Screenwriting From Iowa

“When a hero starts his life as an orphan, it is to show he has nothing to lose. He is unattached and unencumbered by family ties and social obligations, so he is usually portrayed as an orphan to indicate that he is not saddled with the normal attachments the rest of us have. This sense of [...]

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“Well. nobody’s perfect.”
Classic last line of Some Like it Hot
“In story terms, the main character’s persona is plagued with a flaw, and as this flaw is tested throughout the story, the main character integrates a greater understanding of overcoming the flaw through the lessons of life that are expressed by the story.”
Kate Wright
Screenwriting is [...]

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“Let me tell you the super story that Cliff Robertson told me a dozen years ago, and I think I’m giving the credit properly. It was a story he had been told by Rosalind Russell. I think he met her during the filming of Picnic. She said, ‘Do you know what makes a good movie?’ [...]

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The Craft of the Screenwriter was one of the first books I ever bought on screenwriting. It’s older than some of the readers of this blog. I picked it up when I was in film school in 1982 when screenwriting resources were limited. (The Craft of the Screenwriter is worth having in your library and [...]

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“My work, I can do anywhere.”
Screenwriter Christoph Silber
One trend that I’ve noticed since starting this blog in January ‘08 is there really is growing trend of people writing screenplays and making movies outside Los Angeles. And some are doing quite well such as Paranormal Activities made by a writer/director living down in San Diego (still [...]

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“Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing.”
Benjamin Franklin


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“Segar grew up in an out-of-the way place but the inspiration for his most successful graphic creations came out of that place.”
Ed Black
“I’m strong to the finich
Cause I eats me spinach
I’m Popeye the Sailor Man “

Thanks to the Google Popeye doodle I saw last night I’ve discovered one more example of a big success coming [...]

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“The most fantastic thing about Mr. Fox is the way he shows that while our flaws can bring us down, sometimes, too, we triumph in spite of them and because of them.”
Nancy Churin, review of The Talented Mr. Fox
Dallas Morning News
“Heaven has no rage like love to hatred turned, Nor hell a fury like [...]

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“I’m asked why people don’t often see me and Elin in gossip magazines or tabloids. I think we’ve avoided a lot of media attention because we’re kind of boring.”

                                            Tiger Woods (pre car accident)  

“We felt [...]

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“I think essentially, we’re pretty lazy when it comes to communication with each other and we need to be motivated.”
writer/director Kirk Jones (Waking Ned Devine)

Up until six years ago I had lived my entire life in Florida and California so I looked at moving to Iowa in 2003 as a great adventure. Similar to moving [...]

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