Posted in screenwriting, screenwriting tips, tagged Agriprocessors, B&H Camera, Brooklyn, Casablanca, Citizen Kane, David Lynch, Dirty Harry, E.T., entertainment, filmmaking, German, Gone With the Wind, Hasidic Jews, Iowa, Jurassic Park, Mexicans, movies, Norwegian, On the Waterfront, Postville, Postville: A Clash of Cultures in Heartland America, screenwriting, Star Wars, Stephen Bloom, The Godfather, The Wizard of Oz, Titanic, Univision, writing on May 14, 2008 | No Comments »
“When I used to look out at the world, all I could see was its edges, its boundaries, its rules and controls, its leaders and laws. But now, I see another world. A different world where all things are possible. A world of hope. Of peace.”
[...]
Read Full Post »
Posted in screenwriting tips, tagged Andy Dufresne, Anne Lamont, Apollo 13, Blake Snyder, Braveheart, Cameron Crowe, Casablanca, Cinematherapy, Death of a Salesman, Diablo Cody, Emily Dickinson, entertainment, Erin Brockovich, Forrest Gump, Hans Solo, Jerry Maguire, Jimmy Buffett, John Eldredge, Juno DVD, Kenneth Burke, movies, Rain Man, Richard Walter, Robert Zemeckis, Ron Bass, Scott W. Smith, screenwriting, Seabiscuit, Star Wars, Stephen King, The Godfather, The Lion King, The Shawshank Redemption, The Wizard of Oz, UCLA, William Wallace, William Zinsser, writing, Writing Well, Yahoo! on April 18, 2008 | No Comments »
“Thanks in part to the plethora of new books and seminars on screenwriting, a new phenomenon is taking over Hollywood: Major scripts are skillfully, seductively shaped, yet they are soulless. They tend to be shiny but superficial.”
Richard Walter
UCLA Screenwriting Professor
”Where do we go to solves life’s problems? We go to the movies… Stories are [...]
Read Full Post »
Posted in screenwriting tips, tagged Alabama, Atlanta, Atticus Finch, Bloody Sunday, Christ, Churchill, Corretta Scott King, Driving Miss Daisy, Georgia, Hitler, Jackson, Kennedy, King David, King Lear, Lincoln, Martin Luther King Jr., Memphis, Mississippi, movies, Oliver STone, Oskar Schindler, Paul, Scarlet O'Hara, Scott W. Smith, screenwriting, Steven Spielberg, The Godfather, Wall St., William Froug, writing on April 4, 2008 | No Comments »
“Find a strong-willed character with a nothing-will-stand-in-my-way determination to reach his or her goal confronting strong opposition, add a strong action line, keep throwing obstacles (conflicts) in his or her path, and you’re well on your way to a gripping screenplay.” — William Froug
[...]
Read Full Post »
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 | No Comments »
“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 [...]
Read Full Post »
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 | 3 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 [...]
Read Full Post »
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 | 1 Comment »
“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 [...]
Read Full Post »
Posted in screenwriting, screenwriting tips, tagged 08 election, A Beautiful Mind, Addicus Finch, Barak Obama, Diablo Cody, Dustin Hoffman, Erin Brockovich, Hillary Clinton, Iowa caucus, Iowa Causus, John McCain, John Nash, Julia Roberts, Juno, Mike Huckabee, Oscars, politics, Rain Man, Rocky vs. Apollo Creed, Russell Crowe, Scott W. Smith, screenwriting, Susan Grant, The Terminator, Tom Cruise on March 6, 2008 | No Comments »
What can politics teach us about screenwriting?
I’ve already talked about the importance of conflict so let’s skip over that for this blog. And first let me say that I took all the photos for this section in the months leading up to the famed Iowa caucus. Jay Leno joked that many people don’t realize that [...]
Read Full Post »
Posted in screenwriting, screenwriting tips, tagged Akiva Goldsman, art, artists, Barnes & Noble, Cedar Falls, Creativity, Diablo Cody, Frank Darabont, Gary Kelley, Iowa, It's a wonderful life, Jimmy Buffett, Joe Eszterhas, John Grisham, Juno, Martin Scorsese, Milton Glaser, movies, screenwriters back-to-work, Steve Martin, Tarantino, Thomas Moore, UCLA, University of Iowa, Waterloo-Ceder Falls Symphony, We support signs, William Goldman, Writer's Strike, writer's strike over, writing on February 12, 2008 | 2 Comments »
The Writers Guild of America strike has finally ended and now the “We Support” signs can come down and go on ebay. But I do have a couple questions. Who is the “we” in the above photo? And why does Gary Kelley have it on his door at work? Kelley is not a screenwriter though he [...]
Read Full Post »
Posted in screenwriting, screenwriting tips, tagged AFI, Alfred Uhry, Conflict, CS Lewis, Deana Carter, Driving Miss Daisy, Edward Albee, Film School, Flannery O'Connor, Georgia, Jaws, Jimmy Buffett, Lew Hunter, Martin Luther King, Mike Tyson, movies, Orson Welles, Richard Walter, Rocky, Sam Shepard on February 8, 2008 | No Comments »
Here’s everything I learned in film school (and in screenwriting workshops and books)…boiled down to one word. But before I get to that one word let me say that I went to film school so long ago that Orson Welles was in my class. Okay, not that long ago, but back when films schools only [...]
Read Full Post »
