Screenwriting From Iowa

“We’re all gonna be tuning into the most popular Internet show in the world, which will be coming from some place in Des Moines.”—Steve Spielberg 1999 prediction

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There’s no “rule” that says movie titles have to be short, but it’s a pretty good proven principle to follow.

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My January 1 post Write 2 or 3 Scripts This Year was based on a quote by Christopher Lockhart on how to improve your craft. Today is a nice bookend to that post adding a little advice on how to best chip away on those 2 or 3 scripts. “I have a rule: I try to open […]

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“The Twilight Zone was in peril of not being renewed, season after season. It was not a hit, rating-wise; succès d’estime, yes but not the sort of series anyone could have predicted would be running thirty years later. [Rod] Serling’s skill as a writer has a lot to do with that…also his compassion for the human race […]

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“The Twilight Zone was in peril of not being renewed, season after season. It was not a hit, rating-wise; succès d’estime, yes but not the sort of series anyone could have predicted would be running thirty years later. [Rod] Serling’s skill as a writer has a lot to do with that…also his compassion for the human race […]

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“I’m not interested in characters who aren’t broken.” 3-time Oscar nominated  screenwriter John Logan (Gladiator) “All characters are wounded souls, and the stories we tell are merely an acting out of the healing process. They are the closing of open wounds, the scabbing-over process.” Richard Krevolin Screenwriting from the Soul Today is the sixth anniversary […]

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“Entertainment is not frivolous; through entertainment you can actually make people aware of things. And throughout the ages art has always had a huge influence on history… It seemed to me like a kind of an obvious thing to do, to make a film about slavery—just like it’s an obvious thing to make a film about […]

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“Over a century and a half to the present day…you see the evidence of slavery as you walk down the street…The prison population, mental illness, poverty, education.” Oscar-nominated director Steve McQueen (12 Years a Slave) 2013 New York Times Interview by Nelson George One of the roots of this blog is steeped in African America […]

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“Without people who believe in you as a writer, or in your screenplay, or in the film itself, it would have been impossible” Oscar-nominated screenwriter Craig Borten (Dallas Buyers Club) In the post Screenwriter Melisa Wallack I mentioned how she co-wrote Dallas Buyers Club with Craig Borten. Wallack waited for more than 10 years so […]

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As I looked over the names of the 2014 Oscar nominees one named jumped out at me that I knew I had not pulled any quotes from in the six years of doing this blog. In fact, the name was totally off my radar. Melisa Wallack is now on a lot more radars than she was […]

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