Team Player

Screenwriting is a “team sport” where you are usually working alone. This often leads to confusion - some new screenwriters don’t understand when they need to be focused on individual accomplishment and when they need to be part of the team. Adding to the confusion is that there is a gray area where you need to fight for your individual accomplishments but still be loyal to the team, and times when you should consider the team even though you are at the individual accomplishment phase of the game. See, you’re probably already confused! So let’s take a look at how this works...

Basically, before you make the team you need to focus on individual accomplishment. Just like if you were trying out for a football team or basketball team, it’s all about you doing *your* best and being the best of the group trying out. If this were a sports tryout (I think some pro football teams still have open tryouts), even though some of the people you are competing against may make it onto the team and you may be working *with* them, at this phase you are in competition against them - and if one of them stumbles and goes down, you don’t help them up. You run past them and win.

But once you have made the team, the focus is on what is best for the team... and sometimes you have to sacrifice for the team. How many basketball and football players can we name who showboat? They bring the team down by not passing the ball and not being team players. It’s all about *them* being the star - and the team suffers. Hey, that’s true in screenwriting, too - and I’ll explain how these analogies apply in just a minute. Once you have made the team - you need to be a team player.

Before you sell your script, it is all about individual accomplishment.
After the script is sold, it is all about being a team player.

Except for the gray areas.

PLAYING WITH YOURSELF

When you are writing a spec screenplay, it is all about writing the absolute best screenplay possible. Whatever makes your screenplay better - you do that. I have a Script Tip in rotation that was adapted to be part of the Action Book revision called “You Can’t Do That In A Movie!” about those scenes and moments that sell the script... but are usually the first to be cut once the script is sold.

In “Night Hunter” the scene that sold the script was one where the protagonist (who is the last of the vampire hunters) talks about the horrors of his job - which include killing children who are vampires. They may be hundreds of years old and may have fed off thousands of humans... but they still look like kids. Killing them is not easy. Everyone loved that scene and talked about that scene... but after that script sold and we had our first rewrite meeting it was the first scene they wanted cut. Can’t have the hero killing children!

Similar thing with “Hard Evidence”, where the scene was not about how difficult it was to kill... but how easy it was. The protagonist in that story was a nice guy businessman who was forced to kill a criminal who was making his life hell... and admitted to his best friend that instead of feeling guilt and remorse, he felt elation. He had solved a problem. You are supposed to feel bad after you kill someone, but he felt *great*! Again, this was the scene that sold the screenplay - the scene they talked to me about in the first couple of meetings as their favorite scene... and the first scene that got cut in rewrites. Though, actually, I convinced them not to cut these scene but to give the dangerous dialogue to the best friend.

And just about every screenplay I have sold has had some scene in it that made such a powerful impact on the reader that they recommended the script to the producers... who were also impacted by that scene (or scenes) and bought the script... and later wanted that scene cut because it was too dangerous. That scene was all about individual accomplishment, but the producers feared it may not be a team player.

*Without* those scenes those screenplays would never have sold.

Before the script sells - it is all about individual accomplishment.

Though we are still writing *movies*, at this phase our job is to amaze them with *our* amazing skills, and not be a team player. We don’t want to pull our punches or soften our story or do anything that will make the script tame or bland or unusual. Or job here is to make it the *unusual* script - the amazing script - the one in a million script. And those are probably pretty close to the odds of selling a screenplay - one in a million. So you need to push the envelope to stand out...

FREE THROW PIROUETTES

The “gray area” here is that we are still writing movies. Those scenes that stand out also have to belong in the story - you can’t just paste something outrageous onto the story to make it sell... that will probably make it *not* sell. My two examples above are scenes that belong in those stories and completely fit the tone and story and expectations of those stories. I fought against having them cut... but had to take one for the team. Just adding some over-the-top violence or weird-ass stuff that isn’t necessary to the story is not going to get your script sold. You *always* want to be true to the script. If you are trying out for the team and you do some ballet when you are shooting free throws, you aren’t going to impress anyone. You’re just going to look weird.

If you mix oil-and-water tones or write some story that is so unusual no one can figure out what the hell it is, your script may stand out in the wrong way. I read a script that was a fun buddy comedy... until the extremely violent and graphic torture scene that was so detailed I thought I might barf halfway through the scene. That scene didn’t fit the rest of the script at all. That *scene* was not a team player in the script! You always want your scenes to make the script *better*, not sabotage it. I’ve also read scripts that were like no movie ever made and had me wondering if the writer had ever actually *seen* a movie. The goal of the individual achievement phase is to show that you can write the most amazing *movie screenplay* ever written. The basketball team isn’t going to hire you because you do amazing pirouettes - they care about your basketball skills.

TAKING ONE FOR THE TEAM

Once you have sold the screenplay, you are on the team - and now when that runner stumbles your job may be to stop and help them up. You are not fighting for your script anymore, you are fighting for *the movie*... and the movie may end up completely different than the screenplay you sold them.

I have been interviewed by Variety and was featured in the Hollywood Reporter’s Writers Special Issue once... but the only “news link” that has ever been submitted to my IMDB page is a blog where the blogger was deeply offended by a script tip where I talk about the reality of rewrites. In their little blogger bubble they thought that once a screenplay sold it would never be changed at all - and make it to the screen exactly as the writer envisioned it. That is not a team player...

And here is where some of the confusion sets in.

Before you sell the screenplay *you* are the boss and you should make that screenplay the absolute greatest screenplay ever written and not pull any punches or water it down or anything else that makes it less than the greatest.

After you sell the screenplay? You are not the boss. You no longer own the screenplay. You are an employee of the producer... and now your job may seem like the *opposite* of what it was only a couple of days ago. Now your job is to conform the screenplay to what the producer needs it to be.

I think I have a tip that talks a bit about my TREACHEROUS script that I rewrote for every star that was attached (or that the producer was going after to try to attach). The original version of that script was about a retired athlete - the inspiration for the story was a newspaper article I read about a pro football player who had spent all of his money and now owned and operated a diner in Oakland, CA. Sometimes he worked as the fry cook. He had bought the place as an investment when he was rich... and now it was all that he had left. Burned out used-to-be character. That was my lead. By the time they made the film I had done dozens of rewrites for each attached star and now the lead was played by C. Thomas Howell - who was in his 30s. So my job was to be a team player and make the *movie* the best it could be - and that meant rewriting that lead role for a youthful guy in his early 30s. Keeping the original version of the protagonist would hurt the film - who would believe that C. Thomas Howell was and old retired guy?

And the same thing happens in just about every production - once the screenplay has sold it becomes part of the movie, and you need to make it work as part of that movie. HARD EVIDENCE was a spec script that sold to a producer who made USA Network Movies Of The Week. That meant that part of my rewrite was putting in the commercial breaks. Here’s the thing - if I had written that screenplay with the commercial breaks already there, I’m not sure they would have bought it. That’s kind of a cart-before-the-horse thing. I know for sure that if I had removed that dangerous scene they would *not* have bought it, because they told me that’s the reason why they bought it... and then a couple of meetings later told me to get rid of that scene, Gregory Harrison isn’t going to play some guy who is *happy* about killing people... and USA Network isn’t going to let that scene air. As a team player, I had to “fix that” so that the *movie* would be the greatest it could be.

By the way, on HARD EVIDENCE that wasn’t the only scene that was changed. Though that film is the closest to any of my screenplays, all kinds of things changed for the good of the movie. The original script took place in Los Angeles and Ensenada, Mexico... but the producers were going to shoot in Canada, so all of the locations had to change. Plus, because a Movie Of The Week doesn’t just play on TV, the PG-13 sex scenes in my script were pushed up to what seemed like a pretty hard R for the video and international release. I didn’t know about that until *after* I’d sent my parents a copy of the video. But one of the elements of *any* film is that it will play in a variety of different markets and there will probably be additional footage shot to comply with that. One of my films had that typical cops-in-a-strip-club scene and they shot the R rated version with strippers taking it off in the background... and the PG version with them dancing in bikinis. That way the film could play on TV and airplanes and sell to any country where they had strict censorship.

You don’t *write* the scene with the strippers wearing bikinis or burquas, but they might film it that way. Because the video aftermarket is big business on an MOW, you probably will write the R rated scenes so that they can shoot them. If they don’t shoot those scenes when they shoot the rest of the movie they’ll be in a heap-o-trouble when they do foreign sales or domestic video deals. I know on some of my projects there has been a TV cut and a video cut - with the video cut being 10-12 minutes longer. People would rather see the R rated or unrated version of the film than the tame version that played on TV. If those scenes are not already in the screenplay, you’ll probably end up writing them in order to be a team player.

HACK!

And here’s where that blogger comes in and calls you a hack because they don’t realize that once you sell the script you go from individual accomplishment to team player - from owner of the screenplay to employee - from doing what is best for the screenplay to doing what will be best for the film. The gray area here is that you are not some mindless do-as-you-are-told-and-don’t-ask-questions team player, you are the expert at the writing part of the movie and part of your job is to fight for *what is best for the film*. If your script was about a gritty burned out male homicide detective and they cast Anna Faris in that role, your job is to make it the very best script with that casting... and that may mean you fight for some gritty scenes they want to get rid of. But if those scenes will make the *Anna Faris version* better, you want them in the film. Just because you are now a team player doesn’t mean that you don’t use your individual skills - you just use them in service of the team... and to make the *movie* great. Your script may have been “A”, the movie may end up “Z”, so now your job is to make it the best “Z” ever! That’s not hacking, that’s being a team player - and many writers are great at individual accomplishment and awful at being a team player. They can’t get over that the role they wrote for Clint Eastwood is now going to be played by Anna Faris. They just can’t switch gears like that, so they fight to keep it a Clint Eastwood movie even though it now stars Anna Faris... and that means that instead of making it a great movie, the result of their fight ends up making it a *bad* movie. Instead of seeing the big picture, they only see *their* part of the movie. They are showboating... and they will bring down the team.

Once you have made the team, your job is to make the film the best film ever - even if it is a different film that your screenplay. If there are changes that will damage the film, your job is to fight those changes. But if there is something in your original screenplay that works against the film version - your job is to let go of that scene or element and do what is best for the film version. That isn’t hacking at all - it’s just making sure the *film version* is the greatest it can be, and that means you are playing for the team and not against it. If your story was about an old criminal who gets sprung from prison for 48 hours to help a cop capture the criminal's old gang, and they hire a 20 something stand up comic as the criminal - fighting to keep the criminal an old timer is *hurting* the film. They have already cast the 20 something stand up comic, and that's what the story is *now* - so your job is to make it the best screenplay ever about a funny 20 something crook on a 48 hour pass. Yeah, 48 HOURS was originally about an old guy like the 80s version of Robert Mitchum... but they cast Eddie Murphy. For the "team" to be successful, the script now has to be perfect for Eddie Murphy... even if that changes everything in your original screenplay. You are now playing for the team.

But to make that team in the first place, you need to be great at individual accomplishment and *not* write what you think they may want (you don’t really know exactly what they want) and *not* pull your punches, and *not* water down the story or make it safe and bland - you want to make it the very best screenplay it can ever be. Selling that script is a one in a million deal, and you need to make sure that your screenplay isn’t just good (many screenplays are good), but absolutely the greatest screenplay there is. No one buys a good screenplay because it fits their needs - there are *thousands* of good screenplays that fit their needs (unless it’s one of those InkTip adverts looking for a western with dance numbers that can be shot in Iceland and stars little people and was written by a Canadian) - so your script has to be the GREATEST SCRIPT OUT THERE and after they buy it (and you are a team player) they will have you make the changes so that it conforms to their needs,

Or, they will hire you to write that western with dance numbers...

- Bill

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Lancelot Link Monday: Monkey War!

Lancelot Link Monday! So, CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR only made $182 million in the USA and someone is worried because they thought it might make more. WTF? Why has everyone gone greedy these days? I understand wanting your big summer tentpole to make money rather than flop, but I'm pretty sure that's been taken care of once you factor in the rest of the world's box office. It made $262 million overseas as of Wednesday, so it will probably be close to half a billion by the end of the week. And someone wanted it to make $200 million opening weekend in the USA. Boo-hoo! The film is getting great reviews, great word of mouth, and is likely to keep making money for the next couple of months. Why bitch about it not breaking box office records like the new STAR WARS film did? While you're thinking about that, here are this week's links to some great screenwriting and film articles, plus some fun stuff that may be of interest to you. Brought to you by that suave and sophisticated secret agent...




Here are a dozen links plus this week's car chase...


1) Weekend Box Office Estimates:
1 CA:CV.......................... $181,791,000
2 Jungle Book..................... $21,873,000
3 Mother's Day..................... $9,006,141
4 TH:WW............................ $3,580,000
5 Keanu............................ $3,080,000
6 BS:TNC........................... $2,700,000
7 Zootopia......................... $2,677,000
8 Boss............................. $1,750,000
9 R&C.............................. $1,462,000
10 BvS:DoJ.......................... $1,045,000




2) Kevin Feige On Marvel's Future - Is A Line Of Driverless Cars In Their Future?

3) Directors Joe & Anthony Russo (COMMUNITY... and CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR) Interviewed.

4) Indie Films At The Box Office.

5) Amazon At Cannes Film Festival?

6) Behind The Scenes Of My Favorite Brian DePalma Movie (screenplay by the amazing Paul Schrader).

7) Bryan Singer On Marvel Properties Shared By Studios & Films.

8) The DGA's List Of Best Directed Films.

9) Cutting Class - YouTube Tutorials On Editing.

10) Jean-Luc Godard's Star Anna Karina Intedrviewed.

11) A Look AT ALL THE PRESIDENT'S MEN (And The Screenplay).

12) Russell Crowe Talks MUMMY Remake.

And the Car Chase Of The Week:



From the first one...

Bill



IMPORTANT UPDATE:
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Dinner:
Pages:
Bicycle:

Movie:

Together And Alone

Six Years And One Month Ago, I saw TOGETHER AND ALONE on the big screen at the Egyptian... and it's playing there again on Friday, May 13th at 7:30. Here's what I said the last time I saw this film...

Movies: EDDIE PRESLEY and TOGETHER & ALONE.

Last Wednesday I rode my bike to the subway station, took the subway to Hollywood, rode the bike a couple of blocks to the Egyptian Theater and literally parked ten feet from the doors to see a couple of films written by my friend Duane. Duane is a character actor, best known for playing the pawn shop owner from PULP FICTION. He’s played tow truck drivers and bikers and cops and just about any other role for a beefy guy from Texas. The American Cinematheque was showing EDDIE PRESLEY and TOGETHER & ALONE with a bunch of the cast and crew talking in between.

Though the cinema was not crowded, there were more people than for EYEWITNESS and FOUR FRIENDS a week earlier. Before the show I hung out in the lobby with the filmmakers, I know most of the people involved in the films. Someone told me Jeff the director was not going to be there - he's making a movie somewhere. Then I grabbed a seat right under the scarab in the cinema, and the big gates closed and the house light dimmed.




EDDIE PRESLEY looked great on the big screen. I think I’ve seen it once before on in the cinema, the others times on video. To me, what is strange about the film is that it's based on Duane's one man stage show... but that's the last third of the film - about 40 minutes of screen time. I think the hour of material Duane wrote to more-or-less pad it out is more entertaining than the play material - it's kind of Duane's artistic sweet spot. Hmm, maybe some background...

Duane’s one man show was about this Elvis impersonator whose performance goes wrong and ends up having a complete nervous breakdown on stage and tells his life story and sings a couple of songs. It’s this crazy, funny monologue. Well, my friend Jeff, who directed the movie, had just gone through absolute hell on TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE 3 - New Line had micro-managed the film, wanted him to tone the horror way down so that they could get a more favorable rating and play to a wider audience, then took the film away from him in editing and the film they released bombed because it was wimpy and the horror was tame. The CHAINSAW movies are about a guy with a chainsaw who chainsaws people - you can’t exactly make the PG-13 version of that and have it work. So Jeff was pissed off at the studio system and wanted to make his own movie his own way... and Duane, who had played a role in TCM3 had this one man show, and Jeff saw it and thought they could expand it into a feature. Because this was an indie film, they found the money completely outside the system - private investors. They made the film and it was released on video by a really small distrib (which also released John Lee Hancock’s first film) and that was basically that. Oh, the big coup for EDDIE PRESLEY was that it was the first movie bought by The Sundance Channel.

The 60 minutes that is not Eddie Presley on stage having a complete breakdown are about the days leading up to that performance, plus some great flashbacks in black & white to Eddie’s life before he ended up in Hollywood. Eddie lives in his van parked on the street in Hollywood - inside the van is a shrine to his past, when he used to make a living touring small-to-medium venues as Eddie Presley. He picks up his messages on a pay phone and works as a security guard at night. The Back Door Club is the location for the end of the film, the Van is a location, the Security Job is another location, and there’s also the Greasy Spoon Diner - that’s about it for locations.

In the Security Guard story thread, Ted Raimi is one of the other guards, and Lawrence Tierney is the hardass supervisor with a photo album of sleeping guard Poloroids. Willard Pugh plays another security guard and there's a nervous female security guard (Harri James) who has a major crush on Eddie. Raimi and Pugh and James’ characters and Eddie are best friends - and they would do anything to see him succeed. When he finally gets his gig at the Back Door Club, they take the night off from work so they can see him... and pull some favors from friends and friends-of-friends to get him a cut-rate limo to take him to the gig.

In order to stay awake on these night shifts so that he doesn’t get fired, Eddie fills his thermos at a greasy spoon cafe filled with Hollywood losers of all types... plus his girlfriend works there as a waitress. She’ll fill the thermos if the boss isn’t looking, and maybe get him a free breakfast. She wants to actually go out on a real date - but Eddie’s always broke. She’s a wanna-be actress, but has had no luck so far landing a role in anything. These characters in the Diner Thread are Duane’s forte - the struggling artists who litter the streets of Hollywood trying to hang onto their dreams but knowing that they are only dreams... and the reality is that they're a waitress. When Eddie’s not in the diner, there’s a skanky female porn star trying to make the moves on his waitress with promises of leading roles in adult entertainment... is a part a part? Will she do porn?

The other diner regulars are a colorful group, from the toll-taker guy who requires a cigarette from everyone who passes by his seat at the counter, to my favorite character in the film - Clu Gulager's sleazy agent. Hair badly dyed jet black, he tells prospective clients (all gals fresh off the bus) that he has major connections and can make them into stars... and when the pay phone on the wall behind him rings, he answers it with his talent agency name. I've had this agent!

The last thread are the Flashbacks in beautiful black & white of Eddie’s pre-Hollywood life in Texas, with Joe Estevez as his strict father and Barbara Patrick (Robert’s wife) as his soon-to-be-ex-wife. Eddie was a successful pizza store owner (take out only) who sells his business to live his dream of being an Elvis impersonator. Father thinks he’s an idiot, wife divorces him and takes the kid... and Eddie and his band go out of the road. Jeff’s cuts from present to past and back are great - match cut stuff with a character from the present drinking a cup of coffee to one in the past drinking a cup of coffee. There is a great flow to the story which makes it seem less episodic. Because the black and white stuff was shot later, Jeff would end a scene with some action that could be duplicated months later when Duane had lost a bunch of weight and looked like a younger version of himself. Eventually the flashbacks get darker and darker (in tone, not lighting) and Eddie flips out in a burger joint and ends up sent to an insane asylum, where the guards include Quentin Tarantino (before he was famous) and Bruce Campbell and director Rusty Cundiff.

The last third of the film at the Back Door Club is filled with some great characters - the late great Roscoe Lee Brown plays the club owner, Tim Thomerson does a great cameo as an angry comedian, stand up comic Puppy Thomas is the world’s worst ventriloquist, and practically stealing the show is Danny Roebuck as Eddie’s warm up act - the world’s most unlucky magician: when he tries to pull the rabbit out of his hat, it bites him and he bleeds all over the place for the rest of his performance... which includes him accidentally catching fire and unable to put himself out. Then Eddie gets up on stage, everything goes wrong, and he has his big break down right in front of us.

Though that ending was the whole reason they made the film, I really like the parts of the film that come before that. You get a real feel for people on the fringes in Hollywood, the hopefuls without hope...

And that's what TOGETHER & ALONE is all about.

Between the movies a Q&A with Duane, Danny Roebuck (who read Jeff's letter), Jay Woelfel, Tom Callaway, Harri James, Clu Gulager, Chuck Williams, and probably some folks I'm forgetting.

The cameo folks like Tarantino and Bruce Campbell and Tim Thomerson must have been busy. Joe Estevez wandered in after the Q&A was over, but in time to watch himself in...



TOGETHER & ALONE - I had seen it once on DVD or VHS, but never on the big screen. This film is the bridge between Robert Altman and Mumblecore. When I'd seen it earlier, I got a little teary at the end. This time, other parts got to me as well. Big ensemble cast playing people living on the fringe in Hollywood who know they are not going to make it. The hope has been pounded out of them. Like in EDDIE, they all hang at the same greasy spoon diner - and that is where their lives intersect. Very funny, very sad - this is one of those films that some critic somewhere needs to discover and champion. Duane wrote the script, directed, and plays one of the roles. The film was made for pocket change, and I suspect some of the stuff shot on the streets of Hollywood was done without permits (there’s a bit at the end where an unsuspecting person ends up part of a scene where a character goes crazy and starts yelling). The one problem with the film is that it does not have the flow of EDDIE PRESLEY and there are abrupt and jarring cuts between scenes... but that kind of fits right into the whole Mumblecore thing, so we’ll just say this film was ahead of its time.

Here are the story threads in this tale of one day in the life of Hollywood hopefuls who lose all hope...

Billy (Casey Siemaszko) is a guitar player with real talent in some garage band that plays all kinds of low rent clubs. He’s dating a rich girl from a wealthy Texas family, and is about to be introduced to her father (Tim Thomerson) for the first time, and is a little nervous. So nervous that he misses a sound check with his band - who are about to cut a demo record. That demo record might be Billy’s big break...

Zevo (Duane) is the leader of the band - all of them have really big hair - and gets pissed off when Billy’s a no show, and tries to turn the rest of the band against Billy and vote him out of the band. Problem is, the rest of the band are idiots, and Billy is a good guitar player, and Billy also brings beer to rehearsals sometimes. Zevo is so cheap that he goes into a strip bar to borrow the phone when there’s a perfectly good payphone outside. After the band stops being distracted by strippers, they decide to vote Billy out of the band - leaving them without their most talented member and leaving Billy adrift and without hope. There’s a nice scene where Billy and his girlfriend end up at the base of the Capitol Records Building, and he talks about his dreams of a recording deal... and how they are probably never going to happen.

In the Greasy Spoon Diner where their lives intersect...

Chad the screenwriter (Tom Denolf) lays out his pens in a specific pattern on the counter and opens his legal pad to write... when a pair of pests sit on either side of him. An older dude who keeps asking him what he’s doing... and eventually starts to hit on him with the weirdest pick up lines you’ve ever heard, and Dougie Westa (Danny Roebuck) the worst actor in the world - his car is plastered with his headshots in a parody of Dennis Woodfruff’s car - sits on the other side of Chad and asks if there’s a role in the script for him. These three guys provide some great comedy bits throughout the film.

At another table are burned out actor Roscoe (Joe Unger in an Oscar calibre performance - really, this is one amazing piece of acting) and just out of film school young director Gene (Thomas Draper) who is buttering up Roscoe to be in his short film about a door-to-door bible salesman who kills people. Though I have no idea what % of the film this story thread is, it *dominates* the film due to Unger’s performance as a guy who knows he’s a has-been without ever really being somebody. He’s spent his life being a bit part player with his best roles on the cutting room floor (in real life, Unger’s big break-out role in ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK ended up on the cutting room floor). He has this great rant about how Hollywood just screwed him over, and how lesser talents went farther. Unger manages to be angry and vulnerable and sad all at the same time... and Gene has to put up with all of this in order to get Roscoe in his short film. Gene has a girlfriend, who is an actress....

Laura (Stacie Randall) is taking an acting class from blowhard acting teacher Blaine (Joe Estevez - Martin Sheen’s brother) who has a big showcase for his acting class coming up where big time agents and big time talent scouts are supposed to be in the audience. There will be wine and cheese after the showcase, but only if the acting students bring the wine and cheese, because Blaine sure as hell isn’t paying for it. When Roscoe talks bout those guys who got undeserved breaks, he mentions Blaine’s name - Blaine was once in an episode of LASSIE in a featured role. Blaine has a photo of him and Lassie in his scrap book... that he shows to Laura after class... just before trying to rape her. See, she’s the only one in his class with any talent, so obviously they were meant to be together, right? Laura kicks him in the nuts - hard - and splits for the diner and Gene.

The part that made my eyes damp the first time I saw it was Janet (Harri James) the female comedian who goes to open mike night and bombs. Bombs big time. And realizes that she is not funny at all, and her dream is never going to happen. After being booed off stage, she gets in her beat up old car... which blows up! Now she has no car, no dreams, no nothing. She wanders to a bus stop where she meets Rusty (John Bishop) a shaggy guitar player who hasn't really made it, but sold some songs. As they wait for the bus - which never comes - they tentatively hit it off... and decide to take a cab to her place, where they do not have sex... but share some powerful moments where they talk about their failure to crack Hollywood. Then, as she sleeps, he writes a song about her. A sad song. The funny part about this is that I started getting misty eyed at the friggin’ bus stop scene! I knew that song was coming, and it was already working on me! Anyway, that is one great scene.

There are two “glue characters” who also connect these story threads... Buffy the free-spirit waitress at the greasy spoon café (Mariah O’Brien) and the chatty philosopher / taxi driver (Larry Lyles) who picks up Rusty and Janet and a few of the other characters and transports them from one location to another. Chad the screenwriter works up the nerve to flirt with Buffy, and eventually asks her out. This is a great little scene. Afterwards, there’s a funny scene where Gene and Laura are talking and he jokes about a 3-way with another woman. Laura puts him on the spot by calling over Buffy and asking why she thinks men want that kind of stuff. Buffy thinks it’s just because they’re dogs, thinks the whole 3-way thing is gross... except for the time she did it, oh, and the other time she did it, oh, and the time before that when she did it, and...

The taxi driver guy talks a mile a minute and has a theory about everything and is funny as hell - he practically steals the show! You keep wanting one of the other characters to flag down a taxi! He has this crazy story he tells about how his ex-wife ran away with some clown... a real clown. Guy who does kids birthday parties. Worst thing was that she got custody of his little girl, and he wasn’t around to be a father to her... some clown was. When Buffy flags down the taxi, and it’s his cab, we can’t wait to hear whatever rambling monologue he’s going to do while he drives her home after her shift. Along the way, they pass Roscoe - who has flipped out and is wandering the streets of Hollywood screaming, then when he pulls up in front of her apartment she kisses him and it’s revealed that she is his daughter. Cool moment that brings all of the story threads together.

This is a pocket change movie that I enjoyed much more than any of the Mumblecore films I've seen - some critic needs to discover and champion this film so that it can find a larger audience.

- Bill

PS: Hope I didn't get any of the cast names wrong - tried to match character names to IMDB cast in the case of folks I wasn't familiar with.

Lancelot Link Monday: More Damned Pilgrims?

Lancelot Link Monday!If "April Showers Bring May Flowers" does that mean a whole bunch of Pilgrims are going to arrive at Plymouth Rock now? While you're thinking about that, here are this week's links to some great screenwriting and film articles, plus some fun stuff that may be of interest to you. Brought to you by that suave and sophisticated secret agent...




Here are a dozen links plus this week's car chase...


1) Weekend Box Office Estimates:
1 Jungle Book..................... $42,439,000
2 Huntsman:WW...................... $9,390,000
3 Keanu............................ $9,350,000
4 Mothers Day...................... $8,302,319
5 Barbershop....................... $6,125,000
6 Zootopia......................... $5,006,000
7 Ratchet.......................... $4,823,000
8 Boss............................. $4,250,000
9 BVS:DOJ.......................... $3,810,000
10 Criminal.......................... $1,325,000




2) Summer Box Office Preview.

3) Black List Script Bought By Will Ferrell... Now Shelved.

4) The Troubles With CITIZEN KANE....

5) The Most Hated Movie In America.

6) Key & Peele On KEANU And 80s Action Films.

7) What Do Crew Members Make?

8) HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER, The TV Series?

9) Andrew Niccol (TRUMAN SHOW) Has A New Movie In The Works.

10) Extreme MAD MAX Fans Have Their Own Version Of Cochella.

11) THE LAST DETAIL - Article & Screenplay.

12) The Final Shot

And the Car Chase Of The Week:





Bill



IMPORTANT UPDATE:
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Lancelot Link Monday: Are Spec Scripts Dead?

Lancelot Link Monday! After a bunch of articles claiming the spec script was dead (as far as sales go - that's still the way to get assignments), we suddenly had two big spec sales. Is this a chicken and egg situation? Do we need a bunch more articles about how dead the spec sales market is in order to get a bunch more spec sales? If so, can someone get on that? I've got a new script that needs a new home... While you're thinking about that, here are this week's links to some great screenwriting and film articles, plus some fun stuff that may be of interest to you. Brought to you by that suave and sophisticated secret agent...




Here are a dozen links plus this week's car chase...


1) Weekend Box Office Estimates:
1 Jungle Book..................... $60,803,000
2 Huntsman WW..................... $20,080,000
3 Barber Shop TNC................. $10,830,000
4 Zootopia......................... $6,611,000
5 The Boss......................... $6,080,000
6 BVSDOJ........................... $5,520,000
7 Criminal......................... $3,100,000
8 MBFGW2........................... $2,100,000
9 Compadres........................ $1,350,000
10 Eye Sky.......................... $1,214,963


Tom Hanks new movie opened at #11 with $1,206,850.

2) Indie & Specialty Film Box Office.

3) IT Is Coming! - This is to be the first in the Warner Bros "Stephen King Multi-Verse".

4) A Look At VERTIGO - What's With Those Colors?

5) Marvel Films - It's Inhuman!!!!

6) Jeremy Saulnier on THE GREEN ROOM.

7) Bidding War Spec Script Sale #1.

8) Spec Script Sale #2 (is this a trend?)

9) Vince Vaughn Cast In BRUTAL Prison Screenplay BRAWL IN CELL BLOCK 99.

10) CHIPS: THE MOTION PICTURE.

11) BLADE RUNNER 2: ELECTRIC BUGALOO Changes Release Date.

12) Cannes Film Fest (and Market) Is Right Around The Corner!

And the Car Chase Of The Week:



From a movie I haven't seen in ages, that was the first time I saw Ed Harris on screen.

Bill



IMPORTANT UPDATE:
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Ghostbusters remake?

What if the movie GHOSTBUSTERS got sent back to 1954?



- Bill

Lancelot Link Monday: Jungle Out There!

Lancelot Link Monday! The first of *3* JUNGLE BOOK movies opened over the weekend... and made $291m in global ticket sales. That's just the weekend. That happens to include the #2 opening weekend for April in the USA, which beats movies like CAPTAIN AMERICA: WINTER SOLDIER and FAST 5. Okay, this version - like the other 2 that will open over the next year - is based on a *public domain* book published in 1894. You read that right - over 120 years ago. Though this version is a remake of the Disney cartoon from the 1960s, the other 2 movies are based on the PD book... and that book has been made into a huge stack of films over the years. Rudyard Kipling (the guy who wrote the book) has about 100 films based on his works over the years, many made over and over again. KIM? GUNGA DIN? MAN WHO WOULD BE KING? RIKKI TIKKI TAVI? Think about all of the great public domain stuff out there! While you're thinking about that, here are this week's links to some great screenwriting and film articles, plus some fun stuff that may be of interest to you. Brought to you by that suave and sophisticated secret agent...




Here are a dozen links plus this week's car chase...


1) Weekend Box Office Estimates:
1 Jungle Book.................... $103,567,000
2 Barbershop: TNC................. $20,210,000
3 Boss............................ $10,170,000
4 Batman V Superman................ $9,010,000
5 ZooTop........................... $8,235,000
6 Criminal......................... $5,850,000
7 MBFGW2........................... $3,260,000
8 Miracles FH...................... $1,900,000
9 GND2............................. $1,700,644
10 EyeSky........................... $1,637,517


Box Office continues to grow - this is year looks like another record breaker, even without a STAR WARS movie. So far we are 8.3% ahead of last year, 14.6% ahead of 2014, 23.1% ahead of 2013, 8.6% ahead of 2012, and only 28.8% ahead of 2011. Yes - that's over a quarter more! People seem to be avoiding cinemas this year and would rather spend $50 to see a new movie at home... NOT!

2) The GHOST IN THE SHELL Kerfuffle And Max Landis (who once told em I'm funny - and I will keep repeating that forever).

3) To Text Or Not To Text - That Is AMC's Question.

4) Statham In New Rom-Com Titled MEG?

5) Behind The Scenes On THE TRUMAN SHOW.

6) All Star Cast In Aronofsky's Home Invasion Film.

7) Awesome Hong Kong Director Johnnie To's New Film THREE Trailer (ELECTION 3?)

8) Kubricks' THE SHINING Treatment.

9) How Much AVATAR Can You Take?

10) Would You Pay To See New Movies On Your TV? How Much?

11) From Writer's Imagination To TV Series.

12) 100 Years - 100 Shots!

And the Car Chase Of The Week:





Bill



IMPORTANT UPDATE:
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Monsterpalooza 3

From 5 Years Ago... And Coming Next Weekend!

Over the weekend I went to Monsterpalooza 3, and every year it is *more crowded* than the last. This year, I looked outside at about 3pm and there was still a line *around the building*!



So, I was supposed to meet my friend Rod there, and looked all over for him... bumping in to other friends and talking with them along the way. As the day went on, I hadn't seen him, and decided to call. Should have done that earlier, but I figured we were in the same very crowded building and eventually would spot each other. Rod picks up - he's just left the venue. He was there - but it was so crowded we never even saw each other!



I went to a couple of panels - the guy who played Godzilla (in the suit) was speaking - a little old Japanese man who told amusing stories about being dressed in rubber and hanging from wires and sometimes being injured in a fight with some other stuntman in a rubber monster suit, but not telling anyone because it took so long to get the suit on and get hooked up to the wires that it was easier to work injured.

As a kid, GODZILLA movies were weekend afternoon TV movie staples. They were silly fun, and I've always been a fan of the big guy. Also Mothra. And Mothra's caterpillars. And those two little girls in the bird cage. I had a Godzilla plastic model and some Godzilla toys and a Godzilla movie poster. Mostly as a goof. Later I had a movie poster for Larry Cohen's IT'S ALIVE, a goofy movie that was actually about something...



The next panel was for THE HOWLING, which is one of my favorite movies. I fell in love with Belinda Balaski in PIRANHA and she and John Sayles and Joe Dante all went on to make HOWLING together. Also on the panel - Dee Wallace (who is in my INVISIBLE MOM movie) and Robert Picardo (this was his first film), and one of Rob Bottin's FX make up team. They had some good stories - one day Bottin took 13 hours putting the werewolf make up on Picardo... and by the time he was done they had run out of time to shoot! Other stories about the difficulties of acting opposite FX to be added later, and the stop motion scenes that were cut out of the film. Dante talked a lot about John Sayles contributions, and the decision to add humor - because audiences can find unintentional humor in an overly serious horror flick, so if you mix a little humor in they laugh at that instead and aren't trying to make fun of the real scares. The whole EST thing was Sayles' contribution, too. I know all of this stuff from reading every article on the film when it came out, but cool to see the real people talk about it. Belinda still looks great.



The next panel was American Grindhouse, and featured a bunch of great film makers - Joe Dante stuck around, but the highlights for me were the amazing Larry Cohen (IT'S ALIVE - and dozens of others, plus *hundreds* of screenplays from DADDY'S GONE A HUNTING (1969) to PHONE BOOTH and CELLULAR (a few years ago), plus Jack Harris (FOXY BROWN and THE BIG DOLL HOUSE) and Bill Lustig (MANIAC COP and RELENTLESS). All of that talent onstage, and the moderator (director of the doc AMERICAN GRINDHOUSE, which is great and a free view on Hulu if you are in the USA) screwed it up by not having any prepared questions and then asking a bunch of silly questions about experiences in 42 Street cinemas in the 70s. Huh? No real questions about making the films (though in the doc Larry Cohen tells some greats tories about shooting the end of BLACK CAESAR on the streets of New York with no permits and just people walking down the street as accidental extras. Fred Williamson (in my CROOKED movie) gets shot and staggers down the street bleeding and eventually falls over and dies - all with real New Yorkers as unknowing extras! I would have loved to have Lustig talk about making movies for grindhouses & drive ins... and then make similar movies for Cinetel like HIT LIST and RELENTLESS (great low budget flick) and then do direct to video stuff like UNCLE SAM. Nobody asked.

After that I did a final loop through the event and then went to the hotel bar and had me some beers on an empty stomach. Darin Scott and many from the Thursday Night Gang were there, plus Tyger Torres (was his birthday), and a bunch of others. I hung out, talked to Don about his DIY feature, and eventually realized I'd better get on the bike and pedal home while I could still balance. In previous blog entries I've talked about what the event is all about, so I'm linking those entries below:

Monsterpalooza #1 - 2009.

Monsterpalooza #2 - 2010.

- Bill

IMPORTANT UPDATE:
TODAY'S SCRIPT TIP: Is Your Screenplay Ready? - a few ways to figure out.
Dinner: McD's chicken club while in transit on the bike.
Pages: No. Well, actually a page - but that wasn't enough. Trying to dive back into this script after working on 2 others for a week.
Bicycle: Yes. I've been doing medium rides every day. I've also thrown the bike on the front of the Orange Line "bullet bus" to ride in far off lands west of here.

Movies: YOUR HIGHNESS - It was better than I was lead to expect from the reviews, and I liked it more than PINEAPPLE... but have no idea how this will ever show on network TV. It's seriously R rated. I laughed, and thought the elements of parody were fun (from the mechanical bird to the endless shots of them marching on mountain tops like in LOTR). I also thought the hand villain guy was a cool idea. Some of the gags didn't work, but it had a story that made sense. I think the problem with a film like PINEAPPLE is that you have this shaggy dog nonsense story, so when gags don't work - nothing works. At least here we had a story to fall back on when a gag fell flat with a splat. Not a great movie (may use one of the big flaws in a script tip - dude starts out as a whinny worthless slacker... and ends up as one, too... I could not understand why he's a hero at the end) but no reason for the critics to trash it to this extreme. I think all of the reviews I read hated it because it was raunchy... and that's what it was supposed to be - a raunchy comedy. Well, it's seriously raunchy, but that's kind of the point.

What's interesting to me about this film: it tested *really* well and everyone thought it was going to be a big hit... but it wasn't. Is that because McBride isn't a star? Because they didn't want to see a raunchy comedy this week? Because there's a difference between test screenings and when a film opens?

Seeing a (secret) movie Tuesday and may see HANNA on Wednesday.

Lancelot Link Monday: No Matter Who Loses, The Boss Wins.

Lancelot Link Monday! BATMAN V SUPERMAN was beaten by THE BOSS after some severe drops in Box Office. I checked in on it on Wednesday, and in it's second Wednesday it had made only 2/3rds of what ZOOTOPIA made in it's *third* Wednesday. Word of mouth seemed to be killing the film. People were telling their friends to avoid it... so maybe the critics were right? Though the film has made 3/4 of a billion bucks, that's on a $400m budget (what was originally reported) and that means it needs to hit over $800m to break even, and it has already begun a pretty steep descent. It will probably make money, but not much. WB has moved WONDER WOMAN forward, but word is the story is just as dark... instead of being *fun*. We want to be entertained! Even a 70s style paranoid thriller like WINTER SOLDIER where everyone is Hailing Hydra at the end was *fun* and *entertaining*! DC needs to learn that audience's just want to have fun. You can explore dark territory, but you need some light. No light, we can't see anything. It's not DEADPOOL quips that we need, it's just fun. So, audiences would rather see THE BOSS (which also got terrible reviews, so don't expect it to spend much time in the #1 position). But - only 8 more months to ROGUE ONE! While you're thinking about that, here are this week's links to some great screenwriting and film articles, plus some fun stuff that may be of interest to you. Brought to you by that suave and sophisticated secret agent...




Here are a dozen links plus this week's car chase...


1) Weekend Box Office Estimates:
1 Boss............................ $23,480,000
2 BvS............................. $23,435,000
3 Zootopia........................ $14,353,000
4 MBFGW2........................... $6,420,000
5 Hardcore Henry................... $5,096,000
6 Miracles From Heaven............. $4,844,000
7 GND2............................. $4,333,707
8 Allegiant........................ $3,600,000
9 10 Cloverfield................... $3,000,000
10 Eye In Sky....................... $2,829,375


THE BOSS wasn't loved by opening night audiences - only C+ on Cinemascore.

2) Hey, They're Making Another EDGE OF TOMORROW Movie... Or LIVE, DIE, REPEAT - if you saw it on DVD.

3) Hey, They're Making A New SPIDER-MAN... Do You Think He'll Be In Grade School This Time?

4) A Look At DePalma's BODY DOUBLE.

5) How Bette Davis Became A Star. (Her Birthday Was Last Week)

6) MTV Movie Award Winners... Yes, It's Still Awards Season!

7) Paul Greengrass Bitches The The Film Business Is Changing. Also - wants kids to get off his lawn.

8) And In Movies Shot On A Phone News....

9) Interview With LOUDER THAN BOMBS' Joachim Trier.

10) Guess What? They're Making Another Wolverine Movie! Will Deadpool Be Featured?

11) Theme Told Visually In CAROL.

12) Without A Box Vs Film Freeway (Film Fest Entries).

And the Car Chase Of The Week:





Bill



IMPORTANT UPDATE:
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Lancelot Link Monday: April Fuels?

Lancelot Link Monday! April Fools is over! We can now go back to believing everything we read on the internet! While you're thinking about that, here are this week's links to some great screenwriting and film articles, plus some fun stuff that may be of interest to you. Brought to you by that suave and sophisticated secret agent...




Here are a dozen links plus this week's car chase...


1) Weekend Box Office Estimates:
1 Batman V Superman............... $52,385,000
2 Zootopia........................ $20,000,000
3 My B F Greek 2.................. $11,130,000
4 God's N Dead 2................... $8,104,321
5 Miracles F Heaven................ $7,550,000
6 Allegiant........................ $5,725,000
7 10 C Lane........................ $4,750,000
8 Meet T Blacks.................... $4,086,000
9 Eye I T Sky...................... $4,055,000
10 Deadpool.......................... $3,500,000


Second weekend for BvS and the audience has spoken -0 the film fell 68.4% from last week, when the studio predicted about a 58% fall. That B grade from Cinemascore was a good predictor of what the audience thought of the film - and a hyped fan audience predisposed to like the film thought it was okay, but not great. Though the critics can't make or break a big studio tentpole movie, they often give an indication of what word of mouth by the audience might be (the critics have seen the film, the audience hasn't seen it when they pay for their ticket... but afterwards?). When a film gets a critical drumming studios are quick to jump in and say that critics don't matter, but more often than not the film's second and third and subsequent weekends seem to point out that the critics might be right. You can "buy" an opening weekend, but after that it's up to the quality of the film - and, as we've seen in the past, some movies take a huge nosedive in their second weekend. Though 68.4% isn't terrible, it isn't what the studio needs to keep the film earning money with repeat viewings so that they can make back that massive budget. The film has also ran into some problems overseas in second weekend, specifically in China - where it may have already run its course! This does not bode well for WB's DC plans. The time has come not just to replace Snyder, but to show him to the Hollywood City Limits and tell him not to come back.

2) The Bizarre Story Of How SUPERMAN Got Made... The 1978 Version.

3) Pay To Play Acting - Is Screenwriting Next?

4) Brian De Palma Interviews Francis Ford Coppola About THE CONVERSATION. Holy Sh!t!!!

5) Ben Wheatley's HIGH RISE From Sketchbook To Movie.

6) John Carpenter's "Lost Themes 2"... And Rescoring THE THING.

7) STARMAN Remake I Thought Was April Fools Joke Appears To Be For Real... Maybe They'll Hire Carpenter To Score it?

8) Jim Parsons To Star In Movie About Women Scientists At NASA... because the women don't really matter in Hollywood?

9) Filmmaking Is All About Point Of View.

10) An EX MACHINA Reunion Movie?

11) SHARKNADO 4 News... and title.

12) If Strangers Talked To Everyone The Way They Talk To Writers.

And the Car Chase Of The Week:



BATMAN BEGINS.

Bill



IMPORTANT UPDATE:
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Lancelot Link Monday: Superhero Showdown

Lancelot Link Monday! BATMAN V. SUPERMAN: No Matter Who Wins, We Lose! Because the film made so much money in its opening weekend, we're getting another round of those articles about "Critic Proof" movies - I swear they just change the film title and republish the old ones. Hey, a movie like BATMAN V SUPERMAN was *always* going to have a huge opening weekend. Even with bad reviews. Bad reviews actually *fuel* the opening weekend - "Can it be as bad as they say it is? Let's go see it and find out!" But the real issue is: The critics have seen the film, the people who bought tickets on opening weekend didn't... but now have. So will they want to see the movie again and maybe even again? Will they provide good word of mouth when their friends ask? My FB friends are mixed on this film - some think it's not that bad, others think it *is* that bad. I have yet to read a glowing excellent you've gotta see this review from any of my FB friends (many of whom are the target audience for this). I suspect next weekend will be pretty good, too - but here's the thing: STAR WARS TFA was #13 over the weekend... and that's been out since *last year*. Will BVS have that kind of staying power? While you're thinking about that, here are this week's links to some great screenwriting and film articles, plus some fun stuff that may be of interest to you. Brought to you by that suave and sophisticated secret agent...




Here are a baker's dozen links plus this week's car chase...


1) Weekend Box Office Estimates:
1 Batman V Superm................ $170,100,000
2 Zootopia........................ $23,138,000
3 MBFGW2.......................... $18,120,000
4 Miracles......................... $9,500,000
5 Allegiant........................ $9,500,000
6 10 Cloverfield................... $6,000,000
7 Deadpool......................... $5,000,000
8 London Bridges................... $2,926,000
9 Doris............................ $1,700,925
10 Eye Sky.......................... $1,001,204


Though the *current* reported budget for BATMAN V SUPERMAN is $250 million, before the bad reviews kicked in the budget was over $410 million as of October of last year! That's before post production overages and reshoots and P&A advertising and everything else! Yikes! It's common for studios to under report budgets when things get out of hand and there's concern that a film may not perform as well as they thought. So BVS will have to do STAR WARS business to break even. Hopefully it will do great business and Warner Bros will be able to fund another MAD MAX movie.

2) Return On Investment? Small Movies With Big Profits.

3) Writing DOUBLE INDEMNITY With Wilder & Chandler.

4) Women & Minority Writers - This Get Worse According To WGA.

5) And The Actual WGA Report.

6) J.K. Rowling's Rejection Letters.

7) As The Guy Who Gave Albert Whitlock The Welcome Mat That He Used In Front Of His Trailer, I Love Old School Effects Like This...

8) From 3 Minute Proof Of Concept Short To Feature Film - LIGHTS OUT.

9) I Think The Premise Is Wrong - Hitchcock Didn't *Block* Scenes, He Used Specific Shots (Often Altering The Set For The Shot), But Interesting Look At VERTIGO.

10) Dialogue Is Like Toilet Paper...

11) The Cannes Game Begins!

12) What Script Readers And Development People Look For In Your Screenplay. This is GOLD!

13) BATMAN Vs. SUPERMAN - The Previous Fights Before This Week's Rematch!

BONUS: DEADPOOL Effects. And the Car Chase Of The Week:



RIP: Garry Shandling.

Bill



IMPORTANT UPDATE:
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Lancelot Link: Spring Has Sprung!

Lancelot Link Monday! This is the second day of Spring... which means giant blockbusters are just around the corner! Those big summer tentpoles! BATMAN vs SUPERMAN just premiered for press in New York City, and soon there will be leaks about whether it's good or bad or just is. If it flops, with all of those DC Comics characters in the film, what will Warner Brothers do? MATRIX 4? While you're thinking about that, here are this week's links to some great screenwriting and film articles, plus some fun stuff that may be of interest to you. Brought to you by that suave and sophisticated secret agent...




Here are a dozen links plus this week's car chase...


1) Weekend Box Office Estimates:
1 Zootopia........................ $38,042,000
2 Allegiant....................... $29,050,000
3 Miracles From Heaven............ $15,000,000
4 10 Cloverfield.................. $12,500,000
5 Deadpool......................... $8,000,000
6 London........................... $6,894,000
7 WTF?............................. $2,805,000
8 Perfect Match.................... $1,900,000
9 Brothers Grimms(by).............. $1,400,000
10 Revenant.......................... $1,225,000


Just a note: DEADPOOL has now made $340,941,383 in the USA alone on a budget of under $60m (making it one of the cheapest superhero comic book movies ever made). More than twice that when the rest of the world is factored in. It's one of the main reason this year's Box Office is shattering records - 10.1% ahead of last year, 15.9% ahead of 2014, 25.0% ahead of 2013, 9.1% ahead of 2012, and only 25.8% ahead of 2011. Yikes!

2) Max Landis (who thinks I'm funny) Just Sold A Spec For $3 Million To Netflix.

3) Joel Edgerton On MIDNIGHT SPECIAL.

4) Want To Go Indie? Prepare To Make 7 Features In ONE YEAR... Every Year.

5) Michael Mann Becomes Book Publisher - Announces HEAT Prequel & True Crime Film.

6) The Reality Of Screenwriting.

7) James Rollins' Novel MAP OF BONES Comes To The Big Screen.

8) Relativity Comes Out Of Bankruptcy - What Does This Mean

9) Want To Hear The Score To Ben Wheatley's HIGH RISE?

10) Black List's BUBBLES Becomes Stop Motion Film.

11) MIDNIGHT SPECIAL's Jeff Nichols on AQUAMAN and More!

12) The Talented Max Adams Picks 15 Screenwriting Books.

And the Car Chase Of The Week:



Well, cars and space ships!

Bill



IMPORTANT UPDATE:
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Dinner:
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Movie: