“I’ve got so many scars, they’re criss-crossing each other!” Louis Zamperini “As the writer, you need to burn down houses. You need to push characters out of their safe places into the big scary world — and make sure they can never get back. Sure, their stated quest might be to get home, but your [...]
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Archive for April, 2011
Apr
19
2011
 
Writing Quote #23 (August Wilson)Posted by: screenwritingfromiowa in Screenwriting From Iowa“I had moved to St. Paul in 1978 and got a job at the Science Museum of Minnesota writing scripts—adapting tales from the Northwest Native Americans for a group of actors attached to the anthropology department. So I began to work in the script form without almost knowing it. In 1980 I sent a play, [...]
Apr
18
2011
Screenwriting Quote #153 (J.J. Abrams)Posted by: screenwritingfromiowa in Screenwriting From IowaLong before J.J. Abrams created the TV shows Lost, Alias, and Felicity he wrote the feature script for the 1991 film Regarding Henry starring Harrison Ford. “I had the script for Ordinary People with me the whole time while I was writing Regarding Henry just to reference it—because there was something about that script that [...]
Apr
17
2011
Ferris, John Hughes & the North ShorePosted by: screenwritingfromiowa in Screenwriting From Iowa“There is no Shermer, Illinois.” Dogma (Screenplay by Kevin Smith) A few days ago when my shoot in Chicago wrapped I stopped for lunch just north of downtown and wandered through a few villages that are some of the nicest areas you’ll find in the United States. While the towns Highland Park, Wilmette, Lake Forest [...] “A career in photography is an exercise in tenacity.” Photographer Joe McNally After a week of doing camerawork in Chicago this week I was able to stop in Madison, Wisconsin on my way back Friday to catch a photography seminar put on by Joe McNally and David “the Strobist” Hobby. Both have been career photojournalist, [...] “(Writing) is blood, sweat, and tears, believe me. It is a drag. It is hard work. And it is not one of those kinds of things like people imagine where the muses come and they kiss your brow and there you are kind of the poet in the clouds.” Billy Wilder This is why I [...] “Success may come; if so, try to live within your means. (Seriously, I can’t give better advice than that. It’s a freelance gig, don’t forget that.) But a far more frequent experience is despair. A professor of mine at UCLA, Howard Suber, gives a notable lecture on the importance if being able to cope with [...]
Apr
13
2011
Screenwriting Quote #152 (Leslie Dixon)Posted by: screenwritingfromiowa in Screenwriting From IowaScreenwriter Leslie Dixon’s first credited features were Outrageous Fortune and Overboard in 1987 and her most recent release is Limitless starring Bradley Cooper. In between those films is a list of films that includes a mix of genres; Look Who’s Talking Now, Pay It forward, Mrs. Doubtfire, The Thomas Crown Affair, Freaky Friday and Hairspray. Though her work [...]
Apr
12
2011
Screenwriting Quote #150 (Scott Frank)Posted by: screenwritingfromiowa in Screenwriting From Iowa“I spend a lot of time writing about the script, thinking about characters, getting ideas, lines of dialogue, before I actually write it. Anything that pops into my head I write it down and I start to organize that to shape the story. I spend months doing that. Sometimes before I write a scene I’ll [...] The storyline is simple; Two eagles start a family in Iowa. The reaction to the true reality show has been unusual. In fact, the website of the live video cam embedded in the eagle’s nest 80 feet in the air has attracted over 10 million views from more that 130 countries. Never underestimate the power [...] |
