J.D. Salinger 1919-2010

“If there’s one thing I hate, it’s the movies. Don’t even mention them to me.” Holden Caulfield Catcher in the Rye Written by J.D. Salinger How did J.D. Salinger become one of the most wanted writers in Hollywood? By not wanting Hollywood.  Perhaps it would be better said that it was not the reclusive Salinger [...]

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Kurt Warner…What a Story

“The story of Kurt Warner, who announced his retirement after a 12-year NFL career on Jan. 29, always starts with the chapter in that grocery store in Iowa.” Sean Gregory Time Magazine This week’s Sports Illustrated (January 25, 2010) contains an article titled, Iowa’s Got a Secret. SI writer Albert Chen says of the University [...]

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“More Light”

Last night I finished the last episode of season five of LOST, so now I’m ready for the final season which starts next week. And for whatever reason the TV show Northern Exposure crossed my mind. Probably because that’s one of my top five TV programs of all time. Loved the small town and the [...]

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Screenwriting Outside L.A. 101

“I have not failed. I have just found 1,000 ways that did not work.” Thomas Edison (And one of screenwriter Chris Sparling’s favorite quotes.) Los Angles is full of screenwriters who came from outside L.A. Of course, most of them broke in the old-fashioned way. They moved there. That’s been going on for 100 years [...]

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Screenwriting Quote of the Day #124 (Chris Sparling)

“The idea (for the script Buried) was born out of financial necessity. It had been several years since I directed a feature (2005’s An Uzi at the Alamo), and I wanted to write something I could afford to shoot with almost no budget. This meant cutting back on cast, crew, lighting, locations, props, wardrobe and just [...]

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Buried and Blogging

“It was a brilliant script.” Director Rodrigo Cortes on Chris Sparling’s script Buried (And why he didn’t change the one location/one on-screen actor concept.) So here’s my latest angle to give “Screenwriting from Iowa” a new perspective. My first video blog. Since shifting to daily posts was burying me why not add video into the [...]

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Filmmaking from a Coffin (Buried)

“I was really beginning to question if I’d ever catch my proverbial big break. I drifted away from film work and started applying for police jobs.” Chris Sparling, Buried screenwriter “(Chris Sparling) went directly from struggling indie director to successful Hollywood scribe when the screenplay for his horror thriller Buried was picked up, cast with [...]

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Cary Grant & T Bone…”somewhere in Iowa”

“My philosophy is that if you do something good, it’s got a shot. If you want to do something that’s down the middle, the line forms on the right.” T Bone Burnett In a Los Angeles Times article titled The true saga behind ‘Crazy Heart,’, Randy Lewis writes about the relationship between T Bone Burnett [...]

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Ryan Bingham–Ryan Bingham

“Pick-up your crazy heart and give it one more try.” From the Crazy Heart theme song Since one of my favorite films of all times is Tender Mercies, the Horton Foote-written story of a fading country & western singer (played by Robert Duvall, who won an Oscar for his role in the 1983 movie), I look [...]

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Two Year Anniversary

Screenwriting from Iowa, huh? That’s how I started my first blog two years ago today. The first time I had ever posted anything anywhere. I started out in 2008 writing two or three times a week with posts between 1,000-2,000 words. Really, mini essays. In 2009 I shifted over to daily post usually under 500 [...]

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