Screenwriting From Iowa

“I can make shoot three bad movies and still make movies.” Janusz Kaminski on the career longevity of a cinematographer verses a director How does one go from being born in Ziebice, Dolnoslaski, Poland to being the Oscar-winning right hand cinematographer of director Steven Spielberg? The short answer is talent and hustle. At least that what […]

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Cinematographers are a bunch a liars and cheaters. Screenwriters, too. In a good way, of course. It’s all part of the job.  Just doing their part in creating a world of make believe. For instance, Jerry Maguire didn’t really exist. Sure there were composites of real people he was based on, but he was a fictional […]

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“I want to make movies where I can express myself to visuals.” Cinematographer Janusz Kamisnski (Saving Private Ryan) “It looks kind of effortless when you’re seeing [movies] on the screen, but it’s a really complicated process. Especially in that opening scene [of Saving Private Ryan]. We had to lay down the mannequins, we had to […]

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“Let both sides seek to involve the wonders of science..let us explore the stars, conquer the deserts, eradicate disease, tap the ocean depths and encourage arts and commerce.” President John F. Kennedy Inaugural Address on January 16, 1961 I have news to announced—the Screenwriting from Iowa…and Other Unlikely Places countdown. Countdown to what? I’m not 100% […]

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“I formed my notions of America in Yugoslavia by watching films. And most of the films were westerns so therefore when I landed [in the USA] I honestly expected—maybe if not John Wayne—a close friend of his to be there on a horse.” Screenwriter Steve Tesich (The World According to Garp, American Flyers) I don’t […]

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“There’s a quality that most first scripts share: fresh, surprising, and unspoiled.” Oscar-winning producer Tony Bill (The Sting) Moviespeak I was eighteen Didn’t have a care Working for peanuts Not a dime to spare But I was lean and Solid everywhere Like a rock Lyrics by Bob Seger/Like a Rock The 1979 movie Breaking Away was nominated […]

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“I’m very lucky that I had a movie that allows me to do something as enormous as staging what at that point was the largest sporting event in American history. And at the same time investigate small emotional moments like when Howard loses his son.”   Seabiscuit writer/director Gary Ross Recently I re-watched Seabiscuit (2003) […]

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“If I take the money I’m lost.” Lawyer Frank Galvin (Paul Newman) in The Verdict One of my all-time favorite screenplays and movies is The Verdict. I happened to see it when when it first came out in theaters back in 1982 when I was in film school. And as I revisit it from time to time […]

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 “I write dialogue fairly easily. Plot is a big pain in the ass.” David Mamet “The question is how do you get somebody to suspend their disbelief—that’s the central question in drama. And the answer in drama is you have to give them a plot. You have to make them wonder what happens next?…How’s he […]

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According to the Encyclopedia of Chicago, improv as a structured theatrical art form began in 1955 when David Shepherd and Paul Stills started the ensemble group the Compass Players in Chicago. Many of the alumni later went on to be part of Second City. Along with Compass Players Ed Asner, Alan Alda, Valerie Harper and others was […]

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