Screenwriting From Iowa

Here’s someone who’s been banging the drum long before I started this blog: “Living outside of the Los Angeles area is only a problem after you’ve sold your first script and only if you’re selling directly to a Hollywood-based company. And it may not be a problem even then. You can market your script from [...]

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“Today’s film business is decentralized…You can live in Kalamazoo, Michigan or Ames, Iowa and make your own movies if you want. Many independent filmmakers are scattered throughout the country happily working in a less frantic, less incestuous atmosphere than they would face in Hollywood.” Joseph McBride Writing in Pictures; Screenwriting Make (Mostly) Painless pages 298-299

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“To have the president of the United States join us in discussing the issues of our time is a special honor.” University of Iowa President Sally Mason Iowa City, Iowa April 25, 2012 Iowa has been a popular state this week. First Lady Michelle Obama was here on Tuesday and President Obama was here yesterday. [...]

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Here’s an exchange found in Creative Screenwriting magazine, Volume 4, #3 (Fall 1997) that should be an encouragement to you wherever you are writing in the world; Geoff Jordan: You’ve written a couple of scripts set in Omaha, Nebraska. Why? Alexander Payne: Because I kind of ‘get” Omaha’s world. If you’re going to make movies in [...]

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Gotta keep rollin’, gotta keep ridin’ Gotta keep searchin’ till I find what’s right Bob Seger Roll Me Away  I was in the city today—Des Moines. Late Friday I received a call from a group in D.C. to do a video shoot in Des Moines on Tuesday and Wednesday, but it didn’t have anything with [...]

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“You’re born alone and you die alone and this world just drops a bunch of rules on top of you to make you forget those facts. But I never forget. I’m living like there’s no tomorrow, because there isn’t one.” Don Draper (Jonn Hamm) Mad Men “Well, what if there is no tomorrow?” Phil (Bill [...]

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I really should say “Story Plotting the J.K. Rowling Way,” but Harry Potter seemed more catchy and fun. But it was J.K. Rowling who actually wrote the Harry Potter books  empire. The one that helped create her net worth (as of March 2011) of over one billion dollars. Want to know what part of her [...]

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“In 1998, I had finished writing ‘Toy Story’ and ‘A Bug’s Life’ and I was completely hooked on screenwriting. So I wanted to become much better at it and learn anything I could. So I researched everything I possibly could. And I finally came across this fantastic quote by a British playwright, William Archer: ‘Drama [...]

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Reading departures signs in some big airport Reminds me of the places I’ve been… Jimmy Buffett Changes in Lattitudes, Changes in Attitudes  If you ever wonder why you ride the carousel, You do it for the stories you can tell… Jimmy Buffett Stories You Can Tell  Jimmy Buffett has said when he was a youth [...]

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“His body was battered, his whole world was shattered And all he could do was just cry…” Jimmy Buffett He Went to Paris When you think of Jimmy Buffett in terms of geography you probably think of the south, but did you know part of his early performing roots were in the Midwest? Buffett was [...]

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