“My psychological state when I start a screenplay is always the same. It’s a mix of fear, anxiety and insecurity.”
Akiva Goldsman, Oscar winner (A Beautiful Mind)
“Who is your hero, what does [...]
Archive for March, 2008
Starting Your Screenplay (tip #6)
Posted in Most Viewed Posts, screenwriting, screenwriting tips, tagged A Beautiful Mind, Akiva Goldsman, David Mamet, Edward Dmytryk, entertainment, Inciting Incident, Juno, movies, Paddy Chayefsky, protagonist, Rain Man, Ron Bass, Scott W. Smith, screenwriting, screenwriting tips, Skip Press, Syd Field, The Caine Mutiny, writing on March 31, 2008 | 1 Comment »
Screenwriting from Wisconsin
Posted in Screenwriting Road Trips, screenwriting, tagged A Simple Plan, Airplane!, Alice Cooper, and Madison, Andrew Bergman, Blues Brothers, Cedar Falls, Cedar Rapids, Chippewa Falls, CNN, Columbus, Darling, Des Moines, Diablo Cody, Door County, Ellen Page, entertainment, Film Wisconsin, Gene Wilder, George Clooney, Green Bay Packers, Happy Days, Harley-Davidson, Hunter S. Thompson, John Besmer, Johnny Depp, Juno, Kenosha, Kentucky, Kohler, Laverne & Shirley, Madison, Major League, Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, Marshall Brickmam, Michael Moore, Middleton, Mississippi Rver, movies, Mr. 3000, Nicholas Ray, Orson Wells, Oshkosh B'Gosh, Oskosh, Owensboro, Peter Hedges, Planet Propaganda, Rebel Without a Cause, Reggie White, Scott W. Smith, screenwriting, The Onion, The University of Wisconsin, Thorton Wilder, Titantic, Trek, UW Madison, Wayne’s World, What’s Eating Gilbert Grape, Winter of Frozen Dreams, Wisconisn Screenwriters Forum, Wisconsin, Young Frankingstein, Zucker on March 24, 2008 | 3 Comments »
Johnny Depp is in Wisconsin this month shooting a John Dillinger film based on the book Public Enemies by Bryan Burrough. While in Wisconsin the Michael Mann directed film will be shooting in Columbus, Darlington, Madison and Milwaukee.
(You can view photos of the film at www.thedailypage.com/daily/article.php?article=21981)
Wisconsin is just over the Mississippi River from Iowa and has had a three [...]
Screenwriting & Structure (tip #5)
Posted in Most Viewed Posts, screenwriting, screenwriting tips, tagged Alien, Countercultural, Dan O'Bannon, David Mamet, Goddard, LaBron James, Lance Armstrong, Lew Hunter, Magnolia, Memento, movies, Picasso, Pulp Fiction, Robert Frost, Robert McKee, Scott W. Smith, screenwriting, screenwritingPulp Fiction, Syd Field, Tiger Woods, writing on March 20, 2008 | 4 Comments »
“Structure is the most important element in the screenplay. It is the force that holds everything together.” Syd Field
Today is the first day of spring and that signals a change. (Not so much here in Iowa, because the forecast is we’ll get 2-6 inches of snow tomorrow.)
If you’ve been thinking about writing a [...]
Screenwriting from Ireland
Posted in Screenwriting Road Trips, screenwriting, tagged Academy Award, Dublin, Edwards Burns, Faces, Film Independents Spirit Awards, Guinness, Ireland, Jim Carney, John Cassavetes, LA Times, Marketa Irglova, Once, Scott W. Smith, screenwriting from ireland, St. Patrick's Day, Steven Spielberg, The Brothers McMullen, USA Today on March 17, 2008 | 1 Comment »
Happy St. Patrick’s Day.
I recommend that along with your pint of Guinness or green beer as you celebrate today that you add watching the movie Once if you haven’t seen it (or again if you have seen it). This independent film made in Ireland won the recent Academy Award for Best Song “Falling Slowly.”
It also won [...]
John Irving, Iowa & Writing
Posted in Screenwriters, Screenwriting Road Trips, screenwriting, tagged A Prayer for Owen Meany--(Simon Birch), Academy Awards, Ben Afflack & Matt Damon, Bobby Bowden, catharsis, Cedar Falls, Dan Gable, David Mamet, David Puttnam, Dickens., Eliot Spitzer, Florida State football coach, Forrest Gump, Gary Ross, Good Will, Hemingway, Hunting, Iowa Writers' Workshop, Jerry Maguire, John Irving, John Updike, Juno, Kurt Vonagunt, Laura Hillendrandt, Michael Caine, movies, Oscars, Powell's City of Books, Prairie Lights Bookstore, Sceeenwriting, Scott W. Smith, Seabiscuit, Tattered Book Cover, The Cider House Rules, The Hotel New Hampshire, The Verdict, The World According to Grap, Tobey Maguire, Tom Wolf, University of Iowa, wrestling, writing on March 14, 2008 | 2 Comments »
I was talking to John Irving the other day…
Okay, technically that’s true, but it’s not like we were hanging out talking about his writings and the finer aspects of American literature. Irving was in Iowa City this week and doing a Q&A session sponsored by the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. I was simply one of the approximately [...]
Screenwriting by Numbers (tip #4)
Posted in screenwriting, screenwriting tips, tagged Alfred Hitchcock, Francis Ford Coppola, Gone With the Wind, Iowa, Jim Jarmusch, Milton Glazer, Oscars, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Rocky, Scott W. Smith, screenwriting, sitcoms, sports, story structure, Stranger than Paradise, Sylvester Stallone, The Criterion Collection, The Godfather, Toy Story, When Harry Met Sally, writing commercials, You Tube on March 10, 2008 | 7 Comments »
“The length of a film should be directly related to the endurance of the human bladder.” – Alfred Hitchcock
Since tip #3 focused on the one main person in your story, it makes sense to address the other numbers related to screenwriting. Numbers play a key part in every production from the slate that keeps track of [...]
Where Do Ideas Come From? (A+B=C)
Posted in Most Viewed Posts, screenwriting, tagged 60 Minutes, Andy Griffith, Ansel Adams, Apple, art, Arthur Koestler, Bob Dylan, Cameron Crowe, Comedian, Creativity, Des Moines, Diablo Cody, Dummies Books, Ed Harris, Einstein, filmmaking, Gary Kelley, Goethe, Hemingway, How to Get ideas, How to write a screenplay in 20 days, Jack Foster, Jack Johnson, Jack London, James Webb Young, Jerry Maguire, Jerry Seinfeld, Jimmy Buffett, Julia Cameron, Juno, Katie Couric, Linus Pauling, Orlando, painting, Paul Schrader, Peter Hedges, Pieces of April, Pixar, Reece’s Peanut Butter, Robert Frost, Robin Williams, Rodney Dangerfield, Rolling Stone, Scott W. Smith, Stallone, Stephen King, Steven Jobs, Steven Spielberg, The Artisit's Way, Thomas Edison, Tom Cruise, Vicki King, Windsurfing, Yosemite National Park on March 1, 2008 | 11 Comments »
“All the good ideas I ever had came to me while I was milking a cow.” Grant Wood (Iowa painter, American Gothic)
“The way to have [...]
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