Prep week on "The Border"

From Dead Things ON Sticks: University can be a good place for a would-be writer to make the right connections, but, really, these days you can learn most of what you need to know about the industry on the Net. A case in point is this assemblage of posts by TV writer Denis McGrath, about prep week on an episodic drama. McGrath is an expat American who writes for the Canadian series "The Border"; the series is pretty good, but not as good as his blog. You'll have to scroll around a bit to read his prep notes in chronological order, if that sort of thing matters to you; regardless, once you're done you'll know more about the real life of a TV writer than you might want to. Now, if only the Net had fraternities and keggers.

Labels: TV writing

 

A real script doctor

From The National (UAE): A survey once found that poets and playwrights ranked highest among writers for rates of alcoholism. I don't think it mentioned screenwriters, but if this profile of Hollywood shrink-to-the-scribes Dennis Palumbo is anything to go by, they'd be up there too.

Labels: screenwriters, screenwriting

 

Is Spike Lee the Jesse Jackson of Film?

From Men's News Daily: Was Spike Lee right to call out Clint Eastwood because there were no black soldiers in his last two war movies? Or, as this nothing-if-not-pithy opinion piece suggests, are his remarks just an appeal to old-school identity politics that the U.S. is well rid of?

Labels: screenwriters, screenwriting

 

Pitch, pitch, pitch

From BlogCritics Magazine: A great article on those PitchFests that take your money to get you a minute or two with somebody who might buy your screenplay. Great, that is, unless you're looking for encouragement. The bad news? "It is a nightmare for all involved." The other bad news? "it just doesn’t really work." Other than that, they're fantastic.

Labels: screenwriters, screenwriting

 

Screenwriter pushes into dark corners

From The Orlando Sentinel: Screenwriter Sergio G. Sanchez may have figured out the reason for the success in America of films like Pan's Labyrinth and his own, The Orphanage: "When a Spanish or European or even Mexican film dares to go into those dark corners, you get the feeling that's something people would not welcome here. Strangely enough, though, American audiences seem to love that . . . . It's daring enough to go into places that audiences are rarely pushed into by American movies."

Labels: screenwriters, screenwriting

 

Stripper turned screenwriter generates heat

From The Toronto Star and The New York Times: Given that she's a Catholic schoolgirl turned stripper turned hot indie-screenwriter, it's not surprising that Diablo Cody has become a media it-girl, profiled most recently in The Toronto Star and The New York Times. We'd say its sexist -- would she get this kind of press if she hadn't been a stripper, even with all the Oscar-talk swirling about her? -- except that anybody who can use the word "porcine" in a sentence (see the Times article) doesn't need us to defend her.

Labels: Diablo Cody, Juno, screenwriters, screenwriting

 

Screenwriters accept risk to gain creative control

From The Hollywood Reporter: Screenwriter-director Robin (The Jane Austen Book Club) Swicord talks about the advantages of directing her own script, and the Writer's Co-op, whose members take less money up-front in order to have a bigger say during production.

Labels: Robin Swicord, screenwriting, Writer's Co-op