The Angry Screenwriters

“The problem with Our Thing (screenwriting) is that it’s fertile ground for delusion… Most unappreciated writers are unappreciated because they suck.” Screenwriter Craig Mazin Those who can’t write, teach seminars John August’s blog post title Oct, 25, 2010 First let me say thank you to all of the readers who helped this blog in October [...]

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The Angry Auditor

“If it looks too good to be true, it probably is.” Wise old saying Yesterday, I mentioned the danger of financing your feature film using personal credit cards. (The Angry Filmmaker & Four Eyed Monsters.) If your film doesn’t sell, it’s a risk that could leave you broke at best and heavily in debt  (or [...]

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The Angry Filmmaker & Four Eyed Monsters

Have you ever seen a one-legged dog making its way down the street? If you’ve ever seen a one-legged dog then you’ve seen me Then you’ve seen me, I come and stand at every door Then you’ve seen me, I always leave with less than I had before Bruce Springsteen The Wrestler “Credit card debt [...]

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The Angry Filmmaker (Part 2)

Kelley Baker on anger take one: “A lot of people ask me why I’m angry. I am the Angry Filmmaker after all. What makes me angry is the state of INDEPENDENT films. The independent film industry is no longer even remotely independent. It’s been mainstreamed by Hollywood and is now simply another over-hyped product. Like [...]

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The Angry Filmmaker (Part 1)

Over the years I’ve learned to wear quite a few hats; producer, director, writer, cameraman, editor, etc.—but one thing I have little experience in is sound design. Thanks to The Angry Filmmaker, Kelley Baker, I know a lot more today than before I met him two days ago. Years ago, I had one class is [...]

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“Stagecoach” Revisited

Yesterday I was fortunate to have lunch with The Angry Filmmaker (Kelley Baker ) and  Jon Gann, founder of the D.C. Film Alliance, as they journeyed from doing a film workshop in Madison, Wisconsin to meeting with filmmakers in St. Louis. I’ll write more about what I learned about filmmaking over yesterday’s lunch (and it was [...]

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Off-Screen Quote #22 (Bob Dylan)

Here is one more quote to add to the stack about growing up in a place somewhat disconnected. In a 1966 interview Bob Dylan spoke about growing up in Hibbing, Minnesota* (located in northern Minnesota). “Well, in the winter, everything was still, nothing moved. Eight months of that. You can put it together. You can [...]

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Highway 61 Meets A1A

It’s full circle here today at Screenwriting from Iowa. Tonight I’m going to hear Bob Dylan live for the first time. Talk abut a slow training coming. But before I remember being drawn to Dylan’s music there was another up and coming fellow named Jimmy Buffett in the mid-70s that captured the attention of this [...]

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Revisiting “Highway 61 Revisited”

Lord, that 61 Highway It’s the longest road I know 61 Highway Blues Fred McDowell In light of Bob Dylan playing two miles from my house tomorrow night here in Cedar Falls, Iowa I thought I’d give a nod to the man from Minnesota who influenced a generation. (And, yes, I have a ticket for [...]

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The Next Sundance?

Once upon a time (1978) in a land far, far from Hollywood (Utah) a film festival popped up that eventually became what is considered today as the granddaddy of film festivals in the United States—the Sundance Film Festival. I imagine 30 years ago if you asked most people if they wanted to go to a [...]

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