiting for the train.

The "frog hat" is one of those strong images that I think about sometimes - Bertolucci's work is filled with images like that. They haunt you long after you've seen the film.

- Bill
IMPORTANT UPDATE:

TODAY'S SCRIPT TIP: Visuals vs. Visually Told Story - and the genius that is Roland Emmerich (really!).
Dinner: Subway Black Forest Ham.
Pages: Not a good writing day, though began the rewrite.
Bicycle: Yes, places in NoHo more North than usual.

Movies: CATFISH - *this* should be the Facebook movie.

Without giving away anything - documentary about NYC photographer develops online friendship with 8 year old painter - who has done paintings based on his photos. Begins a FB friendship with the 8 year old's hot older sister (who is legal, so Chris Hanson does not make a cameo in the film), and texts her, phones her long distance, etc. Then things get strange. He has a relationship with a bunch of people he has never met - only know from FB and texting...

There's a moment in the film that is right out of BLAIR WITCH when they decide to poke around hot older sister's place in the middle of the night - very intense.

A great look at how we live our lives in the FB age - we text, we use YouTube, we use MapQuest, we use StreetView, we talk to people on the phone we have never met, etc - we no longer have relationships with real people. We "friend" people we have never met and never will meet. Can someone you only know online really be your friend? Can you fall in love with them and have a long distance phone relationship? What if that woman you love in another state and have never met has a big secret? What if she has a husband? What if she has...

You will get ahead of the story - and they seem to do this on purpose. There is a moment where they drop a big hint, and my friends and I looked at each other because we thought we had figured it out. But we only got it half right... and the other half was what made the movie.

Check it out.

- Bill

Friday, September 17, 2010

4 Minutes Of Video:
2 Min Hitchcock, 2 Min Me

Sound comes to film, and the first British sound film was directed by Hitchcock... he also produced a "variety film" ELSTREE CALLING that showcased sound - musical numbers, etc... and includes this Hitchcock directed short - under 2 minutes...



At Great American Pitchfest I got ambushed by cute Deb from Write On! who asked if she could interview me. On camera. I said "sure" and was one of several people she grabbed and interviewed - which is cool. She has all kinds of great things on her site. My interview was maybe 10 minutes, cut down to these 2 minutes...



Note that the cycling has resulted in my losing a little weight: picture that starts the interview was from about a year ago.

- Bill

Thursday, September 16, 2010

Lancelot Link Thursday

Lancelot Link Thursday! For those of you who wonder if 100 monkeys with typewriters could write a better script than THE LAST AIRBENDER, here are some articles about screenwriting and the biz 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) Clint Eastwood is tired of people calling him great.

2) What kind of woman reads Playboy to blind men? (and she *does* describe the pictures.)

3) Harry Connolly's first book... Okay, I've finished reading GAME OF CAGES, and it rocks! My plan was to read a chapter or two every night before going to sleep... but Harry ends his chapters with insane cliff hangers, making the book impossible to put down. You think, "I'll just read the first part of this chapter, until Ray gets out of this insane problem", but by then, you are hooked on that next chapter and next thing you know, you're at the end of the chapter and there's another danged cliff hanger! I read the book in about 24 hours. Damn that Harry Connolly!

4) TV Tropes - which should really be called *Fiction* Tropes. Those things that happen again and again in stories... which may help prompt you if you've got writer's block.

5) This week's car chase was suggested by Matt Racicot...



SPEEDTRAP with Joe Don Baker. One of those forgetable drive in movies in the "car wreck" genre - like GONE IN 60 SECONDS.

- Bill


IMPORTANT UPDATE:

TODAY'S SCRIPT TIP: Changing Clothes - taking the core of another story and using it... by changing every single thing else.
Dinner: Baja Fresh - grilled fish tacos, black beans, rice.
Pages: An awful day - woke up feeling like someone had been beating on me in my sleep - back ached, etc. So, not much writing got done.
Bicycle: No... not quite up to a ride to Northridge, yet.
Movies: Well, from yesterday's Script Tip, you know I've seen EASY A... and tonight I'm seeing another movie (in Northridge), which I'll tell you about later.

Friday, September 03, 2010

September Issue Of Script Magazine

Sept./Oct. issue of Script is on newsstands now!



The Social Network: The Truth (?) About Facebook
by Bob Verini
One of the few screenwriters whose name is known to the public at large, the creator of The West Wing and A Few Good Men turns his attention to the wild and woolly tale of how a college zero became an Internet hero… depending on whose version you believe. Aaron Sorkin offers a preview of his most contemporary feature yet, The Social Network.

Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps
by David S. Cohen
For Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, the long-awaited sequel to Oliver Stone’s 1987 stockbroker drama, screenwriters Stephen Schiff and Allan Loeb had to revive and update one of cinema’s most iconic and charismatic villains, Gordon Gekko.

Writers on Writing: Get Low
by Chris Provenzano & Charlie Mitchell
Although they worked on the film at different stages, screenwriters Chris Provenzano and Charlie Mitchell felt the same intense desire to do whatever it took to tell the story of Get Low, the Depression-era tale of Tennessean Felix Bush.

In the Winner’s Circle With Secretariat
by Jenna Milly
Director Randall Wallace and screenwriter Mike Rich discuss their against-all-odds story of Penny Chenery, owner of the Triple Crown-
winning racehorse Secretariat, and how human and animal came together to make sports history.

Wind From the East: Manga and Anime
by Northrop Davis
Script examines the growing influence of Japanese manga and anime in Hollywood and the opportunities the global medium presents to creative minds looking to start a career in film or television.

Scenes We Missed
by John Buchanan
It’s inevitable that a scene a writer loves will be deleted from the finished film—most often for reasons of time or money instead of story. Veteran screenwriters Melissa Rosenberg, Steve Faber, and William Wisher Jr. share their experiences dealing with this tough, but tolerable, reality.

It Takes a Village: Parks and Recreation
by Zack Gutin
Script sits down with the writers behind NBC’s hit show Parks and Recreation to talk about the collaborative effort that goes into each episode of the single-camera comedy.

Michael Brandt Goes Behind the Camera
by Randy Rudder
A-list scribe Michael Brandt (3:10 to Yuma) discusses his move to directing, what he learned about writing from his new perspective, and what screenwriters should consider about becoming a hyphenate themselves.

The Screenwriter’s Second Act
by Peter Hanson
Here’s a proactive approach to take that can help you transform your first produced feature from a fluke into the foundation for a solid career.

Puppets or People? Writing Dynamic Roles Actors Will Want to Act
by Robert Piluso
Either an actor is a puppet conveying the illusion of a person, or a person conveying another person. What you, as a writer, believe regarding the role of an actor will greatly influence the attention you devote to writing characters for them to play.

Script Secrets: Blockbuster Brilliance!
by William Martell
Columnist William Martell gives the secret reasons why Avatar became the most popular film of all time… and they all come from the screenplay.

Subscribe Now!

- Bill
IMPORTANT UPDATE:

TODAY'S SCRIPT TIP: Period Pieces - is my drama that takes place in 1610 an easy sell?
Dinner: Bob's Big Boy in Burbank: Patty Melt.
Pages: No - meetings.
Bicycle: YES! Fairly long bike ride, and the problem ended up being putting the bike on the front of the bus that took me home over Laurel Canyon - was not happy on my wrist. From Studio City rode into Toluca Lake for dinner and beers with horror people.

Thursday, September 02, 2010

Lancelot Link Thursday

Lancelot Link Thursday! For those of you who wonder if 100 monkeys with typewriters could write a better script than THE LAST AIRBENDER, here are some articles about screenwriting and the biz 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) Republic Pictures turns 75 years old this year... and their old studio is just down the street from me (now CBS Radford - where the BIG BROTHER house is), and they are having a little party and you are invited!

2) Forbes list of Best Actors The The Buck. Wonder if Jennifer Aniston made this list?

3) Bruce Campbell, greatest actor in the world talks about EVIL DEAD and Ash.

4) The throne of a great writer is for sale!

5) So, my friend Steve Weller quipped that while watching MACHETE, whenever Seagal shows up onscreen we should yell, "Show us your tits!"

6) Car chase from COBRA:



The REBECCA entry for Fridays With Hitchcock is not ready, yet... sorry!

- Bill
IMPORTANT UPDATE:

TODAY'S SCRIPT TIP: Where's The Beef? - is too much importance put on the 3 Act Structure?
Dinner: Chicken Caesar Salad.
Pages: Prep work for today's meeting.
Bicycle: No - but riding on Thursday (today). Only soreness from Tuesday's bike ride? My legs! Haven't rode for 3 weeks, and those muscles have already gone soft!

Wednesday, September 01, 2010

Tuesdays With Truffaut?

A while back, Script Magazine asked me to contribute a weekly blog entry to their site. I was going strong on Fridays With Hitchcock and asked if "reprints" of that would be okay, and they loved it.

But as you know, Fridays With Hitchcock can be a bit spotty - the entries were supposed to be 1,250 words (5 pages) but have ended up being in the 4,000 to 5,000 word range (16-20 pages). Some are longer. They can burn up 2-3 days to write, and Script wanted shorter entries, so the "reprints" were chopped down versions.

I stopped sending them articles when we got to North By Northwest - because that was a monster entry and I realized I would have to completely rewrite it to trim it down. Also, you may have noticed that the blog entries have become more focused since I began. I figured out how the articles should work, and the old articles now need a page one rewrite.

So I get an e-mail from Script asking if I could *please* start sending them articles again... and I realized that I need something different. Some subject or theme or whatever that I could find 52 *shorter* articles to discuss.

So, what would you like to see discussed on the blog every week? Something that doesn't require a bunch of research on my part, but watching a movie is okay. Suggestions in the comments section!

- Bill
IMPORTANT UPDATE:

TODAY'S SCRIPT TIP: Weatherman Hero? - coming up with a non-cliche lead character.
Dinner: Salad bar salad.
Pages: A quick polish on a script some producer asked for.
Bicycle: YES! Did a test run today, rode north & east. Wore the splint while riding. Wrist seems fine. It does hurt if I move it in weird ways, so I just don't do that. But no pain while riding or from riding.
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