Posted in Movies, tagged Peter Hedges, Pieces of April, Thanksgiving on November 28, 2019|
My go to movie at Thanksgiving is Pieces of April (2003), written and directed by Peter Hedges
Here are some post I’ve written about it over the years:
Thanksgiving with ‘The Florida Project’ and ‘Pieces of April’
Pieces of April (Part 1)
Pieces of April (Part 2)
Pieces of April (Part 3)
Pieces of April (Part 4)
Pieces of April (Part 5)
Pieces of April (Part 6)
Pieces of April (Part 7)
Posted in Miscellaneous, tagged Destino Tower at Disney’s Coronado Springs Resort, Florida, Orlando, Toledo, Walt Disney World on November 26, 2019|
Last night my wife and I went to the Toledo restaurant at Walt Disney World to celebrate our wedding anniversary. The restaurant is on the top floor of the recently opened Gran Destino Tower at Disney’s Coronado Springs Resort. If you’re ever at Disney World in Orlando and want an ideal place to eat and watch the fireworks then I’m not sure you can do better than the 16th floor of the Toledo.
It was a great experience and it once again reminded me of the words of Walt Disney on reflecting on all they had done, “… I only hope we never lose sight of one thing, it was all started by a mouse.”
Related posts:
Screenwriting Quote #53 (Walt Disney)
Walt and Walter in KC
Imagineering with Walt Disney
Posted in Postcards, tagged Baldwin Park, Blue Jacket Park, Florida, Lake Baldwin, Navy Training Center, Orlando on November 22, 2019|
This fountain was about 100 yards away when I turned a corner while driving this morning and something told me it had potential for a nice photograph. All the layering componets were there. You have a fountain with water giving movement in the foreground, some trees in the middle area, sun in the background, and lots of negative space at the top of the frame with interesting texture in the clouds.
Taken in the Baldwin Park neighborhood in Orlando, Florida. An interesting side note is this fountain is located in Blue Jacket Park which was a former Navy training area. The park is named after the USS Bluejacket, 2/3-sized replica (230 feet) of a destroyer ship that was used for training in the same general area from 1968-1993.
The Bluejacket landlocked Navy training ship in Orlando
The Bluejacket opening had an official ceremony in 1969, and was demolished 30 years later
Posted in filmmaking, screenwriting, tagged Atlanta, Georgia, Tyler Perry, Tyler Perry Studios on November 21, 2019|
“Have you ever wondered why it had to be so hard to get through school? Or just make it from day to day? Well, that’s because what you were building (your foundation) had to be strong enough to support the weight of whatever you could dream. And if you’re like me, you’re a huge dreamer.”
Tyler Perry
2016 Tuskegee University commencement speech
How big is Tyler Perry Studios in Atlanta, Georgia? Well, as CBS’s Norah O’Donnell points out, if you take the Los Angeles/Burbank studios of Warner Bros., Paramount, and Disney and combined them together—they’d still be smaller than Tyler Perry’s 330 acres studio.
Posted in Film History, tagged Brooks Barnes, Emmy Award, filmmaking, movies, Netflix, New York Times, Oscar awards, The Hollywood Reporter on November 20, 2019|
“[Hollywood has] welcomed change with about the same relish the dinosaurs welcomed the Ice Age.”
Stephen Galloway
The Hollywood Reporter
“I get asked all the time, ‘Where does this stop? When does it stop?’ The truth is that it is only getting started.”
Brett Sappington (on the growing number of streaming services)
A senior Parks Associates analyst and researcher
In the New York Times article, “The Streaming Era Has Finally Arrived. Everything Is About to Change,” Brooks Barnes writes that the streaming era is a once in a generation disruption—like the shift away from silent movies or the introduction of broadcast television, or cable decades after that.
He points out that how in 2018 there were 495 scripted original series, and says that all the work is making it “gravy time” for many. Just this month Disney Plus and Apple Plus TV added more viewing choices to audiences to the over 250 online choices out there. (Ever heard of Horse Lifestyle TV? As the saying goes, “there are riches in niches.” Just ask Tyler Perry.)
No doubt there will be audience fatigue with all of these choices, and some consolidation and mergers of shows and companies, but we are living in a streaming world—at least until the next disruption in 10, 20, or 30 years. And with the blending of movies, broadcast/cable TV, and streaming, the entertsinment status quo is in the early stages of a major earthquake leading to speculations never imagined even a year ago.
“With more original movies bypassing big screens, the line between TV and film is blurring, prompting once-unthinkable operating questions. Studios, for instance, employ separate executive teams to oversee the development and production of movies and television series. Should that siloed approach end? There has even been some muttering about whether the Emmys and the Oscars should merge.”
Brooks Barnes
Barnes is referring to a The Hollywood Reporter article by Stephen Galloway this summer where he addressed what all of these streaming changes mean at award time. Netflix’s Roma last year kicked off the debate on when the foreign-languge film, produced by a streaming company, with a limited theatrical run, was up for a Best Picture Oscar. (it did win Best Foreign Film, but lost to Green Book for Best Picture.
But it’s just a matter of time before a streaming company wins a Best Picture Oscar—perhaps The Irishmen, which Netflix releases next week will be that picture. Either way, the provocative question is Will the Oscars and Emmys Merge in the Streaming Era?
That’s as fun to speculate as a joke starting with, “An Emmy and a Oscar walk into a bar. . . .”
P.S. Ten years ago I watched my first streaming show on my computer (Cocaine Cowboys on Netflix) and it took me about 2.3 seconds to realize that the VHS/DVD rental business was finished. Blockbuster went bankrupt. Blockbuster at its peak had 9,000 stores, but today there is just one left in the entire world. I don’t know what the the entertainment landscape will look like in ten years, but I don’t think I’m going out on a limb by saying that studios will begin to sell chucks of real estate because “There’s gold in them thar hills.” Movies can be made anywhere—have you see Tyler Perry’s new Atlanta studio?—and real estate in Los Angeles is just crazy expensive.
Posted in Writing Quotes, tagged Characters, On Writing, plot, Stephen King on November 18, 2019| 1 Comment »
Last week, I dug up some CDs of novelist Stephen King’s reading of his book On Writing and came across this nugget:
“Plot is, I think, the good writer’s last resort and the dullard’s first choice. The story which results from it is apt to feel artificial and labored. I lean more heavily on intuition, and have been able to do that because my books tend to be based on situation rather than story . . . . I want to put a group of characters (perhaps a pair; perhaps even just one) in some sort of predicament and then watch them try to work free. My job is not to manipulate them to safety—those are jobs which require the noisy jackhammer of plot—but to watch what happens and then write it down. The situation comes first. The characters—always flat and unfeatured, to begin with—come next.”
Stephen King
On Writing, A Memory of Craft (2000 version), page 164
Related posts:
Stephen King on Theme
‘The job of the writer is . . .’ (Stephen King)
Descriptive Writing (Stephen King)
Stephen King’s Doublewide Trailer
Posted in filmmaking, tagged Brian Grazer, Joe Rogan on November 15, 2019|
“I’m not a movie producer, I’m in the feelings business. . . . I’m captivated by things that move me emotionally, and elevate me emotionally.”
Oscar-winning producer Brian Grazer (A Beautiful Mind)
The Joe Rogan Experience #1370
Related posts:
40 Days of Emotions
Posted in screenwriting, tagged Max Eggers, Robert Eggers, screenwriting, The Lighthouse on November 14, 2019|
Last year when the first version of The Quiet Place screenplay found its way online it was unorthodox in that Scott Beck and Bryan Woods where on one page they used just one word (SNAP…) among other techniques. (See the post Writing an Unorthodox Script.) Well, this year’s unconventional script (or maybe just unconventional page) goes to The Lighthouse written by Max Eggers with the director of the movie Robert Eggers.
In the last day or two, A/24 made the script available for consideration during award season.
Posted in filmmaking, tagged cinematography, Disney, Jarin Blaschke, Joker, Oscar awards, The Lighthouse on November 13, 2019|
“We penetrated deeper and deeper into the heart of darkness”
― Heart of Darkness
“Hello darkness, my old friend…”
—Simon & Garfunkel
The Sounds of Silence (written by Paul Simon and sung by Simon & Garfunkel)
The last two movies I happened to see in theaters were Joker and The Lighthouse. Thankfully, I didn’t see them on the same night. If I had of seen Joker and The Lighthouse back-to-back on the same day I would have gone home and immediately signed up for the newly launched Disney+ and planned to exclusively stream Disney films for the next year.
A Joker/The Lighthouse double feature would have had me rewatching Taxi Driver just for a ray of light. (I find nihilism as a worldview depressing, but I can handle it in two hour movie chunks.) The truth is both Joker and The Lighthouse are highly crafted films that will find favor at Oscar time. I expect actors Joaquin Phoenix and Willem Dafoe, directors Todd Phillips and Robert Eggers, along with the writing and production design teams to get Oscar-nominations.
But I think The Lighthouse black and white cinematography of Jarin Blaschke is the single most remarkable element of not only those two films, but of any film I’ve seen this year. And I should mention that both Robert Pattinson’s character in The Lighthouse and the Joker himself belong in what I call “The End of the Rope Club.”
“I would never write about someone who was not at the end of his rope.”
—Stanley Elkin
Here’s a little glimpse into how Joker and The Lighthouse were made.
P.S. As of this writing, the screenplay for The Lighthouse is available from A/24 at their “For Your Consideration” page (as well as the screenplays for The Farewell and Waves).
Posted in screenwriting, Screenwriting Biz, tagged Bryan Woods, filmmaking, movies, Scott Beck on November 11, 2019|
If you’re on Twitter, two writer/directors that I’d recommend you follow are Scott Beck and Bryan Woods (A Quiet Place, Haunt) who go by @beckandwoods on Twitter. Here’s an example of one of their tweets.
Screenwriting from Iowa
Screenwriting from Iowa 