Screenwriting From Iowa

Shakespeare died in 1616—and in the almost 400 years since his death I image not a year has gone by when a Shakespeare play hasn’t been produced somewhere. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if a scholar told me not a month—or even a day—has gone by since Shakespeare’s death where a play of his […]

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“What’s different now than when I started is you can make your own stuff now. It’s cheap enough that you can film your own movie, edit your own movie, and distribute your own movie if you want to. If it’s a big production you’re going to have to deal with compromise if you’re lucky, because […]

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“I’m interested in reality, and I’m interested in survival. I’m interested in people who aren’t the lucky ones, who maybe have a tougher time surviving, and telling their story.” Photographer Mary Ellen Mark “We do not take pictures with our cameras, but with our hearts and minds.” Photographer Arnold Newman About 20 years ago I […]

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“I wrote [Swingers] if I recall in right about two weeks, and I wrote [Chef] just as quickly. I get scared that I’m going to stop writing, and I have a lot of unfinished screenplays that I’ve said, ‘Let me take a day off…” And with [Swingers and Chef] I kept myself [writing] everyday until […]

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“You try and write your first really bad draft as quickly as possible, with some care—not just sloppy, throw it on. But take your time and steadily get through a few pages everyday and when you’re done you’ll have your 100-120 pages—whatever it is—and it’s going to probably be pretty bad. All of my first […]

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Yesterday I took the above photo and decided to see if I could find a movie tie-in to post it here. And sure enough it only took me a few minutes to learn that a small part of Tomorrowland—which opened in theaters just over a week ago— was shot on the same street in New Smyrna Beach, […]

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The most famous film set on the Gulf Coast of Florida is Citizen Kane. The Orson Welles masterpiece many, including the AFI, consider the greatest American film of all time. “Here, on the deserts of the Gulf Coast, a private mountain was commissioned and successfully built. One hundred thousand trees, twenty thousand tons of marble […]

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Over the weekend I was finally able to see a movie at the Tampa Theatre (in downtown Tampa, Florida) which is one of the most beautiful settings to watch a movie in the United States—maybe in the world. I arrived early because I wanted to look around and was not disappointed by the theater that was […]

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Yesterday I visited the Bay Pines National Cemetery in St. Petersburg, Florida. My father was a pilot in the Air Force and while he did not die in combat I made a trip to the cemetery where he is buried on Sunday. I had not been there in over a decade and this Memorial Day weekend […]

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Yesterday was one of the saddest and sweetest days of my life. Had to say goodbye to our 15-year-old golden retriever Lucy. Can’t remember when I’ve cried so hard. But also very thankful to have her in our life for so long. Back in January 2000 my wife and I weren’t looking for a dog […]

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