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

 

A fantasy screenplay, in more ways than one

From A Dribble of Ink: So you're a beginning screenwriter and you have this favorite novel and you think it'd be fun to turn it into a movie. But then you think: naaah, they won't give me the rights and, even if they did, who'd buy a screenplay from me?

Think again.

Labels: Eldon Thompson, fantasy, screenwriting, Terry Brooks, The Elfstones of Shannara

 

The big question for screenwriters

From The Telegraph (UK): Ellin Stein asks: "The big question is why anyone would want to pursue a screenwriting career when they could earn decent money and a lot more respect writing for TV drama." The answer, we suspect, is that most writers would be happy with either.

Labels: screenwriting, TV writing

 

A tale of two screenplays

From The Los Angeles Times: Two skilfully-written screenplays with high-profile talent attached (Michael Mann and Leonardo DiCaprio in one instance, Peter Jackson in the other) circulate in Hollywood. One gets greenlighted, the other's still looking. Why?

Labels: Leonardo DiCaprio, Michael Mann, Peter Jackson, screenwriting

 

How to introduce a character

From johnaugust.com: Every once in awhile screenwriter John (Charlie's Angels, Big Fish) August hauls off and uses his popular blog to offer a craft lesson. As one of his respondents says, "This is what film school should be like." Here he talks about how (and when) to provide a telling introduction of a character.

Labels: character, Charlie's Angel, John August, screenwriting

 

Horror doesn't have to be horrible

From Written in Canada: The writers of the new TV series Blood Ties, and the creator of the Gingersnaps movie franchise, argue that horror doesn't have to equal schlock.

Labels: Blood Ties, film, Gingersnaps, horror, movies, screenwriting, TV, TV writing

 

Writers' case against WGA heats up

From LA Weekly: Is the Writers Guild of America withholding millions in dollars from its own members? A whistelblower gives new legs to the case.

Labels: film, screenwriting, WGA, Writers Guild of America

 

Want to direct your own screenplay? Keep it personal

From Screentalk: What you really want to do is direct? Jonathan Kasdan (son of Lawrence) suggests writing a screenplay so autobiographical they can't think of anyone else.

Labels: film, Jonathan Kasdan, screenwriting