R.I.P. Harold Pinter

I recall my father telling me when I was young that I had to see this phenomenal movie coming on TV. It was called Sleuth. It starred a young, scheming Michael Caine and an old, diabolical Lawrence Olivier. It was a battle of wits and cons and strategies to the death! I loved every minute of that movie and still do.

Years later, I recall seeing a movie in the theaters called Betrayal. It was a love story that went in reverse. And to this day, I recall what Ebert wrote, “The absolutely brilliant thing about Betrayal is that it is a love story told backward. There is a lot in this movie that is wonderful -- the performances, the screenplay by Harold Pinter -- but what makes it all work is the structure. When Pinter's stage version of Betrayal first appeared, back in the late 1970s, there was a tendency to dismiss his reverse chronology as a gimmick. Not so. It is the very heart and soul of this story. It means that we in the audience know more about the unhappy romantic fortunes of Jerry and Robert and Emma at every moment than they know about themselves. Even their joy is painful to see… The Betrayal structure strips away all artifice. It shows, heartlessly, that the very capacity for love itself is sometimes based on betraying not only other loved ones, but even ourselves.”

Pinter got an Oscar nom for that screenplay.

Those are my two fondest memories of Harold Pinter.

Here’s a nice Sky News tribute:



There is a great collection of articles in The Guardian including the text of his Nobel prize acceptance speech. GreenCine has a great round-up. There is also HaroldPinter.org and the Wikipedia entry.

But I have this wonderful old book called Playwrights at Work. It’s a collection of Paris Review interviews of many great modern playwrights. Following Pinter’s death, I pulled it out, dusted it off, and re-read Pinter’s interview, which took place in the fall of 1966.

Then I read articles and obits all around the web about Pinter. Somehow, my crazy mind made connections between what the critics in the media had to say about Pinter and what Pinter had to say (in 1966) about those very same topics. So I’ve decided to do something completely off-the-wall and quote various paragraphs I came across in the media about Pinter, which is in black, and then follow that paragraph with the words of Pinter himself about that very same topic from his 1966 Paris Review interview, which is in blue.

Anyway, hope you enjoy it.

-MM

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First, The Telegraph wrote:

In his most masterly works, The Caretaker (1960), The Homecoming (1965) and No Man’s Land (1975), he created a new atmosphere and tension within the conventional theatrical form by withholding information about characters and motives hitherto supposed essential to the audience’s pleasure. The plays were usually set within the confines of a room, seedy in his earlier work but increasingly elegant later. His dramas brought into confrontation a variety of persons, from vagrants and prostitutes to middle-class married couples and self-proclaimed poets, in circumstances bordering on violence or menace and in language that was precise, elegant and often very funny…

But what gave distinction to all Pinter’s writing for the stage and screen was its fascinating opacity. The curtain would rise on a realistic, domestic situation but within minutes the truth about it — and whatever might be gleaned of the people in it — would be called unconsciously into question by their statements. At first, the method maddened spectators and critics alike. The ground seemed to be shifting from under their feet. Pinter famously refused to explain what his plays meant, although he denied deliberate obfuscation…

Pinter: It’s a great mistake to pay any attention to [the critics]. I think, you see, that this is an age of such overblown publicity and overemphatic pinning down. I’m a very good example of a writer who can write, but I’m not as good as all that. I’m just a writer; and I think that I’ve been overblown tremendously because there’s a dearth of really fine writing, and people tend to make too much of a meal. All you can do is try to write as well as you can.


Peter Marks wrote:

Although he expressed the views of a pacifist, Pinter wrote as if he held his finger on the pin of a grenade. In modernist classics such as The Homecoming, Old Times and No Man's Land, he devised characters who spoke in elliptical asides and enigmatic bursts. Violence of some nature was never out of the realm of possibility, even in his quietest plays. For Pinter was a connoisseur of subtext, of letting a story unfold on a living room set while a more savage one simmered in the crawl spaces of the mind. His characters routinely rattle each other with what never gains utterance.

Pinter: Of course I can’t remember exactly how a given play developed in my mind. I think what happens is that I write in a very high state of excitement and frustration. I follow what I see on the paper in front of me – one sentence after another. That doesn’t mean I don’t have a dim, possible overall idea – the image that starts off doesn’t just engender what happens immediately, it engenders the possibility of an overall happening, which carries me through. I’ve got an idea of what might happen – sometimes I’m absolutely right, but on many occasions I’ve been proved wrong by what does actually happen. Sometimes I’m going along and I find myself writing, “C. comes in,” when I didn’t know that he was going to come in; he had to come in at that point, that’s all.


Michael Billington wrote:

My own memories of Harold, and it's hard to think of him in more formal terms, are entirely happy. We'd had a relatively distant professional relationship for many years. I'd reviewed his plays, sometimes favourably, sometimes not. (I made a spectacular ass of myself over the original production of Betrayal.) Then in 1992 I was approached by Faber and Faber to write a book about him. What was intended as a short book about his plays and politics turned, thanks to his openness, into a full-scale biography. I talked to Harold himself at great length, to his friends and colleagues. And what I discovered was that his plays, so often dubbed enigmatic and mysterious, were nearly all spun out of memories of his own experience. If they connected with audiences the world over, it was because he understood the insecurity of human life and the sense that it was often based on psychological and territorial battles…

Interviewer: Do you have any interest in psychology?

Pinter: No.

Billington [cont’d]: Pinter's contribution to drama was immense. He had a poet's ear for language, an almost flawless sense of dramatic rhythm and the ability to distil the conflicts of daily life…

Pinter: I don’t know what kind of characters my plays will have until they… well, until they are. Until they indicate to me what they are. I don’t conceptualize in any way. Once I’ve got the clues I follow them – that’s my job, really, to follow the clues… I always write three drafts, but you have to leave it eventually. There comes a point when you say that's it, I can't do anything more. The only play which gets remotely near to a structural entity which satisfies me is The Homecoming. The Birthday Party and The Caretaker have too much writing... I want to iron it down, eliminate things. Too many words irritate me sometimes, but I can't help them, they just seem to come out - out of the fellow's mouth. I don't really examine my works too much, but I'm aware that quite often in what I write, some fellow at some point says an awful lot.


NYT’s Mel Gussow and Ben Brantley wrote:

In more than 30 plays — written between 1957 and 2000 and including masterworks like The Birthday Party, The Caretaker, The Homecoming and Betrayal — Mr. Pinter captured the anxiety and ambiguity of life in the second half of the 20th century with terse, hypnotic dialogue filled with gaping pauses and the prospect of imminent violence. Along with another Nobel winner, Samuel Beckett, his friend and mentor, Mr. Pinter became one of the few modern playwrights whose names instantly evoke a sensibility. The adjective Pinteresque has become part of the cultural vocabulary as a byword for strong and unspecified menace.

Pinter: That word! These damn words and that word Pinteresque particularly – I don’t know what they’re bloody well talking about! I think it’s a great burden for me to carry, and for other writers to carry… Oh, very occasionally I’ve thought listening to something, hello, that rings a bell, but it goes no further than that. I really do think that writers write on… just write, and I find it difficult to believe I’m any kind of influence on other writers. I’ve seen very little evidence of it, anyway; other people seem to see more evidence of it than I do.


The Times wrote:

Later he was to act memorably in a number of his own plays, and in films. But it is out of his early acting experience that almost certainly grew his deep and probably intuitive understanding of how a few words can be made to resonate with a wealth of half-meanings and suggested meanings — of how to disturb, grip and amuse an audience and to challenge their perceptions. David Hare has written that Pinter never offers audiences “the easy handhold with which they might be able to take some simplified view of the events on stage”, and that “it is this willingness to say ‘take it or leave it’ which finally makes his work so inimitable”.

Pinter: Watching first nights, though I’ve seen quite a few by now, is… a nerve racking experience. It’s not a question of whether the play goes well or badly. It’s not the audience reaction, it’s my reaction. I’m rather hostile toward audiences – I don’t care for large bodies of people collected together. Everyone knows that audiences vary enormously, it’s a mistake to care too much about them. The thing one should be concerned with is whether the performance has expressed what one set out to express in writing the play. It sometimes does.


Phil Nugent wrote:

But Pinter's strongest impact in movies came through screenplay adaptations of others' work--and he did a surprisingly large number of them, especially as his standard of living improved. Among the ones that stand out are his adaptation of Penelope Mortimer's novel The Pumpkin Eater for Jack Clayton's 1964 film, and the first of his many collaborations with the director Joseph Losey, The Servant (1963) and Accident (1967), both starring Dirk Bogarde. He also wrote Losey's 1970 The Go-Between and prepared a script for a film based on Marcel Proust's Remembrance of Things Past for which Losey was never able to obtain funding; it was published in book form as The Proust Screenplay, and eventually adapted to the stage. His other screenplay credits include The Quiller Memorandum, The Last Tycoon, The French Lieutenant's Woman, Turtle Diary, Reunion, The Handmaid's Tale, The Comfort of Strangers, the 1993 version of Kafka's The Trial, and his final credit, the 2007 remake of Sleuth. He also directed Alan Bates in the 1973 movie of Simon Gray's play Butley.

Pinter: I’ve done some film work, but for some reason or other I haven’t found it very easy to satisfy myself on an original idea for a film. Tea Party, which I did for television is actually a film, cinematic, I wrote it like that. Television and films are simpler than the theater – if you get tired of a scene you just drop it and go on to another one. (I’m exaggerating, of course.) What is so different about the stage is that you’re just there, stuck – there are your characters stuck on the stage, you’ve got to live with them and deal with them. I’m not a very inventive writer in the sense of using the technical devices other playwrights do – look at Brecht! I can’t use the stage the way he does, I just haven’t got that kind of imagination, so I find myself stuck with these characters who are either sitting or standing, and they’ve either got to walk out of a door, or come through a door, and that’s about all they can do.


David Edgar wrote:

Playwrights tend to start out political and end up personal. Harold Pinter appeared to follow the opposite course. Marrying continental absurdism with British popular comedy, he changed how dialogue was written in British theatre as definitively as Cézanne changed how paintings were painted in France. Complementing his dialogue, his great speeches turn the mundane (in No Man's Land, the one-way system around London's Bolsover Street) into poetry. Despite this, those of us who followed him rejected his elliptical style and what we saw as the solipsistic apoliticism of absurdism ("Nothing means anything, nothing can be done"). So it was a surprise when, in later life, Pinter became a prominent voice of political dissent. That is the conventional view, and there's a lot to it. But it underestimates the political power of the earlier work…

Interviewer: Do you read things written about you?

Pinter: Yes. Most of the time I don’t know what they’re talking about.

25 Classic Monologues in Cinema

Hey guys,

I dedicate this article to Joshua James. As much as I preach about visual storytelling and “show, don’t tell,” Josh is quick to remind me that a lot of dialogue isn’t wrong so long as it’s good dialogue, and that’s very true. Today’s article will only reinforce his point.

A link on my sidebar that gets little love is Colin’s Movie Monologues, which is a collection of cinema’s great speeches. The list below, a smattering of samples from his website, does not represent the personal favorites of mine. But rather, I chose the widest variety I could – well-known, little-known, speeches, confessions, tirades, breakdowns, etc. I tried to look for a consistent pattern of how, when, and why they are used and ultimately concluded that to create a simple formula for monologues is to belittle their power. All I can say is that generally A) there should be strong emotion behind all the words or in the context of an emotionally charged moment, B) the character’s voice – not yours – should shine through the speech, C) you should have a damn good reason for having it, and D) you better knock that speech out of the ball park.

The list only goes up to films that begin with the letter “J.” In any case, I hope you enjoy them.

-MM

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Adaptation
Charlie Kaufman: Do I have an original thought in my head, my bald head? Maybe if I were happier, my hair wouldn’t be falling out. Life is short; I need to make the most of it. Today is the first day of the rest of my life. I’m a walking cliché. I really need to go to the doctor and have my leg checked. There's something wrong. Oh well. The dentist called again, I'm way overdue. If I stopped putting things off, I would be happier. All I do is sit on my fat ass, if my ass wasn’t fat, I would be happier. I wouldn’t have to wear these shirts with the tails out all the time; like that’s fooling anyone. Fat ass. I should start jogging again. Five miles a day; really do it this time. Maybe rock climbing; I need to turn my life around. What do I need to do? I need to fall in love. I need to have a girlfriend. I need to read more; improve myself. Maybe I should learn Russian or something. Or take up an instrument. I could speak Chinese. I could be the screenwriter who speaks Chinese and plays the oboe. That would be cool. I should get my hair cut short; stop trying to fool myself and everyone else into thinking I have a full head of hair. How pathetic is that? Just be real. Confident. Isn't that what women are attracted to? Men don’t have to be attractive. But that's not true, ''specially these days. There's almost as much pressure on men as there is on women these days. Why should I be made to feel like I should apologize for my existence? Maybe it's my brain chemistry. Maybe that’s what's wrong with me. Bad chemistry... all my problems and anxiety can be reduced to a chemical imbalance or some kind of misfiring synapses. I need to get help from them; but I'll still be ugly though. Nothing is going to change that.

African Queen
Charlie Allnutt: Well, Miss, 'ere we are, everything ship-shape, like they say. Great thing to 'ave, a lyedy, with clean 'abits. Sets me a good example. A man alone, 'e gets to livin' like a bloomin' og. Then, too, with me, it's always -- put things orf. Never do todye wot ya can put orf til tomorrer. (he chuckles and looks at her, expecting her to smile; no reaction from Rose) But you: business afore pleasure, every time. Do yer pers'nal laundry, make yerself spic an' span, get all the mendin' out o' the way, an' then, an ' hone-ly then, set down to a nice quiet hour with the Good-Book. (he watches for something; still no response from Rose) I tell you, it's a model for me, like. An inspiration. I ain't got that ole engine so clean in years; inside an' out, Miss. Just look at 'er, Miss! She practically sparkles. Myself too. Guess you ain't never 'ad a look at me without whiskers an' all cleaned up, 'ave you, Miss? Freshens you up, too; if I only 'ad clean clothes, like you. Now you: why you could be at 'igh tea. (no recognition from Rose, as if she doesn't hear him at all) 'Ow 'bout some tea, Miss, come to think of it? Don't you stir; I'll get it ready. (a pause) 'Ow's the book, Miss? (no answer) Not that I ain't read it, some -- that is to say, me ole lyedy read me stories out of it. (no response; another pause) 'Ow 'bout reading it out loud, eh, Miss? (silence) I'd like to 'ave a little spiritual comfort m'self. (Charlie loses his patience with her silence, he flares up, frustrated) An' you call yerself a Christian! You 'ear me, Miss. (he leans in toward her, getting louder and louder, until he's yelling at the top of his lungs) Don't yer?! Don't yer?! HUH??

Amadeus
Salieri: My plan was so simple that it terrified me. First I must get the death mass and then I, I must achieve his death. His funeral! Imagine it, all of Vienna there, Mozart's coffin, Mozart's little coffin in the middle, and then suddenly, in that silence, music! A divine music bursts out over them all. A great mass of death! Requiem mass for Wolfgang Mozart, composed by his dear friend, Antonio Salieri! Oh what sublimity, what depth, what passion in the music! Salieri has been touched by God at last. And God is forced to listen!! Powerless, powerless to stop it! I, for once in the end, laughing at him!! The only thing that bothered me was the actual killing. How does one do that? Hmmm? How does one kill a man? Well it's one thing to dream about it; very different when you, when you have to do it with your own hands.

American Psycho
Patrick Bateman: Do you like Phil Collins? I've been a big Genesis fan ever since the release of their 1980 album, Duke. Before that, I really didn't understand any of their work. Too artsy, too intellectual. It was on Duke where, uh, Phil Collins' presence became more apparent. I think Invisible Touch was the group's undisputed masterpiece. It's an epic meditation on intangibility. At the same time, it deepens and enriches the meaning of the preceding three albums. Christy, take off your robe. Listen to the brilliant ensemble playing of Banks, Collins and Rutherford. You can practically hear every nuance of every instrument. Sabrina, remove your dress. In terms of lyrical craftsmanship, the sheer songwriting, this album hits a new peak of professionalism. Sabrina, why don't you, uh, dance a little. Take the lyrics to Land of Confusion. In this song, Phil Collins addresses the problems of abusive political authority. In Too Deep is the most moving pop song of the 1980s, about monogamy and commitment. The song is extremely uplifting. Their lyrics are as positive and affirmative as, uh, anything I've heard in rock. Christy, get down on your knees so Sabrina can see your ass. Phil Collins' solo career seems to be more commercial and therefore more satisfying, in a narrower way. Especially songs like In the Air Tonight and, uh, Against All Odds. Sabrina, don't just stare at it, eat it. But I also think Phil Collins works best within the confines of the group, than as a solo artist, and I stress the word artist. This is Sussudio, a great, great song, a personal favorite.

Apocalypse Now
Kurtz: I've seen the horror. Horrors that you've seen. But you have no right to call me a murderer. You have no right to call me a murderer. You have a right to kill me. You have a right to do that, but you have no right to judge me . It's impossible for words to describe what is necessary to those who do not know what horror means. Horror. Horror has a face, and you must make a friend of horror. Horror and mortal terror are your friends. If they are not, then they are enemies to be feared. They are truly enemies. I remember when I was with Special Forces--it seems a thousand centuries ago--we went into a camp to inoculate it. The children. We left the camp after we had inoculated the children for polio, and this old man came running after us, and he was crying. He couldn't see. We went there, and they had come and hacked off every inoculated arm. There they were in a pile--a pile of little arms. And I remember...I...I...I cried, I wept like some grandmother. I wanted to tear my teeth out, I didn't know what I wanted to do. And I want to remember it, I never want to forget. And then I realized--like I was shot...like I was shot with a diamond...a diamond bullet right through my forehead. And I thought, "My God, the genius of that, the genius, the will to do that." Perfect, genuine, complete, crystalline, pure. And then I realized they could stand that--these were not monsters, these were men, trained cadres, these men who fought with their hearts, who have families, who have children, who are filled wi th love--that they had this strength, the strength to do that. If I had ten divisions of those men, then our troubles here would be over very quickly. You have to have men who are moral and at the same time were able to utilize their primordial i nstincts to kill without feeling, without passion, without judgment--without judgment. Because it's judgment that defeats us. I worry that my son might not understand what I've tried to be, and if I were to be killed, Willard, I would want someone to go to my home and tell my son everything. Everything I did, everything you saw, because there's nothing that I detest more than t he stench of lies. And if you understand me, Willard, you...you will do this for me.

Austin Powers
Therapist: Oh no, please, please, let's hear about your childhood.
Dr Evil: Very well, where do I begin? My father was a relentlessly self-improving boulangerie owner from Belgium with low grade narcolepsy and a penchant for buggery. My mother was a fifteen year old French prostitute named Chloe with webbed feet. My father would womanize, he would drink, he would make outrageous claims like he invented the question mark. Some times he would accuse chestnuts of being lazy, the sort of general malaise that only the genius possess and the insane lament. My childhood was typical, summers in Rangoon, luge lessons. In the spring we'd make meat helmets. When I was insolent I was placed in a burlap bag and beaten with reeds, pretty standard really. At the age of 12 I received my first scribe. At the age of fourteen, a Zoroastrian named Vilma ritualistically shaved my testicles. There really is nothing like a shorn scrotum, it's breathtaking, I suggest you try it.
Therapist: You know, we have to stop.

Blazing Saddles
Jim: Yeah, I was the kid...it got so that every pissant prairie punk who thought he could shoot a gun would ride into town to try out the Waco Kid. I must've killed more men than Cecil B Demille. Got pretty gritty. I started to hear the word draw in my sleep. Then one day, I was just walking down the street, and I heard a voice behind me say, "Reach for it Mister!" I spun around and there I was face to face with a six-year-old kid. Well I just threw my guns down and walked away....little bastard shot me in the ass!! So I limped to the nearest saloon, crawled into a whiskey bottle, and I've been there ever since.

Breakfast at Tiffany’s
Paul Varjak: You know what's wrong with you, Miss Whoever-you-are? You're chicken, you've got no guts. You're afraid to stick out your chin and say, "Okay, life's a fact, people do fall in love, people do belong to eachother, because that's the only chance anybody's got for real happiness." You call yourself a free spirit, a "wild thing," and you're terrified somebody's gonna stick you in a cage. Well baby, you're already in that cage. You built it yourself. And it's not bounded in the west by Tulip, Texas, or in the east by Somali-land. It's wherever you go. Because no matter where you run, you just end up running into yourself.

The Breakfast Club
Andy: Do you guys know what I did to get in here? I taped Larry Lester's buns together. Yeah, you know him? Well then, you know how hairy he is, right? Well, when they pulled the tape off, most of his hair came off and some skin too. And the bizarre thing is, is that I did it for my old man. I tortured this poor kid because I wanted him to think I was cool. He's always going off about, you know, when he was in school, all the wild things he used to do, and I got the feeling that he was disappointed that I never cut loose on anyone, right? So, I'm sitting in the locker room and I'm taping up my knee and Larry's undressing a couple lockers down from me and he's kinda, kinda skinny, weak, and I started thinking about my father and his attitude about weakness, and the next thing I knew I, I jumped on top of him and started wailing on him. Then my friends, they just laughed and cheered me on. And afterwards, when I was sittin' in Vernon's office, all I could think about was Larry's father and Larry having to go home and explain what happened to him. And the humiliation, the fucking humiliation he must have felt. It must have been unreal. I mean, how do you apologize for something like that? There's no way. It's all because of me and my old man. God, I fucking hate him. He's like, he's like this mindless machine I can't even relate to anymore. "Andrew, you've got to be number one. I won't tolerate any losers in this family. Your intensity is for shit." You son of a bitch. You know, sometimes I wish my knee would give and I wouldn't be able to wrestle anymore. He could forget all about me.

Chasing Amy
Holden: I love you. And not in a friendly way, although I think we're great friends. And not in a misplaced affection, puppy-dog way, although I'm sure that's what you'll call it. And it's not because you're unattainable. I love you. Very simple, very truly. You're the epitome of every attribute and quality I've ever looked for in another person. I know you think of me as just a friend, and crossing that line is the furthest thing from an option you'd ever consider. But I had to say it. I can't take this anymore. I can't stand next to you without wanting to hold you. I can't look into your eyes without feeling that longing you only read about in trashy romance novels. I can't talk to you without wanting to express my love for everything you are. I know this will probably queer our friendship -no pun intended- but I had to say it, because I've never felt this before, and I like who I am because of it. And if bringing it to light means we can't hang out anymore, then that hurts me. But I couldn't allow another day to go by without getting it out there, regardless of the outcome, which by the look on your face is to be the inevitable shoot-down. And I'll accept that. But I know some part of you is hesitating for a moment, and if there is a moment of hesitation, that means you feel something too. All I ask is that you not dismiss that -at least for ten seconds- and try to dwell in it. Alyssa, there isn't another soul on this fucking planet who's ever made me half the person I am when I'm with you, and I would risk this friendship for the chance to take it to the next plateau. Because it's there between you and me. you can't deny that. And even if we never speak again after tonight, please know that I'm forever changed because of who you are and what you've meant to me, which -while I do appreciate it- I'd never need a painting of birds bought at a diner to remind me of.(Alyssa exits the car) Was it something I said?

Crimes and Misdemeanors
Professor Levy: We're all faced throughout our lives with agonizing decisions, moral choices. Some are on a grand scale, most of these choices are on lesser points. But we define ourselves by the choices we have made. We are, in fact, the sum total of our choices. Events unfold so unpredictably, so unfairly. Human happiness does not seem to have been included in the design of creation. It is only we, with our capacity to love, that give meaning to the indifferent universe. And yet, most human beings seem to have the ability to keep trying and even to find joy from simple things, like their family, their work, and from the hope that future generations might understand more.

Dangerous Beauty
Beatrice Venier: When my daughter is old enough, I want you to make her a courtesan. … The life you live, the freedom that you have! Would you deny my daughter the same chance? … Do you know what my daughter's nurse told her this morning? That "in a girl's voice lies temptation -- a known fact: eloquence in a woman means promiscuity. Promiscuity of the mind leads to promiscuity of the body." She doesn’t believe her yet, but she will. She'll grow up just like her mother. She'll marry. Bear children and honor her family. Spend her youth at needlepoint and rue the day she was born a girl. And when she dies, she'll wonder why she obeyed all the rules of God and country, because no Biblical hell could ever be worse than this state of perpetual inconsequence.

Dead Poets Society
Mr. Keating: In my class, you will learn to think for yourselves again. You will learn to savor words and languages. No matter what anybody tells you, words and ideas can change the world. I see that look in Mr Pitts' eyes like 19th century literature has nothing to do with going to business school or medical school, right? Maybe. You may agree and think yes, we should study our Mr. Pritcher and learn our rhyme and meter and go quietly about the business of achieving other ambitions. Well, I have a secret for you. Huddle Up...Huddle UP! We don't read and write poetry because it's cute. We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race. And the human race is filled with passion. Medicine, law, business these are all noble pursuits necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, and love; these are what we stay alive for. To quote from Whitman "Oh me, Oh life of the question of these recurring. of the endless trains of the faithless of cities filled with the foolish. What good amid these? Oh me, Oh life." "Answer...that you are here and life exists....You are here. Life exists, and identity. The powerful play goes on and you may contribute a verse." The powerful play goes on and you may contribute a verse. What will your verse be?

Dr. Strangelove
President Merkin Muffley: [to Kissoff] Hello? ... Ah ... I can't hear too well. Do you suppose you could turn the music down just a little? ... Oh-ho, that's much better. ... yeah ... huh ... yes ... Fine, I can hear you now, Dmitri. ... Clear and plain and coming through fine....I'm coming through fine, too, eh? ... Good, then ... well, then, as you say, we're both coming through fine. ... Good. ... Well, it's good that you're fine and ... and I'm fine. ... I agree with you, it's great to be fine. ... a-ha-ha-ha-ha ... Now then, Dmitri, you know how we've always talked about the possibility of something going wrong with the Bomb. ...The *Bomb*, Dmitri.... The *hydrogen* bomb! ... Well now, what happened is ... ah ... one of our base commanders, he had a sort of ... well, he went a little funny in the head ... you know ... just a little ... funny. And, ah ... he went and did a silly thing. ... Well, I'll tell you what he did. He ordered his planes ... to attack your country... Ah... Well, let me finish, Dmitri. ... Let me finish, Dmitri. ... Well listen, how do you think I feel about it?! ...Can you *imagine* how I feel about it, Dmitri? ... Why do you think I'm calling you? Just to say hello? ... *Of course* I like to speak to you! ... *Of course* I like to say hello! ... Not now, but anytime, Dmitri. I'm just calling up to tell you something terrible has happened... It's a *friendly* call. Of course it's a friendly call. ... Listen, if it wasn't friendly ... you probably wouldn't have even got it. ... They will *not* reach their targets for at least another hour. ... I am ... I am positive, Dmitri. ... Listen, I've been all over this with your ambassador. It is not a trick. ... Well, I'll tell you. We'd like to give your air staff a complete run-down on the targets, the flight plans, and the defensive systems of the planes. ... Yes! I mean i-i-i-if we're unable to recall the planes, then ... I'd say that, ah ... well, ah ... we're just gonna have to help you destroy them, Dmitri. ... I know they're our boys. ... All right, well listen now. Who should we call? ...*Who* should we call, Dmitri? The ... wha-whe, the People... you, sorry, you faded away there.... The People's Central Air Defense Headquarters. ... Where is that, Dmitri? ... In Omsk. ... Right. ... Yes. ...Oh, you'll call them first, will you? ... Uh-hu ... Listen, do you happen to have the phone number on you, Dmitri? ... Whe-ah, what? I see, just ask for Omsk information. ...Ah-ah-eh-uhm-hm ... I'm sorry, too, Dmitri. ...I'm very sorry. ... *All right*, you're sorrier than I am, but I am as sorry as well. ... I am as sorry as you are, Dmitri! Don't say that you're more sorry than I am, because I'm capable of being just as sorry as you are. ... So we're both sorry, all right?! ... All right.

Empire Strikes Back
Luke: I can't. It's too big.
Yoda: Size matters not. Look at me. Judge me by my size, do you? Hmm? Hmm. And well you should not. For my ally is the Force, and a powerful ally it is. Life creates it, makes it grow. Its energy surrounds us and binds us. Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter. You must feel the Force around you; between you, me, the tree, the rock, everywhere. Yes, even between the land and the ship.

Fast Times at Ridgemont High
Mike Damone: First of all Rat, you never let on how much you like a girl. "Oh, Debbie. Hi." Two, you always call the shots. "Kiss me. You won't regret it." Now three, act like wherever you are, that's the place to be. "Isn't this great?" Four, when ordering food, you find out what she wants, then order for the both of you. It's a classy move. "Now, the lady will have the linguini and white clam sauce, and a Coke with no ice." And five, now this is the most important, Rat. When it comes down to making out, whenever possible, put on side one of Led Zeppelin IV.

A Few Good Men
Jessep: You want answers?
Kaffee: I want the truth!
Jessep: You can't handle the truth! Son, we live in a world that has walls. And those walls have to be guarded by men with guns. Who's gonna do it? You? You, Lt. Weinberg? I have a greater responsibility than you can possibly fathom. You weep for Santiago and you curse the Marines. You have that luxury. You have the luxury of not knowing what I know: that Santiago's death, while tragic, probably saved lives. And my existence, while grotesque and incomprehensible to you, saves lives...You don't want the truth. Because deep down, in places you don't talk about at parties, you want me on that wall. You need me on that wall. We use words like honor, code, loyalty...we use these words as the backbone to a life spent defending something. You use 'em as a punchline. I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a man who rises and sleeps under the blanket of the very freedom I provide, then questions the manner in which I provide it! I'd rather you just said thank you and went on your way. Otherwise, I suggest you pick up a weapon and stand a post. Either way, I don't give a damn what you think you're entitled to!

The Fisher King
Jack: Do you believe in God?
Anne: Ohh! You gotta believe in God! But I don't believe God created Man in His image. 'Cause most the shit that happens is because of men. Men were made in the devil's image. And women were created outta God. 'Cause, after all, women can have babies--which is kinda like creating. And which also accounts for the fact that women are so attracted to men. 'Cause let's face it, the devil is a helluva lot more interesting. I slept with some saints in my day, believe me, I know. Eegh-boy! So, the whole point of life, the whole point of life is for men and women to get married so God and the Devil can get together--and work it out. Not that we have to get married or anything. God forbid.

Funny Girl
Fanny Brice: Suppose all ya ever had for breakfast was onion rolls. Then one day, in walks (gasp) a bagel! You'd say, 'Ugh, what's that?' Until you tried it! That's my problem - I'm a bagel on a plate full of onion rolls. Nobody recognizes me! Listen, I got 36 expressions. Sweet as pie and tough as leather. And that's six expressions more than all those...Barrymores put together. Instead of just kicking me, why don't they give me a lift? Well, it must be a plot, 'cause they're scared that I got...such a gift! 'Cause I'm the greatest star, I am by far, but no one knows it. Wait - they're gonna hear a voice, a silver flute. They'll cheer each toot, hey, she's terrific!, when I expose it. Now can't you see to look at me that I'm a natural Camille, and as Camille, I just feel, I've so much to offer. Kid, I know I'd be divine because I'm a natural cougher (coughs) - some ain't got it, not a lump. I'm a great big clump of talent! Laugh, they'll bend in half. Did you ever hear the story about the travelling salesman? A thousand jokes, stick around for the jokes. A thousand faces. I reiterate. When you're gifted, then you're gifted. These are facts, I've got no axe to grind. Ay! What are ya, blind? In all of the world so far, I'm the greatest star! No autographs, please. What? You think beautiful girls are gonna stay in style forever? I should say not! Any minute now they're gonna be out! FINISHED! Then it'll be my turn!

Glengarry Glen Ross
Roma: All train compartments smell vaguely of shit. It gets so you don't mind it. That's the worst thing that I can confess. You know how long it took me to get there? A long time. When you die you're going to regret the things you don't do. You think you're queer? I'm going to tell you something: we're all queer. You think you're a thief? So what? You get befuddled by a middle-class morality? Get shut of it. Shut it out. You cheated on your wife? You did it, live with it. You fuck little girls, so be it.There's an absolute morality? Maybe. And then what? If you think there is, then be that thing. Bad people go to hell? I don't think so. If you think that, act that way. A hell exists on earth? Yes. I won't live in it. That's me. You ever take a dump made you feel like you'd just slept for twelve hours?

Goodwill Hunting
Will: Why shouldn't I work for the N.S.A.? That's a tough one, but I'll take a shot. Say I'm working at the N.S.A. Somebody puts a code on my desk, something nobody else can break. Maybe I take a shot at it and maybe I break it. And I'm real happy with myself, 'cause I did my job well. But maybe that code was the location of some rebel army in North Africa or the Middle East. Once they have that location, they bomb the village where the rebels were hiding and fifteen hundred people that I never met and that I never had no problem with get killed. Now the politicians are sayin', "Send in the marines to secure the area" 'cause they don't give a shit. It won't be their kid over there, gettin' shot. Just like it wasn't them when their number was called, 'cause they were pullin' a tour in the National Guard. It'll be some kid from Southie takin' shrapnel in the ass. And he comes home to find that the plant he used to work at got exported to the country he just got back from. And the guy who put the shrapnel in his ass got his old job, 'cause he'll work for fifteen cents a day and no bathroom breaks. Meanwhile he realizes the only reason he was over there in the first place was so we could install a government that would sell us oil at a good price. And of course the oil companies used the skirmish over there to scare up domestic oil prices. A cute little ancillary benefit for them but it ain't helping my buddy at two-fifty a gallon. They're takin' their sweet time bringin' the oil back, and maybe even took the liberty of hiring an alcoholic skipper who likes to drink martinis and fuckin' play slalom with the icebergs, and it ain't too long 'til he hits one, spills the oil and kills all the sea life in the North Atlantic. So now my buddy's out of work and he can't afford to drive, so he's walking to the fuckin' job interviews, which sucks 'cause the schrapnel in his ass is givin' him chronic hemorroids. And meanwhile he's starvin' 'cause every time he tries to get a bite to eat the only blue plate special they're servin' is North Atlantic scrod with Quaker State. So what did I think? I'm holdin' out for somethin' better. I figure, fuck it, while I'm at it, why not just shoot my buddy, take his job and give it to his sworn enemy, hike up gas prices, bomb a village, club a baby seal, hit the hash pipe and join the National Guard? I could be elected president.

The Goodbye Girl
Elliott: Will you listen very, very carefully to me? Just for once--This may be the last time I ever talk to you. Not everyone in this world is after your magnificent body, lady. In the first place, it's not so magnificent. It's fair, but it ain't keeping me up nights, you know? I don't even think you're very pretty. Maybe if you smiled once and awhile, okay, but I don't want you to do anything against your religion. And you are not the only person in this city ever to get dumped on. I myself am a recent dumpee. I am a dedicated actor, Paula, you know? I am dedicated to my art and my craft. I value what I do. And because of a mentally arthritic director, I am about to play the second greatest role in the history of the English-speaking theater like a double order of fresh California fruit salad. When I say "nice," I mean "nice"--ya know, decent, fair. I deserve it, because I'm a nice, decent and fair person. I don't wanna jump on your bones. I don't even want to see you in the morning. But I'll tell you what I do like about you, Paula: Lucy. Lucy's your best part. Lucy is worth putting up with you for. So here is fourteen dollars for the care and feeding of that terrific kid. You get zippity-doo-dah! You want any money? Borrow it from your ten-year-old daughter. I am now going inside my room to meditate away my hostility toward you. Personally, I don't think it can be done.

Jaws
Hooper: You were on the Indianapolis?
Brody: What happened?
Quint: Japanese submarine slammed two torpedoes into our side, chief. It was comin' back, from the island of Tinian Delady, just delivered the bomb. The Hiroshima bomb. Eleven hundred men went into the water. Vessel went down in twelve minutes. Didn't see the first shark for about a half an hour. Tiger. Thirteen footer. You know, you know that when you're in the water, chief? You tell by lookin' from the dorsal to the tail. Well, we didn't know. `Cause our bomb mission had been so secret, no distress signal had been sent. Huh huh. They didn't even list us overdue for a week. Very first light, chief. The sharks come cruisin'. So we formed ourselves into tight groups. You know it's... kinda like `ol squares in battle like a, you see on a calendar, like the battle of Waterloo. And the idea was, the shark would go for nearest man and then he'd start poundin' and hollerin' and screamin' and sometimes the shark would go away. Sometimes he wouldn't go away. Sometimes that shark, he looks right into you. Right into your eyes. You know the thing about a shark, he's got...lifeless eyes, black eyes, like a doll's eye. When he comes at ya, doesn't seem to be livin'. Until he bites ya and those black eyes roll over white. And then, ah then you hear that terrible high pitch screamin' and the ocean turns red and spite of all the poundin' and the hollerin' they all come in and rip you to pieces. Y'know by the end of that first dawn, lost a hundred men! I don't know how many sharks, maybe a thousand! I don't know how many men, they averaged six an hour. On Thursday mornin' chief, I bumped into a friend of mine, Herbie Robinson from Cleveland. Baseball player, boson's mate. I thought he was asleep, reached over to wake him up. Bobbed up and down in the water, just like a kinda top. Up ended. Well... he'd been bitten in half below the waist. Noon the fifth day, Mr. Hooper, a Lockheed Ventura saw us, he swung in low and he saw us. He'd a young pilot, a lot younger than Mr. Hooper, anyway he saw us and come in low. And three hours later a big fat PBY comes down and start to pick us up. You know that was the time I was most frightened? Waitin' for my turn. I'll never put on a lifejacket again. So, eleven hundred men went in the water, three hundred and sixteen men come out, the sharks ttook the rest, June the 29, 1945. Anyway, we delivered the bomb.

The Jerk
Navin: And I don't need any of this! I don't need this stuff, (pushes all of the letters off the desk), and I don't need you. I don't need anything except this (picks up an ashtray) and that's it and that's the only thing I need, is this. I don't need this or this. Just this ashtray. And this paddle game (picks it up), the ashtray and the paddle game and that's all I need. And this remote control. The ashtray, the paddle game and the remote control, and that's all I need. And these matches. The ashtray, and these matches, and the remote control and the paddle ball. And this lamp. The ashtray, this paddle game and the remote control and the lamp and that's all I need. And that's all I need too. I don't need one other thing, not one - (sees something) I need this! The paddle game, and the chair, and the remote control, and the matches, for sure. Well what are you looking at? What do you think I am, some kind of a jerk or something? And this! And that's all I need. The ashtray, the remote control, the paddle game, this magazine and the chair. And I don't need one other thing except my dog. (Shithead, the dog, growls) Well I don't need my dog.

And finally, Goodwill Hunting again
Sean: So if I asked you about art you’d probably give me the skinny on every art book ever written...Michelangelo? You know a lot about him. Life's work, political aspirations, him and the pope, sexual orientation, the whole works, right? But I bet you can't tell me what it smells like in the Sistine Chapel. You've never actually stood there and looked up at that beautiful ceiling. Seen that.....If I asked you about women you'd probably give me a syllabus of your personal favorites. You may have even been laid a few times. But you can't tell me what it feels like to wake up next to a woman and feel truly happy. You're a tough kid. I ask you about war, and you'd probably--uh--throw Shakespeare at me, right? "Once more into the breach, dear friends." But you've never been near one. You've never held your best friend's head in your lap and watched him gasp his last breath, looking to you for help. And if I asked you about love y'probably quote me a sonnet. But you've never looked at a woman and been totally vulnerable. Known someone could level you with her eyes. Feeling like! God put an angel on earth just for you...who could rescue you from the depths of hell. And you wouldn't know what it’s like to be her angel and to have that love for her to be there forever. Through anything. Through cancer. You wouldn't know about sleeping sittin’ up in a hospital room for two months holding her hand because the doctors could see in your eyes that the term visiting hours don't apply to you. You don't know about real loss, because that only occurs when you love something more than you love yourself. I doubt you've ever dared to love anybody that much. I look at you; I don't see an intelligent, confident man; I see a cocky, scared shitless kid. But you're a genius, Will. No one denies that. No one could possibly understand the depths of you. But you presume to know everything about me because you saw a painting of mine and you ripped my fuckin' life apart. You're an orphan right? Do you think I'd know the first thing about how hard ! your life has been, how you feel, who you are because I read Oliver Twist? Does that encapsulate you? Personally, I don't give a shit about all that, because you know what? I can't learn anything from you I can't read in some fuckin' book. Unless you wanna talk about you, who you are. And I'm fascinated. I'm in. But you don't wanna do that, do you, sport? You're terrified of what you might say. Your move, chief.

Somewhat Recent Script Reviews

Hey guys,

Below are highlights of sorta recent TriggerStreet reviews of mine.

Hope you enjoy them.

-MM

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MORE thought to the second concept. I loved the article Terry Rossio wrote not long ago - the second concept. You need two concepts, one, the logline, and another at work that is revealed through story. He gave an example (please forgive the length): "Way back when, when Ted and I were starting our careers, I proposed a short story I'd written to be the basis for a screenplay. Basic idea, what if a kid captured the monster under the bed, and it turned out the kid was worse than the monster, and used the monster's access to houses to play pranks on his friends? There's the first concept. It's not bad. You could imagine a bully and perhaps some girl the kid has a crush on and work out a tale. Ted came along (this illustrates one of the benefits of having a writing partner) and came up with the second concept: What if the monster had let himself be caught, in order to seduce the kid into the underworld, where bad kids eventually become monsters, in fact, that's where all the monsters under the bed came from! Now you could debate the point as to whether this is just a story twist or an extension of the main story, a plot development rather than a new concept. But I think it qualifies. One test: Does it create a new situation, valid on its own account? I think yes. The new concept produced a villain, the villain's agenda; implied jeopardy, deepened the characterizations, and even provided a theme, missing from the original take. It became a different type of tale, an origin story, rather than just a 'kid fights monster' tale." Do you see what I mean? So you have the first concept, that is, a cat searches for a family. What's the second concept? And I think that can be found in Billy Don and that you really go to the trouble of emphasizing that he's good, as a person, and really loves animals, although that's not THEIR perception. That might bring somewhat of a twist on genre conventions…



1) A weak concept that needed more style.

The aspect of committing sabotage to stop a company from developing something that will bring about terrible future repercussions makes me think of Terminator II, which hurts you because that film and concept and story is vastly superior. I kept thinking that at least the Terminator series gave us formidable antagonists. Or that Back to the Future characters time-traveled in great style. Or that at least Bill & Ted had a phone booth. What do we have here? A bunch of smoke and lights in a room in a house, which is not very exciting. Probably not even good enough for basic cable. But of course, there was a point to the whole room and the way that the future selves made their appearances, which you deserve some credit for conceiving, but in the end, all things considered, it's not very exciting. You gotta think bigger than this. You gotta be much more exciting than this to get people to notice your story. I know you're going to say, "This is low budget, as I mentioned in my Notes." Look, you can still be exciting and stylish on a limited budget.

That this was all a charade designed to convince Justin to commit murder hurts your story in a variety of ways: A) Way too implausible. Tracy uses this crazy out-in-left-field-science-fiction approach to convince Justin to do this thing when most femme fatales only have to use sex. Hehehe... Where are your priorities, man? And what does this say about Justin? Hehehe... B) All of that verbal exposition about the future can only be verbal, which is the worst kind of screenwriting. You gotta show, don't tell. Perhaps there are still visual ways that the future selves could show us (and Justin) how bad the future will be, but as it is, those scenes are lifeless because they're just talking heads. The audience will not be persuaded by words alone. They need to SEE how bad the future will be in order to go along with it. C) This concept also forces you to include implausible elements in the stories told by the future selves in order to setup the resolution (like the "Independent Temporal Stasis Bubble"), which makes those scenes even less convincing. This also undermines your support of Justin in the end because he so gullibly fell for it all. You want to say to him, "You moron, how could you fall for that?" The answer, of course, is that he's such a sci fi geek, but still. Undermining an audience's support of the protag is risky business. D) Most audience members, I believe, would feel overly manipulated because they suspended a lot of disbelief to go along with this rather implausible tale only to have the rug pulled out from underneath them in the end by declaring it all a hoax. They paid to see a movie about this concept and wanted to go on this concept's ride.


* LACK OF TENSION & SUSPENSE. This is my biggest complaint. There is not one shred of tension throughout this entire script, which is a fatal flaw in a story about an assassin. An assassin story must have suspense. And what few assassination attempts we saw, it was all so very straightforward in its execution, no pun intended. The girl goes to the place, sets up the gun, kills the man, and goes home. Yawn. In reality, it's dangerous and there are many ways an assassination can go wrong and the assassin captured. In these sequences, you were so busy trying to work through the plot that you forgot to make it exciting for the audience. The question you should be asking yourself is, "how can I wring as much suspense as I can out of this sequence to make it exciting for the audience?" Introduce uncontrollable elements into a situation. Did you see Spielberg's Munich? Remember the sequence with the bomb in the phone and the little girl that went back home to get her book? BTW - this moment with Sondra shooting Nicholas could've been the most nail-biting sequence in the entire script but it happened so quickly and without much setup. Given enough care, it could've been great. You need to drag out that suspense as much as possible. Study Hitchcock.

I'm reminded of an article called Suspense as Morality, Probability, and Imagination by film scholar David Bordwell who wrote: "The most influential current theory of suspense in narrative is put forth by Noël Carroll. The original statement of it can be found in 'Toward a Theory of Film Suspense' in his book Theorizing the Moving Image. Carroll proposes that suspense depends on our forming tacit questions about the story as it unfolds. Among other things, we ask how plausible certain outcomes are and how morally worthy they are. For Carroll, the reader or viewer feels suspense as a result of estimating, more or less intuitively, that the situation presents a morally undesirable outcome that is strongly probable. When the plot indicates that an evil character will probably fail to achieve his or her end, there isn’t much suspense. Likewise, when a good character is likely to succeed, there isn’t much suspense. But we do feel suspense when it seems that an evil character is likely to succeed, or that a good character is likely to fail."

And there is, of course, Hitchcock's bomb theory: “There is a clear difference between surprise and suspense […]. We are sitting here and having an innocent conversation. Let us assume that there is a bomb under this table between us. […] suddenly there is a loud boom and the bomb goes off. The audience is surprised, but before this surprise they have only seen a very ordinary scene without any significance. Let us instead look at a suspense scene. The bomb is under the table and the audience is aware of this because they have seen the anarchist plant it there. They also know that the bomb will go off at one o’clock, and up on the wall is a clock showing that the time is now quarter to one […]. In the first scene we have given the audience 15 seconds of surprise […] but in the last scene we have given them fifteen minutes of suspense.”

However, I loved what John Carpenter said in the book John Carpenter: Prince of Darkness (as quoted in an article called Alternatives to Suspense): "I always thought that you could also have another effect on the audience if you blow the table up suddenly. If you do it suddenly, everything after that is changed a little bit. You won't trust the movie anymore, and you will have doubts about what you think it will do. So you have a different level of suspense." Exactly. Our friend, Joshua James, alluded to this idea when he wrote (in a contribution to my suspense blog-a-thon) a piece on the gunfight at the train station in The Untouchables. One of the many elements that made that sequence work was the fact that we, as an audience, were worried about the baby in the carriage because earlier in the film, we saw a little girl blow-up outside the neighborhood bar, so we know it's possible the baby in the carriage may very well die. As Bordwell wrote, in scenes filled with immense suspense, we calculate in our minds how plausible are certain outcomes…

Screenwriting News & Links! 12/23/08

Hey guys,

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

-MM

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New Screenplays!

Twilight - casting sides from script by Melissa Rosenberg

Sex and the City - November 4, 2007 draft by Michael Patrick King

RocknRolla - June 19, 2007 shooting script by Guy Richie

Frozen River - undated draft by Courtney Hunt

The Reader - undated draft by David Hare

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - October 30, 2007 revised draft by Eric Roth

Kung Fu Panda - June 3, 2008 final draft script by Jonathan Aibel & Glenn Berger

(Hat-tip to SimplyScripts)

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MM in the news:

Mystery Man still missing after bridge fall
Umm, I’m right here.

Mystery Man still wanted after poppy box thefts
In that case, go look under that bridge.

Mystery Man helps foil knife robbery
Very true except for that part about wearing a fluorescent coat.

Mystery Man blamed for gruesome Tijuana deaths
Oh, puh-lease. I’m a lover, not a killer.

Mystery Man donates loads of groceries to food bank
Eh, Thanksgiving leftovers.



Eric Roth lost millions to Bernard Madoff
[Eric] Roth was nominated Thursday for a Golden Globe award as screenwriter of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. And that same day, he learned that he lost all his retirement money to Bernard Madoff's alleged $50-billion Ponzi scheme.

James Cameron remakes Forbidden Planet?

Putin takes charge of local film industry
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin is taking personal charge of progress in the development of the country's film industry as chairman of the government council on the progress of domestic cinematography, unveiled Monday. Putin will "personally supervise" government initiatives to support the film industry, according to the Russian federal press service… Russian reaction to the new council was muted. One experienced Russian film industryite told Daily Variety, "As usual, nothing good will come of it."

That Sound You Hear is All the Screenwriter’s Killing Themselves
By now you’ve no doubt heard about that 9 year old boy who got that book deal with Harper Collins. It’s all the wittisisms that a 9 year old boy can dish out on how to pick up girls. I’m not sure which one of his parents has something over one of the execs at the publisher or may have found an Ashley Madison partner that works over there, but something is definitely going on with that deal. And now, to rub salt in the wounds of all you unpublished screenwriters….Twentieth Century Fox just optioned the rights to turn the books (yes, there’s going to be 4 of them) into a movie.


“Plot. It builds character” t-shirt for screenwriters

Money 101 for Screenwriters
Don’t quit your job right away. Even if you sell a spec for $200K, it will be months before you see a cent. The studio will sit on your contract as lawyers exchange pencil notes about things you can’t believe aren’t boilerplate. When I was hired for my first job, it took almost four months before I got a paycheck. I was living off of money from a novelization, but when that ran out, I had to ask my mom for help paying rent. Nearly every screenwriter I speak with has a similar story — you’re never as broke as when you first start making money.

Germaine Greet trashes Australia
The scale of the disaster that is Baz Luhrmann’s Australia is gradually becoming apparent. When the film was released in Australia in November it found the odd champion, none more conspicuous than Marcia Langton, professor of Australian indigenous studies at Melbourne University, who frothed and foamed in the Age newspaper about this "fabulous, hyperbolic film". Luhrmann has "given Australians a new past", she gushed, "a myth of national origin that is disturbing, thrilling, heartbreaking, hilarious and touching". Myths are by definition untrue. Langton knows the truth about the northern cattle industry but evidently sees as her duty to ignore it, and welcome a fraudulent and misleading fantasy in its place, possibly because the fantasy is designed to promote the current government policy of reconciliation, of which she is a chief proponent.

Baz Luhrmann defends Australia
"You look at movies like Gone With the Wind and Old Hollywood classics, and they don't fit in any box....No large-scale movie doesn't have warts, just by its nature."

In the vid below, the audience members scream “murderer!” as Steven Soderbergh talks about Che…



8 Most Ridiculous Plots of 2008
Wait, so the Joker really orchestrated that big truck chase just so that he could get caught and go to prison, then he could kidnap that guard and grab his phone to make the call to set off the bomb he'd previously sewn inside the henchman in the next cell? That would kill the guy who stole the mobsters' money, thus enabling him to … er, what? Heath Ledger's Joker may have been a psychopath, but he had a nerdish capacity for forward planning.

Frost/Nixon A Dishonorable Distortion of History
First of all, the whole arrangement between Frost and Nixon was dubious from the outset. While the script is straightforward about the fact that under their agreement Nixon was to be paid for the interviews (a then-whopping $600,000), a highly unusual arrangement, it omits the even more questionable part of the deal in which Nixon was guaranteed twenty percent of the profits from the sales of the interviews to television stations. Thus, the two purported gladiators were in business together, with a mutual interest in making the interviews interesting enough to make a nice profit. The deal also guaranteed that only one-fourth of the time would be devoted to Watergate, leaving Nixon the rest to ramble on about his foreign policy achievements - which in his mind included the invasion of Cambodia. To further disguise the degree to which the interview project was essentially a fix, the script of both the play and the movie simply leaves out the episode in which, after Nixon returned to his dressing room during a sudden break in the taping of the Watergate segment - the break misrepresented in the script as having been called for by Nixon aides worried their boss was becoming uncomfortable, whereas it was actually called for by Frost because he misread a cue card held up by the Nixon aides saying "Let him talk" - Nixon aide Jack Brennan (Kevin Bacon) told Frost's frustrated aides, "He knows he has to go further. He's got more to volunteer." These lines appear in neither the play nor the movie.

Peter Morgan re-tackles Tony Blair
Frost/Nixon playwright and screenwriter Peter Morgan is lining up his directorial debut, a film that would be the third movie in the Tony Blair trilogy launched in 2003 by Stephen Frears' British TV movie The Deal and followed by The Queen. Deal tracked the rise of Tony Blair, played by Michael Sheen. Frears and Sheen then reteamed for The Queen, which also starred Helen Mirren in her Oscar-winning turn. Morgan earned an Oscar nom for best original screenplay on the pic as well. The third movie, tentatively titled The Special Relationship, will be produced by Kathleen Kennedy and will again star Frost/Nixon thesp Sheen as Tony Blair.


Battle of Hastings to be Hollywood film
Three rival films are being made about the Battle of Hastings, after being overlooked by the film industry for decades.

The ABCs of a possible SAG strike

WGA Hopes You Won't Remember Who Directed The Dark Knight

Madea creator Tyler Perry faces Marshall law
Under copyright law, West was required to show that her play and Perry's film are substantially similar and that Perry had access to her work, so she argued among other things that the titles are similar, both are tales of divorce among black couples and both feature a scene involving an abusive man becoming paralyzed. On the access issue, West claimed she performed the play three times in 1991 in a Dallas theater and that the theater's manager could have slipped it to Perry in 1998 when he presented his plays there.


The Phantom Reboot Coming?
Screenwriter Tim Boyle has updated his MySpace page with some new information that this project is not a sequel, but a reboot of the original film. He gave a quick update on the film, which will be titled Phantom: Legacy, which you can read... Now that we've sort of got those 'Sequel' rumors under control, I guess I can start talking about what we're doing and where the project is at. First of all, I've got to say - this is a very exciting time. Being able to bring the first masked comic superhero back to the big screen is an absolute honor. I've been researching The Phantom intensely for the last year or so and I've been working with the support of King Features Syndicate to try and bring you the tightest possible film. Yes, this is a new look at the comic book hero, but rest assured - He wont be 'heavily gadget man' (as that is another comic book hero named Batman) and he wont be an 'angry mob killer' (as 'The Punisher' -Frank Castle has been made into a film 3 times - remember the Dolph Lundgren film - that too was shot in Australia... old skool). He will be, without doubt 'The Phantom'. A man who has sworn an oath to protect - but at what cost?

Valkyrie writer, Tom Cruise re-team
Valkyrie co-writer and producer Christopher McQuarrie is fast becoming a go-to guy for Tom Cruise. The scribe is now working on three post-Valkyrie projects designed as potential star vehicles for the actor. New Regency has set McQuarrie and Mason Alley to write Flying Tigers, based on the volunteer fighter squadron formed to help the Chinese fight the Japanese before the U.S. entered World War II.. McQuarrie also is writing and producing with Guillermo del Toro the previously announced United Artists project The Champions, penning the script with an eye toward hammering it into a Cruise vehicle. The British TV series transfer concerns a team of government agents rescued from a plane crash in the Himalayas by an advanced civilization and given superhuman abilities... But the Cruise-McQuarrie collaboration with the most urgency is Spyglass espionage drama The Tourist. McQuarrie is rewriting for Cruise to star with Charlize Theron in the Bharat Nalluri-directed remake of the 2005 French thriller Anthony Zimmer. Julian Fellowes originally scripted the redo.


Oscar Winner Takes On Salt Script
Brian Helgeland isn't the kind of screenwriter most moviegoers know by name-- but then again, how many screenwriters can anyone really name? But even if he flies under the radar, he's one of the bigger ones out there, having won an Oscar for writing L.A. Confidential as well as writing the words of Mystic River, A Knight's Tale and Conspiracy Theory. Now he's bringing his expertise to Salt, that spy project that was once about a man named Edwin Salt played by Tom Cruise, and now is Angelina Jolie playing Evelyn Salt. Moviehole says Sony has hired Helgeland to give the Salt script a pass, specifically to improve on the dialogue. Apparently Sony has a lot riding on Salt as a potential franchise-starter, getting Jolie away from "serious movie" mode and more into the ass-kicking role that made her famous.

Roger Avary Pleaded Not Guilty

Interview: The Wrestler Screenwriter Robert Siegel
"The Onion was a huge influence on my screenwriting, in that we had to crank out material every 7 days, so you couldn't really be precious about your writing," Siegel said last week at a junket for The Wrestler. "I have this hack writer kind of mentality-- I mean hack writer in a complimentary sense. You have to bang out a certain amount of copy whether the inspiration is there or not."

Simon Beaufoy writing for The Guardian
Only when he got lost in the slums of Mumbai did Simon Beaufoy understand what his latest script needed to be. He recalls the breathtaking inspiration for Slumdog Millionaire…


Terry Gilliam Remembers Heath Ledger
In terms of his acting, it still rankles with me that he's dead because he would have been streets ahead of anyone else in his generation. He just kept getting better and better. He was fearless. On Parnassus, he was improvising all the time and it was better than what we had written. I don't normally encourage that kind of improvisation, but in a sense I felt Heath was writing this film. He was an incredibly funny performer when he wanted to be - his comic timing was just extraordinary - and then he could break your heart the next minute.

Web TV shows come of age
Now, two and a half years since LonelyGirl15 first appeared, web series are the hottest new format in Hollywood. No longer amateurish or user-generated in feel, the latest crop of webisodes are slick productions. Many boast celebrity involvement. In recent months, for example, web series have been launched by Ashton Kutcher (Blahgirls, an animated gossip site for girls), Stephen Colbert (Children's Hospital, a Grey's Anatomy spoof starring Will & Grace's Megan Mullally), and Family Guy's Seth MacFarlane (Cavalcade of Cartoon Comedy, a cartoon sketch show). Also in the pipeline are projects from Josh Schwartz (creator of Gossip Girl and The OC), the Coen brothers and film directors Bryan Singer and David Lynch. In the United States, all the leading studios have digital arms (including HBOlab, Warner Bros' Studio 2.0 and Sony's Crackle) which produce spin-off web series from mainstream shows (such as The Wire and Gossip Girl) as well as original content.

The 100 Proof Film Guide


Hemingway’s Tip for Would-Be Writers
I very much enjoyed Alexander Theroux's Dec. 9 review of "The Paris Review Interviews, Vol. III," offering conversations with writers from the 1950s. But my favorite quote is in Vol. I of the series, from George Plimpton's interview with Ernest Hemingway in the Spring 1958 edition of the Paris Review in which Mr. Plimpton asked, "What would you consider the best intellectual training for the would-be writer?" To which Mr. Hemingway replied, "Let's say that he should go out and hang himself because he finds that writing well is impossibly difficult. Then he should be cut down without mercy and forced by his own self to write as well as he can for the rest of his life. At least he will have the story of the hanging to commence with."

UK Copyright Issues for Writers

Local screenwriter's dream finally comes true
Last year -- Aug. 8 to be exact, coincidentally Thompson's birthday -- he got an e-mail from an agency to which he had submitted "Born of Earth." He was playing guitar and hanging out with some friends when he read it. They wanted to buy his script. "My knees buckled," he said. "I printed it out and I ran around and showed all my friends. I still feel like a kid thinking about it."


A Wretch Like Joe Eszterhas
At his career zenith, screenwriter Joe Eszterhas wrote lines like these for his characters: "The Farmer in the Dell, The Farmer in the Dell, I had a cherry once, and now it's gone to hell," and "come back when you've f***ed some of this baby fat off. See ya." Now, in what can only be called a spiritual memoir, Eszterhas is writing his own lines, "How ya doin', God? Haven't seen you in a while," and — addressing the Lord again — "I'm sorry. I've acted like a colossal A-hole. I'm really really sorry. I don't deserve to be forgiven, but please try to forgive me." The screenwriter who gave us Sharon Stone's uncrossing legs in Basic Instinct had contracted throat cancer, and later, Christianity. Now he is crossing himself, hoping not to die.

Brian Goodman: Dark Past, Brighter Future
Since he gave up drinking, Goodman has transformed himself from an ex-con to a noted character actor in such films as The Last Castle, Annapolis and Munich. And now, he can add screenwriter and feature director to his list of accomplishments. His first film, What Doesn't Kill You, a gritty, semi-autobiographical look at his life of crime starring Mark Ruffalo as his reel counterpart, opened Friday for one-week theatrical run to qualify for awards consideration. Ethan Hawke plays Paulie, a partner in crime of Ruffalo's character.

Why Screenplay Contests Matter

Another John Patrick Shanley Interview
I was really curious about the different mindset that goes into writing something specifically for a film or for the stage. Obviously, it's a very different process for getting a film made, and it costs a lot more money than getting it on Broadway or getting some actors together to do a play. It must involve a different mindset as a writer as well.
Right, the thing is that modern theater is different than theater was forty years ago, because there is less money in the theater than there used to be and as a result, you employ fewer actors to tell a story. The sort of new ideal is to write a play that has a Japanese bone-like simplicity to it and to tell an elaborate tale using only like three or four or five people. Certainly that's the case with Doubt. There's only four characters in the play, and that's it. But what happens is when you take a play like that and it's time to turn it into a film, it makes it a much tougher nut to crack initially than plays of previous years. If you take a play Of Mice and Men or Stalag 17 or A Streetcar Named Desire or A Miracle Worker – if you go back and look at those, there's like twenty people in the play. So that when you go to open it up, it already has a certain scope to it, and by the time you get to the late '80s or into the '90s, the plays most of the time have very few characters. Most of those plays when they're turned into films fail, because you really have to go back and break the hypnotic spell you put yourself under as a playwright to convince yourself that this was the best way to tell the story, which was to leave everybody out. (laughs) Once you break that spell, then you could go ahead and open the thing up in a meaningful way, but you really do have to re-conceive the way you thought about your film. You have to look at the story itself simply from the characters and think about, "How do I tell this story in an organic way rather than using these extreme restrictions that I work under in the theater?" This extreme artifice is now removed, and then you realize things like when you're doing "Doubt"... "Oh, I guess you know, this kid that they're fighting over, he has to be in the movie." (laughs) And in the play, there's no kids at all.


Watchmen and the demise of superhero cinema
It is this newly cynical, hardened cinema into which Watchmen will be born, and there is perhaps no better example of how a superhero comic – some bright ink drawings on a page, accompanied by scraps of spoken and written words – can encapsulate all the personal, political and international complexities of modern life. Much like Pixar’s canny The Incredibles, Watchmen begins in a world in which superheroes have played their part and have now become a dangerous, unpredictable liability; with a growing nuclear threat from the Soviet Union, the incumbent Richard Nixon-led government cannot afford to be accountable for impulsive, unregulated heroes. As a result, they have been banned by the Keene Act and must either conscript to governmental service or find new roles in society. When The Comedian (the alias of a member of a former superhero team) is mysteriously murdered, other former members of the team – led by the sinister vigilante Rorschach – suspect they are being targeted and covertly reunite. The crux of the story’s moral dilemma comes in the form of Ozymandias, a former superhero who has become the world’s wealthiest man, and whose utilitarian principles fuel the novel’s perplexing, terrifying finale.

Ordinary People, Big Dramas
Portrayals of extraordinary people in extraordinary circumstances -- from Queen Elizabeth and Edith Piaf to plutocrat Daniel Plainview -- regularly and readily get award attention, filling the bigscreen as the protagonists chew on momentous events and (quite often) all available scenery. But 2008's roster of screenwriting hopefuls include several films that embrace the commonplace: ordinary folks confronting everyday, but no less grave, concerns of food, shelter and social intercourse. "I know, in my whole body, that life is so full of adventure, and there's a lot of heroism going on with people staying in their homes," says Frozen River scribe-helmer Courtney Hunt. "The challenge is to have elements of danger and risk without becoming melodramatic."

Scribe attached to new Jack Ryan pic
Screenwriter Hossein Amini has been hired to tackle a new Jack Ryan movie for Paramount Pictures. The erstwhile intelligence analyst and all-American do-gooder created by novelist Tom Clancy has not appeared onscreen since 2002's The Sum of All Fears. Mace Neufeld and Lorenzo Di Bonaventura are producing the project for Paramount. Spider-Man director Sam Raimi was on the hook to direct and produce a new Ryan installment, but his packed schedule made his involvement unworkable... Amini is best known for his literary adaptations of Henry James, Thomas Hardy and Elmore Leonard. His new Ryan film is planned as an origin story, not derived from Clancy's novels and ultimately featuring a new, younger star.


The Physics of Kirk’s Star Trek Car Jump
The car is traveling about 32 meters per second off the cliff. Kirk is moving at an estimated speed of 28 m/s towards the cliff edge. Of course, the Popular Science article uses all sorts of complicated equations to figure this out (some of which are seen in the photo above). The conclusion is that James T. Kirk would have to exert a force of almost 900 pounds with his fingers to stop from being flung over the precipice. This would probably be impossible for most humans, but of course — not for Captain Kirk. You can read the whole physics calculation over on PopSci.com.


Bob Orci Explains How The New Star Trek Movie Fits With Trek Canon (and Real Science)
So even though some things, most notably Kirk himself, are on a different path (for example he doesn’t go to the Farragut after the Academy), he still ends up on the Enterprise with Scotty, Uhura, Chekov, Spock, etc. Are you saying there is some kind of ‘entropy’ perhaps? So even though some things are different, they gravitate towards some kind of center point?
Yes. If you look at quantum mechanics and you learn about the fact that our most successful theory of science is quantum mechanics, and the fact that it deals with probabilities of events happening. And that the most probable events tend to happen more often and that one of the subsets of that theory is the many universe theory. Data said this [in "Parallels"], he summed up quantum mechanics as the theory that "all possibilities that can happen do happen" in a parallel universe. According to theory, there are going to be a much larger number of universes in which events are very closely related, because those are the most probable configurations of things. Inherent in quantum mechanics there is sort of reverse entropy, which is what you were trying to say, in which the universe does tend to want to order itself in a certain way. This is not something we are making up; this is something we researched, in terms of the physical theory. So yes, there is an element of the universe trying to hold itself together.

Writing Scripts Takes Commitment - Who knew?

Hot Tub Machine Writer Speaks Out
First of all, yes, Jason Heald is a typo (thanks Hollywood Reporter). My name is Josh Heald. [He had a bit part in Harold & Kumar earlier this year, as seen above.] As for the screenplay -- without patting myself on the back, Hot Tub Time Machine is probably the greatest gift anyone's ever given the world. Time will show that it ranks up there with the Statue of Liberty and free Internet porn.

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On the Contest Circuit

Screenplay Festival Announces Semifinalists

IP Screenwriting Contest Announces Finalists

WriteSafe Announces Contest Winners

PAGE Award Winners in the News

WriteSafe Announces Finalists

Cinema City Announces Screenplay Winners

Script Savvy Announces October, 2008 Contest Winners

WriteSafe Announces Semifinalists

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And Finally…

Peter and Bobby Farrelly Interview

The Faces of Liv Ullmann

While I was having my blog talk with Emily last week, Liv Ullmann had the audacity to turn 70 years old! Can you believe that? She possesses one of my favorite faces in cinema. And if you are an aspiring screenwriter and you have not one clue about the films of Ingmar Bergman or the famous Liv Ullmann who starred in most of his films, then you must duly make yourself familiar. (Don’t watch them all at once. Just saying, they can be a little, uhh, psychologically devastating.) But back to Liv’s face, of which Danny Miller wrote:

Oh, how grateful I am that this brilliant actress has never gone under the knife and transformed herself into one of those taut-skinned wrinkle-free cat-eyed robots with tattooed lip liner, teeth as unnaturally white as her patent leather Manolo Blahniks, and casaba melons stuffed down her Danskin. Even when Liv Ullmann was considered a Hot Babe in Hollywood, she fought with her handlers over her image. One of the first things I ever purchased with my own money when I started working in college was Ullmann's superb memoir, Changing. I can still see my proud green-inked inscription on the inside front cover: "Danny Miller, March 22, 1977." I had never read a celebrity autobiography that was so honest and soul-searching. Ullmann wrote about her early experiences in Los Angeles:

My bathroom was the size of an ordinary Oslo apartment. It was so grand that the toilet was built like a throne so that one should never feel confused about being a film star when nature called.
"You must cut your hair," said one producer. "No!" "I'll make you the biggest star if you'll just dress a little differently." "I'm used to dressing this way." "Perhaps you should wear some more make-up. Send the beauty parlor bill to me." "Certainly not!"

Liv is still active and fighting for women and children refugees. She recently wrote an op-ed piece for the Boston Globe. She’s also a writer, too, having written the screenplays for most of the films she directed. The Siren had an article on Changing and a passage in which Liv discussed her “female guilt” about her passion for writing:

Every day I try to write. It is most difficult at home, where there are telephone calls, Linn, nursemaids, neighbors. If I had been a man it would have been different. A man's profession is respected much more, as is the work he does at home, his fatigue, his need to concentrate.

Try telling a child that Mamma is working, when the child can see with its own eyes that she is just sitting there writing. Explain to the nurse you pay dearly to do what is expected of you--explain that this is important, is supposed to be finished by a certain date--and off she goes, shaking her head, convinced I am neglecting my child and my home. Success in one's profession and trying to write a book do not compensate for domestic shortcomings as obvious as mine...

I doodle on a piece of paper and my conscience bothers me. Because I am a bad mother, because I am inadequate, don't answer letters, don't mend the faucets but allow them to go on dripping for months on end.

I have coffee with a neighbor and make excuses for everything I am doing, because I know that she will never understand why this is important for me. This terrible "female guilt." I dare not have music on when I am in the basement, writing, lest upstairs they think I am just sitting here loafing. I feel that to be respected I must produce pancakes and home-baked bread and have neat, tidy rooms.

These are my thoughts as I try to write about how good it is to have a life that gives so much freedom, so many choices...

-- Liv Ullmann

Yes, what a beautiful life it is! And so, to try something different, here’s a collection of the faces of Liv Ullmann.

On Adaptations

Let me get on my Project Gutenberg soapbox.

One of the most under-appreciated opportunities for aspiring screenwriters is Project Gutenberg. As many of you know very well, most of the assignment jobs screenwriters pick-up are adaptations of known works. I truly believe that before you ever step onto the world stage with your writings, you should already have lots of good experience under your belt adapting books into screenplays.

I’d say you should adapt at least 5-10 books just to be safe.

No, I’m not kidding.

Your fabulous, original, award-winning screenplay may open a couple of doors and get you a couple of meetings, but the question will inevitably surface, “Have you ever adapted a book before?” And what’s the correct answer to that question? “Are you kidding? I love adaptations. I’ve already adapted this, this, this, this, and this.”

But, wait, how do you get around that little copyright thing?

Thus, new writers should take advantage of Project Gutenberg, which has over 25,000 free online books that are all in the public domain. Consider the fact that a couple of scripts on the new 2008 Black List are adaptations of classic works in the public domain. There was, as I recall, A Tale of Two Cities, from Dickens, of course, and Galahad, a retelling of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table through the eyes of, well, Galahad. That’s not unusual. Playwright Tom Stoppard made a name for himself with Rosencrantz & Guildenstern are Dead, which was a play about two very minor characters from Hamlet in a world that sort of echoes Waiting for Godot.

In any case, something you may want to do for yourself in 2009 is adapt a book into a screenplay. Do this not for the sake of getting a sale but for the more important experience of internalizing a story and transforming it into a film. And do that at least 5-10 times. And yes, many of those are books have been adapted endlessly over the years. So try to look at the source material from a completely fresh perspective. Do a modern reinterpretation. Do the story from the perspective of a secondary character - or the antagonist, like Gregory Maguire did with Wicked. Restructure the book. Make it non-linear. Do it in reverse. Explore aspects about characters that didn’t get explored back then, like sexuality. What if the lead was a female instead of a male? Or vice versa? Consider adapting lesser known works by famous authors. Take one of those generic science, political, or social works of non-fiction and be totally inventive with it as Kaufman did in Adaptation. Adapt a book no one has ever dreamed of adapting. Add an unexpected twist. What would the story be like if something didn’t happen or happened differently? Write a sequel.

There was a recent roundtable discussion in the Hollywood Reporter with Oscar-hopeful screenwriters on adaptations. British playwright David Hare said that when it comes to adapting literary works for the big screen one must be “promiscuous to be faithful. You can't simply step your way through a book with perfect fidelity. If you do, the whole thing is completely dead.” Pay attention to these guys!

And finally, consider Project Gutenberg’s Top 100 Authors:

Dickens, Charles
Twain, Mark
Shakespeare, William
Doyle, Arthur Conan, Sir
Austen, Jane
Thomson, J. Arthur
Jacob, P. L.
Verne, Jules
Maspero, G. (Gaston)
Baum, L. Frank (Lyman Frank)
Litchfield, Frederick
Wilde, Oscar
Carroll, Lewis
Wells, H. G. (Herbert George)
Beard, Charles A. (Charles Austin)
Beard, Mary Ritter
Poe, Edgar Allan
Homer
Burroughs, Edgar Rice
Sayce, A. H. (Archibald Henry)
Stevenson, Robert Louis
McClure, M. L.
Dumas père, Alexandre
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von
Spicer, William Ambrose
Nietzsche, Friedrich Wilhelm
Nichols, J. L. (James Lawrence)
Aesop
Burbank, Emily
Jefferis, B. G.
Chesterton, G. K. (Gilbert Keith)
Doré, Gustave
Hugo, Victor
Milton, John
Landor, Arnold Henry Savage
Dawson, William Francis
Joyce, James
Conrad, Joseph
Grimm, Jacob
Grimm, Wilhelm
Pope, Alexander
Tolstoy, Leo, graf
Kipling, Rudyard
Pierce, Ray Vaughn
Stoker, Bram
Brontë, Charlotte
Plato
Kafka, Franz
Buckley, Theodore Alois
Montgomery, D. H. (David Henry)
Montgomery, L. M. (Lucy Maud)
Dante Alighieri
Dostoyevsky, Fyodor
Wodehouse, P. G. (Pelham Grenville)
Lang, Andrew
Balzac, Honoré de
Guizot, François Pierre Guillaume
Eliot, George
Defoe, Daniel
Williamson, Robert Wood
Potter, Beatrix
James, Henry
Jowett, Benjamin
Alcott, Louisa May
Sunzi, 6th cent. B.C.
Hawthorne, Nathaniel
Cervantes Saavedra, Miguel de
Campbell, Douglas Houghton
Clark, Bertha M.
Haggard, H. Rider (Henry Rider)
London, Jack
Speed, Harold
Ibsen, Henrik
Stanton, Henry
Garnett, Constance
Andersen, H. C. (Hans Christian)
Scott, Walter, Sir
Shaw, Edward R. (Edward Richard)
Chekhov, Anton Pavlovich
Giles, Lionel
Wyllie, David
Rawlinson, George
Hardy, Thomas
Stockton, Frank Richard
Darwin, Charles
Berens, E.M.
Swift, Jonathan
Machiavelli, Niccolò
Barrie, J. M. (James Matthew)
Rolt-Wheeler, Francis
Henry, O.
Thomson, Alexis
Miles, Alexander
Maupassant, Guy de
Melville, Herman
Shaw, George Bernard
Dudeney, Henry Ernest
Bierce, Ambrose
Davis, Richard Harding
Seaman, Owen, Sir

Blog Talk - The Last Response

Hey guys,

Emily's final response in our blog talk is posted RIGHT HERE.

Thank you, Emily.

-MM

Blog Talk 2 – MM Responds to Emily!

Emily, my dear, I knew you’d cheer me up! I admit, I haven’t seen In Bruges yet, although I wanted to. It’s in my Netflix queue!

So how about we end the blog talk with some happy thoughts? What were the highlights of the year for you?

I’d say that, for me, 2008 (despite all the bad films that were released) represented the most growth for me personally as a writer. Sure, it was great to start writing for Script Magazine, but reading The History of Sex in American Film by Jody Pennington in preparation for my two-part series on “Sex and Screenwriting,” completely changed my perspective on sex in films. Most in the biz, I’ll bet, still think that a sex scene exists only for prurient interests, but I’m telling you, it can be so crucial to a story. I can truly see that a sex scene is only as good as its characters. That was the most eye-opening experience of the year for me. And the research was fun.

Plus, you got a first look at me!


Hehehe…

Of the projects I can discuss, I completed a trilogy of scripts on TriggerStreet. I thought it might be fun to try an experiment that would be a series of shorts along the lines of Paris, Je T’aime. So for the first experiment, I gave twenty writers 6 pages each to write anything they’d want to write about Love. They’d send the pages to me, and I’d put it all together into one screenplay. Then we did a script on Hate and most recently, Fear, which I’ll be blogging about in the coming weeks. BTW - all three scripts have shorts written by me.

I look back at all the articles I’ve written this year on my blog, and I don’t know how I found the time. I must’ve been crazy.


Unquestionably, the most popular article was 50 Flaws of Indy IV. But, ya know, every flaw in the finished film was a joy of discovery in Frank Darabont’s draft. That is the script I loved most this year. He made me love Indiana Jones and his brand of action all over again. I loved the way he handled Marion Ravenwood, and I love – LOVE – that moment when, after Indy got fired from the college, he gets drunk, stumbles into the school museum, and looks at his artifacts he collected over the years while chatting to the statue of Marcus Brody. He comes across the display of the gold fertility goddess from the opening scene in Raiders. It sits on a pedestal. Lying next to it, his famous leather satchel. So he decides he’s going to take back all the artifacts he collected beginning with the gold fertility goddess. He takes a stanchion and crashes through the protective glass, a loud crash. He drunkenly turns around, puts a finger to his lips and shushes Marcus Brody’s statue. He grabs his satchel, puts it on. He almost grabs the fertility goddess when he notices that it’s sitting on a pressure-sensitive pad wired to an alarm. He pulls out a handkerchief, pours sand onto it from an ashtray, and they recreate that moment from Raiders. Love it! Of course, the alarm goes off. A guard shows up and gives Indy hell about it and says, “What would your father say?” Indy replies, “You’re not gonna tell him, are you?” Hehehe… That’s my favorite scene of the entire year. I could write a huge article about that script. Oh, sorry, I already did that. Well, I could write it again. I loved it that much. Against so many odds, Darabont’s draft was a screenwriting triumph.


Most of the scripts I read this year remain in my mind as a foggy blur of mediocrity, but I must say, the script that remains so vivid to me was Tarantino’s Inglorious Basterds. This story definitely has quite a few flaws. The Basterds just sort of stumble into this mission, were mere secondary caricatures in a story about a French girl, and one of my readers, S.Warren said it best when he commented, “At no point do they ever get in above their heads and, when they do, it's due to their own incompetence and lack of planning.” Exactly. However, I loved the way QT was consciously exploiting tension and suspense. I still believe, and I KNOW when I’m right about something, that the biggest problem with pro and amateur screenwriting today is lack of tension. That’s what made IB so memorable. You want to get noticed as a screenwriter? Write a suspense story that actually has suspense! God, they’ll think you’re a damn genius!


So it’s really true. The Dark Knight kicked ass. The four things I loved most about that film – giving so many characters inner conflicts, the handling of tension, the philosophical treatment for how Joker justified why he was doing what he was doing, and their magician’s approach to scenes, like the pencil trick. What’s he talking about? How is he going to make the pencil disappear? Then, payoff. Or that scene in the Pool Hall where Gambol was told they have the Joker’s dead body. You know perfectly well the Joker’s not dead, but you keep watching because you have questions. Who’s in the bag? What’s the trick? How is the Joker going to act? What’s going to happen?

Watching the films of Jean-Pierre Melville, Akira Kurosawa, and studying Hitchcock affected me so much that I will truly never write screenplays the same again.


Finally, the highlight of blogging for me since I began in 2006 came when, just before Thanksgiving, I posted an article about screenwriter John Michael Hayes who passed away recently. He's one of my favorite screenwriters! I love that man. So I had a lot to say about him.

Well, his son, Garrett Michael Hayes, posted a comment saying, "I've read a great number of the recent [John Michael Hayes] obits and online mentions. Thus far, yours comes closest to capturing a sense of his life. Thank you. Garrett Michael Hayes". Then he mentioned me on his website. (He hosts a radio talk show in Georgia. Apparently, he's a Libertarian and once ran for governor.) Anyway, he listed his favorite articles about his father and added, "And here is probably my personal favorite: http://mysterymanonfilm.blogspot.com/2008/11/john-michael-hayes-lucky-bastard.html. The author is right in more ways than he knows..." Then his sister (and daughter of JMH), Meredyth Hayes Badreau, left a comment and said, “My brother Garrett didn't tell me about your article. I just found it and I thought it was lovely. Truly. It made my heart full today to read this and I thank you.”

Man, blogging doesn’t get better than that.

What a year. Here’s looking forward to whatever may come in 2009!

Emily Responds to MM!

Hey guys,

Catch Emily's Blog Talk response RIGHT HERE. I'll post mine at midnight tonight.

-MM

Blog Talk with Emily Blake – A Look Back at 2008!

Uhh, what’s a “blog talk?”

I do this at the end of every year. I love it! I get to talk with another blogger about the year’s slate of films and the state of screenwriting in general. And this year, I invited the always fabulous Emily Blake to have a blog talk with me! Woo hoo! If you don’t know Emily, she is a teacher, filmmaker, blogger, writer of great zombie scripts (I read one), and potential ass kicker (she knows martial arts).

So here’s what we’ll do. I’ll write a few general thoughts, and then Emily will respond with whatever she feels inspired to write about, and we’ll go back and forth for a total of two articles each.

Hope you enjoy it.

-MM

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My first question to you, Emily, is how did you feel about 2008 in terms of screenwriting in general and the movies that were released?

One word to describe my own personal feelings: Sigh...

It’s a travesty, this whole pitiful slate of films that came out this year. I would’ve done more script reviews, but I would’ve sounded like a broken record – bad endings, lack of tension, and weak characters. Is the best thing we could come up with all year a damn comic book film? Years from now, people will look back at 2008 and shake their heads in disbelief and ask, “Where were the great filmmakers? Where were the great writers? Where were the great visionaries and storytellers?” We, as an industry, have become like so many other industries - lazy, greedy, corrupt, and complacent. Ignorance knows no bounds in our industry. They’re all thinking the wrong thoughts, asking the wrong questions, writing the wrong notes, and all the while greenlighting all the wrong films for all the wrong reasons.

Sigh…

You’ll have to cheer me up, Emily, or perhaps prove me wrong, because I’ve lost a bit of faith. I’ve gone to fewer movies this year than ever before, and I’m cranky. They couldn’t get either Indiana Jones or James Bond right. What the hell? I’ve had to turn to the master filmmakers (mostly old, foreign, and dead) in order to experience some kind of great film I hadn’t seen before. Right now, I should be blogging about the best new films of the world, and I got nothing. Richard Corliss of Time came out with his Top 10 Films, one of which was actually a 2007 film, and number 9 was Speed Racer. Are you kidding me? Where’s the fucking passion? Where’s the push and drive to be great? I don’t believe it’s possible to compile an adequate list of 10 truly great films of 2008.

Consider this sobering list: The Top 100 Worst Movies of 2008. A few years from now, the world will marvel about NOT the great films of 2008 but how 2008 produced the worst reviewed films in the history of cinema like The Hottie and the Nottie, 88 Minutes, The Happening, 10,000 B.C., My Best Friend’s Girl, or Disaster Movie.

Sigh…

Tell me, what’s good out there right now?

-MM

Mario Puzo Speaks from the Grave!

Get this. Google Books is hosting a digital archive of the first 30 years of New York Magazine (1968 through 1997). Amongst this bewildering wilderness of magazines is a real treasure - an August 21, 1972, article written by Mario Puzo on his experience writing the novel and the screenplay for The Godfather. Yeah, baby!

It’s a great article, too. First, you gotta go here, which will take you to the contents page. In the upper left-hand corner you’ll see the little summary of the Puzo article and above that, you’ll see “page 22.” That’s a link. Click that, and it’ll take you to the article.

Consider this. There’s a tongue-in-cheek breakdown in which Puzo apportions the credit for the success of The Godfather film:

--------------------------------

The Novel Itself
40% for the fame of the novel
30% for the characters and the incidents.
Total 70%

--------------------------------

Director Francis Coppola
3% for being faithful to the book.
3% for fighting for Pacino (against everybody)
2% for fighting for Brando (against everybody but me)
1% for being Italian.
5% for rewriting script and keeping it a 3-hour movie.
Total 14%

--------------------------------

Author Puzo
3% for writing basic script.
2% for rewriting the rewrite.
2% for suggesting Brando.
2% for keeping it a 3-hour movie against everybody’s advice.
2% for insisting that it would be fatal to leave out Sicily sequence (against everybody except Francis Coppola)
3% for quitting the movie when shooting began and so getting out of everybody’s way so they could work.
Total 14%
Minus 5% for fighting against Al Pacino’s playing Michael.
Net Total 9%

--------------------------------

Producer Al Ruddy
5% for getting the project moving.
3% for holding everybody’s hands and keeping them from killing each other.
5% for taking the rap for everything and taking it with a smile.
Total 13%
Minus 5% for giving wrong advice on how to write the script.
Net Total 8%

--------------------------------

Studio Vice President Robert Evans
5% for listening with an open mind to everyone and making the right decisions.
2% for making the first cut of the movie so commercially swift. (One viewer complained the movie was like having dinner in a restaurant where the food was delicious, but the waiter kept whipping away the dishes before you could finish).
Total 7%

--------------------------------

Paramount Vice President Peter Bart
5% for suggesting Francis Coppola to direct the picture on the theory that an Italian could do the best job. (Not as simple reasoning as it sounds.)
2% for nagging everybody.
Total 7%

--------------------------------

Paramount President Frank Yablans
5% for distribution and exploitation
2% for minding his own business.
Total 7%

--------------------------------

Owner of Paramount Pictures Charles Bludhorn
1% for not insisting Charles Bronson play the Godfather role.
Total 1%

--------------------------------

The Actors
Total 10%

--------------------------------

The Crew and Technical and Costumes and Art, etc.
Total 5%

--------------------------------

Grand Total 138%

(Because you always give more credit in the movie business than exists.)

In Praise of Jean-Pierre Melville

I’m very excited to finally post this article about Jean-Pierre Melville. I’ve been working on this one for ages. I have seen every Melville film that’s available on DVD. I love the man! Frequently, after watching one of his films from Netflix, I’d go straight to the store to buy a Criterion Collection DVD to soak up all the extras. He is a French filmmaker wildly popular in the 60’s, a man who loved America so much that he changed his last name to Melville in honor of his favorite author, Herman Melville. Mostly, his films were about crooks and gangsters, and they all wore trench coats and fedoras (in a time when no one in France ever wore them). He died in ‘73 of a heart attack.

John Woo once wrote, “Melville is God to me.”

I don’t know if he’s God, but he’s definitely one of cinema’s apostles.


Okay, first thing’s first. Check out the vid at the top, a trailer for Army of Shadows. This is a film that admittedly tested my patience at times with its lingering scenes and over-indulgence. However, if you sit through the whole film, you will be rewarded. And you might find, as I did, that some of the scenes and images stick with you long afterwards. The video is also a great summation of his visual style.

His films used to be legendary, but it wasn’t until the last five years or so that America has been given the chance to digest his films on DVD. Army of Shadows wasn’t released on DVD in the U.S. until 2006. Le Doulos was released this year, and it’s fabulous! You can get a full list of his films here. But let me share my favorite Melville films:

1) Le Samouraï (The Samurai)
2) Tied: Le Doulos (The Hat) & Bob le Flambeur (Bob the Gambler)
3) Army of Shadows
4) Le Cercle Rouge (The Red Circle)


All you screenwriters (and Melville fans) will love this. I transcribed from the Bob le Flambeur DVD parts of a 1961 radio interview with Melville by Gideon Bachmann during the Venice Film Festival as part of a radio show. Melville talks about how tough writing is for him:

JPM - It's more difficult to write. I'm quite sure it's easier to make a film to explain something, but it's very difficult to write a good story, to be a man like Faulkner or Hemingway. It's very difficult.

GB - Well, many people would contradict you and say that it's much easier to be alone in a room with a piece of paper and a pencil than it is to be in a studio with thousands of people and lights and so on.

JPM - No, that's not right. No. It's very difficult to write.

GB - Do you think it's a matter of self discipline?

JPM - Yes, and when you read many years later what you wrote many years before you become aware that it's very bad.

GB - But that can happen with films, too.

JPM - Of course.

GB - Do you think you are less likely to make mistakes in cinema than you are in writing? Is it easier to do a wrong thing that you would not like to see in films? It seems to be much easier to make a mistake in film because it's such a tremendous apparatus, whereas in writing you cross off a line, change a label, or put out another edition. It's easier.

JPM - The perfection of the form is easier to grasp on film rather than in written words.

GB - That's very interesting. I wonder why that is. Do you think it has anything to do with the way people react to the various mediums? Do you think people are more critical for writing than for films?

JPM - I tried two things - to write and to make films. Films is easier.

GB - You mean this is an empiric decision? You found this based on your own personal experience, not an abstract theory.

JPM - Yes. subjective.

GB - I think that answers my question about why you make films. Simply because you find it easier.

JPM - I need to express something. I, of course, tried when I was young to write and I found it impossible.


I have a variety of observations as I went through his films.

* On Melville’s transformation as a writer and director: His earlier films like Les Enfants Terribles and even Bob le Flambeur, were loaded with dialogue AND voice over. Later, he famously embraced a minimalist approach to dialogue. It is the natural growth of any filmmaker & screenwriter to rely less on words and more on visuals, is it not? Consider all the dialogue in this classic scene from Le Samouraï. No subtitles, unfortunately, but all that’s said is basically, “What do you want?” “To kill you.” This is nearly 4 minutes, which (in a perfect world) should translate into four pages of your screenplay:



Consider the looks between these characters in Un Flic. Catherine Deneuve is married to Richard Crenna while also sleeping with Alain Delon. But you didn’t need me to explain that, did you?



Or this opening bank robbery scene from Un Flic, which was Melville's final film before his death.



* Very few of his protags have arcs. Bob le Flambeur was a supposedly reformed thief who fell back into his old ways. He couldn’t change who he was. In the end, he joked about doing it all over again. The lone wolf assassin in Le Samouraï never changed.

* No sympathetic protags, but rather characters with mystery and many times depth. We’re surprised and fascinated by the gradual revelation of different sides to his gangster characters. Les Enfants Terribles was torturous to watch because every character was so despicable. But what made, for me, the other unsympathetic characters so enjoyable is that they weren’t FLATLY unsympathetic. Depth is the key to creating true fascination of a character.

* No backstories, either. We observe these men as they are. That they are so mysterious (or have depth) are the reasons we stay glued to the screen. Also from Senses in Cinema: In 1963, Raymond Durgnat pertinently suggested that “Melville has a way of watching, rather than sharing, his characters' perplexities. He seems not to mind what they do, provided it suits them. He is not unkind, but feline. Durgnat's astute reading of Melville's work nevertheless over-emphasises the purely detached and relatively amoral perspective that it offers. The subtle scene described above is one of many moments in Melville's cinema in which his mostly male characters appear to be both within and outside of a dramatic situation, able to engage in the emotion of the moment while also stepping outside of it to contemplate a configuration of events, actions and bodies.”


* Like the Nolans, Melville embraced an almost magician’s approach to scenes. His films are filled with wonderful surprises! For example, in Le Cercle Rouge, the protag sits in a diner eating. Outside, unbeknownst to him, a bad guy sneaks up to his car. The protag keeps staring off into space as he eats in the diner. The bad guy breaks open his trunk, sneaks in, and closes the trunk. The protag eventually finishes, gets up, pays his bill, and gets into his car - only to drive into a field and skid like a mad man over the mud to torture the man in his trunk. He knew all along. There are wonderful moments like this in all of his films.

* Style triumphs. He never embraced realism, which give his films a sense of timelessness. He was meticulous about details, particularly the machinations of pulling off a heist, but it was always purely imagined. Melville once said, “I am careful never to be realistic.… What I do is false. Always.” His locations were both real and purely imagined. As John Flaus wrote: “[Melville] does not seek to simulate the world but to create anew from the materials of the world. The severe form, the precise detail, the delicate effect are part of a style which shows rather than refers to its subject.” Of Le Samouraï, Girish (one of my favorite bloggers) wrote: The lack of interest in realism is one of the movie’s most attractive aspects for me. Nobody characterized it better than Melville himself: “I don’t want to situate my heroes in time; I don’t want the action of a film to be recognizable as something that happens in 1968. That’s why in Le Samouraï, for example, the women aren’t wearing miniskirts, while the men are wearing hats—something, unfortunately, that no one does anymore. I’m not interested in realism. All my films hinge on the fantastic. I’m not a documentarian; a film is first and foremost a dream, and it’s absurd to copy life in an attempt to produce an exact re-creation of it. Transposition is more or less a reflex with me: I move from realism to fantasy without the spectator ever noticing.”

* Le Doulos & Bob le Flambeur, which were tied for second on my personal list of favorites, contained superbly TIGHT PLOTS, which I’d say surpasses most screenplays even today.


* Melville was always playing with suspense. On the one hand, he'd surprise you and explain it later, as he did often in Le Doulos. On the other hand, he’d let you know something’s about to happen and drag it out. Of Le Samouraï, Ebert wrote: The movie teaches us how action is the enemy of suspense--how action releases tension, instead of building it. Better to wait for a whole movie for something to happen (assuming we really care whether it happens) than to sit through a film where things we don't care about are happening constantly. Melville uses character, not action, to build suspense.

* There is a strange satisfaction in observing the process of things, like the meticulous process of how to pull off a heist, which today’s audiences probably don’t have the attention span to sit through.



* There is also the satisfaction of watching these men go through their daily rituals, which usually involves putting on their trench coats and making sure their fedoras are perfect as they look at themselves in the mirror. Let me quote Senses in Cinema again: These types of stoic, often joyless and strangely sacred rituals are for Melville's characters a way of distancing themselves from the world, of maintaining an impossible purity or of simulating a rigorous professionalism. It is in the moment when this ritual, professionalism or purity breaks apart that the characters' demise is prefigured or marked. In Le Samouraï, for example, it is when the protagonist breaks from his routine and swerves minutely toward some kind of personal involvement, that his fate is sealed. Despite the blank amorality and explicit anti-humanism of his murderous actions it is the 'purity' of his existence and work that enables his character to survive. In keeping with this, Melville often eschews conventional character psychology and motivation, refusing to provide back stories or explanations for his characters' actions. For example, we never know precisely why particular individuals (particularly Simone Signoret's seemingly unimpeachable Mathilde) inform on their comrades in L'Armée des ombres, and yet his handling of characters (including those who necessarily break these codes) still has a rare sense of balance and grace. Typically, Melville's characters are unwavering in their commitment to a particular moral code or mode of action. Melville's characters rarely change or transform – they have an understanding of the world and their place within it – but the relationships between them and their milieu evolve gradually through a process of acceptance and dawning mutuality. Thus, Melville's films are mostly concerned with the rigor of any character's attitude to being in the world, the moral, experiential and ritual codes that make sense of their actions (and life). These codes are attached to all of Melville's central characters, granting their actions and attitudes a “sort of purity,” whether gangster, assassin, German officer, Resistance fighter, communist sympathiser, or priest.


* We, the audience, as well as the characters know their fate. In his 1955 book, “Bob le Flambeur,” Stephen Schiff wrote, “And to Melville, the fate of the gangster-movie hero is inseparable from his style or his morality: it's part of the form he occupies, just as his Cadillac and his chivalrous manners are. A man has no choice; if he's in a gangster picture, he looks a certain way, behaves a certain way, and dies a certain way. Genre is destiny – and ethics. In fact, Melville's films express a philosophy that only a Frenchman could have dreamed up – and only a movie-mad Frenchman at that: it's genre existentialism.”

* It’s fascinating the relationships between characters, none of whom can be trusted, and all linked to each other and yet also opposed. They are faithful and potentially disloyal. They are together and alone. Tom Milne wrote that the key themes of Melville's work are the “impossibility of love, of friendship, of communication, of self-respect, of life itself.”

* On the endings, let me quotes Senses in Cinema one last time: The endings of Melville's films tell us much about the moral codes and frameworks that they set up. In many of his films the majority of the central characters end up dead. These endings – which often have the feeling of ritual – reestablish the intimate connections that have been created between characters whose relationships are made impossible by a variety of legal, social, moral and criminal codes... It is also in respect to this focus on the relativity of social roles and functions (often with characters on either side of the Law), as well as their explicit revision and abstraction of the crime genre, that one can see the clear influence of Melville on directors such as John Woo, Johnny To, Martin Scorsese, Michael Mann and Quentin Tarantino. It is also in these endings, particularly in his last five films, that Melville tells us something about the end of a kind of classicism; of a classical world of archetypes, moral and physical integrity, and ritualised ceremony that is passing from view. They also prefigure the end of a cinema that Melville considered to be a “sacred thing.”


Melville once said, “I believe that you must be madly in love with cinema to create films. You also need a huge cinematic baggage.”

Are you on the Black List?

Hey guys,

The 2008 BLACK LIST has been released. The stories are below. Some of the ideas were interesting. For the record, this was started a couple years ago by an executive at Leonardo DiCaprio’s production company, Appian Way, who polled 90+ peers to send him their 10 favorite new unproduced screenplays to read over the holidays. The underground list was e-mailed around and became a Hollywood phenomenon. This, for example, launched Diablo Cody's career.

There's always a warning at the top of the list:

THE BLACK LIST is not a “best of” list. It is, at best, a “most liked” list.

Lately, though, some folks have been accusing executives of tainting the list so that they may push their own clients.

Anyway, hope you enjoy it.

-MM

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1. The Beaver by Kyle Killen
A depressed man finds hope in a beaver puppet that he wears on his hand.
Status: Steve Carell is attached to star.

2. The Oranges by Jay Reiss and Ian Helfer
“A man has a romantic relationship with the daughter of a family friend, which turns
their lives upside down.”
Status: Anthony Bregman (Thumbsucker) and Media Rights Capital will produce.

3. Butter by Jason Micallef
“A small town becomes a center for controversy and jealousy as its annual butter carving contest begins.”
Status: Jennifer Garner is in talks to play Laura, Michael De Luca Productions producing.

4. Big Hole by Michael Gilio
“An old cowboy goes on a mission to recover his money after a million dollar sweepstakes scam cleans out his entire bank account.”
Status: Aversano Films (Failure to Launch) is producing.

5. The Low Dweller by Brad Ingelsby
“A man trying to assimilate into society after being released from jail discovers that someone from his past is out to settle a score.”
It’s Like: Unforgiven, only less geriatric. And much less forgiving.
Status: Relativity, Energy Entertainment, Leonardo DiCaprio’s Appian Way and Tony and Ridley Scott’s Scott Free Productions will co-produce.

6. F***buddies by Liz Meriwether
“A guy and a girl struggle to have an to realize they want much more.”
Status: Montecito Picture Company producing.

7. Winter’s Discontent by Paul Fruchbom
“When Herb Winter’s wife of fifty years dies, the faithful but sexually frustrated widower moves into a retirement community to start living the swinging single life.”
Status: Sony’s Atlas Entertainment producing.

8. Broken City by Brian Tucker
“A New York private investigator gets sucked into a shady mayoral election.”

9. I’m With Cancer by Will Reiser
“A autobiographical comic account of one man’s struggle to beat cancer.”
Status: Seth Rogen is producing and signed on to co-star.

10. Our Brand Is Crisis by Peter Straughan
“Based on the eponymous documentary. James Carville and a team of U.S. political consultants travel to South Abecome President of Bolivia.”
Status: Warner Bros and George Clooney’s Company producing.

INGLORIOUS BASTERDS by Quentin Tarantino
“American soldiers, French peasants, French resistance, and Naziscollide in Hitler occupied France.”

UNTITLED VANESSA TAYLOR PROJECT by Vanessa Taylor
“After thirty years of marriage, a middle-aged couple attends an intense counseling weekend to decide the fate of their marriage.”

GALAHAD by Ryan Condal
“A revisionist twist on the King Arthur legend from the knight Galahad’s perspective.”

THE WEST IS DEAD by Andrew Baldwin
“During the Great Depression, a group of semi-outlaws go on the run from the law when forced to vacate a town as the Hoover dam is constructed.”

MANUSCRIPT by Paul Grellong
“A contemporary thriller about three bright, young New Yorkers with boundless literary ambition who will stop at nothing to get what they want.”

THE TUTOR by Matthew Fogel
“A twenty three year old recent graduate decides, at his mother’s insistence, to tutor his ex-girlfriend’s younger sister for the SATs. When they begin a romantic relationship, his ex-girlfriend moves in love with our anti-hero as well.”

SUNFLOWER by MishaGreen
“Two young women struggle to escape from and exact revenge on the deranged college professor who holds them hostage.”

NOWHERE BOY by Matt Greenhalgh
“The story of John Lennon’s rise from lonely, Liverpool teenager to iconic rock star.”

GOING THE DISTANCE by Geoff LaTulippe
“A couple tries to maintain a long-distance relationship.”

THE AMERICAN WAY by Brian Kistler
“Two brothers are affected by their parents’ murder, leading one to the FBI and the other to a life of crime.”

THE DESCENDANTS by Nat Faxon& Jim Rash
“A newly widowed father, also one of the richest men in Oahu, Hawaii, takes off with his two Kauai.”

RAINDROPS ALL AROUND ME by Reed Agnew & Eli Jorne
“A socially awkward high school teacher learns to ‘dumb it down’in order to fit in with those around him.”

SEQUELS, REMAKES & ADAPTATIONS by Sam Esmail
“The outlandish journey of a young man in search of love and what he’s meant to do with his life.”

A COUPLE OF DICKS by Mark Cullen & Robb Cullen
“Two veteran LAPD detectives attempt to track down a stolen, mint-condition, 1952 baseball card that one of the daughter’s upcoming wedding.”

GAY DUDE by Alan Yang
“A comedy about the friendship of two high school seniors that’s torn apart after one comes out of the closet.”

THE MANY DEATHS OF BARNABY JAMES by Brian Nathanson
“A teenage apprentice in a macabre circus for the dead yearns to bring his true love back to life, but not before encountering the many dangerous and mysterious gothic characters that stand in his way.”

UNDERAGE by Scott Neustadter & Michael Weber
“A seventeen-year-old seduces a twenty something man and then blackmails him into being her boyfriend in order to exact revenge on her high school aged ex.”

CODE NAME VEIL by Matt Billingsley
“Based on actual events. A young CIA agent struggles to maintain his morality while navigating dangerous and absurd conditions in 1980s Beirut.”

EVERYTHING MUST GO by Dan Rush
“A relapsed alcoholic loses his job and his wife and decides to live on his front lawn while selling all of his belongings in a yard sale.”

THE FOURTH KIND by Olatunde Osunsanmi
“A woman investigates an extraordinary number of unexplained disappearances from one small town in Alaska.”

FOXCATCHER by E Max Frye & Dan Futterman
“Based on the true story of John du Pont, a paranoid schizophrenic who was heir to the du Pont fortune. After building a wrestling training facility named Team Foxcatcher on his Pennsylvania estate, Du Pont shot and killed Olympic gold medal-winning grappler David Schulz.”

THE PHANTOM LIMB by Kevin Koehler
“A troubled private detective uncovers a blackmail scam involving a gangster who runs a brothel that caters to amputee fetishes and a taboo doctor who performs the body modifications.”

THE APOSTLES OF INFINITE LOVE by Victoria Strouse
“When an upper class dysfunctional New York family learn their youngest daughter has joined a cult in the midwest, they recruit a cult deprogrammer and go on the road to save her while both parents and siblings confront their issues with one another.”

THE F-WORD by Elan Mastai
“Two best friends struggle with falling in love without ruining the bond between them.”

UP IN THE AIR by Jason Reitman
“A ruthless human resources executive, whose job is to fire people, looks forward to the only joy he has in life, his millionth frequent flyer mile, a goal he pursues with zeal as the rest of his life falls apart around him because he is constantly on the road.”

BACHELORETTE by Leslye Headland
“Ten years out of high school, three unhappy single friends come together as bridesmaids at a classmate’s wedding, get drunk, get high, and while romancing new and old loves and settling old business.”

JONNY QUEST by Dan Mazeau
“Young Jonny Quest travels the world with his scientist father, adopted brother from India, Bandit the bulldog, and a government agent assigned to protect them while they investigate scientific mysteries.”

THE KARMA COALITION by Shawn Christensen
“A professor embarks on a quest to uncover the truth behind his wife’s death before the world ends.”

KEIKO by Elizabeth Wright Shapiro
“A white teenage girl, who was adopted and raised in Japan by Japanese parents, travels to America to find her long lost father, comedian Dana Carvey.”

KNIGHTS by Nick Confalone & Neal Dusedau
“A kickass British adventure where knighted celebrities (an entrepreneur, a soccer player, a musician, and an actor) are called upon to defend their country.”

TWENTY TIMES A LADY by Gabrielle Allan & Jennifer Crittenden
“Based on the book by Karyn Bosnak. After realizing that she has had twice as many sexual partners as the national average, Ally swears off new guys and decides to back and visit the previous twenty guys and find out if she overlooked anyone.”

CLEAR WINTER NOON by John Kolvenbach
“A hit man released from jail in his seventies tries to make amends for the innocent life he took.”

FIERCE INVALIDS HOME FROM HOT CLIMATES by Eric Aronson
“Based on the novel by Tom Robbins. An irascible, world-weary CIA operative is duped by his boss into helping re-place a listening device back in Russian hands that is vital to spying on them.”

ROUNDTABLE by Brian K Vaughan
“In modern day, Merlin attempts to assemble a bunch of knights to battle an ancient evil.”

THE AMAZING ADVENTURES OF THE MONOGAMOUS DUCK by Neeraj Katyal
“A writer struggling with drugs and his girlfriend’s death leaves New York for Los Angeles where he falls in love with a teacher and straightens out his life.”

THE GARY COLEMAN –EMMANUEL LEWIS PROJECT by Dan Fogelman
“Emmanuel Lewis and Gary Coleman save the world from an evil madman.”

THE LAYMAN’S TERMS by Jeremy Bailey
“In the midst of the Great Depression, a prodigal son returns home to face his demons and resurrect the dust bowl town he left behind. But the arrival of a mysterious woman soon threatens his way of life when he discovers she is being hunted by the very same Chicago gangsters he used to run with.”

THE MALLUSIONIST by Robbie Pickering & Jace Ricci
“A wannabe illusionist travels cross country with his young son to compete against his archnemesis, a Vegas magic show.”

PLAN B by Kate Angelo
“A woman sets out to be artificially inseminated and falls in love.”

WHAT IS LIFE WORTH? By Max Borenstein
“Based on the memoir of Kenneth Feinberg, a dramatization of his involvement in the 9/11 victims compensation fund.”

ACOD: ADULT CHILDREN OF DIVORCE by Ben Karlin& Stu Zicherman
“A grown man finds himself still caught in the crossfire of his parents’ divorce.”

BAD TEACHER by Lee Eisenberg & Gene Stupnitsky
“After being dumped by her boyfriend, a foul-mouthed, gold-digging seventh-grade teacher sets her sights on a colleague who is dating the school’s model teacher.”

THE BIRTHDAY PARTY by Charles Randolph
“The true story of former Assistant United States attorney Stanley Alpert’s kidnapping by petty thieves and how he bonded with them in a Queens, NY apartment in 1998.”

CHILD 44 by Richard Price
“Based on the novel by Tom Rob Smith. An officer in Stalinist Russia’s secret police is framed by a colleague for treason. While on the run with his wife, he stumbles upon a series of child murders and launches his own rogue investigation.”

INFERNO: A LINDA LOVELACE STORY by Matt Wilder
“The story of Linda Lovelace, the first mainstream porn star who eventually overcame her past, found happiness in suburbia and led a crusade to stop pornography.”

EASY A by Bert Royal
“A good-natured high school student uses the rumor mill to personal advantage by pretending to be the school slut.”

GRAND THEFT AUTO by Jason Dean Hall
“Facing foreclosure on his repo yard, a young ex-con resumes a life of crime only to get blamed when his uncle’s coke deal gets hijacked. Caught in double crosses between Russian mafia, Yakuza, and the ATF, the young ex-con kidnaps a crime boss’s daughter and steals car after car on a Vegas bound suicide mission to retrieve the stolen drugs.”

HELP ME SPREAD GOODNESS by Mark Friedman
“When an email predator dupes a man out of his son’s college fund, the man travels to Nigeria to confront those who ripped him off.”

GIANTS by Eric Nazarian
“A teenager with Marfan Syndrome comes to terms with his estranged father, his overworked mother, and the possibility that he very well might die during his upcoming procedure.”

LONDON BOULEVARD by William Monahan
“Based on the book by Ken Fruen. Fresh out of prison, Mitchell lands a legitimate job as a handyman for a rich actress who’s eager to reward him with cash, cars, and sex. But Mitchell can never truly escape his violent past or the dangerous world of loan sharks, drug addicts and other bottom-feeders.”

SHRAPNEL by Evan Daugherty
“Two mortal enemies square off on a hunting trip to the death.”

YOUR DREAMS SUCK by Kat Dennings & Geoffrey Litwak
“An awkward teen with no self esteem regains his self-confidence after joining a Dance Dance Revolution team.”

MEMOIRS by Will Fetters
“Two college students who’ve experienced recent loss fall in love and heal their fractured families.”

GREETINGS FROM JERRY by John Killoran
“Jerry seems to have it all — money, women, and a ridiculously easy job as a greeting card writer — until a tiny mistake at work unravels his life. Having lost everything he had — but never earned —he’s forced to confront who he really is and start again from scratch.”

AFTER HAILEY by Scott Frank
“Based on the novel by Jonathan Tropper. After a twentysomething man’s older wife dies, he remains in suburbia and struggles to raise her teenage son from a previous marriage.”

THE BLADE ITSELF by Aaron Stockard
“Based on the novel by Marcus Sakey. Two former childhood friends, who made their reputation committing petty crimes, are reunited years later, forcing one of them to decide how far he will go to protect his past.”

FRESHLY POPPED by Megan Parsons
“A teenage girl who works at a movie theater tries to decide to whom she wants to lose her virginity.”

GAZA by Frank Deasy
“A British woman goes to Gaza to recover the body of her dead daughter and comes to understand her daughter’s political ideals.”

BROTHERHOOD OF THE ROSE by Adam Cozad
“Two orphans, raised by a CIA operative to be assassins, become targets themselves.”

MAN OF CLOTH by Josh Zetumer
“When an English minister’s family (wife and youngest son) are unjustly punished and sent off to a prison colony in Australia, the minister and his oldest son travel to Australia to re-unite the family. Upon arrival though, the minister is informed of their death, and quickly vengeance is the only thing that can quiet his hurt.”

GROWN MAN BUSINESS by Justin Britt-Gibson
“An older man who was a gangster in his youth returns to his neighborhood after a long absence to find the boys who murdered the son he abandoned years previous.”

HOW TO BE GOOD by Cindy Chupack
“Based on the novel by Nick Hornby. A woman having second thoughts about her husband is pleased when he begins following a guru, but when her husband invites the guru to live with them, her point of view changes entirely.”

IRON JACK by Johnny Rosenthal
“A renowned novelist’s comic quest for hidden treasure in the 1930s.”

THE HERETIC by Javier Rodriguez
“The Roman Catholic Church asks a former inquisitor to assassinate rebel monk Martin Luther.”

UNLOCKED by Peter O’Brien
“A female CIA interrogator is duped into getting a terrorist to provide key information to the wrong side, thrusting her into the middle of a plot to plan a devastating biological attack in London.”

SLEEPING BEAUTY by Julia Leigh
“A haunting erotic fairy tale about Lucy, a student who drifts into prostitution and finds her niche as a woman who sleeps, drugged, in a ‘Sleeping Beauty chamber’ while men do to her what she can‘t remember the next morning.”

STOP HUNTINGDON ANIMAL CRUELTY by Adam Sachs
“A lonely journalist finds love and inspiration in a quirky, unlikely manner –covering the misadventures of a young boy’s ‘protest’ of an animal rights movement.”

A TALE OF TWO CITIES by Beau Willimon
“Based on the novel by Charles Dickens. Set in Paris and London during the French Revolution, English aristocrat Sydney Carton sacrifices his own life for his unrequited love Lucie Manette and Frenchman Charles Darnay.”

THE SPELLMAN FILES by Bobby Florsheim & Josh Stolberg
“A family of private investigators use their gumshoe skills to crack cases and pry into one another’s personal lives.”

THE BEAUTIFUL AND THE DAMNED by Hanna Weg
“The tumultuous and doomed love affair of Jazz Age icons F. Scott Fitzgerald and Zelda Sayre.”

WHAT WOULD KENNY DO? by Chris Baldi
“A seventeen-year-old high school kid meets a ‘hologram’ of himself at thirty-seven-years-old and benefits from their friendship.”

47 RONIN by Chris Morgan
“Forty-seven samurai seek vengeance upon a regional lord who is responsible for the death of their master.”

THE ZERO by Stephen Chin
“Based on the novel by Jess Walter. After a New York City policeman shoots himself in the head following the 9/11 terrorist attacks, he is assigned to work for a shadowy agency at ‘Ground Zero’ and quickly finds himself drawn into a sinister government plot.”

BALLAD OF THE WHISKEY ROBBER by Rich Wilkes
“Based on the book by Julian Rubinstein.”

THE DEBT by Jane Goldman & Matthew Vaughn
“Based on the Israeli film HaHov. Three Israeli Mossad agents discover that a war criminal is still alive and set out to pursue him.”

A BITTERSWEET LIFE by Mark L Smith
“A crime boss asks his trusted lieutenant to determine if his young mistress is having an affair (and to kill her and her lover if she is.) The lieutenant confirms the affair but, entranced by the girl, chooses to let them live. Discovering this, the crime boss orders the lieutenant killed, only he escapes and seeks vengeance.”

BOBISM by Ben Wexler
“A shy college student discovers that life in one thousand years will be based on his blog — and he has to stop aliens from the future who want him dead.”

DEADLINE by Soo Hugh
“A discredited journalist navigates dangerous politics to find a missing aid worker.”

BOBBIE SUE by Russell Sharman, Owen Egerton, & Chris Mass
“A hard charging female ambulance chaser becomes the face of a prestigious law firm when an important client is sued for sexual discrimination.”

A LITTLE SOMETHING FOR YOUR BIRTHDAY by Susan Walter
“A female clothing designer struggles to find love and success after turning thirty.”

THE ENDS OF THE EARTH by Chris Terrio
“Based on a true story. The controversial love affair between an oil baron and his adopted daughter destroys the empire they built together.”

THE HOW-TO GUIDE FOR SAVING THE WORLD by BenDavid Grabinski
“A loser discovers a book on how to stop an alien invasion and is thrust into action to stop a real one.”

I KILLED BUDDY CLOY by Nick Garrison & Chase Pletts
“When a terrible act of violence shatters Ray’s hum-drum existence, his sociopath uncle lures him down an absurd, vengeful path.”

HEARTSTOPPER by Dan Antoniazzi & Ben Shiffrin
“A romantic comedy, with a serial killer.”

JAR CITY by Michael Ross
“Based on the film by Baltasar Kormakur. A police detective’s investigation of a murder leads to the uncovering of secrets in a small town.”

SAMURAI by Fernley Phillips
“Set in Japan during the 150 Year War, a ronin out for justice teams up with a ninja and a green-eyed English boy to rid Japan of an evil Lord. Their partnership becomes the stuff of myth.”

THE MOST ANNOYING MAN IN THE WORLD by Kevin Kopelow & Heath Seifert
“A man travels across the country with his annoying brother in order to get to his own wedding.”

THE MURDERER AMONG US by Lori Gambino
“Based on true events. Legendary filmmaker Fritz Lang contends with a mounting police investigation into the death of his first wife, the growing threat of the Third Reich, and a caustic relationship with his female collaborator; all leading to the production of the film M.”

MOTORCADE by Billy Ray
“The President of the United States and his motorcade are attacked during a visit to Los Angeles.”

ONCE UPON A TIME IN HELL by Brian McGreevy & Lee Shipman
“A gritty, contemporary retelling of THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO set in the underworld of the Hell’s Kitchen Irish mob.”

‘TIL BETH DO US PART by Jon Hurwitz & Hayden Schlossberg
“The friendship of two twentysomething men is put to the test when one of them becomes engaged.”

THE SCAVENGERS by Nate Edelman
“Based on the play Playboy of the Western World by J.M. Synge. A ne’er-do-well Irish twentysomething becomes infamous when he commits a haphazard murder and catches the fancy of a brazen barmaid who, bored with her small town existence, sees him as the rebel he always wanted to be and follows him on the run.”

SHERLOCK HOLMES by Tony Peckham
“A dark, sophisticated take on Sherlock Holmes and his trusted number two, Dr. Watson.”

SERIAL KILLER DAYS by Mark Carter
“A dark comedy blending stories of teen love and municipal corruption set against the backdrop of a town plagued by a serial killer that decides to profit the only way it can — by creating a festival and economy around the fact that they have a serial killer.”

SWINGLES by Jeff Roda
“After their best friends get engaged, a dedicated bachelor and a high-strung lawyer team up to help each other get dates by giving revealing insights into the opposite sex (thus inventing ‘swingling’) but complications ensue when they fall for each other.”

UNTITLED CHANNING TATUM PROJECT by Doug Jung
“A Los Angeles cop escorts a Korean gang leader back to South Korea. When the gang leader escapes, killing the cop’s partner in the process, he teams with a young Korean gangster in a bloody pursuit of revenge that takes them through the dangerous and exotic underworld of Seoul.”

Valkyrie’s Early Round-Up

Consider these two early reviews of Valkyrie, which is being marketed to us as a nail-biting thriller of a high Hitchcockian order.

First, Todd McCarthy at Variety:

After a long takeoff, Valkyrie finally takes flight as a thriller in its second half but never soars very high. Bryan Singer's long-awaited account of the near-miss assassination of Adolf Hitler by a ring of rebel German army officers on July 20, 1944, has visual splendor galore, but is a cold work lacking in the requisite tension and suspense.

Here’s Brent Simon at Screen Daily:

There are a few striking visual markers -- uncradled phones and slamming typewriter keys -- that hint at building tension, but Singer also misses key opportunities to inject a little energy and visual flash into the story, as exemplified by a clumsily-staged arrest sequence late in the film. Valkyrie at times feels emotionally constrained, too invested in speechifying.

What have I been telling you all year? The entire industry has lost its focus on true, essential tension and suspense. (Consider, too, the blog-a-thon we had on tension and suspense.) You want to get noticed as a screenwriter? Write a suspense story that actually has suspense! God, they’ll think you’re a damn genius!


By the way, read 1,000 Faces of Tom Cruise. You will laugh out loud. At the end, Robert Davis writes:

I quite liked the suspense, even though throughout that stretch I was thinking, "I wish Eddie Izzard were taking down the Führer instead of nervously making a phone call in the background." That's what's nice about this movie. It gives you time to think about what you're seeing. Like: Is Tom Wilkinson speaking only his dependent clauses with a British accent? Is that Peter Cushing back there? And, say, who do you think would win in a peaked-cap face-off between Grand Moff Tarkin, General Zod, and let's say Hitler? That kind of thing.

If the suspense was truly “good,” he wouldn’t have been thinking all those thoughts, now would he?

John Carpenter "Halloween" Interview

Hey guys,

I love the hell out of the video interviews above of John Carpenter about Halloween, which is filled with insight. He talks about suspense. He talks about his affection (and mine as well) for less backstory of the characters. He also walks you through the (now famous) virtuoso opening shot. This brings to mind a piece in Emerson’s Opening Shots Project written by Robert C. Cumbow (who can write superior analysis of films – I’m quite jealous) about the Halloween opening. He writes:

The long take that begins Halloween works for several reasons: First, the unmounted camera, steady though it is, wavers just enough to keep us unsettled, off balance, vulnerable to shock even if slightly prepared for it. Second, the shot establishes the motif of the subjective camera as the killer's point of view. Third, and most important, the shot draws us into the action by a point of view that is unedited. Had the opening sequence been presented conventionally, as a mounted sequence of shots, the viewer's mind would become an editor's mind, classifying, comparing, and relating the shots to assemble the story -- in other words, a mind participating in the creation of the work and therefore more conscious of it as a work. The single take suppresses the artistic detachment that comes from mental montage, creating instead a direct involvement that-like real life -- we are unable to edit. The impact, in other words, is visceral, not intellectual.

The strongest precedent for Carpenter's long-take opening to Halloween is found not in the annals of horror film but in the spectacular single-shot opening credits sequence of Orson Welles's Touch of Evil -- a crane shot that begins on an extreme close-up, then pulls back to a cityscape, tracks the movements of two different sets of characters, and culminates in one character's reaction to an offscreen explosion. Both of the opening two shots of Halloween are grounded in the same technique: The first shot concentrates on setting a scene, building suspense, and culminating in shock. The second shot, because it is a crane shot, is a more direct descendent of the Welles shot, but it is shorter, simpler than the Welles shot, beginning close and ending high and wide, without the comings and goings and focal changes of Welles's Touch of Evil opening. Moreover, it establishes the ground rules under which, for the remainder of the film, Carpenter will switch from subjective to objective point of view, from killer's eye to director's eye.


Also, coincidentally, Berardinelli had written about Halloween not too long ago. He said:

Halloween is very nearly a perfect horror film. When I use the term "perfect," I'm not referring to the technical details (Halloween, like all movies made on the cheap, has its share of goofs and gaffes) but to the overall experience. If you want chills and thrills, if you want to be scared shitless, it's hard to get better than this. Like the best thrillers, this one keeps viewers white knuckled, with the coil of anxiety and tension tightening with every passing scene. Like the best monster movies, it features an implacable, inhuman creature that is best described by Dr. Loomis: "pure evil."

Halloween has not aged in the way so many of its contemporaries have, and that's because Carpenter's method of storytelling is timeless. He touches primal fears, and they are the same in 2008 as they were in 1978. Society may change but there's always a "boogeyman." Strangely, for a movie that is credited with giving birth to the slasher genre, Halloween is nearly bloodless. Crimson liquid does not fountain. It does not spurt. It does not spray. The murders are presented as rungs on the ladder of plot, not mini-orgies of carnage. What's the goriest scene in Halloween? Probably the death of Lynda's boyfriend, whose late-night refrigerator run is interrupted. His fate, however, is shrouded in darkness and shadow. While it's clear what happens to him - and it's not pretty - there are no close-ups. It's a singularly effective moment, but not a graphic one. Carpenter achieves with restraint what other directors could not do with a full battery of gory special effects.

There’s another vid here of Siskel & Ebert defending and praising Halloween. I loved what Ebert said, “Artistry can redeem any subject matter. That’s why I’ve always been opposed to censorship. I don’t believe any subject matter should be off-base. The question is, ‘What does the artist do with it? How does he look at it? How does he put it through his art in order to make a statement about it?’”

The script is available here.

-MM

Screenwriting News & Links! 12/10/08

Hey guys,

If you missed it, I recently posted an article on the Art of Dialects. I also recently watched Scorsese's My Voyage to Italy in which he takes you through the history of Italian cinema. FABULOUS! I was quite moved by those films. This is a worthy Netflix rental.

Anyway, hope you’re well,

-MM

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Lots of New Screenplays!

Rachel Getting Married - October 17, 2007 draft by Jenny Lumet

Revolutionary Road - undated draft script by Justine Haythe

Milk - undated draft by Dustin Lance Black

Burn After Reading - undated draft script by Coen brothers

To The White Sea - August 13, 1998, draft script by Coen brothers

Vanilla Sky - 2001 shooting script by Cameron Crowe

Synecdoche - July 30, 2007, draft script by Charlie Kaufman

I've Loved You So Long (Il y a longtemps que je t'aime) - undated draft script by Philippe Claudel

Vicky Cristina Barcelona - undated draft script by Woody Allen

Happy-Go_Lucky - undated draft script by Mike Leigh

Doubt - undated draft script by John Patrick Shanley

The Visitor – undated draft by Tom McCarthy

Last Chance Harvey – undated draft by Joel Hopkins

(Hat-tip to SimplyScripts)

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MM in the news:

Report: Mystery Man interested in buying Buffalo Sabres
I’m planning a cook-out for New Year’s Eve.

Mystery Man may hold key to murder investigation
It’s just a key to my secret basement.

Johnny Depp Is Mystery Man
Interesting theory…


9/11 Killed the Forest Gump Sequel
To quote Eric Roth: “I turned in my version of the Forrest Gump sequel, or Part II, whatever you call it… It’s a continuation really — I want to start the movie literally two minutes after the end of the last one, with him on the bus bench waiting for his son to get home from school. But I turned in the script the night before 9/11. And we sat down, Tom [Hanks] and Bob [Zemeckis] and I, looked at each other and said, we don’t think this is relevant anymore. The world had changed. Now time has obviously passed, but maybe some things should just be one thing and left as they are.”

Twilight Sequel, New Moon, Will Be Getting a New Director
Catherine Hardwicke will not be returning to direct Twilight’s sequel, New Moon. Twilight director, Catherine Hardwicke, will not be directing the sequel to the Summit Entertainment hit, says the Hollywood Reporter. Summit plans on releasing New Moon, the direct sequel to Twilight, in late 2009 or early 2010, and the company confirmed that the movie will have a new director.

A Script Consultant Should Be a Screenwriter's Mentor
Any script consultant who uses the 'universal' story paradigm and structure rules isn't going to be able to give the individual screenwriter much help in creating an original, inventive screenplay.


Story of Love, Suicide, and Paranoia Appeals to Bret Easton Ellis
The tragic story of Theresa Duncan and Jeremy Blake, the inseparable East Village artists who killed themselves last year believing they were being persecuted, will be the subject of a screenplay by American Pscyho author Bret Easton Ellis, Page Six magazine has announced. Ithika Films, which is producing the movie along with Lionsgate, has bought the writes to our own Nancy Jo Sales’s investigation, a profile of undying love and devastating paranoia. “It’s a kind of modern Romeo and Juliet story, set in the East Village, with the addition of anti-Bush conspiracy theories and Scientologists,” says Sales. “They continue to be the subject of fascination precisely because no one knows exactly why they did it. We only know that they were deeply in love, which makes their suicides all the more mysterious. Because of their great talent and beauty, they’ve become a sort of cult couple. There couldn’t be a more perfect writer for this story than Bret Easton Ellis because he is such a great chronicler of the modern macabre.”

Screenwriter testifies West's material was not copied by Perry
Michael Robert "Bob" Gale, screen writer of Back to the Future, testified Monday in the case of Donna West versus Tyler Perry that it is his opinion that Perry did not use Ms. West's copyrighted material, Fantasy of a Black Woman, in his film, Diary of a Mad Black Woman.

Ebert's Death to film critics! Hail to the CelebCult!
Why do we need critics? A good friend of mine in a very big city was once told by his editor that the critic should "reflect the taste of the readers." My friend said, "Does that mean the food critic should love McDonald's?" The editor: "Absolutely." I don't believe readers buy a newspaper to read variations on the Ed McMahon line, "You are correct, sir!" A newspaper film critic should encourage critical thinking, introduce new developments, consider the local scene, look beyond the weekend fanboy specials, be a weatherman on social trends, bring in a larger context, teach, inform, amuse, inspire, be heartened, be outraged.

2009 Writers Guild Awards Television Nominees Unveiled

AMPTP relesase ‘Fact Sheet’ on the WGA



A great article by Anthony Lane on The Wrestler
The Wrestler is as simple as its title. The pathos of personal ruin is an established trope, and the trick, as demonstrated by John Huston in Fat City and by Martin Scorsese in Raging Bull, is to stop it from sliding into the sentimental. Aronofsky doesn’t always succeed in this, and there are lines in Robert D. Siegel’s script that wave their symbolic purpose in the audience’s face: “It’s your heart—you need to start taking better care of it.” So says a hospital medic, when Randy is admitted, and undergoes bypass surgery, after collapsing in the wake of a bout. It’s O.K., Doc, we get the point. But the movie, like its hero, manages to yank itself back into shape, and that, it strikes me, is mostly due to Rourke. When Randy goes home after the operation, and peels off his bandage, the camera zooms in to inspect the scar on his chest, whereas what really pinches our attention is his harmless habits: the mild, uncomplaining manner in which he pops in a hearing aid or adjusts his reading spectacles. He may be one of the last people in movies to use a pay phone. This fellow is mutton dressed as Ram, and he knows it, and, if he earns the caress of our pity, that is precisely because he never stoops to beg for it.

Initially, Rourke didn’t care for The Wrestler script
Rourke told UPI in New York Sunday: "I didn't really care for the script, but I wanted to work with Darren and I kind of thought that whoever wrote the script hadn't spent as much time as I had around these kind of people and he wouldn't have spoken the way the dude was speaking (in the screenplay) and so Darren let me rewrite all my part and he put the periods in and crossed the t's. So once we made that change I was OK with it."


Unmade Bond Screenplay Sells For Thousands
The 1976 screenplay for Warhead, a planned 007 outing penned by Sir Sean Connery, author Len Deighton and producer Kevin McClory, has sold at auction for £46,850, the BBC reports. The ill-fated project, eventually scuppered by legal issues, would have wowed the crowds with a classic roster of characters including Blofeld, Leiter, Moneypenny, M and Q, sharing the screen with Bond girls Justine Lovesit and Fatima Blush. The plot splendidly involved Bond thwarting "robot sharks attempting to plant a nuclear bomb in sewers underneath New York".

Script Registration 101

Screenwriting is Like Stock Investing – Start with the End in Mind
I have a writing degree. OK, it’s not a real writing degree. It’s more like a MFA in Screenwriting. Anyway, that’s not important. I mention it because, as I was earning that very expensive MFA, I learned the first rule of writing: Start with the end in mind. What does that mean? In a story, it means that you know who dies at the end and who survives before you start writing a story. In stock investing, it means that you know that you’ll get some of your money back before buying a stock.


Peter Morgan Interview
‘Before writing the play I met Frost and told him I was independently painting a portrait of him. I said I needed his help in speaking to some of the people involved and that when it was finished he’d need to show it to his friends and ask what they thought. I said to him, “I doubt you’ll ever like what I’m going to do. But maybe loved ones will persuade you to like it.” I took liberties that I think probably offend him. But I think overall I couldn’t have written it without that level of directness.’


John Patrick Shanley Interview
John Patrick Shanley is rarely at a loss for high-quality words. ¶ His script for 1987's "Moonstruck" won the original screenplay Oscar, 2002's television movie "Live From Baghdad" brought him a shared Emmy nomination, and his 2004 play "Doubt: A Parable" captured the Tony and the Pulitzer for drama. ¶ Shanley's tougher test has been crafting equally compelling visuals to accompany his prose. ¶ The 58-year-old Shanley struggled with that transformation the last time he stepped behind the cameras -- almost two decades ago, with the contentious production of 1990's "Joe Versus the Volcano." So when he sat down to adapt "Doubt," opening Dec. 12, Shanley looked for any number of ways to fill his highly contained four-character play with new energy and nuance -- a quest that not only led him back to his childhood, from which the play sprung, but also to rely on "every trick" in the book to keep audiences engaged. ¶ "When plays are turned into films, people stop listening," Shanley says of the disconnect in dialogue-heavy movies. "This was the hardest script I ever wrote." ¶ Theatergoers will remember "Doubt's" narrative, which unfolds in 1964. Sister Aloysius Beauvier (played in the film by Meryl Streep), the exacting, traditionalist principal of a New York parochial school, believes the charismatic, progressive priest Father Brendan Flynn (Philip Seymour Hoffman) may have an inappropriate relationship with Donald, one of the school's young boys. ¶ As part of her campaign to drive out the priest, Sister Aloysius attempts to enlist the boy's reluctant mother (Viola Davis) and the skeptical young nun Sister James (Amy Adams). ¶ The priest insists Sister Aloysius is on a witch hunt, but Shanley is less interested in who is -- or is not -- in the right. Instead, his play, like the movie, is focused on larger themes of confrontation and judgment, how meaningful deliberation has been trumped by argumentative, know-it-all declarations.


Simon Beaufoy Interview
...Beaufoy wondered if the film was delivering "a rather naive vision of Mumbai" at a particularly painful moment. Even as Beaufoy, director Danny Boyle and their colleagues traded panicky e-mails with Mumbai-based members of the film's cast and crew (all were well, it turned out), the collaborators wrestled with newfound concerns about their breathlessly paced R-rated fairy tale. Should changes or cuts be made? Beaufoy said Tuesday he found his answer in his in-box. "The e-mails from our friends in Mumbai were characteristically, fantastically Indian," he said, "full of things like: 'We will rise from the ashes! We will come back stronger! These people will never crush our spirit!' I got my answer from the people who live there."


Dustin Lance Black Interview
Dustin Lance Black had just one goal while he was writing the biographical drama Milk: To be honest, even if it meant he had to be brutally honest. "To me, there's nothing worse than a movie biography that's too kind to its subject. People are people, faults and all. It's what makes us human and is what makes us interesting," the film's executive producer and screenwriter said.

Also – Listen to the Dustin Lance Black NPR Interview

What? Weekly Standard says Milk is a sham
The thing is, the Harvey Milk of Milk is not the real Harvey Milk, and Milk the movie is a sham. The movie turns an incendiary, mau-mauing, take-no-prisoners radical of the 1970s into an ingenuous teddy bear. In the telling of the late gay journalist Randy Shilts-whose biography, The Mayor of Castro Street, is the unofficial inspiration for the movie--the real Milk was a smart, aggressive, purposefully offensive, press-savvy attention hound who believed the cause of gay rights would be advanced if there were riots in the streets of San Francisco. He was always on the hunt for a casus belli. By contrast, the cinematic Milk convinces the San Francisco police to let him organize an impromptu march to prevent a riot. The real Milk was a sexual liberationist of a very specific 1970s type. "As homosexuals, we can't depend on the heterosexual model," Shilts quotes him as saying to one boyfriend in San Francisco by way of explaining why he had another boyfriend in Los Angeles. "We grow up with the heterosexual model, but we don't have to follow it. We should be developing our own lifestyle. There's no reason you can't love more than one person at a time..."

Brian Patrick O’Toole Interview
Brian Patrick O’Toole is a screenwriter and an independent horror movie producer in Hollywood whose last two films, Evilution and Basement Jack, I really enjoyed and reviewed on Bad Lit. (Click the titles there for the reviews.) Two things in particular, though, really intrigued me about these films. One, is that both of them felt like good ol’ fashioned throwbacks to the horror classics of the ’70s and the ’80s, exactly the types of films I’m a huge fan of myself. And two, I would learn through email conversations with Brian that these films were the first two parts in a proposed trilogy, along with the upcoming The Necropolitan... wildly ambitious for a low-budget producer.


On Hollywood Constantly Remaking Classics
The question, though, is why does Hollywood keep looking to the past? "Science fiction should be about ideas and what it means to be human, it should always be about the new and the challenging," William Shatner said on a recent afternoon as he sipped a Starbucks coffee and watched traffic zoom past his Ventura Boulevard office. So why does Hollywood keep putting its money in the same old Enterprise? " 'Star Trek' connected with so many people for so long, and 'Star Wars' is the same way," he said. "There's a thrill for fans to see the heroes they know."

Review of Batman R.I.P.
I used to love Grant Morrison's wacky storylines for Animal Man in the 80s, but with Batman today, I think he's on something. Seriously. I never got into the story. And wasn't sure even how to begin. Batman of Zur-En-Arrh? Excuse me? Did you say "Surrender?" No. Batman of Zurrrrrrrrrrrr-ennnnnnnnn-arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrh. Oh, okay. Can I have some of what you're on, Grant? And whatever the DC Executives are on who okayed this storyline? After that, throw in some Bat-Mite and we've got ourselves a party!

Prompted by Robert Redford, a screenwriter was born
The impetus to write her own script struck when she saw Robert Redford speak at an early screening of 2004's The Clearing, in which Redford lamented the lack of stories for Baby Boomers. "They are grossly underserved," says Rubey, a former paralegal. So, Rubey "got some software, bought a book and just started fleshing out the characters," she says.


Cloverfield’s Obstructed Spectacle
Cloverfield is thus a really good illustration of Jay David Bolter and Richard Grusin’s notion of the double logic that characterises digital media, exhibiting the qualities of immediacy and hypermediacy. Immediacy because it is designed to efface the traces of manufacture and give the spectator more direct access to the content, or the events depicted – thus we have long takes that appear to be unedited, situating the spectator in a continuous relationship with the characters. At the same time, it displays hypermediacy by bearing all the traces of mediation openly – the image might be time-stamped, the lens dirty or blood-splattered, the tape glitched. It’s crucial that you notice these technical facets, since it is through their presence that the film purchases its authenticity, but it is crucial that you suspend disbelief and attribute them to the diegetic equipment and crew, and not to the massive resources of 20th Century Fox. If discussions of digital media have sometimes seemed to predict a utopia of pixel-perfect, high-definition absolute vision, here is a film whose major points of interest are glimpsed, missed, obscured or misapprehended.

10 Ways for a Screenwriter to Procrastinate

Films in Review reruns 1979 article: The Monroe-Harlow Connection
Columnist Sidney Skolsky had long dreamed of producing THE JEAN HARLOW STORY. He championed for Marilyn Monroe to portray the blonde bombshell. Added fuel came in the person of Harlow’s mother, Mama Jean Bello, who sanctioned MM as the ideal, the only choice for the plum cinema role. On another front the project was activated as follows: producer Sam Bischoff approached Jean Bello, securing “all rights to THE JEAN HARLOW STORY” for $100,000. In addition, it was agreed that Mama Jean would act as “consultant and advisor” on the film, and that Harlow’s long-time agent Arthur Landau would be “associate producer and story consultant.” Bischoff then opened negotiations with William Faulkner to write the script for his independent film, budgeted at $2,000,000. Joe Hyams scooped the rest of the film community scribes with his May 5, ‘54 headline, ” ‘Jean Harlow Story’ Slated; Marilyn Monroe Is Sought.” But MM, realizing the responsibility of portraying the legendary star (take heed ‘65 Harlows Carroll Baker & Carol Lynley), remained un-persuaded. Neither Skolsky’s nor Bischoff’s film ever got off the ground.

GREAT - video interview with William Friedkin
They talk about The French Connection!

On Carrie Fisher’s Wishful Drinking
Fisher is a language obsessive, a nimble verbal acrobat who puns and somersaults around a page with glee. She also casts a crinkled, laughing eye on every occasion, opening her first book with the line, "Maybe I shouldn't have given the guy who pumped my stomach my phone number, but who cares, my life is over anyway." In "Surrender the Pink," her heroine Dinah walks the streets of New York with a friend during a mega-blizzard, accepting a ride from a stranger by saying, with jolly self-awareness, "Welcome to our anecdote!" Distance from the narrative of her own life, and the lives of her characters, which characterizes much of her fiction, perhaps is symptomatic of something more troubling that is summed up in the last line of "Surrender the Pink": "Nothing's ever really over. Just over there."

5 Reasons Why Not To Write What you Know
5. You’re life isn’t that exciting … yet?
Okay, this one’s harsh, but it needs to be said. With today’s plethora of self-proclaimed fame in the media — especially in the blogosphere with life-loggers and wanna-be celebutantes, it’s easy to get carried away and strive to share your epic story with the world. The real question is, is your life worth spending a million bucks to share? What makes you special? What have you experienced that no one else has? Again, this comes down to thematic value. As long as you’ve got theme, and your audience can relate, people will willingly enjoy a story about anything! I’m not saying our stories as common folk aren’t interesting and exciting, but rather that they require additional articulation of thematic value and drama. Don’t just tell it like it is … amplify it!


The Story Behind Hollywood Studio Logos

Screenwriter acquires LA 3BD for $1.245M
David S. Dorfman bought a three-bedroom, three-bath home at 741 N. Fuller Ave. in L.A.'s Fairfax/Mid-City West neighborhood from Jennifer and Lee Barth for $1.245 million on Sept. 23. The 1,792-square-foot house was built in 1923. Dorfman is a screenwriter and was born in New York. He started working as a script reader at William Morris and was able to sell his first major script to New Line Cinemas, in 1998, entitled The Guest. His second script, Anger Management, spent two weeks at the top of the box office in 2003.

Understanding Screenwriting #12

Brownlow tapped for Blood remake
John Brownlow, who penned the script for the biopic Sylvia, has been hired to write Captain Blood, Warner Bros.' remake of the 1935 swashbuckler. The Oscar-nominated pirate movie starred Errol Flynn, Olivia de Havilland and Basil Rathbone and was based on a novel by Rafael Sabatini. Set in the 1600s, it tells the story of a doctor who, after being convicted for treason and sold into slavery, escapes to the high seas as a pirate.

Blake Snyder says Go East, Young Screenwriter


How Hollywood Grew Up About Teen Sex
Post-Pie, it appears teen comedies are taking a (slightly) more sophisticated view of adolescent sex and sexuality. Sex Drive, the story of one boy's road trip across America to sleep with a girl he's met on the internet, is an example of the developing maturity of the genre's film-makers. Director Sean Anders takes inspiration from the sexual insecurity implicit in Gen-X classics such as Swingers and Clerks; hence, Sex Drive's hero, Ian, isn't just a randy teenager. He's lonely, desperate and hormonal, bullied by an older brother who boasts greater sexual prowess and outgunned by a more experienced best friend. He's also painfully insecure around girls, who tend to ignore or use him. Incidentally, it's significant that here, as in most blockbuster genres, the female characters are still always either sex objects or "one of the boys". The genre's film-makers still have a lot more maturing to do when it comes to their views on equality.

J. Michael Straczynski On World War Z
“We talk about it as a thriller, the closest comparison being The Bourne Identity,” explained Straczynski, who’s also penning a Forbidden Planet revisiting. “Most zombie movies to this point have been small, focusing on a few people in a house. And this has got real scare. You’re in India with hundreds of boats trying to get out of there with a tidal wave of zombies. The scale of what we’re doing here is phenomenal.” Straczynski told us the first draft of the screenplay was completed in the Spring, and the World War Z team had been waiting for a director for several months before Forster was attached. “Now that Marc is here, I’m working with his notes to make one final pass on the script,” said Straczynski. “Our hope is to get it moving into production by the first of the year.”


A fascinating round-up on Murnau, Borzage, and Fox

Green Lantern Screenwriter Talks Casting & Superman’s Cameo
And while there’s already a lot of speculation over who would play Green Lantern — Ryan Gosling? Matthew Settle? David Boreanaz? — what about Clark Kent, who will make a small cameo? Will the part go to someone already established on film or television to be the Man of Steel, like Brandon Routh or Tom Welling? “There were rumors that Tom Welling would have a cameo in ‘Batman Begins’ as a young Clark Kent, to meet up with a young Bruce Wayne,” Guggenheim noted. “But you have to be careful when you do things like that, because it sounds great in concept, but when you sit down to watch it, it poses the danger of pulling you out of the film.”

From our friend, David Alan:
I came across an inspiring lecture given by Randy Pausch. Everyone should watch this. He was a professor at Carnegie Mellon who was diagnosed with terminal cancer in the prime of his life. The university had started a program that encouraged professors to give the lecture they would give if they knew it was going to be their last. Here is the last lecture he knew he was ever to give...

R.I.P. de Concini

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Lists, Lists, Lists:

Ebert’s Best of 2008 List

Berardinelli’s Turkeys of 2008

Time's "Top Ten Everything of 2008"

"How many movies from 2008 will bear revisiting in later years?" asks Anthony Lane, blogging for the New Yorker. "That is the test, and it is dismaying to recall how few productions passed it."

Does Defiance top David Denby's list? He names it first, and nine more movies tumble after, and not in alphabetical order.

"Kate Winslet as Hanna Schmitz in The Reader" tops Richard Corliss's list of the "Top 10 Movie Performances," female category. Best Male: "Heath Ledger as the Joker in The Dark Knight." And his #1 movie is WALL•E.

"After exhaustive polling of 20 of the Guardian's film writers, we have the results: the best films of the year as judged by our critics. We'll be revealing two of the top 10 each day from Monday December 8 to Friday December 12."

Salon presents "the 10 most pleasurable fiction and nonfiction reading experiences of the year."

Kevin Lee starts a countdown: "Top Ten Videos of 2008. #10 (User Generated Content Day)."

Jürgen Fauth lists his "Most Disappointing Movies of 2008."

NYT’s 10 Best Books

Top 20 Celeb Nude Scenes of 2008

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On the Contest Circuit:

Innovative Screenwriting Project Makes Its Debut

Script Savvy Announces October, 2008 Contest Winners

WriteSafe Announces Semifinalists

Writers Place Announces Finalists

MoviePoet Announces October Contest Winners

Expo Announces Final Contest Results

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And Finally…

“The Limey – Forgotten Treasures”

The Art of Dialects

I type these words sitting in my favorite leather chair in my favorite mystery cigar store. For the next “Mystery Photo” in the March/April issue of Script Magazine, I snapped a pic of this very chair with a piece of paper (handwritten by me) that says, “MM SITS HERE.”

Hehehe…

All the boys are here, too. They’re watching football. I probably shouldn’t say which game. They scream a lot and jump around like monkeys. I know nothing about sports. I do enjoy the cheerleaders, though. Someone usually elbows me when they come on TV.

I come here not only for the great smokes (San Cristobals today) and the free cognac (Hennessy), which someone always brings every weekend, but also to observe some rather crazy real-life characters. I will happily use them in any story I see fit and never tell them. If I’m lucky, I might hear good dialogue. You see, this is a tough crowd. You gotta keep your wits about you to survive, especially if a “hot chick” is present because every guy will try to outwit each other to prove, I guess, (pardon the expression) who has the bigger dick.

We boys are so dumb, aren’t we?


(Paintings by Todd White.)

Anyway, no one is safe. There have been some good zingers today. One man tried to give another man grief for drinking a Corona without a lemon. “Hey, if you’re having this just for the lemon, go drink lemonade.” I like this line, but I believe they usually put lime in Coronas, don’t they? I didn’t have the heart to point this out.

A short yet well-built New Yorker (who is quite the player and has a new “hot chick” sitting next to him) was giving grief to a New Englander about his sweater vest because it had noticeable lumps on the shoulders from being on a hanger. “What do you do? Hang that thing in the bathroom closet?” This went on until the New Englander said, “Shouldn’t you be in the North Pole making toys for Santa? Hey, my kid wants a fire truck. While you’re at it, carve your initials on the back, will ya? Initial ‘LF.’ Little Fuck.”

Hehehe… This I have mentally noted.

Of course, I have not gone unscathed. That I’m sitting here writing on my laptop while ignoring a big football game has been ripe for jokes. New Yorker said, “What are you doing? Looking at gay porn?”

I told him I’m okay with gay porn, especially if there are lesbians.

A few jokes and he said, “Yeah? I’m the one sitting here with a chick.”

I said, “So is she.”

Set and match. Now he won’t bother me for about half an hour. I actually love Mr. New Yorker. He’s hilarious. By the end of the night we will hug, as we always do (and truly mean it) despite all the insults, and talk about how we can’t wait to do it again.

We boys are so dumb, aren’t we?

Listening to these guys from different parts of the country throw zingers at each other brings to mind the subject of dialects. I’m a purist. If a character’s from the south, he/she should talk like a southerner. But I wouldn’t write-out pronunciations like, for example, the jailhouse locutions in Tom Wolfe’s A Man in Full: “Look, bruvva… I ain’t tryin’ a disrespectchoo… I ain’t tryin’ a sweatchoo, an I ain’t tryin’ a play you. So whatchoo doggin’ me for?”

The key, I believe, is to keep the dialect very light. Of course, many in the industry would disagree, I know, as most prefer generic lines regardless of location so that the widest possible audience can understand the dialogue. Bleh. I’ve heard it said, “Just write the line and let the actors add the dialect.” I’m sorry, but that’s just a ridiculously ignorant thing to say. People do not speak the same sentences with different accents. The actual construction of those sentences in dialogue varies greatly according to the region.

For example, in the south, they wouldn’t say, “Nobody went,” which is a proper sentence. Instead, they might say, “Didn’t nobody go.” Instead of “I only have thirty cents,” they might say, “Ain’t got but thirty cents.” Instead of “That was very nice of you,” they’d say, “That was right nice of you.” Same goes for something pretty: “That’s right pretty, isn’t it?” Instead of “It’s a very big fish,” they might say, “It’s a powerful big fish.” “She cooked a lot of bread” might be spoken as, “She cooked a mess of bread.” Or instead of “I might be able to help you,” they’d say, “I might could help you.”

Of course, in Louisiana, it’s different still. I love how some sentences end with the name of the person they’re talking about. Like, for example, instead of saying, “My uncle always smokes,” they’d say, “He all the time smokes, my uncle.” Of course, how well they speak, depends upon education level, but even educated people like to hang on to flavors of dialect that distinguishes them from others.


How about foreigners? I remember writing in one of my first script reviews on TriggerStreet about the Irish dialect found in a story about Charles Stewart Parnell, which I really enjoyed:

I think one is first drawn into this story by John Browner's wonderful rendition of the Irish dialect, not to mention the speech and mannerisms characteristic of the late 1800's, no small feat that. You almost can hear the infectious Irish lilt in Parnell's voice. There is peppered throughout this spec the famously characteristic and highly-colored Irish hyperbole, the flowery exaggerations - "It is a good sign that this masquerading knight-errant, this pretended champion of the liberties of every other nation except those of the Irish nation, should be obliged to throw off the mask today..." And there is also a taste of some vivid simile filled with a soulfulness that would typify a sentimental Irishman - "The National Land League is fraying apart like an old blanket." Aye, lad, it'd scald the heart out of ye.

I also loved the etiquette. "And to what, Mrs. O'Shea, do I owe the honor and pleasure of your summons?" "I was hoping, sir, that you might be persuaded to join my husband and me at a small dinner at Thomas's Hotel in two nights time..." "I will most definitely and with great pleasure accede to your wishes." At a time when our loved one would say to us, "Don't be such an ass," Katie would ever so politely say to Parnell, "Pray be not petulant, Sire."


How about Italians trying to speak English? Consider the monolog below. I love the hell out of this monolog. To set it up, a young Italian immigrant nervously paces the floor in a hospital waiting room. He looks at the clock. He looks at his nails. He looks at the nurse. And the man finally gathers up enough courage to speak to her:

My wife, she make the bambino and the doc, he tell me to wait right here. Is all right with you? I no can sit still. Oh! I no afraid, oh, no! Is just I kind of nervous, that’s all. Is not I think anything she happen to my Rosa. She so strong like the horse. She no got no operation – she no sick all her life – you bet my life, no! Say! What’s the most kids born? The boy or the girl? I want the boy. You bet my life! Rosa, she want the girl. Son of a gun! What is she be twin? When is more is all right, too. Oh! Excuse me! Please no mind! Is because this is my first one. Is make me excite. Say! Is lots… what I mean… sometime, something happen… they… they die, no? Sometime… no! My Rosa, she no die! Is no good she die! I go in, nurse! We so happy all the time! Whyfor we want the bambino? Let me go in, nurse! That’s all right! I go in! Help my Rosa! Whyfor she must got all that hurt? She very fine woman! I no let her die! You got to let me in to her, nurse! She hurt! She want me! She need me! …eh! What’s that? You hear that? Is bambino crying! Son-of-a-gun! Is my bambino! Is my kid! Some yell, no? What he is, nurse? Boy or girl? I think is boy! What the difference? Is girl, so we get the boy next time! Oh boy! I’m papa! Here, nurse, have a cigar!

Hehehe…

And you know he doesn’t say “cigar,” he says, “sEEgahruh!” But you see, one doesn’t write-out how it’s pronounced. One simply writes “cigar.” Some might object to the above dialect - I love it.


Let’s go back to New York City. Consider this monolog, called, I’m a Type. In a perfect world, this should not be watered down for mainstream consumption. As far as I’m concerned, a good actor should be able pull it off in a way that everyone can understand and enjoy:

He was givin’ me a one-two look with his eyes. “Look-” I say to the casting director. “I’m a type person that’s a type, believe me! You want a college type? So I’m a college type! Look what I can do with my Adams. See? A squeeze and it’s a collegiate hat. I got talent. How do you want I should convince you – show you where I was initiated? You want I should show you where they tattooed the fraternity pin on my chest? Want my report card, maybe? I didn’t save it. So how should I know I’d want to become an actor.” Now he’s smiling. Look how the jerk is smiling. If I had his set of teeth I’d sew up my lips. What are you smiling at, Jerk, if you’ll pardon the expression? What’s funny? What do you see – a guy with two heads? Personally, on him it wouldn’t look bad. “Look-” I say to the guy. “So, you put out a call for collegiate type. All right – that’s me. Ask me questions. Go on! Anything. What do you want I should tell you about college? City College is on 23rd Street. You know something! I can love better than a certain party that his name is Gable. Gimme a football and I’ll make like Frank Merriwell. How’s about trying me out on dancing? Waltzes, foxtrots, anything. I got tempo. Timing! Wait a minute, fella – I’ll make like I’m cheerleader – Gimme a break, will you you? Ricky-Coax, Ricky-Coax! Look – For Christ’s sakes, look – I’m doing a sommersault!”

Hehehe… Both of those monologs come from two books I love:

American Dialects: A Manual for Actors, Directors, and Writers

Foreign Dialects: A Manual for Actors, Directors, and Writers

I’m not a believer in realism in dialogue in screenwriting. What's the point of hearing thoughts we hear every day? I’m a believer in a drama. High drama, if you can achieve it. I'm a believer in heightened realism, in dialogue that has a poetic quality that elevates it above realism, that operates at a theatrical level. It’s like The Godfather. They were able to take ethnic dialect and elevate it to this syntax of opera librettos, which no one else has been able to achieve at that level. I’m also a believer in hearing words that are fresh and different, if possible. It's about fictional words that stir the heart and soul in some fashion. We read these scripts to feel something. We go to the movies to feel.


I love, for example, the opening lines by Booth in Suzan-Lori Parks’ Topdog / Underdog. This, I swear, soars to the heavens on the page and in the theater. (Booth’s practicing a 3-card monte scam.)

Booth:
Watch me close watch me close now: who-see-thuh-red-card-who-see-thuh-red-card? I-see-thuh-red-card. Thuh-red-card-is-thuh-winner. Pick-thuh-red-card-you-pick-uh-winner. Pick-uh-black-card-you-pick-uh-loser. Theres-thuh-loser, yeah, theres-thuh-black-card, theres-thuh-other-loser-and-theres-thuh-red-card, thuh-winner.
(rest)
Watch me close watch me close now: 3-Card-throws-thuh-cards-lightning-fast. 3-Card-that’s-me-and-Ima-fast. Watch-me-throw-cause-here-I-go. One-good-pickll-get-you-in, 2-good-picks-and-you-gone-win. See-thuh-red-card-see-thuh-red-card-who-see-thuh-red-card?
(rest)
Don’t touch my card, man, just point to thuh one you want. You-pick-that-card-you-pick-a-loser, yeah, that-cards-a-loser. You-pick-that-card-that’s-thuh-other-loser. You-pick-that-card-you-pick-a-winner. Follow that card. You gotta chase that card. You-pick-thuh-dark-deuce-that’s-a-loser-other-dark-deuces-thuh-other-loser, red-deuce, thuh-deuce-of-heartsll-win-it-all. Follow thuh red card…


I love when writers break-up the dialogue so that they’re not all complete sentences. Or shift gears mid-thought. I love the opening (and very Chicagoan) lines in David Mamet’s Glengarry Glen Ross:

Levene: John… John… John. Okay. John. John. Look: (pause) The Glengarry Highland’s leads, you’re sending Roma out. Fine. He’s a good man. We know what he is. He’s fine. All I’m saying, you look at the board, he’s throwing… wait, wait, wait, he’s throwing them away, he’s throwing the leads away. All that I’m saying, that you’re wasting leads. I don’t want to tell you your job. All that I’m saying, things get set, I know they do, you get a certain mindset… A guy gets a reputation. We know how this… all I’m saying, put a closer on the job. There’s more than one man for the… Put a… wait a second, put a proven man out... and you watch, now wait a second – and you watch your dollar volumes… You start closing them for fifty ‘stead of twenty-five…


Let me end with this one. How about the funeral in the opening of Kushner’s Angels in America? Here, Rabbi Isidor Chemelwitz speaks “sonorously, with a heavy Eastern European accent, unapologetically consulting a sheet of notes for the family names.”

Rabbi Isidor Chemelwitz:
Hello and good morning. I am Rabbi Isidor Chemelwitz of the Bronx Home for Aged Hebrews. We are here this morning to pay respects at the passing of Sarah Ironson, devoted wife of Benjamin Ironson, also deceased, loving and caring mother of her sons Morris, Abraham, and Samuel, and her daughters Esther and Rachel; beloved grandmother of Max, Mark, Louis, Lisa, Maria… uh… Lesley, Angela, Doris, Luke and Eric. (Looks more closely at paper) Eric? This is a Jewish name? (Shrugs) Eric. A large and loving family. We assemble that we may mourn collectively this good and righteous woman.
(Looks at coffin)
This woman. I did not know this woman. I cannot accurately describe her attributes, nor do justice to her dimensions. She was… Well, in the Bronx Home of Aged Hebrews are many like this, the old, and to many I speak but not to be frank with this one. She preferred silence. So I do not know her and yet I know her. She was…
(Looks at coffin)
…not a person but a whole kind of person, the ones who crossed the ocean, who brought with us to America the villages of Russia and Lithuania – and how we struggled, and how we fought, for the family, for the Jewish home, so that you would not grow up here, in this strange place, in the melting pot where nothing melted. Descendants of this immigrant woman, you do not grow up in America, you and your children and their children with the goyische names. You do not live in America. No such place exists. Your clay is the clay of some Litvak shtetl, your air the air of the steppes – because she carried the old world on her back across the ocean, in a boat, and she put it down on Grand Concourse Avenue, or in Flatbush, and she worked that earth into your bones, and you pass it to your children, this ancient, ancient culture and home.
(Little pause)
You can never make that crossing that she made, for such Great Voyages in this world do not any more exist. But every day of your lives the miles that voyage between that place and this on you cross. Every day. You understand me? In you that journey is.
So… She was the last of the Mohicans, this one was. Pretty soon… all the old will be dead.

Around Blogosphere – 12/5/08

John August on How long should it take to write a script?
I’m hesitant to give a firm number for how many weeks it should take to write a script. Every project is different. Big Fish took me the better part of four months, while Charlie and the Chocolate Factory was three weeks. But part of the reason Charlie was only three weeks was because that’s all the time there was. There was already a release date, and sets were being built. And that points to the better question to ask: How quickly should a professional screenwriter be able to turn around a script, given some urgency? In my experience, the most successful screenwriters are the ones who are able to accurately estimate how much time they’ll need. That’s part of the craft, just like a cabinetmaker promising a delivery date. For my work on Iron Man, I told them exactly how many days it would take to address certain issues, and delivered pages every night.

The Three Versions of Batman
In the very final moment of the movie, Batman scampers off to his future as a pariah, while Gordon explains to his baffled son: “He’s the hero Gotham deserves . . . but not the one it needs right now. So we’ll hunt him, because he can take it. Because he’s not our hero. He’s a silent guardian, a watchful protector. A dark knight.” So, in this very canny, complex action movie (the director of The Prestige and Memento seems incapable of a narratively direct movie), the duality is clear. Dent and Batman are both knights, but Dent is “shining” while Batman is dark knight. Dent is the hero Gotham needs/not deserves while Batman is the reverse. In short one might say (with just a jot of overreach) that Batman willingly takes on the mantle of everlasting infamy in order to save humankind. The thesis pursued in this article is that this strong thematic aspect of The Dark Knight finds its roots in a short story by the labyrinthine Argentinian writer Jorge Luis Borges.

A huge list of free online film commentaries and essays

Which Came First, the Theme or the Script?
I tend to start with a story -- that is, a character with a problem. The character and the problem usually suggests a theme. I don't stress too much about themes because no one goes out to watch the movie with the great theme. They go to the movie with the great story.

Mike Le’s very funny I Wanna Osama.

Danny Stack continues his series on the steps of the pro writer:
Step 4: Industry Insider
Step 5: Get an Agent
Step 6: Discipline
Step 7: Attitude

Bill on the Oscar Winner Who Can’t Sell Scripts
Once you break in, you have to work even harder to keep your career going. I've said before - you are always breaking in, again and again. You can coast a little on a big sale - other people will want to meet with you and some of those meetings may turn into assignments. But if you don't start pedaling soon you're going to hit that hill before you're ready and will have lost any momentum.

Joshua James turns 4 years old!
Well, his blog at least, and he has offered a smorgasbord of links to many great articles he’s written. Here’s just a taste:
What Writing Be?
The Last Gasp
Fingers To The Bone
It’s Like A Kick To The Head . . .
And While You’re Over Here, You Mind Grabbing That End Of The Couch?
Rapping On Writing - The Dialogue Mix . . .
Rapping On Writing - Character issues . . .
Rapping On Writing - Character issues, Part Deux, The Arc of the Transformative
Don’t Tell Me, Show Me . . .
The Great Pumpkin, The Football That Won’t Hold Still, The Kite That Won’t Fly, The Red Baron & Other Wonderful Unrealized Aspirations
Rapping On Writing - Screenplays, Plays, Novels . . . What’s the difference?
Rapping On Writing - Keep It Active & Mind Your Tenses
Rapping On Writing - Campbell
Rapping On Writing - On Character, Ya Gotta Have Soul
Rapping On Writing - Emotional Content
Rapping On Writing - Goals, Motivation & “Use The Force, Luke”
Rapping On Writing - Character, Story and the Utter FAILURE that is THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK
Rapping On Writing - The Prestige, The Reveal and the Head-Fake
Rapping On Writing - Two Valuable Writing Secrets Revealed Now!
Suspense & Tension . . . On The Steps With The Untouchables
Rapping On Writing . . . Fatal Flaws
Secrets of Success in 8 Words


Lucy’s 12 Character Journeys We Can Learn From
Badlands, 1973. This is a real favourite of mine. I first watched it when I was fourteen: it was accidental; I couldn't sleep and it was on BBC2 really late. I got into massive trouble for waking up one of my younger siblings when all the gunshots went off in the field bit. Like Bonnie and Clyde, the two main characters have a real chemistry and even though the Martin Sheen character is a total psycho and they're horrible murderers, we can still see *how* this all happened, even if we don't condone it. Oliver Stone's Natural Born Killers seemed a pale comparison when I got hold of a (then-banned) copy at school, from my video "pusher" Weird John (that was his real name, honest).

Julie Gray shares her 2009 Hollywood Calendar
Is there a specific time when spec scripts are best to go out? Well, like everything in Hollywood, yes and no. It's like some playful god designed Hollywood with rules that are upside down, backwards and ever-changing, just to mess with us mortals, isn't it? If I had to warrant an opinion as to when spec season is at its best, I'd say it's sometime between mid-January through July. Many production companies have a fiscal year that ends in October. That means in general, that by July or August, they're out of money to buy anything new. But then from Thanksgiving through the first of the year, when business is famously slow because of the holidays, nobody's buying much anyway. Anybody who's anybody is off skiing in Vail or snorkeling in Maui.

The Price of Alexandra Sokoloff

"Some of the most original and freshly unnerving work in the genre."
- The New York Times Book Review

"A medical thriller of the highest order... a stunning, riveting journey into terror and suspense."
- Bestselling author Michael Palmer


The Anonymous Production Assistant looks back on his favorite bits of script coverage when he was a reader:
“This script is so aggravatingly bad that it’s hard not to suspect it’s some elaborate practical joke, and I’m being filmed even as I write this coverage.”

James rants about Twilight
"This sucks, I'm about ready to leave." I don't remember at what point she said this, but it was getting towards the point where I was just as frustrated at this film. The book was so perfect for a film adaptation (overlong and repetitive, therefore capable of handling a large number of cuts) but it got messed up in the translation somewhere. At times, I wish there was more of the Edward/Bella relationship going on but at others I just want them to stop staring at each other and do something. I don't know, the whole experience left me very conflicted; I know there are problems with the film but I'm at a loss as to what needed to be fixed. The film is shot a lot in either close up or extreme close up, creating an intensely intimate atmosphere that mirrors the relationship between Edward and Bella, and I applaud Hardwicke for taking such an unneccessary stylistic chance in such a crowd-pleasing film, but it really gets in the way some of the time. First of all, it does Robert Pattinson no favors and secondly, it provokes unintentional laughter in some of the scenes. When the band of bad vampires show up to the Cullen family baseball game, the constant cutting between extreme close ups of Edward's and James' (Cam Gigandet) eyes and the members of each group ready to pounce on each other like that cafeteria scene in Mean Girls where the kids turn into wild animals was hilarious, but for all of the wrong reasons.

Write Vision’s How to Write a Scary Movie and Great Dialogue.


Bordwell on Douglas Fairbanks
But how can such a genial fellow yield any drama? Give him an idée fixe, a cockeyed hobby or life philosophy into which he can pour his adrenaline. Now add a goal, something that his obsession blocks or unexpectedly helps him attain. Toss in the staples of romantic comedy: a good-humored maiden uncertain how to tame this creature of nature, a few old fogeys, some unscrupulous rivals. Hardened crooks may make an appearance as well. Be sure to include some tables, chairs, sofas, or horses for him to vault over, as well as some perches near the ceiling or on the roof; Doug feels most comfortable lounging high up. Add windows, for his inevitable defenestration. (In a poem about him, Jean Epstein wrote, “Windows are the only doors.”) There should also be chases. Other comedy stars run because they must. Doug’s joy in flat-out sprinting suggests that he welcomes the chance to flush a little hyperactivity out of his system. At the story’s climax he must save the day, taming his obsession and achieving his purpose while acceding to the claims of the practical world.


Hitchcock and Romantic Irony Part One and Part Two
An examination of Hitchcock’s films reveals that sexuality carries with it not only the stench but also the stain of human perversity. His aestheticism works through three possible formulations of the romantic ideal: 1) An ambiguously connoted romance that achieves an idyllic transcendence to a state of love, 2) An idealization that contains something destructive, or 3) An idealization that leads to annihilation and death. These three possibilities can give us a glimpse into Hitchcock’s religious views on heaven, limbo, and hell, since the romantic ideal manifests the possibilities of rebirth (heaven), suspended animation (limbo/purgatory), and condemnation (hell). We can combine these forms of the romantic ideal into a unified nomenclature (as does Allen). Firstly, there are films about romantic renewal. In these comic thrillers, Hitchcock acts as a divine narrator controlling his characters from a position above the fictive world. In films like To Catch a Thief and North by Northwest he directs elements of good fortune onto his protagonists while making sure that the elements of human perversity are used to good ends toward romantic renewal. Secondly, there are films about ironic ambivalence. The majority of his works lie within this category. British films with an ambivalent tone are The Lodger (1926) and Murder! (1930). Hollywood films with ironic ambivalence are Strangers on a Train (1951) and Rear Window (1954). In these works, Hitchcock acts as a more reserved narrator who suspends himself from making any commentary, hovering in between the romantic ideal and its subversion. In this case, the simultaneously opposite perspectives compete in a back-and-forth struggle for dominance while the narration refrains from judgment. These competing perspectives are sustained by making use of the distinctions between the point-of-views of the characters and the narration. Thirdly, there are films about ironic inversion, which mostly interest us in this paper. Only a few of his works lie within this category, containing narratives that destroy the romantic ideal all together. Examples of such films begin with Downhill (1927), a silent British film that becomes a research platform for Hitchcock.

BTW - there’s a new issue of Off Screen. Woo hoo!

Greatest Movie Robots


Jung and Synecdoche, New York
There are four stages to the individuation process, all of which Caden goes through:

1. Becoming conscious of the shadow. The shadow possesses those characteristics of the ego that we tend to push aside -- our dark places, our weaknesses, fears, hidden desires, etc. The shadow normally appears in dreams, but in Synecdoche he exits in Caden's construct of reality in the form of Sammy Barnathan (Tom Noonan), who has been observing Caden for over twenty years. Yet instead of integrating the shadow into his persona, Caden lets it run loose, where it eventually becomes more him than him (in that Sammy begins a successful affair with Hazel, something Caden could never do.) Sammy's death can, perhaps, be seen as Caden finally coming to terms with his shadow, though killing it might not have been the wisest choice.

2. Becoming conscious of the anima/animus. Jung believes it is critical that we locate traits of the opposite gender within us. For men, that requires an acceptance of the anima, or female psychological tendencies. Once again we see it manifesting itself not in Caden's persona, but in his "real" world. It begins with several occurrences of people mistaking Caden for a woman, which is odd as there's nothing visible/audible that should cause that confusion. Then, like Sammy, Caden's anima appears as Millicent Weems/Ellen Bascomb (Dianne Wiest), though this time Caden takes it one step further than the shadow and actually trades places with her. This leads to the third stage:

3. Becoming conscious of the archetypal spirit. In our waning years, Jung believes we begin to take on "mana personalities", which are associated with the archetypes of the wise-old man and the earth mother. Yet in Caden's case, he hasn't let go of the anima, for though he is now an old man, he takes on a female role, and assumes the identity of the cleaning woman Ellen Bascomb.

4. The final stage of the individuation process is self-realization, which requires the proper relationship between the ego and the self. One could argue either way as to whether or not Caden successfully reaches this stage. For whereas he has learned a bit more about life and love (albeit too late), his failure to live has left him an empty shell who functions only on orders spoken to him by his anima. (Get up, eat, say thank you, etc.) Even his death has to come via prompting -- it's a stage direction, neither peaceful nor harmonious. (This is another of the film's great tragedies that caused me all sorts of unrest.)

Gimme Some Link Love, Baby!

Hey guys,

I just have to share these fabulous links. Some days, I do feel overwhelmed by the amount of information the world puts out there. There just isn’t enough hours in the day to enjoy it all...

-MM

------------------------------

First, photo essays of Charlie Chaplin put together by Stephen M. Weissman, author of Chaplin: A Life.

Watch the short film Glory at Sea for free. It’s available for only six weeks. Michael Tully writes, “Glory at Sea was the only short film to make it into Hammer to Nail's Top 13 of 2008. When you watch it, you'll see why. At only twenty-five minutes, it has the sweep and gravity of a feature. It is the closest to God I have come in quite some time. Turn down the lights, turn up the volume, and enjoy...”

Mark Kermode’s Top Ten Reasons to Love Mary Poppins. (I’ll give you my personal reason – no character arc. Hehehe….)

I’ll let them say it for me: "The Britannica Blog is proud to announce that Videoart.net, the 'underground video artists network,' will be highlighting here one film each week from its outstanding collection of contemporary short videos by current filmmakers and artists."

------------------------------------------------



So check this out. Interview Magazine just relaunched its website, and it looks fabulous! Consider all of this free content:

Jack White talks with Cate Blanchett for the cover.

Spike Lee interviews Martin Scorsese.

David Cronenberg talks with Charlie Kaufman.

Brigitte Lacombe talks with Christopher Doyle and Wong Kar-wai.

Thurston Moore talks with Spike Jonze (and by the way, the Playlist has word that Jonze is not only still hard at work on his adaptation of Where the Wild Things Are but also on a documentary about Maurice Sendak).

Armistead Maupin meets Gus Van Sant, who chats with James Franco.

Eddie Vedder talks with Josh Brolin.

David Colman talks with cinematographer Harris Savides, as well as fashion designer Francisco Costa, Eva Mendes and Jeff Koons.

Glenn O'Brien talks with Richard Prince, James Nares, Lord Whimsy, Mike Kelley, Yasmine Chatila and David Byrne.

Kaleem Aftab interviews Eva Green, Clementine Poidatz, Nicolas Duvachelle, Mia Wasikowska, Ben Barnes and Cam Gigandet.

There are blogs, including one devoted to film, a calendar, lots of online viewing and that's just scratching the surface.

Oh, and 14 artists remember Andy Warhol.

Have fun.

Screenwriting News & Links! 12/1/08

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50 Free Online Movie Courses! Woo hoo!

(Thanks to an e-mail from Kelly Sonora.)

Concepts & Philosophy

These courses will help you lay the foundation for creating and appreciating fine movies.

Studying the Arts and Humanities: Follow this course to get an introduction to the arts and humanities through a series of exercises. [The Open University]
Philosophy of Film: This course offers a philosophical analysis of film art. [MIT]
Feeling and Imagination in Art, Science, and Technology: Follow this seminary on creativity to learn about the development process and more. [MIT]
Philosophy in Film and Other Media: This course will teach you about thematic issues of philosophical importance. [MIT]
Introduction to Art History: Follow this course to see art throughout history and how it has developed and functioned. [University of Utah]
Shakespeare, Film and Media: This course takes a look at the history and use of Shakespeare on film. [MIT]
Art of Color: Understand the way colors work through this course that discusses color history, interactions, and psychology. [MIT]
Introduction to the Visual Arts: This class explores video, sculpture, and public spaces in visual arts, offering a look at visual langage and concepts in artistic practice. [MIT]
Introduction to Media Studies: Become a more literate and critical consumer and producer of media culture through this course. [MIT]
Philosophy of Art & Aesthetics: Learn about the thinking behind making things beautiful. [Minnesota State University]
Art and Understanding: Follow this seminar to get answers to the question, "what is art?" [Columbia]
Making sense of the arts: With this overview course, you’ll get an introduction to life as an artist. [The Open University]
BSAD Foundations in the Visual Arts: Learn about visual art and artistic development in this course. [MIT]

Personal Development

These courses will help you better develop yourself as a filmmaker.

Pathway to Dreams: Use this course to establish your goals, direction, and voice as an artist. [Connexions]
Projects in the Visual Arts: Personal Narrative: This course requires you to complete video exercises and screenings to develop your skills and art. [MIT]
Interrogative Design Workshop: In this workshop, you’ll learn how to be a fearless speaker in your art. [MIT]
Creativity and Mental Illness: Professor Raj Persaud discusses the popular occurance of both psychological dysfunction and extreme ability in the arts. [Gresham College]

Evaluation

With these courses, you’ll learn the essentials for movie criticism.

Expository Writing: Social and Ethical Issues in Print, Photography, and Film: If you’re interested in becoming a movie critic, this course is a great place to start. [MIT]
The Origins of Modern Criticism: Follow this e-seminar to learn about reviews of films and other media as they relate to democratic culture. [Columbia]

Storytelling

Learn about your voice as a storyteller through these courses.

Comedy: This course offers a look at comedy in different media from a variety of authors and creators. [MIT]
Film as Visual and Literary Mythmaking: Follow this course to learn how film and literature can create myths. [MIT]
Forms of Western Narrative: Learn about Western storytelling in various media through this course. [MIT]

Cinema

These courses will help you get a better understanding of cinema.

Special Topics in Cinematic Storytelling: In this seminar, you’ll see a variety of approaches to cinematic storytelling. [MIT]
The Film Experience: Check out this course to get an introduction to narrative film. [MIT]
Studies in Film: In this course, you’ll find an investigation of the relationship between film and literature. [MIT]
Topics in the Avant-Garde in Literature and Cinema: Follow this course to get an understanding of the avant-garde. [MIT]
A Conversation with Filmmaker Mira Nair: Watch these videos of Mira Nair to learn about creating films, and the concepts behind them. [Harvard]

Creation & Video Production

Learn the important details and concepts behind actually creating films.

Documenting Culture: Understand the how and why of capturing everyday life on film by studying this course. [MIT]
Media Art: In this course, you’ll learn about time-based art practices, and gain production experience. [Capilano University]
Introduction to Video: In this course, you’ll learn about video by completing assignments that will teach you about video capture and editing. [MIT]
Digital Video: An Introduction: Follow this e-seminar with filmmaker Michael Rubin to create a personal video project. [Columbia]
Introduction to Photography and Related Media: In this course, you’ll get instruction on the fundamentals of photography, artistic exploration, techniques, and more. [MIT]
Holographic Imaging: Check out this lab course to learn the ins and outs of holography. [MIT]
Blender 3D Design: Follow this course to get an understanding of how to use Blender software to create 3-D objects, animation, and more. [Tufts]
Media Art II: This course is a continuation of Capilano’s Media Art, offering experience in imaging, public art, and more. [Capilano University]
Producing Films for Social Change: Get a good look into the creative and production process behind films that spark social change and discourse. [Tufts University]
Environmental Sustainability: Perspectives on the World: This e-seminar with Oscar-winning director Milos Forman will provide you with education on scriptwriting, casting, and more. [Columbia]

Design

Follow these courses to learn about scenery and design.

Design for the Theater: Scenery: Learn more about scenic designs in theory, history, and current practice. [MIT]
Symmetry: Follow this course to learn more about concepts in symmetry, including group theory, axioms, and the four properties. [The Open University]

Industry & Culture

With these courses, you’ll gain a better understanding of the culture and industry of movies.

Introduction to Spanish Culture: Examine Spanish culture in this course through the country’s art, literature, film, and more. [MIT]
Do Movies Have a Future?: Take a look into the future of the film industry through this lecture. [Princeton]
German Culture, Media, and Society: Explore the culture of Germany through the country’s short films and radio plays, as well as learn about trends and topics in media including film. [MIT]
Media in Cultural Context: Consider the international trade of video and television with this course. [MIT]
Experiences in Interactive Art: Learn about interactive digital art, and creating a conversation with your audience. [MIT]
Topics in Indian Popular Culture: In this course, you’ll learn about Bombay cinema, "masala movies," and more. [MIT]
Modern Art and Mass Culture: Get an introduction to modern art in this course. [MIT]
Introduction to Anthropology: Through this course, you’ll gain an understanding of cultural anthropology. [MIT]
Japanese Literature and Cinema: Learn more about the culture and films of Japan through this course. [MIT]
Visualizing Cultures: This course will ask you to look at and create graphics from different cultures. [MIT]
Studio Seminar in Public Art: Check out this course to learn more about creating projects for public spaces. [MIT]

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MM in the news:

Mystery Man rescues seal
Twas nothing, really.

Traumatised granny forgives attacker and praises Mystery Man who helped her
I love old people.

Mystery Man saves woman before car burns
I was happy to help.

Britney spotted with Mystery Man
Eh, I’m over her. She's become old and boring.

Kirsten Dunst Has a Mystery Man
She wishes! Hehehe…


Robert McKee Says Hollywood is “finished.”
If screenwriting guru Robert McKee has the plot right, Hollywood is the villain in the piece and TV is the hero. But how the story ends is another question. "Hollywood films? The death rattle of a dying industry," said the acclaimed screenwriting instructor, in Paris for one of his sold-out "Story" seminars. "The best writers are creating TV series. It's all in TV," he told AFP.

Batman R.I.P.
IT IS enough to send any fans of the Caped Crusader into a flap. Batman is set to be "killed off" after almost 70 years of crimefighting. Scottish writer Grant Morrison has penned a dramatic new instalment of the Dark Knight's adventures, called Batman RIP, in which fans will see "the end of Bruce Wayne" as Batman. The storyline, which was due to reach its climax in the latest issue of the Batman comic, released today , is said to see Wayne so shaken by a secret from his past that a new Batman must be found…

Screenwriter reveals ideas for Singer's planned third X-Men film
Author Thomas McClean's book Mutant Cinema: The X-Men Trilogy From Comics to Screen answers some of the questions raised by fans, who have been desperate to find out what Singer and his own writers Dan Harris and Michael Dougherty had been planning for their unmade version of the third film. Dougherty had already revealed some time ago that they had wanted to cast Sigourney Weaver as Emma Frost, a comic book psychic who would be reimagined as an empath able to control people's emotions. Some reports have suggested that Frost would have been an old flame of Xavier and would have emotionally manipulated a resurrected, unstable Jean Grey into the evil Dark Phoenix. McLean's book adds new information: Dougherty says the resolution of the Phoenix plot would definitely have been a major part of their version: "The main element for me was Jean coming back and learning how much power she could wield - that she just became overcome by it." Dougherty says that many of the ideas he was considering, such as Magneto trying to use Phoenix as a weapon, ended up in the filmed version. He also says that the idea of Jean using Cyclops' power to kill herself was one they liked, though they would have made it clear that only Phoenix's body was dying. Her spirit would live on, evolving Jean past mutant and into a godlike cosmic state.

12 upcoming remakes of Hollywood sci-fi classics

22 Ways to Improve Your Screenwriting

Tyler Perry Settles Writers Guild Battle

Hottest Hollywood Scab Tyler Perry Gives In, Opens Studio to WGA

WGA strike troubles linger
The WGA strike ended Feb. 12 but the recriminations continue. The federal government has sided with the AMPTP companies in a battle with the WGA over whether the guild acted illegally in its treatment of 28 writers who filed for financial core status during the strike. The National Labor Relations Board ruling -- announced Monday -- triggers a full hearing of the case before an administrative law judge in Los Angeles in the next few months.

Why the WGA was Right and SAG is Wrong

Out screenwriter brings Milk biopic to the big screen
Not only is Milk about the life of the first openly gay man elected to public office, but it represents a huge leap in Dustin Lance Black's profile as a screenwriter. Before the film's release yesterday, he spent a great deal of time researching Harvey Milk. "There were three years of research traveling to San Francisco from Los Angeles, meeting the real-life people and doing those interviews before there was a script," he says. "The research didn't stop then. We started producing the film and as a producer on it, we had to get even more exacting on what things looked like and where things took place. We were researching all through post-production."

Mel Gibson Ordered To Attend Deposition For Screenwriter Suit
The Los Angeles judge overseeing Mel Gibson's lawsuit against the co-screenwriter of his epic film The Passion Of The Christ has ordered the star to attend court for a deposition. On Monday (24Nov08) L.A. Superior Court Judge Gregory W. Alarcon told Gibson's lawyers that it was likely the Lethal Weapon actor would be made to answer questions at a pre-court testimony to get to the bottom of the money spat with writer Benedict Fitzgerald. Fitzgerald is suing Gibson, who directed the controversial religious epic, over accusations he cheated the screenwriter out of millions of dollars in potential earnings.


Another Melissa Rosenberg interview
Melissa: In terms of “was it intimidating,” I was not all that aware of the fan base. The minute I became aware of it, I stopped looking because I knew that it would become intimidating. So I purposefully kept myself in the dark because I wanted to be in a place of being able to tell the story and translate the story without the outside influences of the fans. And just to be able to tell the best story possible. The most important thing [principle] was to stay true to the characters’ emotional arts. There are going to be scenes that are either compilations of a couple of different scenes of the book or missing scenes, but the important thing is if the soul of the book is there and if you go away feeling the same way you feel when you read the book. That’s what my objective was - to keep the soul of the project.

Script already finished for Twilight sequel

MIT builds lab devoted to storytelling
The center is envisioned as a “labette,” a little laboratory, that will examine whether the old way of telling stories — particularly those delivered to the millions on screen, with a beginning, a middle and an end — is in serious trouble. Its mission is not small. “The idea, as we move forward with 21st-century storytelling, is to try to keep meaning alive,” said David Kirkpatrick, a founder of the new venture.

Author pens screenplay to fix memoir omission
Author Don J. Snyder of Scarborough holds a draft of his screenplay that he hopes to make into a film. Snyder wants to correct his published book of a decade ago, “Of Time and Memory,” and set the record straight about his 19-year-old mother's death. Richard and Peggy Snyder shortly after their marriage in November 1949. The mother of Scarborough author Don J. Synder died 10 months later, shortly after she gave birth to Don and his twin brother in a small Pennsylvania town. Since he wrote “Of Time and Memory,” a tale rooted in his mother’s death, Don Snyder has learned more about what really happened to his mother.


How A Novice Ended Up Writing Gran Torino For Eastwood
The script was so well crafted and understated (and the credits went by so fast) that, after seeing the picture, I immediately called Bill Gerber, one of the film's producers, to find out which one of the many A-list screenwriters who must always be knocking down Eastwood's door had penned the story. "Are you sitting down?" Gerber asked. He had quite a surprise. The writer, Nick Schenk, who lives in Minnesota, had never sold a feature script in his life. In fact, the only writing work Schenk had done was for "BoDog Fight," a mixed-martial-arts TV show, a game show called "Let's Bowl" and some comedy sketches collected in a DVD called "Factory Accident Sex." ("That title doesn't exactly help my career, does it?" Schenk jokes.)

Schenk says he wrote the script, using a pen and a pad of paper, sitting at night in a bar called Grumpy's in northeast Minneapolis. It was a good release for Schenk, who was holding down a series of day jobs, driving a fruit truck and doing construction work. "I just scribbled away every night," he told me. "The bartender there is a friend, so sometimes I'd ask him questions about where I was going with the story as I was writing. When it came, the words just came. One night, I knocked off 25 pages right there in the bar."

Video interview: Eric Roth
In this interview excerpt, Roth talks about his writing process wherein he starts his writing sessions every time on page 1. He says, it's "really a process of rewriting."

Here's a Peter Tolan Interview:



The LA Times write-up on John Michael Hayes
When Hayes won an Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America for Rear Window, he brought the small ceramic statuette into Hitchcock's office. After examining it, Hitchcock told Hayes, "You know, they make toilet bowls out of the same material." "I felt that he resented my receiving an award when he didn't," Hayes told Donald Spoto, author of the 1983 book The Dark Side of Genius: The Life of Alfred Hitchcock. (See also my recent article.)

Iron Man 2 Screenwriter Justin Theroux Confesses There Is No Dialogue With Other Marvel Writers
So now that the “Narnia” duo of Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely have been tapped to pen “Captain America,” it’s a sure bet Downey, Favreau, and screenwriter Justin Theroux are burning through phone cards trying to connect. Right? Wrong, said Theroux, who told MTV News that there was absolutely no dialogue between other Marvel writers and himself. None. “You know, there’s NO dialogue right now - in a great way,” the scripter confessed. “I think [Marvel Studios President] Kevin Feige just wants to make sure we can make the best movie that we can make.”

William Goldman Talks Newman, Redford, Butch and Sundance
At the recent Screenwriting Expo, he was interviewed by writer Aaron Sorkin (who mercilessly teased girlfriend Beth Swofford, a top agent at CAA, with being eager to read everyone's screenplays), who like everyone else, admires Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, partly because it helped to invent the buddy comedy. "Westerns are dead now except for Mr. Eastwood," said Goldman. "You could make the argument that unemployable in movies today would be John Wayne, Fred Astaire and Cary Grant."


A Bit of Advice: Don’t call your fans “saps” and “dipshits”
The trials and tribulations that the Heroes TV show is undergoing right now – with speculation rising about whether it stands much chance of a fourth season – wasn’t helped recently when its creator, Tim Kring, was quoted effectively calling fans “saps” and “dipshits”. This was at Screenwriting Expo, where he was talking about the ways people watch their TV in the modern day viewing era. Sadly, it's fair to say that his comments didn't come across well, seemingly insulting the very devotees that his show needs right about now. (See also L.A. Times Blog article on the controversy.)

Interview with James Bond Writers
Neal Purvis is living every teenage boy's fantasy - his alter ego is James Bond. As the scriptwriter of the past four 007 movies, Mr Purvis gets to decide who the world's most popular secret agent kills and who he kisses. The 46-year-old is one half, along with Robert Wade, of one of Britain's most successful screenwriting partnerships. “To write a 007 film is a dream come true,” he says. Being a scriptwriter may not be as glamorous as other dream careers, such fighter pilot or brain surgeon - Mr Purvis writes most of his scripts on a laptop sitting alone in a café - but it is just as difficult to succeed. It took Mr Purvis and Mr Wade many years to attain their success.

"Why Quantum of Solace is indefensibly bad." Eric Kohn argues the case. Meanwhile, Glenn Kenny considers "how James Bond lost his sense of humor, while the ever-astute Daniel Kasman contemplates the indifference of Bond. It's all pretty high-toned! Check it out at the Auteurs' Notebook." By the way, lots of great Bond goodies await at the James Bond blog-a-thon, hosted by The Lazy Eye Theatre.


R.I.P. Guy Peellaert. John Coulthart remembers.

Top 100 Crime Movies of All Time.

Round-Up of Articles on the newly released Criterion Collection DVD of The Spy Who Came in From the Cold.

Interview with Changeling screenwriter J. Michael Straczynski
Yes. This was a FIRST DRAFT that went before the cameras within a year of being sold, something rather unheard of in Hollywood unless you’re Woody Allen. (Yes, and it shows.)


Marc Grossman, Parisian Juicemeister
Marc Grossman, the charismatic owner and driving force behind Bob’s Juice Bar in Paris, is an iconoclastic figure. A former award-winning scriptwriter and Harvard grad -- something you’d never guess from his bohemian demeanor and laid-back character -- his tiny juice bar located on a shabby-chic Canal Saint Martin backstreet has garnered rave press from the French gastronomic and expat community. That attention has led to cookbooks (Smoothies and the recently released Muffins, both from Marabout publications) and might put Grossman on the throne of France's coolest juice empire.

10 cinematic signs your family is not *that* dysfunctional

Jenny Lumet podcast interview


Warcraft Movie Still Seeking Screenwriter
"Legendary Pictures is currently trying to assign some names to write the screenplay and find someone to direct it, so it's still really early in production," Pearce said. "They want to make sure they get the right talent for those different parts, especially the screenwriting, because that's the foundation for the movie."

Lawyer finds happiness as screenwriter


On Simon Beaufoy's Adaptation of Slumdog Millionaire
The other thing Beaufoy felt certain about was that the theme of the movie had to be bigger than just a poor slum kid who strikes it rich. So he looked at the culture around him to find his answer. "I went to Bombay; it's a very passionate place, a very romantic place, and I suddenly understood those weird Bollywood films -- the singing and the dancing and the romance -- and I thought, that's it, it's got to be a love story. That's what will override this money thing. I just didn't want to write a story about a guy getting rich, and I knew that was it." And so Beaufoy set out to give his hero a heroine to love and to pine for, which gave him the means to build a scaffolding of classical-hero narrative structure over the foundation of the game show story. Once he determined that the love story would become the central thread, he had to go back to the source and decide what from the original story would fit in with the romance angle, and what had to go. And he knew that the tone of the film was crucial: this would be a melodramatic film, with moments of comedy and mirth interwoven with brutal violence, scenes of crushing poverty and torture. "Indian cinema isn't concerned with being authentic as a rule. That's a broad generalization, but it's largely true," Beaufoy says. "In England, you couldn't get away with with torture and comedy in the same movie, but here you could."

Etan Cohen interview


Ten Things I Love About Old Movies

Worst Idea Ever: Poseidon Screenwriter to Write Oldboy Remake
Screenwriter Mark Protosevich is in talks to write the American remake of Oldboy for director Steven Speilberg. Star Will Smith reccomended Protosevich for the project after working with him on I Am Legend. Yes, your worst fears have come true, the guy who wrote the 2006 adaptation of Poseidon might be writing the script for the English-language adaptation of Old Boy. This can’t be good news. In the 2003 South Korean film, a man named Dae-Su is locked in a hotel room for 15 years without knowing why or who is holding him captive. He is suddenly released, given money, clothes and a cellphone and is sent on journey for revenge. The film won the Grand Prix at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival and was highly praised by Jury President Quentin Tarantino. Praised for it’s intense visuals and twisted story, Oldboy was met with positive reviews in the States, and is currently getting an 82% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and an 8.3 user rating on IMDB, for a #117 placement on the top 250 films of all time.

Screen Writer Pens New Book On ‘Margery’
News reaches me that the Crown Publishing Group has acquired the rights to the non-fiction book by screenwriter David Jehar about the controversial physical medium ‘Margery’ Crandon. According to Mr. Jehar the advance he was paid for his book was in the “high six figures.” He said his book will tell the story of Harry Houdini’s campaign to discredit ‘Margery’, who made the front page of the New York Times in the 1920s as the controversy over her mediumship reached fever pitch.

Michael Jackson the screenwriter?!?

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On the Contest Circuit

Movie Script Contest Announces Winners

Filmmakers.com Announces Semifinalists

Scriptapalooza Past Winners Optioned and Produced

WOTS Announces Grand Prize Winner

ScreamFest Announces Contest Winners

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And Finally…

“The Films of Da7id Fincher”