Great director of urban dramas, often dealing with police or criminal activities. He will be missed.
- Bill
Monday, April 11, 2011
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Lancelot Link Thursday
Lancelot Link Thursday! For those of you who want to see a movie about a gorilla who goes to live in the mist of New York City, here are some articles about screenwriting and the biz plus some fun stuff that may be of interest to you. Brought to you by that suave and sophisticated secret agent...
Here are three cool links plus this week's car chase...
1) Larry Cohen comments on Eastwood's J. Edgar Hoover movie.
2) How NOT To Deal With Critics! - thanks to Harry Connolly
3) Greatest Query Letter Ever! "A magic unicorn who poops glitter and controls zombies."
4) And today's car chase...
CORVETTE SUMMER is the movie Mark Hammill made right after STAR WARS and everyone was sure it would be a huge hit... it was not.
- Bill
Here are three cool links plus this week's car chase...
1) Larry Cohen comments on Eastwood's J. Edgar Hoover movie.
2) How NOT To Deal With Critics! - thanks to Harry Connolly
3) Greatest Query Letter Ever! "A magic unicorn who poops glitter and controls zombies."
4) And today's car chase...
CORVETTE SUMMER is the movie Mark Hammill made right after STAR WARS and everyone was sure it would be a huge hit... it was not.
- Bill
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Rewrite Weekend
So, one of my circling projects is an older screenplay that some new folks are interested in. On Thursday I got a phone call that things were heating up and there would be some rewrite notes coming to me soon by e-mail, and if I might be able to do a quick rewrite over the weekend before it’s submitted that would be great.
By Friday evening, when I left to go to the movies with my friends - no e-mail.
Well, I made an executive decision - I had a basic idea of what the rewrite notes would be, and I also knew what *I* wanted to do to improve the script (and give it a better chance), so I thought I’d do a rewrite over the weekend anyway, and if their notes popped up I would work those in. I could wait (and do nothing) or work (and get things accomplished). I think human nature is to wait for the notes, but that's probably a mistake.
The two major things in this rewrite - a core change to match the demographics of the market which did not favor the sex of the lead character. Though there was some talk about giving every character a sex change - men turned to women and women turned to men, like in the second version of THE MALTESE FALCON - they decided it made more sense to keep everyone the same sex and just take the focus from the lead character and shift it two the two secondary leads of the opposite sex. The story stays the same, we just shift point of view - and that completely works in this story.
The other major thing was the ending. A dozen years ago when this was about to be made (and then fell apart at the last minute) that producer gave me some notes including a “Producer’s Twist”... and that screwed up the end of the script, and I’d have to rewrite the last 20 or so pages. You know how a plot twist isn’t something that *changes* the story, it merely reveals something that was already part of the story? THE SIXTH SENSE is a great example - that twist at the end isn’t a change at all, and when you view the film again you realize that the information revealed in that twist was *always* there - in every scene since page 7 - and you just hadn’t noticed it. (Or, maybe you had - some people claim they figured it out early). But a twist is something that has been set up and is part of the story all along, but revealed later. And once it is revealed, you go “Of course! It was there all along! How could I have missed it!” A “Producer’s Twist” doesn’t work that way at all - it’s some twist that was never set up, never part of the story - just tacked on at the end. Imagine if at the end of WITNESS there was this twist that Harrison Ford had been dead since getting shot in the parking lot and the Amish kid says in the last 5 minutes that he sees dead people... like Harrison. You watch the film again and there’s *nothing* that would ever make you think Harrison is dead - he interacts with everyone and dances in the barn, etc. It’s a complete tack-on. That would be a “Producer’s Twist” - they think they are being clever by adding an extra twist - and usually not just a twist that isn’t set up, but often makes no sense at all. Then you have to go off and type it up.
So, that producer a dozen years ago had come up with a “Producer’s Twist” to make the hero into the villain at the end... but the villain is also still the villain, so there’s just this extra unexplained villain at the end and no good guy at all. It just ruined the whole script, and the twist was completely unmotivated, and we ended up with no likeable characters by the end. So I had rewritten the last 20-25 pages to try to make it suck less and make slightly more sense, but I always hated that twist.
Okay, here’s the thing - technology has changed in the past dozen years. Back then a brand new desk top computer might have a 2GB hard drive... the laptop I’m typing this on has 500GBs! So storage was a premium, and all of my scripts were on floppies. Because floppies were not cheap, I didn’t have a disk for each draft - I’d just copy over the old draft with the new draft. Any cool scenes that got cut I’d save on another floppy - never know when I might find some use for them later. But when I did the rewrite that ruined this script a dozen years ago - I saved it over the good version. Now, somewhere there is a hard copy of that good version - but it would take me forever to find... easier to just figure out how to fix the end and remove that “Producer’s Twist” than find the old version on paper and *retype it*.
Again - another reason why it would be easy for me to do nothing. Hey, instead of working, I cvan just wait for the notes and do nothing! There are always good excuses not to work, we have to fight them. Nothing ever gets done if we allow all of those good reasons not to work to get in the way of working.
So, Saturday I did a marathon writing day - and by 1:25am (Sunday) I had rewritten the first 69 pages of the script, not only shifting the POV so that another character was the lead, but writing the big scenes that made that character into the lead and adding some new suspense scenes that I really liked... but Sunday would be the big day - those last 20 pages or so, plus the pages that came before them.
Sunday I was originally going to go to this paperback book show way the hell out in the west valley, but most of the writers I wanted to see were not going to be there... so I decided to skip it and finish the rewrite.
One of the things I had done in Saturday’s rewrite was to create a whole new suspense element that threaded throughout the screenplay - and paid off in some of Sunday’s early scenes. Another thing I had to deal with was intensifying a scene that created a domino reaction in Sunday’s pages. Plus the POV change stuff. Some of the characters who died before made it to the end this time around - and that had to be set up... and some of the characters who made it until the end last time died this time around (so they wouldn’t be there to do some of the story/plot things that had to be done, and some other character would have to do those things... and those characters would have to be changed to be the kind of people who would do those things - and that’s a major character overhaul that changes everything. Almost every line of their dialogue and almost every action had to be changed.
When I broke for dunch (between dinner and lunch - maybe “linner” sounds better?) I sat down with those last 22 pages (printed out) and figured out how the new ending would work. Some of the scenes could be salvaged, just with different characters in them (since the other folks were dead). Some new scenes had to be written. But the biggest thing was that the *order* of the scenes was completely different. Oh, and since the POV shift thing - a different character was the “hero” and a different character was the “love interest” and one of these characters had not survived before! But the romantic thing had to be wrapped up differently. I scribbled notes on the pages, along with arrows and cross outs and name changes... and by the time I had finished by dunch I knew what the last 20 pages or so would look like... now all I had to do is write them! Easy... not!
Just after midnight on Sunday (technically Monday) I had the rewrite finished. I did a final read through, caught 3 typos, made a decision to leave an iffy line of description, and e-mailed a copy for them to read first thing Monday morning.
I am happy with it - mostly due to some new suspense scenes I wrote Saturday that are "Hitchcockian". This thing is like WAIT UNTIL DARK and REBECCA and SPIRAL STAIRCASE and STRANGERS ON A TRAIN all rolled into one...
But the moral of the story? Sometimes you have to do an enormous amount of work in a limited amount of time and you can’t wait for inspiration - you have to learn to inspire yourself. For me, the hardest part is getting started. Once I get going, I get into the story and characters and get excited about figuring out how to fix that next scene. But I have to push myself for a while - and write even though I’d rather do something else (anything else). You have to learn how to give yourself that push - and get enough momentum going that you get into that writing groove... even though you may not feel like it. Screenwriting is a job where you might have plenty of time to write the first few drafts and then some insane deadline to do the rewrite they are actually going to film. In this case, most of the “work” was getting myself off my lazy butt and into that rewrite. I could have done some work on Friday, but thought I’d just wait for the notes... and mostly goofed off all day!
Today I’m “goofing off” writing this, when I’m supposed to be working on another script project. It’s easy to lose the momentum and watch the latest YouTube video where Hitler has problems with Rebecca Black’s FRIDAY song and blows his top... but we have to self-motivate and get those pages done! Especially if we have plenty of time to write that first draft.
- Bill
IMPORTANT UPDATE:
TODAY'S SCRIPT TIP: Be Indispensible - what makes you a good employee at your day job makes you a good writer.
Dinner: Subway - tuna melt.
Pages: Didn't make my 5 pages on Monday, but did some work over the weekend.
Bicycle: New bike - hardly ridden! It's been raining every day in Los Angeles. Monday it didn't rain, but was cloudy and muddy. Plan to ride Tuesday.
Movies: LIMITLESS and LINCOLN LAWYER and 2 others in the cinema we'll discuss later... when they are released.
By Friday evening, when I left to go to the movies with my friends - no e-mail.
Well, I made an executive decision - I had a basic idea of what the rewrite notes would be, and I also knew what *I* wanted to do to improve the script (and give it a better chance), so I thought I’d do a rewrite over the weekend anyway, and if their notes popped up I would work those in. I could wait (and do nothing) or work (and get things accomplished). I think human nature is to wait for the notes, but that's probably a mistake.
The two major things in this rewrite - a core change to match the demographics of the market which did not favor the sex of the lead character. Though there was some talk about giving every character a sex change - men turned to women and women turned to men, like in the second version of THE MALTESE FALCON - they decided it made more sense to keep everyone the same sex and just take the focus from the lead character and shift it two the two secondary leads of the opposite sex. The story stays the same, we just shift point of view - and that completely works in this story.
The other major thing was the ending. A dozen years ago when this was about to be made (and then fell apart at the last minute) that producer gave me some notes including a “Producer’s Twist”... and that screwed up the end of the script, and I’d have to rewrite the last 20 or so pages. You know how a plot twist isn’t something that *changes* the story, it merely reveals something that was already part of the story? THE SIXTH SENSE is a great example - that twist at the end isn’t a change at all, and when you view the film again you realize that the information revealed in that twist was *always* there - in every scene since page 7 - and you just hadn’t noticed it. (Or, maybe you had - some people claim they figured it out early). But a twist is something that has been set up and is part of the story all along, but revealed later. And once it is revealed, you go “Of course! It was there all along! How could I have missed it!” A “Producer’s Twist” doesn’t work that way at all - it’s some twist that was never set up, never part of the story - just tacked on at the end. Imagine if at the end of WITNESS there was this twist that Harrison Ford had been dead since getting shot in the parking lot and the Amish kid says in the last 5 minutes that he sees dead people... like Harrison. You watch the film again and there’s *nothing* that would ever make you think Harrison is dead - he interacts with everyone and dances in the barn, etc. It’s a complete tack-on. That would be a “Producer’s Twist” - they think they are being clever by adding an extra twist - and usually not just a twist that isn’t set up, but often makes no sense at all. Then you have to go off and type it up.
So, that producer a dozen years ago had come up with a “Producer’s Twist” to make the hero into the villain at the end... but the villain is also still the villain, so there’s just this extra unexplained villain at the end and no good guy at all. It just ruined the whole script, and the twist was completely unmotivated, and we ended up with no likeable characters by the end. So I had rewritten the last 20-25 pages to try to make it suck less and make slightly more sense, but I always hated that twist.
Okay, here’s the thing - technology has changed in the past dozen years. Back then a brand new desk top computer might have a 2GB hard drive... the laptop I’m typing this on has 500GBs! So storage was a premium, and all of my scripts were on floppies. Because floppies were not cheap, I didn’t have a disk for each draft - I’d just copy over the old draft with the new draft. Any cool scenes that got cut I’d save on another floppy - never know when I might find some use for them later. But when I did the rewrite that ruined this script a dozen years ago - I saved it over the good version. Now, somewhere there is a hard copy of that good version - but it would take me forever to find... easier to just figure out how to fix the end and remove that “Producer’s Twist” than find the old version on paper and *retype it*.
Again - another reason why it would be easy for me to do nothing. Hey, instead of working, I cvan just wait for the notes and do nothing! There are always good excuses not to work, we have to fight them. Nothing ever gets done if we allow all of those good reasons not to work to get in the way of working.
So, Saturday I did a marathon writing day - and by 1:25am (Sunday) I had rewritten the first 69 pages of the script, not only shifting the POV so that another character was the lead, but writing the big scenes that made that character into the lead and adding some new suspense scenes that I really liked... but Sunday would be the big day - those last 20 pages or so, plus the pages that came before them.
Sunday I was originally going to go to this paperback book show way the hell out in the west valley, but most of the writers I wanted to see were not going to be there... so I decided to skip it and finish the rewrite.
One of the things I had done in Saturday’s rewrite was to create a whole new suspense element that threaded throughout the screenplay - and paid off in some of Sunday’s early scenes. Another thing I had to deal with was intensifying a scene that created a domino reaction in Sunday’s pages. Plus the POV change stuff. Some of the characters who died before made it to the end this time around - and that had to be set up... and some of the characters who made it until the end last time died this time around (so they wouldn’t be there to do some of the story/plot things that had to be done, and some other character would have to do those things... and those characters would have to be changed to be the kind of people who would do those things - and that’s a major character overhaul that changes everything. Almost every line of their dialogue and almost every action had to be changed.
When I broke for dunch (between dinner and lunch - maybe “linner” sounds better?) I sat down with those last 22 pages (printed out) and figured out how the new ending would work. Some of the scenes could be salvaged, just with different characters in them (since the other folks were dead). Some new scenes had to be written. But the biggest thing was that the *order* of the scenes was completely different. Oh, and since the POV shift thing - a different character was the “hero” and a different character was the “love interest” and one of these characters had not survived before! But the romantic thing had to be wrapped up differently. I scribbled notes on the pages, along with arrows and cross outs and name changes... and by the time I had finished by dunch I knew what the last 20 pages or so would look like... now all I had to do is write them! Easy... not!
Just after midnight on Sunday (technically Monday) I had the rewrite finished. I did a final read through, caught 3 typos, made a decision to leave an iffy line of description, and e-mailed a copy for them to read first thing Monday morning.
I am happy with it - mostly due to some new suspense scenes I wrote Saturday that are "Hitchcockian". This thing is like WAIT UNTIL DARK and REBECCA and SPIRAL STAIRCASE and STRANGERS ON A TRAIN all rolled into one...
But the moral of the story? Sometimes you have to do an enormous amount of work in a limited amount of time and you can’t wait for inspiration - you have to learn to inspire yourself. For me, the hardest part is getting started. Once I get going, I get into the story and characters and get excited about figuring out how to fix that next scene. But I have to push myself for a while - and write even though I’d rather do something else (anything else). You have to learn how to give yourself that push - and get enough momentum going that you get into that writing groove... even though you may not feel like it. Screenwriting is a job where you might have plenty of time to write the first few drafts and then some insane deadline to do the rewrite they are actually going to film. In this case, most of the “work” was getting myself off my lazy butt and into that rewrite. I could have done some work on Friday, but thought I’d just wait for the notes... and mostly goofed off all day!
Today I’m “goofing off” writing this, when I’m supposed to be working on another script project. It’s easy to lose the momentum and watch the latest YouTube video where Hitler has problems with Rebecca Black’s FRIDAY song and blows his top... but we have to self-motivate and get those pages done! Especially if we have plenty of time to write that first draft.
- Bill
TODAY'S SCRIPT TIP: Be Indispensible - what makes you a good employee at your day job makes you a good writer.
Dinner: Subway - tuna melt.
Pages: Didn't make my 5 pages on Monday, but did some work over the weekend.
Bicycle: New bike - hardly ridden! It's been raining every day in Los Angeles. Monday it didn't rain, but was cloudy and muddy. Plan to ride Tuesday.
Movies: LIMITLESS and LINCOLN LAWYER and 2 others in the cinema we'll discuss later... when they are released.
Thursday, March 17, 2011
Lancelot Link Thursday
Lancelot Link Thursday! For those of you who wonder if there's a movie on the Planet Of The Apes that ends with Cornelius discovering a monkey version of the Statue Of Liberty buried on the beach, here are some articles about screenwriting and the biz 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) Fans vs. Suits and the fate of the film biz.
2) Ben Hecht's CASINO ROYALE?
3) Simpsons Jokes Per Episode Chart.
4) Famous Objects From Classic Movies Game.
5) First review of THE BEAVER!
5) This is the first car chase I have ever posted starring Chuck Norris... I know - this brings my masculinity into question. But there is a fruit cart!
Also, probably the only car chase where the driver is wearing a *sweater vest*!
- Bill
Here are five cool links plus this week's car chase...
1) Fans vs. Suits and the fate of the film biz.
2) Ben Hecht's CASINO ROYALE?
3) Simpsons Jokes Per Episode Chart.
4) Famous Objects From Classic Movies Game.
5) First review of THE BEAVER!
5) This is the first car chase I have ever posted starring Chuck Norris... I know - this brings my masculinity into question. But there is a fruit cart!
Also, probably the only car chase where the driver is wearing a *sweater vest*!
- Bill
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Do It Yourself!
My article in the current issue of Script Magazine is about my project to make my own film for pocket change later this year. We've come to a point where you really can make your own movie or TV series for an affordable amount of money... and I'm going to do that, and maybe crash and burn and look like an idiot.
My friend Carlos, who took my big 2 day class the first time I did it in the USA has been writing screenplays over the years and decided to make his own web series. He has shot his first two episodes and posted them... and one of his actresses was nominated for an award for her work in the series!
Here's a link to the show: LAS TUNDAS OF THE VALLEY. Check it out!
This ties in to yesterday's blog entry about the Get Off Your Ass And Do Something pill - Carlos took that pill and now has a webseries.
- Bill
My friend Carlos, who took my big 2 day class the first time I did it in the USA has been writing screenplays over the years and decided to make his own web series. He has shot his first two episodes and posted them... and one of his actresses was nominated for an award for her work in the series!
Here's a link to the show: LAS TUNDAS OF THE VALLEY. Check it out!
This ties in to yesterday's blog entry about the Get Off Your Ass And Do Something pill - Carlos took that pill and now has a webseries.
- Bill
Tuesday, March 08, 2011
Women's Day
(not to be confused with DAY OF THE WOMAN)
One of my favorite directors had breasts.
Before Kathryn Bigelow directed a bunch of kick ass action movies, there was a hot actress from the early 1930s who played babes, but seemed more interested in edgy roles and ended up in some great crime films like THEY DRIVE BY NIGHT playing the femme fatale. She was versatile, and could play almost any role - from innocent sweethearts to mean bitches to vulnerable blind girls and *anything* in between. After starring in a bunch of great films where she stole the show from stars like Humphrey Bogart and Richard Widmark and Edward G. Robinson, at the end of the 1940s she decided to take control of her career and *did not* re-sign with Warner Brothers. She was smart and ambitious... but also no longer in her 20s.
Someone's video valentine to Lupino from YouTube. You can see how versatile she was be all of the different "looks" she had:
She starred in one of my favorite movies (THEY DRIVE BY NIGHT) - I have the original poster folded up in a box somewhere. If you haven't seen this one, check it out. The story's about a couple of long-haul truckers, George Raft and Humphrey Bogart, just trying to earn a living. Bogart's the family man, and (SPOLIER!!!) about a third of the way into the movie gets into a horrible truck crash and gets his arm ripped off - spends the rest of the movie with only one arm. Raft stumbles into Noir territory when he manages a trucking company owned by Lupino's husband... and she is not happily married. There's a cool murder-by-automatic-garage-door-opener (really!). Here's a scene where Raft is torn between the nice girl he loves and manipulative Lupino:
THEY DRIVE BY NIGHT (1940)
Okay, Lupino's experiment being a non-contract player star isn't going exactly as planned - she's getting less work for less money. But she's smart. She starts writing screenplays - and selling them. The director of one of her screenplays NOT WANTED (1949) - about baby snatching - gets sick... and Lupino jumps in and finishes the film. And does a great job. This leads to work as a director - though mostly on B crime films. Except, that's what she's good at. She knows how to film action and suspense and make a film that really kicks ass! So she's now a triple threat - she is writing action films like PRIVATE HELL 36 (directed by the great Don Siegel) and directing great action and thriller films like THE HITCHHIKER and still acting in movies like:
WOMEN'S PRISON (1955)
Okay, before WOMEN'S PRISON she starred in this next one, directed by the great Nicholas Ray, where she plays a blind woman who kind of redeems a *very* violent cop. Oh, and when Ray got sick, Lupino took over and directed until he was back on his feet. This is one of my favorite films, with a great Bernard Herrmann score. The YouTube clips can not be embedded, but click on the links and check them out.
ON DANGEROUS GROUND (1952)
Trailer for ON DANGEROUS GROUND.
Scene from ON DANGEROUS GROUND with blind Lupino and violent cop Robert Ryan meeting for the first time. Oh, her brother is the killer he's chasing - and he tends to shoot first, and when the alleged perp is dead, read them their rights. So, this ain't gonna be a smooth romance.
Next, here's a clip from a movie she co-wrote with her husband (Collier Young) and directed 100% of, that is a great example of a contained thriller that doesn't seem contained. A ton of suspense is generated when two guys on a fishing trip pick up a hitchhiker who may or may not be a psycho killer on the run. The film is mostly 3 guys either in a car or at a camp site out in the middle of nowhere. There's an insane suspense scene at a campsite in the middle of nowhere - the psycho killer has a gun on the two guys... as they wait for him to fall asleep so they can escape. But is he really asleep? Or just pretending?
THE HITCHHIKER (1953)
Lupino has 8 screenwriting credits on IMDB and 41 movies or TV series she directed. Usually multiple episodes of the TV shows (9 episodes of THRILLER, 8 episodes of HAVE GUN WILL TRAVEL, etc.) She is the only woman to direct a TWILIGHT ZONE episode (THE MASKS) and directed a bunch of TV episode for action shows like THE FUGITIVE and THE UNTOUCHABLES... and GILLIGAN'S ISLAND! But where I fell in love with her as a director - the Boris Karloff Presents THRILLER show, where she was one of the "staff directors" in rotation. This show was like the HITCHCOCK PRESENTS show (in fact, shared many of the same key crew members and was shot at the same studio for the same company). When I was a kid, the show was re-run in the afternoon after I got home from school, and was just great stuff. My favorite episode was GUILLOTINE, based on a short story by Cornell Woolrich and directed by Ida Lupino. Your head will explode from the suspense!
Period France: Man convicted of murdering the husband of some babe he was sleeping with is waiting for his execution day, by guillotine. There is an unwritten law that if the executioner dies, all of the people he was supposed to kill that day are pardoned. There's no back up executioner, and you can't just let a janitor do it. So our killer-hero has the hot babe whose husband he killed, seduce the executioner and poison him the night before the execution. But the executioner is a big man, and instead of dying, he's just sick. Terminally sick, but heading to the prison to do his job before he dies! And the episode cuts between the executioner struggling to make his appointment with our killer-hero... and the killer-hero getting his last meal and the guards testing the guillotine on heads of cabbage and the killer-hero telling the priest he expects a miracle. The suspense just keeps building until you can't stand it anymore. When I was a kid, I immedeately wanted to know who wrote that story and who directed that episode.
And the answers were Cornell Woolrich, and the great director Ida Lupino... who happened to be a woman.
Direceted 41 movies and TV series (multiple episodes). She died in 1995.
- Bill
Before Kathryn Bigelow directed a bunch of kick ass action movies, there was a hot actress from the early 1930s who played babes, but seemed more interested in edgy roles and ended up in some great crime films like THEY DRIVE BY NIGHT playing the femme fatale. She was versatile, and could play almost any role - from innocent sweethearts to mean bitches to vulnerable blind girls and *anything* in between. After starring in a bunch of great films where she stole the show from stars like Humphrey Bogart and Richard Widmark and Edward G. Robinson, at the end of the 1940s she decided to take control of her career and *did not* re-sign with Warner Brothers. She was smart and ambitious... but also no longer in her 20s.
Someone's video valentine to Lupino from YouTube. You can see how versatile she was be all of the different "looks" she had:
She starred in one of my favorite movies (THEY DRIVE BY NIGHT) - I have the original poster folded up in a box somewhere. If you haven't seen this one, check it out. The story's about a couple of long-haul truckers, George Raft and Humphrey Bogart, just trying to earn a living. Bogart's the family man, and (SPOLIER!!!) about a third of the way into the movie gets into a horrible truck crash and gets his arm ripped off - spends the rest of the movie with only one arm. Raft stumbles into Noir territory when he manages a trucking company owned by Lupino's husband... and she is not happily married. There's a cool murder-by-automatic-garage-door-opener (really!). Here's a scene where Raft is torn between the nice girl he loves and manipulative Lupino:
THEY DRIVE BY NIGHT (1940)
Okay, Lupino's experiment being a non-contract player star isn't going exactly as planned - she's getting less work for less money. But she's smart. She starts writing screenplays - and selling them. The director of one of her screenplays NOT WANTED (1949) - about baby snatching - gets sick... and Lupino jumps in and finishes the film. And does a great job. This leads to work as a director - though mostly on B crime films. Except, that's what she's good at. She knows how to film action and suspense and make a film that really kicks ass! So she's now a triple threat - she is writing action films like PRIVATE HELL 36 (directed by the great Don Siegel) and directing great action and thriller films like THE HITCHHIKER and still acting in movies like:
WOMEN'S PRISON (1955)
Okay, before WOMEN'S PRISON she starred in this next one, directed by the great Nicholas Ray, where she plays a blind woman who kind of redeems a *very* violent cop. Oh, and when Ray got sick, Lupino took over and directed until he was back on his feet. This is one of my favorite films, with a great Bernard Herrmann score. The YouTube clips can not be embedded, but click on the links and check them out.
ON DANGEROUS GROUND (1952)
Trailer for ON DANGEROUS GROUND.
Scene from ON DANGEROUS GROUND with blind Lupino and violent cop Robert Ryan meeting for the first time. Oh, her brother is the killer he's chasing - and he tends to shoot first, and when the alleged perp is dead, read them their rights. So, this ain't gonna be a smooth romance.
Next, here's a clip from a movie she co-wrote with her husband (Collier Young) and directed 100% of, that is a great example of a contained thriller that doesn't seem contained. A ton of suspense is generated when two guys on a fishing trip pick up a hitchhiker who may or may not be a psycho killer on the run. The film is mostly 3 guys either in a car or at a camp site out in the middle of nowhere. There's an insane suspense scene at a campsite in the middle of nowhere - the psycho killer has a gun on the two guys... as they wait for him to fall asleep so they can escape. But is he really asleep? Or just pretending?
THE HITCHHIKER (1953)
Lupino has 8 screenwriting credits on IMDB and 41 movies or TV series she directed. Usually multiple episodes of the TV shows (9 episodes of THRILLER, 8 episodes of HAVE GUN WILL TRAVEL, etc.) She is the only woman to direct a TWILIGHT ZONE episode (THE MASKS) and directed a bunch of TV episode for action shows like THE FUGITIVE and THE UNTOUCHABLES... and GILLIGAN'S ISLAND! But where I fell in love with her as a director - the Boris Karloff Presents THRILLER show, where she was one of the "staff directors" in rotation. This show was like the HITCHCOCK PRESENTS show (in fact, shared many of the same key crew members and was shot at the same studio for the same company). When I was a kid, the show was re-run in the afternoon after I got home from school, and was just great stuff. My favorite episode was GUILLOTINE, based on a short story by Cornell Woolrich and directed by Ida Lupino. Your head will explode from the suspense!
Period France: Man convicted of murdering the husband of some babe he was sleeping with is waiting for his execution day, by guillotine. There is an unwritten law that if the executioner dies, all of the people he was supposed to kill that day are pardoned. There's no back up executioner, and you can't just let a janitor do it. So our killer-hero has the hot babe whose husband he killed, seduce the executioner and poison him the night before the execution. But the executioner is a big man, and instead of dying, he's just sick. Terminally sick, but heading to the prison to do his job before he dies! And the episode cuts between the executioner struggling to make his appointment with our killer-hero... and the killer-hero getting his last meal and the guards testing the guillotine on heads of cabbage and the killer-hero telling the priest he expects a miracle. The suspense just keeps building until you can't stand it anymore. When I was a kid, I immedeately wanted to know who wrote that story and who directed that episode.
And the answers were Cornell Woolrich, and the great director Ida Lupino... who happened to be a woman.
Direceted 41 movies and TV series (multiple episodes). She died in 1995.
- Bill
Wednesday, March 02, 2011
Class Movie Suggestions
For the first time in about 5 years I'm doing my class in the USA (Los Angeles) and will use my new "Thematic" method to break down 5 films in the class - I have selected 3 films, but need 2 more.
What I am looking for are recent popular films (made within the past 10 years) that I can use as examples of theme. What are your suggestions?
- Bill
SCRIPT SECRETS: THE BIG IDEA is an INTENSIVE two day course - screenwriting stripped of the theoretical nonsense! This is the "classic class" - starting with finding an amazing idea - the kind that makes producers salivate! Then we'll go step-by-step from blank page to the big screen and show you how to create great characters from that idea, plus solid techniques to improve your dialogue, create lean-mean-evocative description, flesh out your story and improve screenwriting abilities! Plus a section on selling your script!
April 16 & 17, 2011
Burbank Airport Marriott - Producer's Room.
Click For More Info.
- Bill
IMPORTANT UPDATE:
TODAY'S SCRIPT TIP: Emotional Openings and those NARNIA movies.
Dinner: Leftover Chinese food.
Pages: Poked around on a spec when I should have been working on this rewrite (assignment).
Bicycle: New bike, not much riding. Weather is the major reason - it's cold, has been rainy, and I had a cross-town meeting. Hard to get back on the bike when you are freezing.
What I am looking for are recent popular films (made within the past 10 years) that I can use as examples of theme. What are your suggestions?
- Bill
SCRIPT SECRETS: THE BIG IDEA is an INTENSIVE two day course - screenwriting stripped of the theoretical nonsense! This is the "classic class" - starting with finding an amazing idea - the kind that makes producers salivate! Then we'll go step-by-step from blank page to the big screen and show you how to create great characters from that idea, plus solid techniques to improve your dialogue, create lean-mean-evocative description, flesh out your story and improve screenwriting abilities! Plus a section on selling your script!
April 16 & 17, 2011
Burbank Airport Marriott - Producer's Room.
Click For More Info.
- Bill
TODAY'S SCRIPT TIP: Emotional Openings and those NARNIA movies.
Dinner: Leftover Chinese food.
Pages: Poked around on a spec when I should have been working on this rewrite (assignment).
Bicycle: New bike, not much riding. Weather is the major reason - it's cold, has been rainy, and I had a cross-town meeting. Hard to get back on the bike when you are freezing.
Tuesday, March 01, 2011
Please Stop Dying!
RIP: Jane Russell.
Some of my favorites:
HIS KIND OF WOMAN (1951) opposite Robert Mitchum, directed by the great John Farrow. Odd crime film that takes place in a Baja resort where gangster Raymond Burr is trying to force ultra-cool gambler Mitchum to get back into the United States without the law finding out about it. Mitchum's in love with singer Russell - but is she part of the scheme or not? Kind of breezy, loose plot that almost feels like a comedy at times.
MACAO (1952) again opposite Robert Mitchum with the great Josef Von Sterberg directing. Again, Russell plays a singer - this time on a ship to Macao where she has a night club gig. Mitchum is living in exile in Macao and his only way back to the USA is to take down a crime syndicate... which owns the night club Russell is singing in. And this is one of the William Bendix/Mitchum movies.
DARKER THAN AMBER (1970) based on a John D. MacDonald novel, with Rod Taylor playing Travis McGee and Thedore Bikel playing Meyer and Robert Clouse (ENTER THE DRAGON) directing. Russell plays The Alabama Tigress - a neighbor of McGee's who was a man in the books... but she plays the role perfectly even though she's a woman. This film is not on DVD, and hard to find anywhere without being cut down to nada. It's one of those kick-ass action flicks from the 70s that was neutered for TV... and the theatrical version seems not to exist any more.
But those are the movies of Jane Russell's that *I* love, she's best known for:
THE OUTLAW (1943) - the risque western directed by Howard Hughes about Pat Garrett starring Janes Russell's boobs (the poster shows her with cleavage reclined in hay... almost offering a roll in it) - she plays Billy The Kid's girlfriend.
THE PALEFACE (1948) - quasi remake of the Keaton short starring Bob Hope, with Russell playing Calamity Jane.
GENTLEMEN PREFER BLONDES (1953) with that other pair, Marilyn Monroe, as a pair of singers who leave their boring lives behind to become sensations in Paris... and find love along the way. Plus the sequel - GENTLEMEN MARRY BRUNETES with Jeane Crain instead of Marilyn.
The other RIP is Gary Winick, producer of a bunch of films and founder of InDigEnt films - which made indie films on digital formats for pocket change with biog name stars who just wanted to act in a movie where they weren't replaced by CGI every other scene. He produced and directed TADPOLE with Sigorney Weaver and Bebe Neuwirth and Ron Rifkin and John Ritter at a cost of $250k - and if you haven't seen it, it's a great little film! He made TAPE and PERSONAL VELOCITY and PIECES OF APRIL and many others - and even though I don't like everything he produced, he gave a voice to filmmakers who we would never have heard of without InDigEnt. As a director he made 13 GOING ON 30 and CHARLOTTE'S WEB and LETTERS TO JULIET and many others. He was 49 years old - too young to die. But he leaves behind many cool indie films. He'll be missed.
- Bill
Some of my favorites:
HIS KIND OF WOMAN (1951) opposite Robert Mitchum, directed by the great John Farrow. Odd crime film that takes place in a Baja resort where gangster Raymond Burr is trying to force ultra-cool gambler Mitchum to get back into the United States without the law finding out about it. Mitchum's in love with singer Russell - but is she part of the scheme or not? Kind of breezy, loose plot that almost feels like a comedy at times.
MACAO (1952) again opposite Robert Mitchum with the great Josef Von Sterberg directing. Again, Russell plays a singer - this time on a ship to Macao where she has a night club gig. Mitchum is living in exile in Macao and his only way back to the USA is to take down a crime syndicate... which owns the night club Russell is singing in. And this is one of the William Bendix/Mitchum movies.
DARKER THAN AMBER (1970) based on a John D. MacDonald novel, with Rod Taylor playing Travis McGee and Thedore Bikel playing Meyer and Robert Clouse (ENTER THE DRAGON) directing. Russell plays The Alabama Tigress - a neighbor of McGee's who was a man in the books... but she plays the role perfectly even though she's a woman. This film is not on DVD, and hard to find anywhere without being cut down to nada. It's one of those kick-ass action flicks from the 70s that was neutered for TV... and the theatrical version seems not to exist any more.
But those are the movies of Jane Russell's that *I* love, she's best known for:
THE OUTLAW (1943) - the risque western directed by Howard Hughes about Pat Garrett starring Janes Russell's boobs (the poster shows her with cleavage reclined in hay... almost offering a roll in it) - she plays Billy The Kid's girlfriend.
THE PALEFACE (1948) - quasi remake of the Keaton short starring Bob Hope, with Russell playing Calamity Jane.
GENTLEMEN PREFER BLONDES (1953) with that other pair, Marilyn Monroe, as a pair of singers who leave their boring lives behind to become sensations in Paris... and find love along the way. Plus the sequel - GENTLEMEN MARRY BRUNETES with Jeane Crain instead of Marilyn.
The other RIP is Gary Winick, producer of a bunch of films and founder of InDigEnt films - which made indie films on digital formats for pocket change with biog name stars who just wanted to act in a movie where they weren't replaced by CGI every other scene. He produced and directed TADPOLE with Sigorney Weaver and Bebe Neuwirth and Ron Rifkin and John Ritter at a cost of $250k - and if you haven't seen it, it's a great little film! He made TAPE and PERSONAL VELOCITY and PIECES OF APRIL and many others - and even though I don't like everything he produced, he gave a voice to filmmakers who we would never have heard of without InDigEnt. As a director he made 13 GOING ON 30 and CHARLOTTE'S WEB and LETTERS TO JULIET and many others. He was 49 years old - too young to die. But he leaves behind many cool indie films. He'll be missed.
- Bill
Monday, February 28, 2011
Who *Should* Have Won?
Here are the nominees and the winners... but who should have won?
BEST PICTURE
127 Hours
Black Swan
The Fighter
Inception
The Kids Are All Right
WINNER: The King’s Speech
The Social Network
Toy Story 3
True Grit
Winter’s Bone
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Another Year, written by Mike Leigh
The Fighter, Screenplay by Scott Silver and Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson; Story by Keith Dorrington & Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson
Inception, written by Christopher Nolan
The Kids Are All Right, written by Lisa Cholodenko & Stuart Blumberg
WINNER: The King’s Speech, Screenplay by David Seidler
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
127 Hours, Screenplay by Danny Boyle & Simon Beaufoy
WINNER: The Social Network, Screenplay by Aaron Sorkin
Toy Story 3, Screenplay by Michael Arndt; Story by John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton and Lee Unkrich
True Grit, written for the screen by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen
Winter’s Bone, adapted for the screen by Debra Granik & Anne Rosellini
BEST ACTOR
Javier Bardem, Biutiful
Jeff Bridges, True Grit
Jesse Eisenberg, The Social Network
WINNER: Colin Firth, The King’s Speech
James Franco, 127 Hours
BEST ACTRESS
Annette Bening, The Kids Are All Right
Nicole Kidman, Rabbit Hole
Jennifer Lawrence, Winter’s Bone
WINNER: Natalie Portman, Black Swan
Michelle Williams, Blue Valentine
BEST DIRECTOR
Darren Aronofsky, Black Swan
Joel & Ethan Coen, True Grit
David Fincher, The Social Network
WINNER: Tom Hooper, The King’s Speech
David O. Russell, The Fighter
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
WINNER: Christian Bale, The Fighter
John Hawkes, Winter’s Bone
Jeremy Renner, The Town
Mark Ruffalo, The Kids Are All Right
Geoffrey Rush, The King’s Speech
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Amy Adams, The Fighter
Helena Bonham Carter, The King’s Speech
WINNER: Melissa Leo, The Fighter
Hailee Steinfeld, True Grit
Jacki Weaver, Animal Kingdom
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Black Swan, Matthew Libatique
WINNER: Inception, Wally Pfister
The King’s Speech, Danny Cohen
The Social Network, Jeff Cronenweth
True Grit, Roger Deakins
BEST ART DIRECTION
WINNER: Alice in Wonderland, Robert Stromberg, Karen O’Hara
Happy Potter and the Deathly Hallows — Part 1, Stuart Craig, Stephenie McMillan
Inception, Guy Hendrix Dyas, Larry Dias, Doug Mowat
The King’s Speech, Eve Stewart, Judy Farr
True Grit, Jess Gonchor, Nancy Haigh
BEST EDITING
127 Hours, Jon Harris
Black Swan, Andrew Weisblum
The Fighter, Pamela Martin
The King’s Speech, Tariq Anwar
WINNER: The Social Network, Angus Wall and Kirk Baxter
BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
Alice in Wonderland, Ken Ralston, David Schaub, Carey Villegas and Sean Phillips
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows — Part 1, Tim Burke, John Richardson, Christian Manz and Nicolas Aithadi
Hereafter, Michael Owens, Bryan Grill, Stephan Trojanski and Joe Farrell
WINNER: Inception, Paul Franklin, Chris Corbould, Andrew Lockley and Peter Bebb
Iron Man 2, Janek Sirrs, Ben Snow, Ged Wright and Daniel Sudick
BEST COSTUME DESIGN
WINNER: Alice in Wonderland, Colleen Atwood
I Am Love, Antonella Cannarozzi
The King’s Speech, Jenny Beaven
The Tempest, Sandy Powell
True Grit, Mary Zophres
BEST MAKEUP
Barney’s Version, Adrien Morot
The Way Back, Eduoard F. Henriques, Gregory Funk, Yolanda Toussieng
WINNER: The Wolfman, Rick Baker and Dave Elsey
BEST SOUND EDITING
WINNER: Inception, Richard King
Toy Story 3, Tom Myers and Michael Silvers
TRON: Legacy, Gwendolyn Yates Whittle and Addison Teague
True Grit, Skip Lievsay and Craig Berkey
Unstoppable, Mark P. Stoeckinger
BEST SOUND MIXING
WINNER: Inception, Lora Hirschberg, Gary A. Rizzo, and Ed Novick
The King’s Speech, Paul Hamblin, Martin Jensen, and John Midgley
Salt, Jeffrey J. Haboush, Greg P. Russell, Scott Millan, and William Sarokin
The Social Network, Ren Klyce, David Parker, Michael Semanick, and Mark Weingarten
True Grit, Skip Lievsay, Craig Berkey, Greg Orloff, and Peter F. Kurland
BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
127 Hours, A.R. Rahman
How to Train Your Dragon, John Powell
Inception, Hans Zimmer
The King’s Speech, Alexandre Desplat
WINNER: The Social Network, Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross
BEST SONG
“Coming Home,” Country Strong, Tom Douglas, Troy Verges and Hillary Lindsey
“I See the Light,” Tangled, Alan Menken, Glenn Slater
“If I Rise,” 127 Hours, A.R. Rahman, Dido, Rollo Armstrong
WINNER: “We Belong Together,” Toy Story 3, Randy Newman
BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
Hors la Loi (Outside the Law) (Algeria)
Incendies (Canada)
WINNER: In a Better World (Denmark)
Dogtooth (Greece)
Biutiful (Mexico)
BEST ANIMATED FILM
How to Train Your Dragon
The Illusionist
WINNER: Toy Story 3
BEST DOCUMENTARY
Exit Through the Gift Shop, Banksy and Jaimie D’Cruz
Gasland, Josh Fox and Trish Adlesic
WINNER: Inside Job, Charles Ferguson and Audrey Marrs
Restrepo, Tim Hetherington and Sebastian Junger
Waste Land, Lucy Walker and Angus Aynley
BEST LIVE-ACTION SHORT
The Confession, Tanel Toom
The Crush, Michael Creagh
WINNER: God of Love, Luke Matheny
Na Wewe, Ivan Goldschmidt
Wish 143, Ian Barnes and Samantha Waite
BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT
Killing in the Name
Poster Girl
WINNER: Strangers No More, Karen Goodman and Kirk Simon
Sun Come Up, Jennifer Redfearn and Tim Metzger
The Warriors of Qiugang, Ruby Yang and Thomas Lenno
BEST ANIMATED SHORT
Day & Night, Teddy Newton
The Gruffalo, Jakob Schuh and Max Lang
Let’s Pollute, Geefwee Boedoe
WINNER: The Lost Thing, Shaun Tan and Andrew Ruhemann
Madagascar, Carnet de Voyage (Madagascar, a Journey Diary), Bastien Dubois
So, who got robbed?
- Bill
BEST PICTURE
127 Hours
Black Swan
The Fighter
Inception
The Kids Are All Right
WINNER: The King’s Speech
The Social Network
Toy Story 3
True Grit
Winter’s Bone
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Another Year, written by Mike Leigh
The Fighter, Screenplay by Scott Silver and Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson; Story by Keith Dorrington & Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson
Inception, written by Christopher Nolan
The Kids Are All Right, written by Lisa Cholodenko & Stuart Blumberg
WINNER: The King’s Speech, Screenplay by David Seidler
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
127 Hours, Screenplay by Danny Boyle & Simon Beaufoy
WINNER: The Social Network, Screenplay by Aaron Sorkin
Toy Story 3, Screenplay by Michael Arndt; Story by John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton and Lee Unkrich
True Grit, written for the screen by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen
Winter’s Bone, adapted for the screen by Debra Granik & Anne Rosellini
BEST ACTOR
Javier Bardem, Biutiful
Jeff Bridges, True Grit
Jesse Eisenberg, The Social Network
WINNER: Colin Firth, The King’s Speech
James Franco, 127 Hours
BEST ACTRESS
Annette Bening, The Kids Are All Right
Nicole Kidman, Rabbit Hole
Jennifer Lawrence, Winter’s Bone
WINNER: Natalie Portman, Black Swan
Michelle Williams, Blue Valentine
BEST DIRECTOR
Darren Aronofsky, Black Swan
Joel & Ethan Coen, True Grit
David Fincher, The Social Network
WINNER: Tom Hooper, The King’s Speech
David O. Russell, The Fighter
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
WINNER: Christian Bale, The Fighter
John Hawkes, Winter’s Bone
Jeremy Renner, The Town
Mark Ruffalo, The Kids Are All Right
Geoffrey Rush, The King’s Speech
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Amy Adams, The Fighter
Helena Bonham Carter, The King’s Speech
WINNER: Melissa Leo, The Fighter
Hailee Steinfeld, True Grit
Jacki Weaver, Animal Kingdom
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Black Swan, Matthew Libatique
WINNER: Inception, Wally Pfister
The King’s Speech, Danny Cohen
The Social Network, Jeff Cronenweth
True Grit, Roger Deakins
BEST ART DIRECTION
WINNER: Alice in Wonderland, Robert Stromberg, Karen O’Hara
Happy Potter and the Deathly Hallows — Part 1, Stuart Craig, Stephenie McMillan
Inception, Guy Hendrix Dyas, Larry Dias, Doug Mowat
The King’s Speech, Eve Stewart, Judy Farr
True Grit, Jess Gonchor, Nancy Haigh
BEST EDITING
127 Hours, Jon Harris
Black Swan, Andrew Weisblum
The Fighter, Pamela Martin
The King’s Speech, Tariq Anwar
WINNER: The Social Network, Angus Wall and Kirk Baxter
BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
Alice in Wonderland, Ken Ralston, David Schaub, Carey Villegas and Sean Phillips
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows — Part 1, Tim Burke, John Richardson, Christian Manz and Nicolas Aithadi
Hereafter, Michael Owens, Bryan Grill, Stephan Trojanski and Joe Farrell
WINNER: Inception, Paul Franklin, Chris Corbould, Andrew Lockley and Peter Bebb
Iron Man 2, Janek Sirrs, Ben Snow, Ged Wright and Daniel Sudick
BEST COSTUME DESIGN
WINNER: Alice in Wonderland, Colleen Atwood
I Am Love, Antonella Cannarozzi
The King’s Speech, Jenny Beaven
The Tempest, Sandy Powell
True Grit, Mary Zophres
BEST MAKEUP
Barney’s Version, Adrien Morot
The Way Back, Eduoard F. Henriques, Gregory Funk, Yolanda Toussieng
WINNER: The Wolfman, Rick Baker and Dave Elsey
BEST SOUND EDITING
WINNER: Inception, Richard King
Toy Story 3, Tom Myers and Michael Silvers
TRON: Legacy, Gwendolyn Yates Whittle and Addison Teague
True Grit, Skip Lievsay and Craig Berkey
Unstoppable, Mark P. Stoeckinger
BEST SOUND MIXING
WINNER: Inception, Lora Hirschberg, Gary A. Rizzo, and Ed Novick
The King’s Speech, Paul Hamblin, Martin Jensen, and John Midgley
Salt, Jeffrey J. Haboush, Greg P. Russell, Scott Millan, and William Sarokin
The Social Network, Ren Klyce, David Parker, Michael Semanick, and Mark Weingarten
True Grit, Skip Lievsay, Craig Berkey, Greg Orloff, and Peter F. Kurland
BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
127 Hours, A.R. Rahman
How to Train Your Dragon, John Powell
Inception, Hans Zimmer
The King’s Speech, Alexandre Desplat
WINNER: The Social Network, Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross
BEST SONG
“Coming Home,” Country Strong, Tom Douglas, Troy Verges and Hillary Lindsey
“I See the Light,” Tangled, Alan Menken, Glenn Slater
“If I Rise,” 127 Hours, A.R. Rahman, Dido, Rollo Armstrong
WINNER: “We Belong Together,” Toy Story 3, Randy Newman
BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
Hors la Loi (Outside the Law) (Algeria)
Incendies (Canada)
WINNER: In a Better World (Denmark)
Dogtooth (Greece)
Biutiful (Mexico)
BEST ANIMATED FILM
How to Train Your Dragon
The Illusionist
WINNER: Toy Story 3
BEST DOCUMENTARY
Exit Through the Gift Shop, Banksy and Jaimie D’Cruz
Gasland, Josh Fox and Trish Adlesic
WINNER: Inside Job, Charles Ferguson and Audrey Marrs
Restrepo, Tim Hetherington and Sebastian Junger
Waste Land, Lucy Walker and Angus Aynley
BEST LIVE-ACTION SHORT
The Confession, Tanel Toom
The Crush, Michael Creagh
WINNER: God of Love, Luke Matheny
Na Wewe, Ivan Goldschmidt
Wish 143, Ian Barnes and Samantha Waite
BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT
Killing in the Name
Poster Girl
WINNER: Strangers No More, Karen Goodman and Kirk Simon
Sun Come Up, Jennifer Redfearn and Tim Metzger
The Warriors of Qiugang, Ruby Yang and Thomas Lenno
BEST ANIMATED SHORT
Day & Night, Teddy Newton
The Gruffalo, Jakob Schuh and Max Lang
Let’s Pollute, Geefwee Boedoe
WINNER: The Lost Thing, Shaun Tan and Andrew Ruhemann
Madagascar, Carnet de Voyage (Madagascar, a Journey Diary), Bastien Dubois
So, who got robbed?
- Bill
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Lancelot Link Thursday
Lancelot Link Thursday! For those of you who think 12 MONKEYS would have been better with an additional monkey, 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 five cool links plus this week's car chase...
1) 5 Hollywood Secrets That Explain Why Movies Suck! (you already knew one of them)
2) How to *Guarentee* your sit-com gets cancelled!
3) Oscar Winning Screenwriter Vs. Scientology - also tons of backstory on Paul Haggis.
4) 11 Biggest Movie Flops Of All Time - I didn't write *any* of them!
5) Aaron Sorkin on Screenwriting.
6) And today's car chase...
Okay, it's a boat chase... but I'm slowly easing you into accepting the Big Wheel Chase clip I have.
- Bill
IMPORTANT UPDATE:
TODAY'S SCRIPT TIP: When The Hero Runs Out Of Time and a couple of Denzel films.
Dinner: Airport food.
Pages: Travel day.
Here are five cool links plus this week's car chase...
1) 5 Hollywood Secrets That Explain Why Movies Suck! (you already knew one of them)
2) How to *Guarentee* your sit-com gets cancelled!
3) Oscar Winning Screenwriter Vs. Scientology - also tons of backstory on Paul Haggis.
4) 11 Biggest Movie Flops Of All Time - I didn't write *any* of them!
5) Aaron Sorkin on Screenwriting.
6) And today's car chase...
Okay, it's a boat chase... but I'm slowly easing you into accepting the Big Wheel Chase clip I have.
- Bill
TODAY'S SCRIPT TIP: When The Hero Runs Out Of Time and a couple of Denzel films.
Dinner: Airport food.
Pages: Travel day.
Friday, February 11, 2011
Script Secrets Class: Los Angeles
It's been almost 5 years since I last did my 2 day class in the USA! I've been busy writing, but done it in London and Hong Kong and Denmark. But now I'm bringing it back to Los Angeles...
SCRIPT SECRETS: THE BIG IDEA is an INTENSIVE two day course - screenwriting stripped of the theoretical nonsense! This is the "classic class" - starting with finding an amazing million dollar idea - the kind that makes producers salivate! Learn brainstorming techniques, how to tell the difference between a movie idea and a book or stage play idea. The basics of high concept. And how to kick-start your imagination.
This class is jam-packed with techniques to create great film ideas, then I'll take you step-by-step from black page to the big screen and show you how to create great characters from that idea. Learn how high concept can be *your* personal story. How to find theme within the concept. How to create amazing high concept scenes that actually *explore character*, plus solid techniques to improve your dialogue, create lean-mean-evocative description, flesh out your story and improve screenwriting abilities! Plus a section on selling your script!
Now with The Thematic - the most powerful screenwriting tool I've ever created! Start with a story idea or a character, and it will take you step-by-step, finding the perfect supporting characters, amazing dramatic scenes, dialogue that works on more than one level, actions that show emotional conflict, and more. Thematic uses your story's theme to generate the other elements of the story, creating the template for a tightly focused character and theme based screenplay. This is not a machine or a formula, but a unique way to look at writing your screenplay.
For 2011 we'll be using the movie GHOST as our primary example, with clips from that film as well as NORTH BY NORTHWEST, THE MATRIX, AIRPLANE, THE BIG SLEEP and DILLINGER.
April 16 & 17, 2011
Burbank Airport Marriott - Producer's Room.
Register TODAY!
Only $249
Click For More Info.
Yes, this is spammish - sorry! I finally booked the hotel and wanted to get the word out to people who have asked about the class.
- Bill
SCRIPT SECRETS: THE BIG IDEA is an INTENSIVE two day course - screenwriting stripped of the theoretical nonsense! This is the "classic class" - starting with finding an amazing million dollar idea - the kind that makes producers salivate! Learn brainstorming techniques, how to tell the difference between a movie idea and a book or stage play idea. The basics of high concept. And how to kick-start your imagination.
This class is jam-packed with techniques to create great film ideas, then I'll take you step-by-step from black page to the big screen and show you how to create great characters from that idea. Learn how high concept can be *your* personal story. How to find theme within the concept. How to create amazing high concept scenes that actually *explore character*, plus solid techniques to improve your dialogue, create lean-mean-evocative description, flesh out your story and improve screenwriting abilities! Plus a section on selling your script!
Now with The Thematic - the most powerful screenwriting tool I've ever created! Start with a story idea or a character, and it will take you step-by-step, finding the perfect supporting characters, amazing dramatic scenes, dialogue that works on more than one level, actions that show emotional conflict, and more. Thematic uses your story's theme to generate the other elements of the story, creating the template for a tightly focused character and theme based screenplay. This is not a machine or a formula, but a unique way to look at writing your screenplay.
For 2011 we'll be using the movie GHOST as our primary example, with clips from that film as well as NORTH BY NORTHWEST, THE MATRIX, AIRPLANE, THE BIG SLEEP and DILLINGER.
April 16 & 17, 2011
Burbank Airport Marriott - Producer's Room.
Register TODAY!
Only $249
Click For More Info.
Yes, this is spammish - sorry! I finally booked the hotel and wanted to get the word out to people who have asked about the class.
- Bill
Lancelot Link Thursday
Either 1 day late or 6 days early! Lancelot Link Thursday! For those of you who wonder why your waitress has hairy legs... and a hairy back, 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's waiter brother...
Here are five cool links plus this week's car chase...
1) Movie Posters for remakes we wish were true!
2) The Coen Brothers Screenwriting Secrets Revealed!
3) Real James Bond era Spy Gadgets!
4) Time Out's 100 Best British Films - with an upset! The BFI's #1 film is pushed to #2 by another thriller!
5) What if David Lynch directed the Superbowl?
6) This week's Car Chase is from a Luc Besson movie...
I watched this film on VHS back in the day and thought it was crazy... but fun. Wonder what else this guy has made?
- Bill
IMPORTANT UPDATE:
TODAY'S SCRIPT TIP: How To Study A Screenplay .
Dinner: Fish & Chips at what has to be the last remaining H. Salt Esq - in NoHo. Place ain't cheap! Greasy fast food - over $10.
Pages: Yes - a great scene yesterday. Still way behind, but you will cry every 15 minutes when reading this script!
Here are five cool links plus this week's car chase...
1) Movie Posters for remakes we wish were true!
2) The Coen Brothers Screenwriting Secrets Revealed!
3) Real James Bond era Spy Gadgets!
4) Time Out's 100 Best British Films - with an upset! The BFI's #1 film is pushed to #2 by another thriller!
5) What if David Lynch directed the Superbowl?
6) This week's Car Chase is from a Luc Besson movie...
I watched this film on VHS back in the day and thought it was crazy... but fun. Wonder what else this guy has made?
- Bill
TODAY'S SCRIPT TIP: How To Study A Screenplay .
Dinner: Fish & Chips at what has to be the last remaining H. Salt Esq - in NoHo. Place ain't cheap! Greasy fast food - over $10.
Pages: Yes - a great scene yesterday. Still way behind, but you will cry every 15 minutes when reading this script!
Monday, February 07, 2011
Chain Gang Escape
Almost three years ago (beginning of May 2008) I bought a bicycle and began riding again. Though there were many reasons, the main one was because I was fat and not in great health. I needed to get some regular exercise, and riding a bike from coffee shop to coffee shop not only kept the blood circulating, it was also a great way to think about the next scene while I was cycling there. I have lost weight, am in better health, and know how to quickly put my bike on the front rack of a city bus without tearing my hand off...
But Saturday, someone else was riding my bike - it was stolen.
The real pisser is that I had just changed the rear tire and tube - and that’s a bitch to do. Had I known the bike was going to be stolen, I would have left it as it.
So I have to buy a new bike.
The pisser is that the bike was locked, at a public place where it shouldn’t have been stolen, and there were other, better, bikes parked nearby that were not stolen. My friend Mark had his bike parked next to mine, and they didn’t steal his.
Sometimes life is like that. I may have blogged about my general bad luck in the past - a couple of years ago I was standing with some other folks in line to get into a screening and a bird pooped on my head. Just me. No one else got pooped on. Now, maybe I slighted this bird sometime in the past, who knows. But when something like that happens, even though you know it’s completely random, you begin to buy into those bird conspiracy theories. To feel like you’re getting screwed and everyone else is not (well, they don’t have bird poop on *their* heads). But the reality is just that bird poop happens. It’s not personal. Best to just shake it off and keep going.
I talked to my friend Mark about the bike theft - and he’s had several stolen as well. Sometimes you can have the greatest lock in the world, and they use freon to freeze it and smash it and steal your bike. You can’t kick yourself for not having a better lock, and you can’t go around blaming everyone for your missing bike... and you can’t be paranoid that evil bike thieves are following you everywhere just waiting to get your new bike. Just have to pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and get back to your life.
The good news is: soon I will have a new bike.
- Bill
But Saturday, someone else was riding my bike - it was stolen.
The real pisser is that I had just changed the rear tire and tube - and that’s a bitch to do. Had I known the bike was going to be stolen, I would have left it as it.
So I have to buy a new bike.
The pisser is that the bike was locked, at a public place where it shouldn’t have been stolen, and there were other, better, bikes parked nearby that were not stolen. My friend Mark had his bike parked next to mine, and they didn’t steal his.
Sometimes life is like that. I may have blogged about my general bad luck in the past - a couple of years ago I was standing with some other folks in line to get into a screening and a bird pooped on my head. Just me. No one else got pooped on. Now, maybe I slighted this bird sometime in the past, who knows. But when something like that happens, even though you know it’s completely random, you begin to buy into those bird conspiracy theories. To feel like you’re getting screwed and everyone else is not (well, they don’t have bird poop on *their* heads). But the reality is just that bird poop happens. It’s not personal. Best to just shake it off and keep going.
I talked to my friend Mark about the bike theft - and he’s had several stolen as well. Sometimes you can have the greatest lock in the world, and they use freon to freeze it and smash it and steal your bike. You can’t kick yourself for not having a better lock, and you can’t go around blaming everyone for your missing bike... and you can’t be paranoid that evil bike thieves are following you everywhere just waiting to get your new bike. Just have to pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and get back to your life.
The good news is: soon I will have a new bike.
- Bill
Avoid TV in the UK Today...
Wow - it's playing all week! They still have the synopsis wrong, but the film sucks - so who would ever notice?
- Bill
- Bill
Monday, January 31, 2011
RIP: John Barry
He wrote the music for almost all of the James Bond movies, BORN FREE, MIDNIGHT COWBOY, IPCRESS FILE, ZULU, PETULIA, THE LAST VALLEY, WALKABOUT, ROBIN & MARION, THE DEEP, SOMEWHERE IN TIME, BODY HEAT, FRANCES, JAGGED EDGE, OUT OF AFRICA, DANCES WITH WOLVES, and maybe 100 more! His scores could be lush and romantic or jazzy and cool or strange and haunting or just about anything else. One of the greats.
My favorite cut from the GOLDFINGER score...
So, there was this time when music was on vinyl... and I collected soundtracks, including everything from John Barry I could get my hands on. Here's the strange part - my parents, lower middle class folks who went to the drive in to see movies, owned a bunch of film scores. I think back then, because everything was album oriented, if you liked the theme *song* from BORN FREE you went out and bought the album and got the whole score - and my mom might put on the record while she did housework or cooked dinner and listened to the symphonic parts as well as that hit song. So "normal people" might own some sound tracks - my folks owned a bunch of Henry Mancini stuff because he did music for some of their favorite movies. I grew up listening to ELEPHANT WALK and BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY'S and CASINO ROYALE.
Here's John Barry's OUT OF AFRICA...
The great part of searching YouTube for all of these clips is that I got to listen to the music all over again... and relive some memories. My soundtrack collection began with YOU'RE A BIG BOY NOW because the Lovin' Spoonful did the music, but as a James Bond fan I probably bought GOLDFINGER next. I had the MIDNIGHT COWBOY score before ever seeing the movie, because it was rated X.
MIDNIGHT COWBOY...
When searching for SOMEWHERE IN TIME, I came upon a clip of the big scene and it floored me all over again. This film is kind of slow for today, but a big romance with some amazing scenes that stick with you. It's one of those films that "remembers well" - it may drag a bit while you are watching it, but a couple of days later you'll still be thinking about the penny scene.
Here's the main theme for SOMEWHERE IN TIME:
One of my favorite films, one that influences my writing, is BODY HEAT... and it has a John Barry Score:
So, when I started working at the movie theater there was this guy named Dave who was a big movie fan, and we'd sometimes go to this record store in San Francisco that specialized in sound tracks. Though you could find a good selection of sound tracks in any normal record store out in the suburbs where I lived - and even in the record section of department stores like Sears and Pennys - they probably didn't have any records from 1960s movies... and this place in San Francisco had *everything*. They only carried sound tracks. And they had all kinds of "cut outs" at discount prices. I bought PETULIA there, and still have it.
Here's PETULIA:
Maybe once a month Dave and I would go across the bridge and dig around in the store and buy some stuff we couldn't get anywhere else. The place was run by a couple of Gay guys who were human encyclopedias of film music. You could name any film and they'd tell you who did the score plus some back story. They had a service for regular customers - they had a copy of everything in their collection, and if the music either wasn't on vinyl or was impossible to find, they'd make you a tape for $1 (or something). They also had customer cards with your wish list, and if something came in used that was on your list, they'd hold it and call you. If I'd had more money I would have had a better collection - but I ended up with maybe fifty or sixty sound tracks, including...
BORN FREE:
And here's one of my favorite movies and favorite scores, THE IPCRESS FILE...
Another movie that starred Michael Caine and had a great John Barry score, ZULU:
Here's another sound track I owned on vinyl for *years* before I was able to see the film, a british sex comedy called THE KNACK:
DANCES WITH WOLVES:
Another great Michael Caine movie that you've never heard of - THE LAST VALLEY - a cool epic written and directed by novelist James Clavell about the 30 Years War, and a valley that both sides decide is off limits - a place of peace in the middle of the war:
Something strange happened and department stores like Sears and Pennys cut their music departments down to only the most popular music. And even the record stores like Tower began pruning their sound track sections down to what I call the Krappy K-tel Kompilations: those collections of *songs* from some movie. Fewer soundtracks. More *songs*. The big change came with BATMAN - great score by Danny Elfman - but Warner Bros released an album of Prince music "inspired by" the movie. I think one or two songs might have been used as background, and the rest was never in the film. The Krappy K-tel Kompilation had taken over, and a movie soundtrack might just be a bunchof pop tunes that were never in the movie! The movie was just a way to sell the music. But "normal people" weren't buying soundtracks at all. The only one they'd buy from that point until now was TITANIC. Soundtracks are pretty much dead... so you may not be familiar with John Barry or his work, except for the James Bond stuff.
John Barry will be missed in a strange way: you will be watching a movie, maybe a romance, and there will be these pop tunes in the background of scenes instead of the big lush scores that added to the film experience. And you won't know why this film seems less romantic than a movie like OUT OF AFRICA, but it just doesn't feel the same. That's because John Barry wasn't here to write the music.
Let's end with one of my favorite John Barry scores... for an awful movie. The 1976 version of KING KONG:
RIP: John Barry - won 5 Oscars, was 77 years old. I'm going to miss him.
- Bill
My favorite cut from the GOLDFINGER score...
So, there was this time when music was on vinyl... and I collected soundtracks, including everything from John Barry I could get my hands on. Here's the strange part - my parents, lower middle class folks who went to the drive in to see movies, owned a bunch of film scores. I think back then, because everything was album oriented, if you liked the theme *song* from BORN FREE you went out and bought the album and got the whole score - and my mom might put on the record while she did housework or cooked dinner and listened to the symphonic parts as well as that hit song. So "normal people" might own some sound tracks - my folks owned a bunch of Henry Mancini stuff because he did music for some of their favorite movies. I grew up listening to ELEPHANT WALK and BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY'S and CASINO ROYALE.
Here's John Barry's OUT OF AFRICA...
The great part of searching YouTube for all of these clips is that I got to listen to the music all over again... and relive some memories. My soundtrack collection began with YOU'RE A BIG BOY NOW because the Lovin' Spoonful did the music, but as a James Bond fan I probably bought GOLDFINGER next. I had the MIDNIGHT COWBOY score before ever seeing the movie, because it was rated X.
MIDNIGHT COWBOY...
When searching for SOMEWHERE IN TIME, I came upon a clip of the big scene and it floored me all over again. This film is kind of slow for today, but a big romance with some amazing scenes that stick with you. It's one of those films that "remembers well" - it may drag a bit while you are watching it, but a couple of days later you'll still be thinking about the penny scene.
Here's the main theme for SOMEWHERE IN TIME:
One of my favorite films, one that influences my writing, is BODY HEAT... and it has a John Barry Score:
So, when I started working at the movie theater there was this guy named Dave who was a big movie fan, and we'd sometimes go to this record store in San Francisco that specialized in sound tracks. Though you could find a good selection of sound tracks in any normal record store out in the suburbs where I lived - and even in the record section of department stores like Sears and Pennys - they probably didn't have any records from 1960s movies... and this place in San Francisco had *everything*. They only carried sound tracks. And they had all kinds of "cut outs" at discount prices. I bought PETULIA there, and still have it.
Here's PETULIA:
Maybe once a month Dave and I would go across the bridge and dig around in the store and buy some stuff we couldn't get anywhere else. The place was run by a couple of Gay guys who were human encyclopedias of film music. You could name any film and they'd tell you who did the score plus some back story. They had a service for regular customers - they had a copy of everything in their collection, and if the music either wasn't on vinyl or was impossible to find, they'd make you a tape for $1 (or something). They also had customer cards with your wish list, and if something came in used that was on your list, they'd hold it and call you. If I'd had more money I would have had a better collection - but I ended up with maybe fifty or sixty sound tracks, including...
BORN FREE:
And here's one of my favorite movies and favorite scores, THE IPCRESS FILE...
Another movie that starred Michael Caine and had a great John Barry score, ZULU:
Here's another sound track I owned on vinyl for *years* before I was able to see the film, a british sex comedy called THE KNACK:
DANCES WITH WOLVES:
Another great Michael Caine movie that you've never heard of - THE LAST VALLEY - a cool epic written and directed by novelist James Clavell about the 30 Years War, and a valley that both sides decide is off limits - a place of peace in the middle of the war:
Something strange happened and department stores like Sears and Pennys cut their music departments down to only the most popular music. And even the record stores like Tower began pruning their sound track sections down to what I call the Krappy K-tel Kompilations: those collections of *songs* from some movie. Fewer soundtracks. More *songs*. The big change came with BATMAN - great score by Danny Elfman - but Warner Bros released an album of Prince music "inspired by" the movie. I think one or two songs might have been used as background, and the rest was never in the film. The Krappy K-tel Kompilation had taken over, and a movie soundtrack might just be a bunchof pop tunes that were never in the movie! The movie was just a way to sell the music. But "normal people" weren't buying soundtracks at all. The only one they'd buy from that point until now was TITANIC. Soundtracks are pretty much dead... so you may not be familiar with John Barry or his work, except for the James Bond stuff.
John Barry will be missed in a strange way: you will be watching a movie, maybe a romance, and there will be these pop tunes in the background of scenes instead of the big lush scores that added to the film experience. And you won't know why this film seems less romantic than a movie like OUT OF AFRICA, but it just doesn't feel the same. That's because John Barry wasn't here to write the music.
Let's end with one of my favorite John Barry scores... for an awful movie. The 1976 version of KING KONG:
RIP: John Barry - won 5 Oscars, was 77 years old. I'm going to miss him.
- Bill
Friday, January 28, 2011
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
And The Nominees Are...
83rd Acamedy Award Nominees!
Writing (Adapted Screenplay)
“127 Hours” Screenplay by Danny Boyle & Simon Beaufoy
“The Social Network” Screenplay by Aaron Sorkin
“Toy Story 3” Screenplay by Michael Arndt; Story by John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton and Lee Unkrich
“True Grit” Written for the screen by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen
“Winter's Bone” Adapted for the screen by Debra Granik & Anne Rosellini
Writing (Original Screenplay)
“Another Year” Written by Mike Leigh
“The Fighter” Screenplay by Scott Silver and Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson;
Story by Keith Dorrington & Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson
“Inception” Written by Christopher Nolan
“The Kids Are All Right” Written by Lisa Cholodenko & Stuart Blumberg
“The King's Speech” Screenplay by David Seidler
Best Picture
“Black Swan” Mike Medavoy, Brian Oliver and Scott Franklin, Producers
“The Fighter” David Hoberman, Todd Lieberman and Mark Wahlberg, Producers
“Inception” Emma Thomas and Christopher Nolan, Producers
“The Kids Are All Right” Gary Gilbert, Jeffrey Levy-Hinte and Celine Rattray, Producers
“The King's Speech” Iain Canning, Emile Sherman and Gareth Unwin, Producers
“127 Hours” Christian Colson, Danny Boyle and John Smithson, Producers
“The Social Network” Scott Rudin, Dana Brunetti, Michael De Luca and Ceán Chaffin, Producers
“Toy Story 3” Darla K. Anderson, Producer
“True Grit” Scott Rudin, Ethan Coen and Joel Coen, Producers
“Winter's Bone" Anne Rosellini and Alix Madigan-Yorkin, Producers
Actor in a Leading Role
Javier Bardem in “Biutiful”
Jeff Bridges in “True Grit”
Jesse Eisenberg in “The Social Network”
Colin Firth in “The King's Speech”
James Franco in “127 Hours”
Actor in a Supporting Role
Christian Bale in “The Fighter”
John Hawkes in “Winter's Bone”
Jeremy Renner in “The Town”
Mark Ruffalo in “The Kids Are All Right”
Geoffrey Rush in “The King's Speech”
Actress in a Leading Role
Annette Bening in “The Kids Are All Right”
Nicole Kidman in “Rabbit Hole”
Jennifer Lawrence in “Winter's Bone”
Natalie Portman in “Black Swan”
Michelle Williams in “Blue Valentine”
Actress in a Supporting Role
Amy Adams in “The Fighter”
Helena Bonham Carter in “The King's Speech”
Melissa Leo in “The Fighter”
Hailee Steinfeld in “True Grit”
Jacki Weaver in “Animal Kingdom”
Animated Feature Film
“How to Train Your Dragon” Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois
“The Illusionist” Sylvain Chomet
“Toy Story 3” Lee Unkrich
Art Direction
“Alice in Wonderland”
Production Design: Robert Stromberg; Set Decoration: Karen O'Hara
“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1”
Production Design: Stuart Craig; Set Decoration: Stephenie McMillan
“Inception”
Production Design: Guy Hendrix Dyas; Set Decoration: Larry Dias and Doug Mowat
“The King's Speech”
Production Design: Eve Stewart; Set Decoration: Judy Farr
“True Grit”
Production Design: Jess Gonchor; Set Decoration: Nancy Haigh
Cinematography
“Black Swan” Matthew Libatique
“Inception” Wally Pfister
“The King's Speech” Danny Cohen
“The Social Network” Jeff Cronenweth
“True Grit” Roger Deakins
Costume Design
“Alice in Wonderland” Colleen Atwood
“I Am Love” Antonella Cannarozzi
“The King's Speech” Jenny Beavan
“The Tempest” Sandy Powell
“True Grit” Mary Zophres
Directing
“Black Swan” Darren Aronofsky
“The Fighter” David O. Russell
“The King's Speech” Tom Hooper
“The Social Network” David Fincher
“True Grit” Joel Coen and Ethan Coen
Documentary (Feature)
“Exit through the Gift Shop” Banksy and Jaimie D'Cruz
“Gasland” Josh Fox and Trish Adlesic
“Inside Job” Charles Ferguson and Audrey Marrs
“Restrepo” Tim Hetherington and Sebastian Junger
“Waste Land” Lucy Walker and Angus Aynsley
Documentary (Short Subject)
“Killing in the Name” Nominees to be determined
“Poster Girl” Nominees to be determined
“Strangers No More” Karen Goodman and Kirk Simon
“Sun Come Up” Jennifer Redfearn and Tim Metzger
“The Warriors of Qiugang” Ruby Yang and Thomas Lennon
Film Editing
“Black Swan” Andrew Weisblum
“The Fighter” Pamela Martin
“The King's Speech” Tariq Anwar
“127 Hours” Jon Harris
“The Social Network” Angus Wall and Kirk Baxter
Foreign Language Film
“Biutiful” Mexico
“Dogtooth” Greece
“In a Better World” Denmark
“Incendies” Canada
“Outside the Law (Hors-la-loi)” Algeria
Makeup
“Barney's Version” Adrien Morot
“The Way Back” Edouard F. Henriques, Gregory Funk and Yolanda Toussieng
“The Wolfman” Rick Baker and Dave Elsey
Music (Original Score)
“How to Train Your Dragon” John Powell
“Inception” Hans Zimmer
“The King's Speech” Alexandre Desplat
“127 Hours” A.R. Rahman
“The Social Network” Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross
Music (Original Song)
“Coming Home” from “Country Strong” Music and Lyric by Tom Douglas, Troy Verges and Hillary Lindsey
“I See the Light” from “Tangled” Music by Alan Menken Lyric by Glenn Slater
“If I Rise” from “127 Hours” Music by A.R. Rahman Lyric by Dido and Rollo Armstrong
“We Belong Together” from “Toy Story 3" Music and Lyric by Randy Newman
Short Film (Animated)
“Day & Night” Teddy Newton
“The Gruffalo” Jakob Schuh and Max Lang
“Let's Pollute” Geefwee Boedoe
“The Lost Thing” Shaun Tan and Andrew Ruhemann
“Madagascar, carnet de voyage (Madagascar, a Journey Diary)” Bastien Dubois
Short Film (Live Action)
“The Confession” Tanel Toom
“The Crush” Michael Creagh
“God of Love” Luke Matheny
“Na Wewe” Ivan Goldschmidt
“Wish 143” Ian Barnes and Samantha Waite
Sound Editing
“Inception” Richard King
“Toy Story 3” Tom Myers and Michael Silvers
“Tron: Legacy” Gwendolyn Yates Whittle and Addison Teague
“True Grit” Skip Lievsay and Craig Berkey
“Unstoppable” Mark P. Stoeckinger
Sound Mixing
“Inception” Lora Hirschberg, Gary A. Rizzo and Ed Novick
“The King's Speech” Paul Hamblin, Martin Jensen and John Midgley
“Salt” Jeffrey J. Haboush, Greg P. Russell, Scott Millan and William Sarokin
“The Social Network” Ren Klyce, David Parker, Michael Semanick and Mark Weingarten
“True Grit” Skip Lievsay, Craig Berkey, Greg Orloff and Peter F. Kurland
Visual Effects
“Alice in Wonderland” Ken Ralston, David Schaub, Carey Villegas and Sean Phillips
“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1” Tim Burke, John Richardson, Christian Manz and Nicolas Aithadi
“Hereafter” Michael Owens, Bryan Grill, Stephan Trojanski and Joe Farrell
“Inception” Paul Franklin, Chris Corbould, Andrew Lockley and Peter Bebb
“Iron Man 2” Janek Sirrs, Ben Snow, Ged Wright and Daniel Sudick
So, what are your favorites? What films/artists do you think should have been nominated but were not? What films/artists do you think shoukld be on the Razzie List instead of here?
- Bill
Writing (Adapted Screenplay)
“127 Hours” Screenplay by Danny Boyle & Simon Beaufoy
“The Social Network” Screenplay by Aaron Sorkin
“Toy Story 3” Screenplay by Michael Arndt; Story by John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton and Lee Unkrich
“True Grit” Written for the screen by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen
“Winter's Bone” Adapted for the screen by Debra Granik & Anne Rosellini
Writing (Original Screenplay)
“Another Year” Written by Mike Leigh
“The Fighter” Screenplay by Scott Silver and Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson;
Story by Keith Dorrington & Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson
“Inception” Written by Christopher Nolan
“The Kids Are All Right” Written by Lisa Cholodenko & Stuart Blumberg
“The King's Speech” Screenplay by David Seidler
Best Picture
“Black Swan” Mike Medavoy, Brian Oliver and Scott Franklin, Producers
“The Fighter” David Hoberman, Todd Lieberman and Mark Wahlberg, Producers
“Inception” Emma Thomas and Christopher Nolan, Producers
“The Kids Are All Right” Gary Gilbert, Jeffrey Levy-Hinte and Celine Rattray, Producers
“The King's Speech” Iain Canning, Emile Sherman and Gareth Unwin, Producers
“127 Hours” Christian Colson, Danny Boyle and John Smithson, Producers
“The Social Network” Scott Rudin, Dana Brunetti, Michael De Luca and Ceán Chaffin, Producers
“Toy Story 3” Darla K. Anderson, Producer
“True Grit” Scott Rudin, Ethan Coen and Joel Coen, Producers
“Winter's Bone" Anne Rosellini and Alix Madigan-Yorkin, Producers
Actor in a Leading Role
Javier Bardem in “Biutiful”
Jeff Bridges in “True Grit”
Jesse Eisenberg in “The Social Network”
Colin Firth in “The King's Speech”
James Franco in “127 Hours”
Actor in a Supporting Role
Christian Bale in “The Fighter”
John Hawkes in “Winter's Bone”
Jeremy Renner in “The Town”
Mark Ruffalo in “The Kids Are All Right”
Geoffrey Rush in “The King's Speech”
Actress in a Leading Role
Annette Bening in “The Kids Are All Right”
Nicole Kidman in “Rabbit Hole”
Jennifer Lawrence in “Winter's Bone”
Natalie Portman in “Black Swan”
Michelle Williams in “Blue Valentine”
Actress in a Supporting Role
Amy Adams in “The Fighter”
Helena Bonham Carter in “The King's Speech”
Melissa Leo in “The Fighter”
Hailee Steinfeld in “True Grit”
Jacki Weaver in “Animal Kingdom”
Animated Feature Film
“How to Train Your Dragon” Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois
“The Illusionist” Sylvain Chomet
“Toy Story 3” Lee Unkrich
Art Direction
“Alice in Wonderland”
Production Design: Robert Stromberg; Set Decoration: Karen O'Hara
“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1”
Production Design: Stuart Craig; Set Decoration: Stephenie McMillan
“Inception”
Production Design: Guy Hendrix Dyas; Set Decoration: Larry Dias and Doug Mowat
“The King's Speech”
Production Design: Eve Stewart; Set Decoration: Judy Farr
“True Grit”
Production Design: Jess Gonchor; Set Decoration: Nancy Haigh
Cinematography
“Black Swan” Matthew Libatique
“Inception” Wally Pfister
“The King's Speech” Danny Cohen
“The Social Network” Jeff Cronenweth
“True Grit” Roger Deakins
Costume Design
“Alice in Wonderland” Colleen Atwood
“I Am Love” Antonella Cannarozzi
“The King's Speech” Jenny Beavan
“The Tempest” Sandy Powell
“True Grit” Mary Zophres
Directing
“Black Swan” Darren Aronofsky
“The Fighter” David O. Russell
“The King's Speech” Tom Hooper
“The Social Network” David Fincher
“True Grit” Joel Coen and Ethan Coen
Documentary (Feature)
“Exit through the Gift Shop” Banksy and Jaimie D'Cruz
“Gasland” Josh Fox and Trish Adlesic
“Inside Job” Charles Ferguson and Audrey Marrs
“Restrepo” Tim Hetherington and Sebastian Junger
“Waste Land” Lucy Walker and Angus Aynsley
Documentary (Short Subject)
“Killing in the Name” Nominees to be determined
“Poster Girl” Nominees to be determined
“Strangers No More” Karen Goodman and Kirk Simon
“Sun Come Up” Jennifer Redfearn and Tim Metzger
“The Warriors of Qiugang” Ruby Yang and Thomas Lennon
Film Editing
“Black Swan” Andrew Weisblum
“The Fighter” Pamela Martin
“The King's Speech” Tariq Anwar
“127 Hours” Jon Harris
“The Social Network” Angus Wall and Kirk Baxter
Foreign Language Film
“Biutiful” Mexico
“Dogtooth” Greece
“In a Better World” Denmark
“Incendies” Canada
“Outside the Law (Hors-la-loi)” Algeria
Makeup
“Barney's Version” Adrien Morot
“The Way Back” Edouard F. Henriques, Gregory Funk and Yolanda Toussieng
“The Wolfman” Rick Baker and Dave Elsey
Music (Original Score)
“How to Train Your Dragon” John Powell
“Inception” Hans Zimmer
“The King's Speech” Alexandre Desplat
“127 Hours” A.R. Rahman
“The Social Network” Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross
Music (Original Song)
“Coming Home” from “Country Strong” Music and Lyric by Tom Douglas, Troy Verges and Hillary Lindsey
“I See the Light” from “Tangled” Music by Alan Menken Lyric by Glenn Slater
“If I Rise” from “127 Hours” Music by A.R. Rahman Lyric by Dido and Rollo Armstrong
“We Belong Together” from “Toy Story 3" Music and Lyric by Randy Newman
Short Film (Animated)
“Day & Night” Teddy Newton
“The Gruffalo” Jakob Schuh and Max Lang
“Let's Pollute” Geefwee Boedoe
“The Lost Thing” Shaun Tan and Andrew Ruhemann
“Madagascar, carnet de voyage (Madagascar, a Journey Diary)” Bastien Dubois
Short Film (Live Action)
“The Confession” Tanel Toom
“The Crush” Michael Creagh
“God of Love” Luke Matheny
“Na Wewe” Ivan Goldschmidt
“Wish 143” Ian Barnes and Samantha Waite
Sound Editing
“Inception” Richard King
“Toy Story 3” Tom Myers and Michael Silvers
“Tron: Legacy” Gwendolyn Yates Whittle and Addison Teague
“True Grit” Skip Lievsay and Craig Berkey
“Unstoppable” Mark P. Stoeckinger
Sound Mixing
“Inception” Lora Hirschberg, Gary A. Rizzo and Ed Novick
“The King's Speech” Paul Hamblin, Martin Jensen and John Midgley
“Salt” Jeffrey J. Haboush, Greg P. Russell, Scott Millan and William Sarokin
“The Social Network” Ren Klyce, David Parker, Michael Semanick and Mark Weingarten
“True Grit” Skip Lievsay, Craig Berkey, Greg Orloff and Peter F. Kurland
Visual Effects
“Alice in Wonderland” Ken Ralston, David Schaub, Carey Villegas and Sean Phillips
“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1” Tim Burke, John Richardson, Christian Manz and Nicolas Aithadi
“Hereafter” Michael Owens, Bryan Grill, Stephan Trojanski and Joe Farrell
“Inception” Paul Franklin, Chris Corbould, Andrew Lockley and Peter Bebb
“Iron Man 2” Janek Sirrs, Ben Snow, Ged Wright and Daniel Sudick
So, what are your favorites? What films/artists do you think should have been nominated but were not? What films/artists do you think shoukld be on the Razzie List instead of here?
- Bill
Thursday, January 20, 2011
Lancelot Link Thursday
Lancelot Link Thursday! For those of you who think Bonzo should have run for President after graduating college, 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) A sentence that only uses one word many times.
2) Movie Reviews, Broken Down.
3) Got a novel? - my friend Harry posted this on his blog - Del Rey has a conest going!
4) Trailer #3 for the movie RUBBER - like PSYCHO, but with a car tire.
5) The car chase is from RONIN - a movie with kind of a nonsense story, but a bunch of great action scenes.
No CGI, no tricks - just some amazing French drivers!
- Bill
IMPORTANT UPDATE:
TODAY'S SCRIPT TIP: Writing Action Scenes - and the 5 reasons why they need to be on the page.
Dinner: Tortas in Studio City - a burrito as big as my head, salad, chips, salsa... all for less than you'd pay at some fast food joint.
Pages: Yes - slow progress on the spec.
Bicycle: Yes. Sort bike ride to NoHo for the afternoon shift at Panera.
Here are four cool links plus this week's car chase...
1) A sentence that only uses one word many times.
2) Movie Reviews, Broken Down.
3) Got a novel? - my friend Harry posted this on his blog - Del Rey has a conest going!
4) Trailer #3 for the movie RUBBER - like PSYCHO, but with a car tire.
5) The car chase is from RONIN - a movie with kind of a nonsense story, but a bunch of great action scenes.
No CGI, no tricks - just some amazing French drivers!
- Bill
TODAY'S SCRIPT TIP: Writing Action Scenes - and the 5 reasons why they need to be on the page.
Dinner: Tortas in Studio City - a burrito as big as my head, salad, chips, salsa... all for less than you'd pay at some fast food joint.
Pages: Yes - slow progress on the spec.
Bicycle: Yes. Sort bike ride to NoHo for the afternoon shift at Panera.
Monday, January 17, 2011
Boys! Boys! Boys!
I’m behind on the new screenplay. I had hoped to make up for lost pages on Saturday, but completely screwed up and didn’t do squat. I can still finish by the end of the month, but it becomes less writing a comfortable number of pages every day and more *work*.
The problem is probably the script I finished last month just before Christmas (actually, I think it was December 24th!) - I haven’t written two scripts back-to-back in about 15 years! It’s like running a Marathon today... then trying to run another Marathon tomorrow. The plan was to work extra hard on Saturday and then take Sunday off - because I think having a day off might help me be more productive (sounds counter-intuitive, but also kind of makes sense). But the various events that caused me to get nothing done on Saturday kind of screwed up that plan. I had to do some work on Sunday just to keep from getting father behind.
My sleep patterns are all messed up, and add to that some stupid stuff - like leaving some materials I needed at a copy place on the other side of the valley. The problem with sleep being off is that it makes you stupid. So I’ve been doing all kinds of stupid things over the past few days in addition to not getting many pages written.
One of the other problems with this screenplay - it was originally about a 12 year old girl. The problem is that a 12 year old actress can only work 4 hours a day, and must have an on set teacher, and there are all kinds of other fun rules that will screw up making the film. But an 18 year-old actress pretending to be 16 years old? No restrictions at all! Work them ‘till they drop - they are adults. So I switched the lead from 12 years old to 16 years old... Simple!
Except there is one HUGE difference between a 12 year old girl and a 16 year old girl.
Okay, boobs... but also what comes with boobs...
Boys. A 12 year old girl may like boys and have crushes, but a 16 year old girl may be boy crazy - and boys are part of their every day life. A 12 year old asks her parents if she wants to go to a movie, a 16 year old is asked out by a boy or wishes she were asked out by a boy... or goes with a group of other girls and they talk about boys, etc.
There were no boys in my story idea. No romantic subplot.
I tried to just ignore boys when I started writing the script, but it wasn’t working. So I had to go back and add boys - rewritting a bunch of scenes. The lead girl’s best friend went through a sex change operation (behind the scenes) and Alice became Arlo. This solved part of the problem, but I’m still having boy problems on almost every page. What was outlined to be a scene where she watches a sporting event... is about *boys*! Because boys are the athletes. What was outlined as a scene where she becomes involved in a hobby that’s the main plot... is a problem because she can’t spend that time thinking about *boys*! I’m trying my damndest to keep the boy stuff to a minimum because it has nothing to do with the plot, but it isn’t easy. By the way, here’s a tip: the problem is usually the solution to the problem - so a scene where she had problems with her hobby is now going to include *boys*!
There will still be no romantic subplot for my 16 year old girl.
The other issue with this script - it is not KICK ASS 2. The 12, now 16 year old girl is not shooting guns or outrunning explosions. She also isn’t the reincarnation of a serial killer victim hell-bent on revenge. She is just a girl. This is a family film. Not my genre. Though it is *my* story, and I have a connection to it and a passion for it - um, I want something to explode on page 24. So, on top of this being a Marathon right after a Marathon, it’s a Marathon I’m not obsessed with winning. Hey, it would be nice, but there are many other races that I am more interested in. So, while I’m running this one I keep thinking of other races.
And now I’m just bitching. Venting. Using you kind folks. Sorry about that.
Sometimes, it’s work. You have that fantasy that you’re going to sell that script and tell your day job boss to take this job and shove it (though my boss was a great guy) and then live this romanticized screenwriter’s life where you sleep until noon and type either in your pjs like Marcel or in the bathtub like Waldo... and sometimes you can do those things. Other times, it’s work. You still love it, but it’s that love you feel for your spouse when she does something that screws you up bigtime and you are mad as hell but bite your tongue. You may almost hate her now, but in a couple of days or a week all of this will be dust in the wind and you’ll be back to loving her. You *know* you’re going to still love her when all of this blows over (and you still love her now, you’re just mad at her, too) - so you stick with it and put on that “Yes, Dear” smile and say it doesn’t matter when it does and work to get past it. I’m going to work to get through this script because I know somewhere down the line - maybe the day after tomorrow - I will fall back in love with it and everything will be wonderful.
Except for all of those scenes that now require *boys*.
- Bill
IMPORTANT UPDATE:
TODAY'S SCRIPT TIP: Beginning, Middle, and End - and SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE.
Dinner: Carls Jr Chicken Strips.
Pages: Yeah, read the blog entry.
Bicycle: Yes. On Thursday I took a bike ride of epic length - all over NoHo, then to Burbank, then to Writers Store, then to an undisclosed drinking location, then home. Saturday - another long one. Sunday - short ride, but should have just rested my legs.
The problem is probably the script I finished last month just before Christmas (actually, I think it was December 24th!) - I haven’t written two scripts back-to-back in about 15 years! It’s like running a Marathon today... then trying to run another Marathon tomorrow. The plan was to work extra hard on Saturday and then take Sunday off - because I think having a day off might help me be more productive (sounds counter-intuitive, but also kind of makes sense). But the various events that caused me to get nothing done on Saturday kind of screwed up that plan. I had to do some work on Sunday just to keep from getting father behind.
My sleep patterns are all messed up, and add to that some stupid stuff - like leaving some materials I needed at a copy place on the other side of the valley. The problem with sleep being off is that it makes you stupid. So I’ve been doing all kinds of stupid things over the past few days in addition to not getting many pages written.
One of the other problems with this screenplay - it was originally about a 12 year old girl. The problem is that a 12 year old actress can only work 4 hours a day, and must have an on set teacher, and there are all kinds of other fun rules that will screw up making the film. But an 18 year-old actress pretending to be 16 years old? No restrictions at all! Work them ‘till they drop - they are adults. So I switched the lead from 12 years old to 16 years old... Simple!
Except there is one HUGE difference between a 12 year old girl and a 16 year old girl.
Okay, boobs... but also what comes with boobs...
Boys. A 12 year old girl may like boys and have crushes, but a 16 year old girl may be boy crazy - and boys are part of their every day life. A 12 year old asks her parents if she wants to go to a movie, a 16 year old is asked out by a boy or wishes she were asked out by a boy... or goes with a group of other girls and they talk about boys, etc.
There were no boys in my story idea. No romantic subplot.
I tried to just ignore boys when I started writing the script, but it wasn’t working. So I had to go back and add boys - rewritting a bunch of scenes. The lead girl’s best friend went through a sex change operation (behind the scenes) and Alice became Arlo. This solved part of the problem, but I’m still having boy problems on almost every page. What was outlined to be a scene where she watches a sporting event... is about *boys*! Because boys are the athletes. What was outlined as a scene where she becomes involved in a hobby that’s the main plot... is a problem because she can’t spend that time thinking about *boys*! I’m trying my damndest to keep the boy stuff to a minimum because it has nothing to do with the plot, but it isn’t easy. By the way, here’s a tip: the problem is usually the solution to the problem - so a scene where she had problems with her hobby is now going to include *boys*!
There will still be no romantic subplot for my 16 year old girl.
The other issue with this script - it is not KICK ASS 2. The 12, now 16 year old girl is not shooting guns or outrunning explosions. She also isn’t the reincarnation of a serial killer victim hell-bent on revenge. She is just a girl. This is a family film. Not my genre. Though it is *my* story, and I have a connection to it and a passion for it - um, I want something to explode on page 24. So, on top of this being a Marathon right after a Marathon, it’s a Marathon I’m not obsessed with winning. Hey, it would be nice, but there are many other races that I am more interested in. So, while I’m running this one I keep thinking of other races.
And now I’m just bitching. Venting. Using you kind folks. Sorry about that.
Sometimes, it’s work. You have that fantasy that you’re going to sell that script and tell your day job boss to take this job and shove it (though my boss was a great guy) and then live this romanticized screenwriter’s life where you sleep until noon and type either in your pjs like Marcel or in the bathtub like Waldo... and sometimes you can do those things. Other times, it’s work. You still love it, but it’s that love you feel for your spouse when she does something that screws you up bigtime and you are mad as hell but bite your tongue. You may almost hate her now, but in a couple of days or a week all of this will be dust in the wind and you’ll be back to loving her. You *know* you’re going to still love her when all of this blows over (and you still love her now, you’re just mad at her, too) - so you stick with it and put on that “Yes, Dear” smile and say it doesn’t matter when it does and work to get past it. I’m going to work to get through this script because I know somewhere down the line - maybe the day after tomorrow - I will fall back in love with it and everything will be wonderful.
Except for all of those scenes that now require *boys*.
- Bill
TODAY'S SCRIPT TIP: Beginning, Middle, and End - and SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE.
Dinner: Carls Jr Chicken Strips.
Pages: Yeah, read the blog entry.
Bicycle: Yes. On Thursday I took a bike ride of epic length - all over NoHo, then to Burbank, then to Writers Store, then to an undisclosed drinking location, then home. Saturday - another long one. Sunday - short ride, but should have just rested my legs.
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Lancelot Link Thursday
Lancelot Link Thursday! For those of you who wonder why Marcel the monkey didn't get a spin off series from FRIENDS, 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) Talk like a Cowboy!
2) The Strange World Of Sherlock Holmes.
3) What If That Movie Had Been Made In Japan?
4) The Writer Behind THE KING'S SPEECH.
5) And this week's car chase...
RIP: Peter Yates.
- Bill
IMPORTANT UPDATE:
TODAY'S SCRIPT TIP: Character Driven Blockbusters?
Dinner: Roast Beef sandwich at Togos.
Pages: Some pages on the new spec - I'm a little behind, but okay.
Bicycle: First medium ride since returning from the holidays!
Here are four cool links plus this week's car chase...
1) Talk like a Cowboy!
2) The Strange World Of Sherlock Holmes.
3) What If That Movie Had Been Made In Japan?
4) The Writer Behind THE KING'S SPEECH.
5) And this week's car chase...
RIP: Peter Yates.
- Bill
TODAY'S SCRIPT TIP: Character Driven Blockbusters?
Dinner: Roast Beef sandwich at Togos.
Pages: Some pages on the new spec - I'm a little behind, but okay.
Bicycle: First medium ride since returning from the holidays!
Monday, January 10, 2011
Do Not Drink Liquids While Reading This
My friend Ronson posted a link to this on Facebook. I've been to this page before, laughed too hard in public, and then forgot about it.
DAMN YOU AUTOCORRECT!
- Bill
DAMN YOU AUTOCORRECT!
- Bill
Best Of The Blog
So, here's a sample of the posts that usually pop up on this blog...
1) The LEOPARD MAN post on creating dread and suspense.
2) How NOTTINGHAM became ROBIN HOOD. - my most read blog entry.
3) Chess Moves and DARK PASSAGE.
4) The Fridays With Hitchcock Index - What we can learn about screenwriting from Hitch's films.
5) What does a car chase look like on the page?
6) My First Agent! - actually, the only one I've ever had.
7) Last, but not least: The Saga Of The Brad Pitt Guy. There are 5 parts to it, next part linked at the end of each part before the comments.
What are your favorite blog entries?
- Bill
1) The LEOPARD MAN post on creating dread and suspense.
2) How NOTTINGHAM became ROBIN HOOD. - my most read blog entry.
3) Chess Moves and DARK PASSAGE.
4) The Fridays With Hitchcock Index - What we can learn about screenwriting from Hitch's films.
5) What does a car chase look like on the page?
6) My First Agent! - actually, the only one I've ever had.
7) Last, but not least: The Saga Of The Brad Pitt Guy. There are 5 parts to it, next part linked at the end of each part before the comments.
What are your favorite blog entries?
- Bill
Friday, January 07, 2011
Wish I Would Have Thought Of That
I never come up with any good Get Rich Quick schemes - mine are always the ones that take a lot of hard work.
A friend of mine came up with a scheme to sell stuff that was made by other people - he'd just be the middle man. I thought this was a dumb idea, as customers could buy the products from the manufacturer for *less* than he sold them for. But his theory was that if you put a bunch of connected products from different sources on the same website, people would buy from you rather than go all over the place online - even if you would save money doing that. And he was right. I was wrong. He makes a living with a website that sells other people's stuff... and now I wish I'd have done that.
So when I was e-mailed by the writers of this proposed screenwriting book, I felt like an idiot again. Great idea! Why didn't I think of that? They had professional screenwriters and screenwriting teachers each write a chapter of their book... and they wrote the introduction! (okay, they had to plan and edit the book, too.) So you get a bunch of name writers each doing a chapter - like an all star movie.
Meanwhile, I am writing my own damned books - doing all of the writing myself! And I don't have an all star line up of writers - just me.
I wish I would have thought of this book!
- Bill
A friend of mine came up with a scheme to sell stuff that was made by other people - he'd just be the middle man. I thought this was a dumb idea, as customers could buy the products from the manufacturer for *less* than he sold them for. But his theory was that if you put a bunch of connected products from different sources on the same website, people would buy from you rather than go all over the place online - even if you would save money doing that. And he was right. I was wrong. He makes a living with a website that sells other people's stuff... and now I wish I'd have done that.
So when I was e-mailed by the writers of this proposed screenwriting book, I felt like an idiot again. Great idea! Why didn't I think of that? They had professional screenwriters and screenwriting teachers each write a chapter of their book... and they wrote the introduction! (okay, they had to plan and edit the book, too.) So you get a bunch of name writers each doing a chapter - like an all star movie.
Meanwhile, I am writing my own damned books - doing all of the writing myself! And I don't have an all star line up of writers - just me.
I wish I would have thought of this book!
- Bill
Monday, January 03, 2011
Crank It To 11!
Welcome to 2011! Though last year was so much better than 2009 for me, I’m hoping this new one will be better still. And I’m hoping that it will be a good year for all of you as well. I mean, what if those Mayans were right? If this is the last full year before all of that stuff from that John Cusack movie happens, let’s hope it’s a good one! So get those specs finished and sold and made... and I hope your film premiers happen before December 20, 2012! Just in case.
If the Mayans motivate you to get things done, that’s a good thing. If something else motivates you to get things done, that’s a good thing. The key is to get things done. We have a whole new year to get things done in. Wipe away any deadlines you may have missed and start with some new ones. Or some new projects. Whatever works for you.
I ended the year with a new spec, and am starting the year with a new spec...
Which means the 2 weeks of new Script Tips I had planned to kick off the year with? Not going to happen... but I had almost a full month of new or completely rewritten Script Tips last year, so I’m going to run those and then try for 2 weeks of new Script Tips in February. Heck, maybe even a whole (short) month of new and completely rewritten tips.
Tuesday’s New Script Tip rerun is on making some sort of plan so that you can get something done before those earthquakes and giant waves and flocks of dead birds falling from the sky that means the world is coming to an end. This is a good tip - don’t miss it!
Though I haven’t secured the venue, yet, I plan on doing my first USA screenwriting class in *years* on April 16 & 17 - probably at the Burbank Airport Marriott.
I hope to do a few small blog entries every week, and get around to those epic multi-part stories about people who claim to have urinated with Brad Pitt once this spec is finished. I may squeeze in some Hitchcock entries and maybe talk about some more of my favorite films in January - provided I don’t get too far behind. I hate/love Stephen King for having enough residual energy left after writing an 800 page novel to knock out a couple of short stories. Even if I crank my energy level up to 11, when I finish a script I want to take a nap. But I’ll try to get some new material up here in the new year.
And I want *you* to create some new material of your own. This is the year to crank your energy up to 11 and get some stuff done!
- Bill
IMPORTANT UPDATE:
TODAY'S SCRIPT TIP: That's Episodic! - and a movie starring Jack Black.
Dinner: Pizza with everything on it.
Pages: Did some work on the Action Book rewrite.
Movies: TRUE GRIT in the cinema and John Sayles' MEN WITH GUNS on DVD.
If the Mayans motivate you to get things done, that’s a good thing. If something else motivates you to get things done, that’s a good thing. The key is to get things done. We have a whole new year to get things done in. Wipe away any deadlines you may have missed and start with some new ones. Or some new projects. Whatever works for you.
I ended the year with a new spec, and am starting the year with a new spec...
Which means the 2 weeks of new Script Tips I had planned to kick off the year with? Not going to happen... but I had almost a full month of new or completely rewritten Script Tips last year, so I’m going to run those and then try for 2 weeks of new Script Tips in February. Heck, maybe even a whole (short) month of new and completely rewritten tips.
Tuesday’s New Script Tip rerun is on making some sort of plan so that you can get something done before those earthquakes and giant waves and flocks of dead birds falling from the sky that means the world is coming to an end. This is a good tip - don’t miss it!
Though I haven’t secured the venue, yet, I plan on doing my first USA screenwriting class in *years* on April 16 & 17 - probably at the Burbank Airport Marriott.
I hope to do a few small blog entries every week, and get around to those epic multi-part stories about people who claim to have urinated with Brad Pitt once this spec is finished. I may squeeze in some Hitchcock entries and maybe talk about some more of my favorite films in January - provided I don’t get too far behind. I hate/love Stephen King for having enough residual energy left after writing an 800 page novel to knock out a couple of short stories. Even if I crank my energy level up to 11, when I finish a script I want to take a nap. But I’ll try to get some new material up here in the new year.
And I want *you* to create some new material of your own. This is the year to crank your energy up to 11 and get some stuff done!
- Bill
TODAY'S SCRIPT TIP: That's Episodic! - and a movie starring Jack Black.
Dinner: Pizza with everything on it.
Pages: Did some work on the Action Book rewrite.
Movies: TRUE GRIT in the cinema and John Sayles' MEN WITH GUNS on DVD.
Friday, December 31, 2010
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
National Film Registry inductees 2010
These 25 films have been deemed "national treasures" by the Library Of Congress. There are several of my favorites on the list every year, this time around we get AIRPLANE! and ALL THE PRESIDENT'S MEN and EMPIRE STRIKES BACK and McCABE AND MRS. MILLER. The last film on the list is a documentary ride on a cable car down San Francisco's Market Street only days before the earthquake.
AIRPLANE! (1980)
ALL THE PRESIDENT'S MEN (1976)
THE BARGAIN (1914)
CRY OF JAZZ (1959)
ELECTRONIC LABYRINTH: THX 113B 4EB (1967)
THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK (1980)
THE EXORCIST (1973)
THE FRONT PAGE (1931)
GREY GARDENS (1976)
I AM JOAQUIN (1969)
IT'S A GIFT (1934)
LET THERE BE LIGHT (1946)
LONESOME (1928)
MAKE WAY FOR TOMORROW (1937)
MALCOLM X (1992)
MCCABE & MRS. MILLER (1971)
NEWARK ATHLETE (1891)
OUR LADY OF THE SPHERE (1969)
THE PINK PANTHER (1964)
PRESERVATION OF SIGN LANGUAGE (1913)
SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER (1977)
STUDY OF A RIVER (1996)
TARANTELLA (1940)
A TREE GROWS IN BROOKLYN (1945)
A TRIP DOWN MARKET STREET (1906)
How many have you seen?
- Bill
AIRPLANE! (1980)
ALL THE PRESIDENT'S MEN (1976)
THE BARGAIN (1914)
CRY OF JAZZ (1959)
ELECTRONIC LABYRINTH: THX 113B 4EB (1967)
THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK (1980)
THE EXORCIST (1973)
THE FRONT PAGE (1931)
GREY GARDENS (1976)
I AM JOAQUIN (1969)
IT'S A GIFT (1934)
LET THERE BE LIGHT (1946)
LONESOME (1928)
MAKE WAY FOR TOMORROW (1937)
MALCOLM X (1992)
MCCABE & MRS. MILLER (1971)
NEWARK ATHLETE (1891)
OUR LADY OF THE SPHERE (1969)
THE PINK PANTHER (1964)
PRESERVATION OF SIGN LANGUAGE (1913)
SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER (1977)
STUDY OF A RIVER (1996)
TARANTELLA (1940)
A TREE GROWS IN BROOKLYN (1945)
A TRIP DOWN MARKET STREET (1906)
How many have you seen?
- Bill
Monday, December 27, 2010
Week Between
I am not shacked up with Scarlett Johannson, I was not run over by a raindeer, nor was I returned without a receipt and had to pay a restocking fee... I’ve been too busy to blog. That’s why you’ve been getting all of these YouTube videos - even though, some of them were kinda cool - love the zombie one. Between family holiday stuff, hanging out with old friends, and trying to get this danged new spec finished; there’s been no time to tell you about doing all of those things.
First off - I finished the new script the day before Christmas... a couple of weeks behind schedule, but before the end of the year. This script is DREAM LOVER, the one I plan to shoot sometime in the last half of 2011 up here in the Bay Area with the guys I’ve been hanging out with. It’s a thriller with a high concept twist about a guy with a dead end job and dead end marriage who begins to have dreams about his college girlfriend and wonders where she is... and whether they might hood up again... after he dumps his cheating wife and steals the money his evil boss has been embezzling. So it’s kind of like BODY HEAT meets DREAMSCAPE - designed for most to be shot in my friend John’s luxury home. I’m happy with the first draft - it’s full of suspense and has lots of twists.
And around Thanksgiving I had a potential script sale that fell apart - but for about 2 weeks it was on again / off again and kind of consumed my attention. A producer who had a star (from a big movie that played in cinemas over summer) under contract and a director signed and a start date in January... but no script. I’m assuming they had a script but it fell out. Well, my amazing Lawyer sent them some loglines including three of mine, they wanted to read one of the scripts: Producer loved it, director loved it... star took his time deciding it didn’t wow him. Producer liked the writing, asked for another one of my scripts: Producer loved it, director loved it... star took his time deciding it didn’t wow him. End result - I don’t think they are making a movie. No way they can make their start date. Stars run the biz, and after talking to a couple of friends who have also had dealings with this star - he takes forever to make up his mind and then nothing wows him. But for a couple of weeks, my life was all about some star liking one of my scripts, saying yes, and I end up with a nice big deal. The good news is, a director and producer who have never read my stuff read it and liked it. Hey, somewhere down the road they may call me about one of those scripts.
Those couple of weeks put me behind on the spec... plus all of the holiday stuff.
I had lunch with some friends from High School who had moved away and were just back for the holidays.
I had Chicken & Waffles and saw THE FIGHTER.
It rained. A lot. Not as much as in Los Angeles, but enough to keep that new bicycle in the garage. I took it out one day, and the back tire was flat - there used to be a Shell gas station a few blocks from my parent’s house - a guy I knew from high school used to manage it (Rick), but they tore that whole block down and put in a mall with a Bed bath & Beyond. Closest place to put air in the tire? I do not know. So I returned the bike and walked down the street (been doing too much driving - no exercise!). That was one of a handful of days that it didn’t rain.
I had planned to post some new Friday’s With Hitchcock - um, one is a couple of hours from finished and a couple are partially written, but I made an executive decision to save them until next year - Christmas Eve and New Years Eve not the best days for blogs.
The plan is always to kick off the new year with 2 weeks of new tips - but I don’t see those being written in the next couple of days. I will try to get some new tips into the mix in January - which had almost all new tips last year (and some great ones) - and might end up with 2 full weeks of new tips in February instead. Still working on that.
This week I also planned to write 5 new Hitchcock articles as chapters for the first ofthe three Hitchcock screenwriting books, plus rewrite the others... um, not gonna happen.
January I begin a new spec script - which looks like it has a deal in place. I believe there’s a producer with a funding source and a distributor. It’s a movie waiting for a screenplay - which means it is waiting on *me*. No pressure. So that has to be finished before the end of January.
So this week I’m going to try to get as much stuff done as possible before New Years Eve and then next year... when I’m writing a new spec script after finishing this last spec script a few days ago. There may be some short entries, some of those movie reviews, and some more YouTube videos... maybe even some actual entries in the next week or two - but mostly, I’ll be busy writing.
So I wish all of you a Happy New Year, and I hope 2011 is *your* busy year!
- Bill
First off - I finished the new script the day before Christmas... a couple of weeks behind schedule, but before the end of the year. This script is DREAM LOVER, the one I plan to shoot sometime in the last half of 2011 up here in the Bay Area with the guys I’ve been hanging out with. It’s a thriller with a high concept twist about a guy with a dead end job and dead end marriage who begins to have dreams about his college girlfriend and wonders where she is... and whether they might hood up again... after he dumps his cheating wife and steals the money his evil boss has been embezzling. So it’s kind of like BODY HEAT meets DREAMSCAPE - designed for most to be shot in my friend John’s luxury home. I’m happy with the first draft - it’s full of suspense and has lots of twists.
And around Thanksgiving I had a potential script sale that fell apart - but for about 2 weeks it was on again / off again and kind of consumed my attention. A producer who had a star (from a big movie that played in cinemas over summer) under contract and a director signed and a start date in January... but no script. I’m assuming they had a script but it fell out. Well, my amazing Lawyer sent them some loglines including three of mine, they wanted to read one of the scripts: Producer loved it, director loved it... star took his time deciding it didn’t wow him. Producer liked the writing, asked for another one of my scripts: Producer loved it, director loved it... star took his time deciding it didn’t wow him. End result - I don’t think they are making a movie. No way they can make their start date. Stars run the biz, and after talking to a couple of friends who have also had dealings with this star - he takes forever to make up his mind and then nothing wows him. But for a couple of weeks, my life was all about some star liking one of my scripts, saying yes, and I end up with a nice big deal. The good news is, a director and producer who have never read my stuff read it and liked it. Hey, somewhere down the road they may call me about one of those scripts.
Those couple of weeks put me behind on the spec... plus all of the holiday stuff.
I had lunch with some friends from High School who had moved away and were just back for the holidays.
I had Chicken & Waffles and saw THE FIGHTER.
It rained. A lot. Not as much as in Los Angeles, but enough to keep that new bicycle in the garage. I took it out one day, and the back tire was flat - there used to be a Shell gas station a few blocks from my parent’s house - a guy I knew from high school used to manage it (Rick), but they tore that whole block down and put in a mall with a Bed bath & Beyond. Closest place to put air in the tire? I do not know. So I returned the bike and walked down the street (been doing too much driving - no exercise!). That was one of a handful of days that it didn’t rain.
I had planned to post some new Friday’s With Hitchcock - um, one is a couple of hours from finished and a couple are partially written, but I made an executive decision to save them until next year - Christmas Eve and New Years Eve not the best days for blogs.
The plan is always to kick off the new year with 2 weeks of new tips - but I don’t see those being written in the next couple of days. I will try to get some new tips into the mix in January - which had almost all new tips last year (and some great ones) - and might end up with 2 full weeks of new tips in February instead. Still working on that.
This week I also planned to write 5 new Hitchcock articles as chapters for the first ofthe three Hitchcock screenwriting books, plus rewrite the others... um, not gonna happen.
January I begin a new spec script - which looks like it has a deal in place. I believe there’s a producer with a funding source and a distributor. It’s a movie waiting for a screenplay - which means it is waiting on *me*. No pressure. So that has to be finished before the end of January.
So this week I’m going to try to get as much stuff done as possible before New Years Eve and then next year... when I’m writing a new spec script after finishing this last spec script a few days ago. There may be some short entries, some of those movie reviews, and some more YouTube videos... maybe even some actual entries in the next week or two - but mostly, I’ll be busy writing.
So I wish all of you a Happy New Year, and I hope 2011 is *your* busy year!
- Bill
Monday, December 20, 2010
Monday, December 13, 2010
The Black List - 2010
Here is a link to the list:
Black List 2010
And here is the story of the Black List:
Which scripts look interesting on this year's list?
- Bill
IMPORTANT UPDATE:
TODAY'S SCRIPT TIP: Protagonists At War With Themselves - and IN BRUGES.
Dinner: Three Brothers From China - Shanghai Pork Chop.
Pages: Yes! Am plugging along on a new spec - 5 pages yesterday, 6 or 7 pages every day for the past couple of weeks - and should have it finished in a couple of days!
Bicycle: No.
Movies: Yes, and some reviews are coming soon.
Black List 2010
And here is the story of the Black List:
Which scripts look interesting on this year's list?
- Bill
TODAY'S SCRIPT TIP: Protagonists At War With Themselves - and IN BRUGES.
Dinner: Three Brothers From China - Shanghai Pork Chop.
Pages: Yes! Am plugging along on a new spec - 5 pages yesterday, 6 or 7 pages every day for the past couple of weeks - and should have it finished in a couple of days!
Bicycle: No.
Movies: Yes, and some reviews are coming soon.
Tourists vs. Amtrak
Below is a photo of Yoshi's Jazz Club in Jack London Square. Jack London Square is a tourist destination - upscale restaurants, night clubs, ship tours, etc. There's also a multiplex cinema with discounts on Tuesday nights, so my friends and I have been seeing movies there... on Tuesdays.
But here's the strange thing about Jack London Square - railroad tracks run right down the middle of the street! Both Amtrak and freight trains use these tracks... frequently. Like every half hour some train flies through. Yeah, there are gates that lower to keep tourist cars from getting hit, but tourist pedestrians need to get off the street when a train shoots through. So far, people have gotten off the street when the gates lower - but this is kinda crazy!
- Bill
But here's the strange thing about Jack London Square - railroad tracks run right down the middle of the street! Both Amtrak and freight trains use these tracks... frequently. Like every half hour some train flies through. Yeah, there are gates that lower to keep tourist cars from getting hit, but tourist pedestrians need to get off the street when a train shoots through. So far, people have gotten off the street when the gates lower - but this is kinda crazy!
- Bill
Friday, December 10, 2010
Fridays With Hitchcock:
Index
Fridays With Hitchcock seems to be on accidential hiatus as I deal with the Holidays and try to finish this new script before the end of the year.
You know, the original idea was to do one of these a week for a year... just dash out 1,000 words (4 pages) a week and post it. Nice plan, but it didn't work. Most of the entries are around 4,000 words (16 pages) and take a couple of days to write after I've watched the movie and taken notes... and finding the 2 or 3 or 4 days a week required to produce one of these entries? Hey, I have screenplays to write! So there have been months without a single entry. Sorry!
The original plan was to take those 53 articles at around 1,000 words each and add a prologue and epilogue and turn it into a screenwriting book. Um, make that 3 screenwriting books! The first, EXPERIMENTS IN TERROR, should be out early next year - the blog entries are being rewritten for the book, and the versions here will have most of the "meat" deleted (the lessons) and some new elements added (Hitch stock company players listed). So read any you missed before they go on an information diet!
Here are the Fridays With Hitchcock that have run so far, in case you missed any:
The Lost Hitchcock Film.
YOUNG AND INNOCENT (1937) - Show The Decision, Gags, A-B-C Plots, In Media Res, Disguises, Disasters, Only A Model.
THE LADY VANISHES (1938) - All Of The Caldecott & Charters Films, Unusual Act 1, Clues, Great Dialogue, Supporting Characters.
JAMAICA INN (1939) - Bumpers, Opening Scenes, 3 Act Structure, Early Reveals.
REBECCA (1940) - Negative Cinderella, Minefields, Mood Reveals, Three Characters.
FOREIGN CORRESPONDENT (1940) - Set Pieces, Gags, Leading The Audience, Human Villains, Speeches.
MR. & MRS. SMITH (1941) - Bellamys, Symbolic Characters, Visual Symbols, Escalating Conflict, POV In Scenes, "If You Know What I Mean" Subtext.
SUSPICION (1941) - Creating Suspicion, Test Audience Endings, Leitmotifs.
SABOTEUR (1942) - Nice Villains, Invisible Storytelling, Biggest To Smallest, Hitchcock's Chocolates, Trapped In A Crowd.
SHADOW OF A DOUBT (1943) - Did He or Didn't He?, Unusual Characters, Small Suspense, Protag & Antag Similarities.
LIFEBOAT (1944) - Contained Thrillers, Symbols.
SPELLBOUND (1945) - Dali Dreams, Psychiatric Mystery.
NOTORIOUS (1946) - DNA, Focus Objects, Odd Ticking Clocks, Subtext.
THE PARADINE CASE (1947) - Selznick, Converting Ideas Into Actions or Situations.
ROPE (1948) - Single Shot, What Is A Scene?, Poking The Tiger!
UNDER CAPRICORN (1949) - Fake Twists, Melodrama, Novel vs Screenplay.
STAGE FRIGHT (1950) - Flashbacks That Lie, Not My Problem (wrong protag).
STRANGERS ON A TRAIN (1951) - Transference Of Guilt, Sound Triggers, Suspense.
I CONFESS (1953) - Character & Story Flow, Chess Dialogue, Misunderstandings, String Theory.
DIAL M FOR MURDER (1954) - Focus Objects, Suspense Triggers, Unlikeable Leads.
REAR WINDOW (1954) - Kuleshov, One Point Of View, Helpless Suspense.
TO CATCH A THIEF (1955) - Alliances, Allegiances, Adversaries. Opening 10 pages.
THE TROUBLE WITH HARRY (1955) - Clever Dialogue, Comedy Suspense, Death Can Be Funny.
THE WRONG MAN (1956) - Passive Protagonists, Verite, Faith On Film.
VERTIGO (1958) - Nexus, Ticking Clocks, Visual Storytelling.
NORTH BY NORTWEST (1959) - MacGuffin Definition, Suspense, Focus Objects, Which Of These Red Caps Is Not Like The Other?
PSYCHO (1960) - Serial Protagonist, Non-Voice Over, Rule Of The Logical Opposite.
THE BIRDS (1963) - Visual Links, Unseen Threats, Building Suspense.
MARNIE (1964) - Dirty Pictures, Soap Opera Plotting, Split Screen Suspense?
TORN CURTAIN (1966) - Making Murder Difficult, When Act 3 Peters Out.
TOPAZ (1969) - Pulp Fiction, Multiple Stories, All Suplot & No Plot.
FRENZY (1972) - Hitchcock Wipes, World Of The Story, Twist Ends.
FAMILY PLOT (1976) - Intersecting Stories, Out Of Control Car, Puzzle Chase.
THE TV SHOW - You Can Watch Full Episodes On HULU - Free!
I'm going to add to this index with each new blog entry, and index the "screenwriting lessons" from each entry to make it easier to find what you may be looking for.
- Bill
You know, the original idea was to do one of these a week for a year... just dash out 1,000 words (4 pages) a week and post it. Nice plan, but it didn't work. Most of the entries are around 4,000 words (16 pages) and take a couple of days to write after I've watched the movie and taken notes... and finding the 2 or 3 or 4 days a week required to produce one of these entries? Hey, I have screenplays to write! So there have been months without a single entry. Sorry!
The original plan was to take those 53 articles at around 1,000 words each and add a prologue and epilogue and turn it into a screenwriting book. Um, make that 3 screenwriting books! The first, EXPERIMENTS IN TERROR, should be out early next year - the blog entries are being rewritten for the book, and the versions here will have most of the "meat" deleted (the lessons) and some new elements added (Hitch stock company players listed). So read any you missed before they go on an information diet!
Here are the Fridays With Hitchcock that have run so far, in case you missed any:
The Lost Hitchcock Film.
YOUNG AND INNOCENT (1937) - Show The Decision, Gags, A-B-C Plots, In Media Res, Disguises, Disasters, Only A Model.
THE LADY VANISHES (1938) - All Of The Caldecott & Charters Films, Unusual Act 1, Clues, Great Dialogue, Supporting Characters.
JAMAICA INN (1939) - Bumpers, Opening Scenes, 3 Act Structure, Early Reveals.
REBECCA (1940) - Negative Cinderella, Minefields, Mood Reveals, Three Characters.
FOREIGN CORRESPONDENT (1940) - Set Pieces, Gags, Leading The Audience, Human Villains, Speeches.
MR. & MRS. SMITH (1941) - Bellamys, Symbolic Characters, Visual Symbols, Escalating Conflict, POV In Scenes, "If You Know What I Mean" Subtext.
SUSPICION (1941) - Creating Suspicion, Test Audience Endings, Leitmotifs.
SABOTEUR (1942) - Nice Villains, Invisible Storytelling, Biggest To Smallest, Hitchcock's Chocolates, Trapped In A Crowd.
SHADOW OF A DOUBT (1943) - Did He or Didn't He?, Unusual Characters, Small Suspense, Protag & Antag Similarities.
LIFEBOAT (1944) - Contained Thrillers, Symbols.
SPELLBOUND (1945) - Dali Dreams, Psychiatric Mystery.
NOTORIOUS (1946) - DNA, Focus Objects, Odd Ticking Clocks, Subtext.
THE PARADINE CASE (1947) - Selznick, Converting Ideas Into Actions or Situations.
ROPE (1948) - Single Shot, What Is A Scene?, Poking The Tiger!
UNDER CAPRICORN (1949) - Fake Twists, Melodrama, Novel vs Screenplay.
STAGE FRIGHT (1950) - Flashbacks That Lie, Not My Problem (wrong protag).
STRANGERS ON A TRAIN (1951) - Transference Of Guilt, Sound Triggers, Suspense.
I CONFESS (1953) - Character & Story Flow, Chess Dialogue, Misunderstandings, String Theory.
DIAL M FOR MURDER (1954) - Focus Objects, Suspense Triggers, Unlikeable Leads.
REAR WINDOW (1954) - Kuleshov, One Point Of View, Helpless Suspense.
TO CATCH A THIEF (1955) - Alliances, Allegiances, Adversaries. Opening 10 pages.
THE TROUBLE WITH HARRY (1955) - Clever Dialogue, Comedy Suspense, Death Can Be Funny.
THE WRONG MAN (1956) - Passive Protagonists, Verite, Faith On Film.
VERTIGO (1958) - Nexus, Ticking Clocks, Visual Storytelling.
NORTH BY NORTWEST (1959) - MacGuffin Definition, Suspense, Focus Objects, Which Of These Red Caps Is Not Like The Other?
PSYCHO (1960) - Serial Protagonist, Non-Voice Over, Rule Of The Logical Opposite.
THE BIRDS (1963) - Visual Links, Unseen Threats, Building Suspense.
MARNIE (1964) - Dirty Pictures, Soap Opera Plotting, Split Screen Suspense?
TORN CURTAIN (1966) - Making Murder Difficult, When Act 3 Peters Out.
TOPAZ (1969) - Pulp Fiction, Multiple Stories, All Suplot & No Plot.
FRENZY (1972) - Hitchcock Wipes, World Of The Story, Twist Ends.
FAMILY PLOT (1976) - Intersecting Stories, Out Of Control Car, Puzzle Chase.
THE TV SHOW - You Can Watch Full Episodes On HULU - Free!
I'm going to add to this index with each new blog entry, and index the "screenwriting lessons" from each entry to make it easier to find what you may be looking for.
- Bill
Thursday, December 09, 2010
Lancelot Link Thursday
Lancelot Link Thursday! For those of you who think PLANET OF THE APES was based on a true story, 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 five cool links plus this week's car chase...
1) Understanding INCEPTION.
2) Combine the titles of several books to form a story!
3) Almost Every Line From Almost Every Movie.
4) Rudolph, You Don't Have To Put On The Red Light!
5) Truth In Advertizing - Movie Posters
6) This week's car chase is from... THE BLUES BROTHERS.
- Bill
Here are five cool links plus this week's car chase...
1) Understanding INCEPTION.
2) Combine the titles of several books to form a story!
3) Almost Every Line From Almost Every Movie.
4) Rudolph, You Don't Have To Put On The Red Light!
5) Truth In Advertizing - Movie Posters
6) This week's car chase is from... THE BLUES BROTHERS.
- Bill
Friday, December 03, 2010
I'm Sorry...
UK's Movies For Men channel...
12/5 - 12:50 - Steel Sharks - When a United States submarine is seized by terrorists, a rescue attempt by Elite Navy Seals goes awry. The submarine crew wages a silent war beneath the waves in this tense undersea thriller.
12/6 - 13:40 - Crash Dive - The crew of a nuclear submarine rescue supposed victims of a boat disaster, but the victims turn out to be terrorists intent on capturing nuclear weapons aboard the sub.
(The STEEL SHARKS synopsis is still wrong - they don't hijack a sub, they kidnap a chemical weapons specialist and take him aboard one of 3 identical subs, creating a "shell game" for the US submarine - which can they return fire on?)
- Bill
12/5 - 12:50 - Steel Sharks - When a United States submarine is seized by terrorists, a rescue attempt by Elite Navy Seals goes awry. The submarine crew wages a silent war beneath the waves in this tense undersea thriller.
12/6 - 13:40 - Crash Dive - The crew of a nuclear submarine rescue supposed victims of a boat disaster, but the victims turn out to be terrorists intent on capturing nuclear weapons aboard the sub.
(The STEEL SHARKS synopsis is still wrong - they don't hijack a sub, they kidnap a chemical weapons specialist and take him aboard one of 3 identical subs, creating a "shell game" for the US submarine - which can they return fire on?)
- Bill
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