Monday, June 29, 2015

Lancelot Link: Unforgiven

Lancelot Link Monday! Between TED and TED 2 writer/directer Seth MacFarlane made A MILLION WAYS TO DIE IN THE WEST... and it seems as if ticket buyers have not forgiven him for that stinker. The studio's *conservative* Box Office prediction for TED 2 was $45 million... but it only made $33 million (estimated) and I wonder if that figure will adjust down when the actuals come in. I think it would be wise at this time for MacFarlane to consider that maybe he isn't that funny and take his ego down a few notches (he has plenty of notches to spare). Meanwhile, Dinosaurs and Animated HERMAN'S HEAD were neck and neck at the finish line with both films doing great business. Summer has just begun and box office is *killing it*! While you're thinking about that, 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 a dozen links plus this week's car chase...


1) Weekend Box Office Estimates:
1 Jurassic World.................. $54,200,000
2 Inside Out...................... $52,128,000
3 Ted 2........................... $33,000,000
4 Max (not mad)................... $12,210,000
5 Spy.............................. $7,800,000
6 San Andreas...................... $5,275,000
7 Dope............................. $2,862,000
8 Insidious 3...................... $2,025,000
9 Max (Mad: Fury Road)............. $1,735,000
10 Avengers 2....................... $1,643,000


Box office is breaking all sorts of records: 6.8% over last year, 6.6% over 2013, 4.7% over 2012, 13.8% over 2011, 4.9% over 2010... Make the kind of films people love and they will stand in line to see them. Even DOPE (which is an indie comedy) is doing great business.

2) ComiCon TV Schedule.

3) ComiCon Film Schedule.

4) Jason Blum On The Future Of Horror And Spielberg.

5) James Gunn On GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY 2: GROOT BUGALOO.

6) THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UGLY... and math.

7) Ben & Matt Writing FIFA Scandal Movie... probably no explosions.

8) Michael Crichton Sells Film Rights To Novel Even Though He's Dead.

9) TOP GUN 2... Yes, It's Happening. Does That Mean The End Of The World Is Near?

10) When William Friedkin Met Fritz Lang (an interview).

11) James Wan's LIGHTS OUT?

12) 17 Minutes (about a whole reel) of Kubrick's 2001 Discovered!

And the Car Chase Of The Week:



From THE STREETS OF SAN FRANCISCO.

Bill

Buy The DVDs

IMPORTANT UPDATE:

-
Dinner:
Pages:
Bicycle:

Movie:

Thursday, June 25, 2015

Buy One, Get One!

Would you like a free book?

If you didn't get the first in my new Vintage Screenwriting Series: HOW TO WRITE PHOTOPLAYS by Anita Loos during the free period when it was released 3 months ago, it's going to be free again this weekend... Friday 6/26 thru Sunday 6/28.

But I would like you to think of this as a Buy One, Get One Free. If there are any of my books you don't have yet, please buy one and then get the Vintage Screenwriting Book FREE. If you have all of my books, please do something to promote my books (tweet, other social media, write a review on Amazon) and then download the book for free. If you already have all of my books, it would be cool if you could get someone else to buy one of my books in order to get your free book. And you can even tell your friends *they* can get the book for free if they buy another one of my books! Buy one, get one free!




There have been How To Screenwriting books as long as there have been movies. The earliest one I have is from 1911... and there were books before that. In 1913 there were at least 4 books on writing screenplays published! Movies didn't suddenly get worse: they got *better*. So I thought it would be fun to republish some of these old books as ebooks along with new material on the history of Hollywood and screenwriting at that time and a bio of the writer, plus a look at how these 1920 lessons apply to screenwriting today. When this book was published, half of all movies in Hollywood were written by women, so we look at women in Hollywood at the time... and find out *why* there were so many women in the film business back then.

You get the full text of the 1920 book, a complete screenplay by Miss Loos (one of her hits), and then a bunch of new articles (over a third of the book).

And it's free until 6/28. A thank you to those who have bought my books in the past. If you haven't bought one of my books yet, it's still free (but, come on! This of this as a Buy One, Get One Free. If you've already bought some of my books, just grab this one. If you haven't, grab this one for free and buy one of the others.)

And, like all of my other ebooks, NO KINDLE REQUIRED! Get the *free* app (any device, except your Mr. Coffee) on the order page on Amazon!

FREE! FREE! FREE! FREE!

bluebook

ADVICE FROM #2 SCREENWRITER!

*** VINTAGE #1: HOW TO WRITE PHOTOPLAYS *** - For Kindle!

***

Screenwriting books have been around as long as films have. This series reprints vintage screenwriting books with a new introduction and history, plus new articles which look at how these lessons from almost 100 years ago apply to today’s screenplays. Anita Loos book is filled with information which still applies. In addition to the full text of the original book, you get the full screenplay to Miss Loos' hit THE LOVE EXPERT, plus several new articles on the time period and women in Hollywood.



USA People, Click Here!

UK People, Click Here!

Germany People, Click Here!

Canadian People, Click Here!

French People, Click Here!

Spanish People, Click Here!

My other books (Buy One, Get The Above Book Free!):


bluebook

THE BOOK THAT STARTED IT ALL!

*** 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!


bluebook

The first Hitchcock book...

*** HITCHCOCK: EXPERIMENTS IN TERROR! *** - For Kindle!

Contained Thrillers like “Buried”? Serial Protagonists like “Place Beyond The Pines”? Multiple Connecting Stories like “Pulp Fiction”? Same Story Multiple Times like “Run, Lola, Run”? HITCHCOCK DID IT FIRST!

This book focuses on 18 of Hitchcock’s 53 films with wild cinema and story experiments which paved the way for modern films. Almost one hundred different experiments that you may think are recent cinema or story inventions... but some date back to Hitchcock’s *silent* films! We’ll examine these experiments and how they work. Great for film makers, screenwriters, film fans, producers and directors.

Films Examined: “Rear Window”, “Psycho”, “Family Plot”, “Topaz”, “Rope”, “The Wrong Man”, “Easy Virtue”, “Lifeboat”, “Bon Voyage”, “Aventure Malgache”, “Elstree Calling”, “Dial M for Murder”, “Stage Fright”, “Champagne”, “Spellbound”, “I Confess”, and “The Trouble with Harry”, with glances at “Vertigo” and several others. Great for Directors, Screenwriters, Producers, or Hitchcock fans!

Only $4.99 - and no postage!


bluebook

BRAND NEW!

*** HOOK 'EM IN TEN *** - For Kindle!


Your story doesn't get a second chance to make a great first impression, and this book shows you a bunch of techniques on how to do that. From the 12 Basic Ways To Begin Your Story, to the 3 Stars Of Your First Scene (at least one must be present) to World Building, Title Crawls, Backstory, Starting Late, Teasers and Pre Title Sequences, Establishing Theme & Motifs (using GODFATHER PART 2), Five Critical Elements, Setting Up The Rest Of The Story (with GODFATHER), and much more! With hundreds of examples ranging from Oscar winners to classic films like CASABLANCA to some of my produced films (because I know exactly why I wrote the scripts that way). Biggest Blue Book yet! Print version was 48 pages, Kindle version is over 100,000 words - 312 pages!

Only $3.99 - and no postage!


bluebook

SECRETS OF SCENES!

*** SCENE SECRETS BLUE BOOK *** - For Kindle! (Exclusive)


What is a scene and how many you will need? The difference between scenes and sluglines. Put your scenes on trial for their lives! Using "Jaws" we'll look at beats within a scene. Scene DNA. Creating set pieces and high concept scenes. A famous director talks about creating memorable scenes. 12 ways to create new scenes. Creating unexpected scenes. Use dramatic tension to supercharge your scenes. Plants and payoffs in scenes. Plus transitions and buttons and the all important "flow"... and more! Over 65,000 words!
Print version was 48 pages, Kindle version is around 210 pages!

Only $3.99 - and no postage!



bluebook

BEST SUPPORTING ACTORS?

*** SUPPORTING CHARACTER SECRETS *** - For Kindle! (Exclusive)


Expanded version with more techniques to flesh out your Supporting Characters and make them individuals. Using the hit movie BRIDESMAIDS as well as other comedies like THE HANGOVER and TED and HIGH FIDELITY and 40 YEAR OLD VIRGIN and many other examples we look at ways to make your Supporting Characters come alive on the page. Includes Story Purpose of characters and Subplots. Print version was 48 pages, Kindle version is around 150 pages!

Only $3.99 - and no postage!



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STORY PROBLEMS?

*** STORY: WELL TOLD *** - For Kindle!


This book takes you step-by-step through the construction of a story... and how to tell a story well, why Story always starts with character... but ISN'T character, Breaking Your Story, Irony, Planting Information, Evolving Story, Leaving No Dramatic Stone Unturned, The Three Greek Unities, The Importance Of Stakes, The Thematic Method, and how to create personal stories with blockbuster potential. Ready to tell a story? Print version was 48 pages, Kindle version is over 85,000 words - 251 pages!

Only $3.99 - and no postage!


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STUCK IN THE MIDDLE?

*** ACT TWO SECRETS *** - For Kindle!


Expanded version with more techniques to help you through the desert of Act Two! Subjects Include: What Is Act Two? Inside Moves, The 2 Ps: Purpose & Pacing, The 4Ds: Dilemma, Denial, Drama and Decision, Momentum, the Two Act Twos, Subplot Prisms, Deadlines, Drive, Levels Of Conflict, Escalation, When Act Two Begins and When Act Two Ends, Scene Order, Bite Sized Pieces, Common Act Two Issues, Plot Devices For Act Two, and dozens of others. Over 67,000 words (that’s well over 200 pages) of tools and techniques to get you through the desert of Act Two alive! Print version was 48 pages, Kindle version is over 208 pages!

Only $3.99 - and no postage!


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I WRITE PICTURES!

*** VISUAL STORYTELLING *** - For Kindle! (exclusive)


Show Don't Tell - but *how* do you do that? Here are techniques to tell stories visually! Using Oscar Winning Films and Oscar Nominated Films as our primary examples: from the first Best Picture Winner "Sunrise" (1927) to the Oscar Nominated "The Artist" (which takes place in 1927) with stops along the way Pixar's "Up" and Best Original Screenplay Winner "Breaking Away" (a small indie style drama - told visually) as well as "Witness" and other Oscar Winners as examples... plus RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES. Print version is 48 pages, Kindle version is over 200 pages!

Only $3.99 - and no postage!


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GOT IDEAS?

*** YOUR IDEA MACHINE *** - For Kindle!

*** YOUR IDEA MACHINE *** - For Nook!

Expanded version with more ways to find great ideas! Your screenplay is going to begin with an idea. There are good ideas and bad ideas and commercial ideas and personal ideas. But where do you find ideas in the first place? This handbook explores different methods for finding or generating ideas, and combining those ideas into concepts that sell. The Idea Bank, Fifteen Places To Find Ideas, Good Ideas And Bad Ideas, Ideas From Locations And Elements, Keeping Track Of Your Ideas, Idea Theft - What Can You Do? Weird Ways To Connect Ideas, Combing Ideas To Create Concepts, High Concepts - What Are They? Creating The Killer Concept, Substitution - Lion Tamers & Hitmen, Creating Blockbuster Concepts, Magnification And The Matrix, Conflict Within Concept, Concepts With Visual Conflict, Avoiding Episodic Concepts, much more! Print version is 48 pages, Kindle version is over 175 pages!

Only $3.99 - and no postage!


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MOVIES ARE CHARACTERS!

*** CREATING STRONG PROTAGONISTS *** - For Kindle!

*** CREATING STRONG PROTAGONISTS *** - For Nook!

Expanded version with more ways to create interesting protagonists! A step-by-step guide to creating "take charge" protagonists. Screenplays are about characters in conflict... characters in emotional turmoil... Strong three dimensional protagonists who can find solutions to their problems in 110 pages. But how do you create characters like this? How do you turn words into flesh and blood? Character issues, Knowing Who Is The Boss, Tapping into YOUR fears, The Naked Character, Pulp Friction, Man With A Plan, Character Arcs, Avoiding Cliche People, Deep Characterization, Problem Protagonists, 12 Ways To Create Likable Protagonists (even if they are criminals), Active vs. Reactive, The Third Dimension In Character, Relationships, Ensemble Scripts, and much, much morePrint version is 48 pages, Kindle version is once again around 205 pages!

Only $3.99 - and no postage!


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DIALOGUE TO DIE FOR!

*** DIALOGUE SECRETS *** - For Kindle!

*** DIALOGUE SECRETS *** - For Nook!

Expanded version with more ways to create interesting protagonists! How to remove bad dialogue (and what *is* bad dialogue), First Hand Dialogue, Awful Exposition, Realism, 41 Professional Dialogue Techniques you can use *today*, Subtext, Subtitles, Humor, Sizzling Banter, *Anti-Dialogue*, Speeches, and more. Tools you can use to make your dialogue sizzle! Special sections that use dialogue examples from movies as diverse as "Bringing Up Baby", "Psycho", "Double Indemnity", "Notorious", the Oscar nominated "You Can Count On Me", "His Girl Friday", and many more! Print version is 48 pages, Kindle version is over 160 pages!

Only $3.99 - and no postage!




Thank you all again.

Bill

Monday, June 22, 2015

Lancelot Link: Records Broken

Lancelot Link Monday! You know all of those critics and news sources that talk about how Hollywood is doomed? If they want to retain credibility they'd better start apologizing and admitting they were completely wrong because we are well on our way to a record year at the box office in money and ticket sales. Hollywood is making the kinds of movies people want to see. And some of those films have the number 7 in the title... and two of those films star The Rock... who used to be a professional wrestler... While you're thinking about that, 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 a dozen links plus this week's car chase...


1) Weekend Box Office Estimates:
1 Jurassic World................. $102,019,000
2 Inside Out...................... $91,056,000
3 Spy............................. $10,500,000
4 San Andreas...................... $8,240,000
5 Dope............................. $6,018,000
6 Insidious 3...................... $4,110,000
7 Pitch Perfect 2.................. $3,300,000
8 Fury Road........................ $2,815,000
9 Ultron........................... $2,723,000
10 Tomorrowland..................... $2,009,000


On Friday, Pixar's INSIDE OUT was the #1 film... and still managed to be the Highest Opening Weekend For An Original Property (not a sequel, not based on any popular existing material) beating AVATAR. And it still came in #2 behind JURASSIC WORLD! JURASSIC is on track to be the fastest film to hit $1 billion, since it's at $981.3 million worldwide right now. And the other films didn't fall off that much... this was a *huge* weekend for ticket sales and box office. This whole year has been one record after another... between FURIOUS 7 and JURASSIC WORLD and INSIDE OUT this looks like a record year for ticket sales.

2) BOURNE Again Casts Leads.

3) Director Joe Dante Interview On His New Film BURYING THE EX.

4) The Rules Of SPIDER MAN (from Sony Hacked Emails).

5) Does The Academy Of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences Need More Straight White Males?

6) Malick's NIGHT OF CUPS Delayed Until Next Year.

7) Relativity's Twisted Financial Problems.

8) Behind The Scenes At Pixar.

9) Tom Hanks To Play Miracle On The Hudson's Pilot Sully? Oddly enough, Sully lives in the East Bay Area near where Hanks grew up!

10) Fifteen Things Every Indie Producer Needs To Know.

11) Who Loves You, Baby? Vin Diesel?

12) The Always Cute Barbara Crampton (and other cast & crew) Talk About New Horror Flick WE ARE STILL HERE.

And the Car Chase Of The Week:



Okay, no cars...

Bill

Buy The DVDs

IMPORTANT UPDATE:

-
Dinner:
Pages:
Bicycle:

Movie:

Monday, June 15, 2015

Lancelot Link: JURASSIC CHIMP!!!!!

Lancelot Link Monday! Originally my plan was to have 12 links to JURASSIC articles and interviews, but after two sites had so many pop ups and adverts (trying to cash in) that I actually punched my laptop screen, I decided to just have a bunch of regular links. Pisser. Don't these sites realize that overloading with adverts makes us *avoid them*? I understand that a site needs adverts to pay the bills, I get that. But these were way past all reasonable amounts of adverts. What were they thinking? While *you're* thinking about that, 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 a dozen links plus this week's car chase...


1) Weekend Box Office Estimates:
1 Jurassic World................. $204,600,000
2 Spy World....................... $16,000,000
3 San Andreas World............... $11,010,000
4 Insidious 3 World................ $7,300,000
5 PitchP World..................... $6,000,000
6 Entourage World.................. $4,340,000
7 Fury Road World.................. $4,130,000
8 World Of Ultron.................. $3,641,000
9 Tomorrow World................... $3,417,000
10 Love & Mercy World............... $1,765,000


So last week I ranted that JURASSIC WORLD might not be the movie to save summer box office because it's a sequel, and maybe what we need is an original film to shake up the audience. I was wrong. Really really wrong. JURASSIC WORLDS not only got an A grade from the audience (Cinemascore) it made *over half a BILLION dollars* worldwide over the weekend. $511.8 million. In 3 days. So that summer box office slump? Over. Like, really over. There's still a lot of summer left, but with an A grade, ticket buyers are going to see this again and recommend it to friends. That should take care of any misfires from now until the end of the season.

2) As You Know From The Post Credit Sequence, The Next JURASSIC Sequel Will Have Owen Joining THE AVENGERS.

3) Deleted Scenes From BLADE RUNNER? Here are 3/4 of an hour of them!

4) THE HATEFUL 70? QT Decides New Film (with Morriconne Score!!!!) Only Shows On Film And Only Shows In 70mm When It Opens!

5) Interview With Pete Docter (Pixar).

6) New MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E. Trailer.

7) DR STRANGE Casting: Chiwetel Ejiofer As Baron Mordo.

8) Trailer For STANFORD PRISON EXPERIMENT.

9) SPECTRE TV Spot... Bond In Love?

10) John Sayles Signed To Adapt Frank Herbert's SOUL CATCHER.

11) ComiCon Film & TV Schedule.

12) Warner Bros Buys Screenplays Based On Rachel A. Dolezal, LeBron's Penis, and Escaped Convicts (these are separate screenplays by different writers).

And the Car Chase Of The Week:



Left over from when this was going to be an ALL Jurassic list...

Bill

Buy The DVDs

IMPORTANT UPDATE:

-
Dinner:
Pages:
Bicycle:

Movie:

Wednesday, June 10, 2015

Summer Replacements

Summer.

When I was a kid, TV shows went on summer vacation, too. So just when I didn't have school the next morning and could maybe talk my parents into letting me stay up late to watch some cool adult show... those shows were not on!

But summer wasn't all test patterns or screen snow, they had these things called "Summer Replacement Shows". They were whatever the network could get cheap that was in english, and usually that meant British shows. These were the TV shows I fell in love with, because they were the only adult shows I ever saw (until I was old enough to stay up later). So my childhood was all about SECRET AGENT MAN and THE AVENGERS and THE CHAMPIONS and several others.

Here's the opening for THE AVENGERS, with it's great Laurie Johnson score:



The awful movie version seemed to miss why the show worked in the first place, and traded class for crass.

Other AVENGERS Opening titles:







And while we're here, THE CHAMPIONS opening titles...

- Bill

Monday, June 08, 2015

Lancelot Link: Spy Vs. Quake

Lancelot Link Monday! Summer is here, but the audience seems to be working on their tans! After a slam bang spring at the box office, summer has tapered off. Hey, we're still 2.2% ahead of last year and 5.4% ahead of 2013, but we were ahead by *double digits* only a couple of weeks ago. What happened? Hollywood is hoping JURASSIC WORLD will come to the rescue, but I wonder if part of the problem is we have so many movies with numbers in the title and so many movies based on stuff like comic books and theme park rides. Where is the exciting movie that came out of nowhere to save summer? While you're thinking about that, 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 a baker's dozen links plus this week's car chase...


1) Weekend Box Office Estimates:
1 Spy............................. $30,000,000
2 San Andreas..................... $26,440,000
3 Insidious 3..................... $23,000,000
4 Entourage....................... $10,420,000
5 Fury Road........................ $7,970,000
6 Pitch Perf 2..................... $7,700,000
7 Tomorrowland..................... $7,022,000
8 Ultron!.......................... $6,201,000
9 Aloha!........................... $3,300,000
10 Poultry.......................... $2,850,000




2) Spielberg, Hanks, BRIDGE OF SPIES, Trailer.

3) Inside The TRANSFORMERS Writers Room. Once inside, will they let us escape?

4) Jackie Chan Is THE FOREIGNER.

5) John Cusack & Brian Wilson Discuss LOVE & MERCY In Interview.

6) Seattle International Film Festival Winners!

7) Francis Ford Coppola On Adapting THE GODFATHER. (video)

8) Agency Defections And The Agent Wars In Hollywood.

9) Sex Changes On Screen! Roles written for men, cast as women. Lassie went the other way.

10) Matt Damon Ins THE MARTIAN clip.

11) The Characters Of THE MARTIAN.

12) Streaming Becomes The New DVD. Does this mean a boom in Direct To Streaming Films from the home video divisions of studios?

13) It's A Pizza *And* A Movie!

And the Car Chase Of The Week:



SUPERCOP 2. Hey, I've been on this road in Hong Kong!

Bill

Buy The DVDs

IMPORTANT UPDATE:

-
Dinner:
Pages:
Bicycle:

Movie:

Wednesday, June 03, 2015

Horror & Genre Estate Sale

Last week's THRILLER Thursday featured a story about the book collection of an crazy old man, who may be a sorcerer, which is willed to several people... including our hero, the world's least famous magician.



Well, speaking of old libraries with rare books with potentially spooky pasts, Fangoria Magazine’s British correspondent Philip Nutman passed away a year and a half ago, and his extensive library of horror books, film books, autographed comic books, and many other curios has just been placed on sale. Since last week’s THRILLER episode was about the terrors which might be found in the library of a book collector who has passed away, I thought some of you might be interested in these rare books and collectables from Philip Nutman’s Estate, being sold through Burnt Biscuit Books (owned by a screenwriter):

* The Philip Nutman Collection On Ebay.

* The Philip Nutman Collection At Amazon.

Michael from Burnt Biscuit has been posting pictures of all kinds of great autographed rare editions and books I had no idea even existed! Nutman was the ultimate horror fan, and had a massive collection of books, comics, props, etc. Some of those could be yours. Check them out!

Bill

Monday, June 01, 2015

Lancelot Link: Shakin'!

Lancelot Link Monday! After all kinds of predictions that SAN ANDREAS would flop big time, the film was #1 over the weekend and did great business and managed to get an A minus from Cinemascore (the opening night audience poll). Here's the thing: when I went to see FURY ROAD the first time, I was way early and hanging around the cinema lobby and overheard the cinema manager asking employees which trailers the audience was responding to... and all of the kids said SAN ANDREAS. And when I saw FURY ROAD, the audience responded to the trailer. So I knew it wasn't going to be a flop... and the cinema manager probably adjusted shifts to make sure he was covered for SAN ANDREAS' opening. This makes me wonder why studios don't just make their employees watch films in cinemas like regular people so that they can know this stuff? While you're thinking about that, 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 a dozen links plus this week's car chase...


1) Weekend Box Office Estimates:
1 San Andreas..................... $53,215,000
2 Son Of Pitches.................. $14,381,000
3 Tomorrowland.................... $13,803,000
4 Furious Road.................... $13,625,000
5 Ultron!............................. $10,920,000
6 Aloha................................ $10,000,000
7 Poultry.............................. $7,800,000
8 Mad Crowd: Far From............ $1,420,000
9 Hot Pursuit..................... $1,370,000
10 Home............................. $1,150,000


The Rock is off the hook for HERCULES! When that film came out and flopped, the studio decided it was because The Rock couldn't open a movie on his own... but that's been proven false. The real reason HERCULES flopped was because it was booooooring! All of the action in the trailer was from a *fantasy sequence*, and the rest of the film has no action and a booring script. Didn't help that untalented frat boy Ratner directed it. Since The Rock is off the hook, let's put Ratner ON it! From this point on, no studio should give him a budget over $10m, and he should have to make hits to climb his way out. Let him make something as good as THE GUEST to get out of movie jail.

2) BUSTER KEATON: FURY ROAD. (It's just one long chase scene!)

3) Visual FX on FURY ROAD.

4) Can Writers & Producers Just Get Along? (panel discussion)

5) GRACE ON MONACO Screenwriter's Live Tweet Revenge.

6) THE FORCE AWAKENS...

7) Alex Winter Interview... BILL & TED 3.

8) Low Budget Horror & Blumhouse.

9) THE DEAD LANDS Director On Having James Cameron As A Fan.

10) The Future Of Indie Films. (panel discussion)

11) Rick Baker Retires, Sells All His Stuff!

12) TRON 3 is DEAD!

And the Car Chase Of The Week:



Not a car chase. A half hour fan film PREDATOR: DARK AGES co starring my friend Jon Campling.
If 20th Century Fox had any brains at all, they's *buy* this film and then hire the cast and crew to do the 90 minute version. SAME CAST. Maybe add some star in a cameo somewhere. But keep the budget low... and then open the door for other takes on the PREDATOR franchise as make a string of them in the exact same manner. This was made with a kickstarter campaign for (kickstarter $ only) UNDER $10k.

Bill

Buy The DVDs

IMPORTANT UPDATE:

Running Gags - Even a serious film can have a runner.
Dinner: BBQ Chicken, corn on the cob.
Pages: Killer head cold the past few days, but last week started very productive so that I ended up with the week's quota.
Bicycle:Short ride.

Movie:
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