ScriptGirl from Iowa & Nebraska

And I thought it was pretty cool that Nebraska produced financial guru Warren Buffett, screenwriter Alexander Payne (Sideways, Election), and actor Marlon Brando, but now I’ve learned that ScriptGirl was born and partially raised in Nebraska (and has strong enough ties there to spend Thanksgiving in the Cornhusker state this year). And on top of that [...]

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Rock ‘n Roll Hall of Fame’s Iowa Touch

“A historic, music-affirming extravaganza. Hail, hail rock ‘n’ roll.” USATODAY.com Tonight HBO will broadcast the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame 25th Anniversary Concert that was taped back in October. The concert features a solid line-up of Bruce Springsteen, Simon & Garfunkel, Stevie Wonder, U2,  Bonnie Raitt, Jackson Brown, James Taylor, Smokey Robinson, John Fogerty, [...]

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E.T. was from Youngstown (Kinda)

It’s funny when you pick an area to focus on what you can uncover. First I learned that screenwriter/producer/director Chris Columbus (Home Alone, Night at the Museum, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone) was from the Youngstown, Ohio area. Then I learned that the producer Paula Wagner (Mission Impossible, Vanilla Sky, Valkyrie)  was born and [...]

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Journey to Nowhere

The book that inspired Bruce Springsteen to write the song Youngstown on his The Ghost of Tom Joad album is Journey to Nowhere: The Saga of the New Underclass. The book was written by Dale Maharidge with photography by Michael Williamson. The book was out of print when the album came out in 1995, but [...]

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Youngstown’s Hollywood Connection

Happy Thanksgiving. Before I take a circuitous route to point out yet one more connection between Youngstown and Hollywood let me first thank everyone for reading this screenwriting blog as it’s given me much encouragement in my quest to post daily. It’s not easy to write something original daily and finding odd connections really is [...]

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Son of a Son of a Steelworker

Do you have an idea bank? A file or notebook full of articles and ideas that you’d like to explore and develop further? I have several notebooks and one of them I stumbled upon yesterday happens to tie in directly with the last couple posts on Youngstown, Ohio. It was an article on a guy [...]

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Screenwriting Quote of the Day #116 (Chris Columbus)

Since I agree that creativity is simply connecting influences (not my phrase) today’s post is a good example of that. A few days ago I wrote about writer/director John Hughes and yesterday I wrote about Youngstown, Ohio. In doing that research I stumbled upon a connection between the two—Home Alone. That little $15 million film [...]

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From Poland, Ohio to a 155-foot Yacht

“Them smokestacks reachin’ like the arms of God Into a beautiful sky of soot and clay.” Bruce Springsteen Youngstown I don’t know if it’s common for kids growing up in Poland, Ohio to dream about living aboard a yacht someday, but that’s the short life story of Mary Wells. When I was a kid I [...]

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Before John Hughes was John Hughes (part 3)

“Kids are smart enough to know that most teenage movies are just exploiting them. They’ll respond to a film about teenagers as people. [My] movies are about the beauty of just growing up. I think teenage girls are especially ready for this kind of movie, after being grossed out by all the sex and violence in [...]

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Before John Hughes was John Hughes (part 2)

Using advertising as a stepping stone to screenwriting has been going on for decades. Basically all writers need time to develop their craft, pay the bills, and meet people.  The five years that John Hughes spent in advertising hit all those goals. And according to Robert Nolan who hired him at Leo Burnett, Hughes didn’t [...]

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