Over the weekend I saw Saving Mr. Banks and enjoyed it immensely. And there is a line in the film—that I don’t think is a spoiler—that seems to be what the film was about. “In every movie house, all over the world, in the eyes and the hearts of my kids, and other kids and […]
Original Source…
Author Archive“My little town blues are melting away.” New York, New York ”It’s not a musical; it’s a film with music. I got that definition from Billy Wilder, who said you can’t call it a musical unless the people sing in situations where you don’t expect them to. It’ll be about their marriage breaking up, about their […] “Paris, Texas is a heartbreaking character study of longing and lacerations of the heart.” Hillary Weston When you blog daily you have to find ways to try to keep it fresh. So what started with Holland, Michigan—The Screenplay, through the doc Vernon, Florida yesterday, leads us to Paris, Texas. The Wim Wender’s directed film from a […] “After twenty years of reviewing films, I haven’t found another filmmaker who intrigues me more…Errol Morris is like a magician, and as great a filmmaker as Hitchcock or Fellini.” Roger Ebert You know what’s most quirky about The Black List (2013)? Yes, screenwriter Elijah Bynum is the only writer with two scripts on the list, […]
Dec
17
2013
 
Holland, Michigan—The ScreenplayPosted by: screenwritingfromiowa in Screenwriting From IowaI couldn’t help but smile yesterday when I saw The Hollywood Reporter headline: ‘Holland, Michigan’ Tops 2013 Black List The Holland, Michigan script written by Andrew Sodroski received 46 mentions from film executives placing it at the top of the pile of the best unproduced scripts kicking around Hollywood. While I know more about the […]
Dec
16
2013
Start Thick/End Thin (Tip #86)Posted by: screenwritingfromiowa in Screenwriting From Iowa“BEGIN WITH THE END IN MIND” Steven R. Covey The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People (Habit #2) After I wrote the last screenwriting tip, Writing Good Bad Guys (Tip #85), I discovered a Facebook thread over at The Inside Pitch where WME Story Editor Christopher Lockhart listed some of his favorite bad characters in movies. (I’ve […]
Dec
14
2013
Directing Non-Professional Actors (2.0)Posted by: screenwritingfromiowa in Screenwriting From Iowa“Odd lead performances be damned, [Bubble] is not only an underrated gem, but yet another masterpiece found within Soderbergh’s historic filmography.” Joshua Brunsting, Criterioncast Today on re-post Saturday I decided on one where Oscar-winning director Steven Soderbergh (Traffic) talked about directing non-professional actors because it’s a nice match for the post earlier this month where […]
Dec
13
2013
Billy Ray’s Directing AdvicePosted by: screenwritingfromiowa in Screenwriting From Iowa“I read a phenomenal book called Directing Actors by Judith Weston, which I would recommend to anybody who wants to direct anything. And then I called up a bunch of young directors and said, ‘You don’t know me, my name is Billy Ray, I’m about to go direct a movie. Could I take you to lunch and […]
Dec
12
2013
Writing Good Bad Guys (Tip #85)Posted by: screenwritingfromiowa in Screenwriting From Iowa(Note: Somehow when I posted this the majority of text disappeared. Will try to track down missing text.) “Every villain is the hero of his own story.” Actor Tom Hiddleston “This was my first time acting, or even thinking about acting.” Actor Barkhad Abdi (Lead Somalian hijacker in Captain Phillips) NPR Interview, October 20, 2013 […]
Dec
11
2013
Inspiration Flying Under the RadarPosted by: screenwritingfromiowa in Screenwriting From Iowa“How does an artist look at the world? Well, first she asks herself, ‘What’s worth stealing?’ Austin Kleon Author of the New York Times bestseller Steal Like An Artist You don’t have to just “study the masters” of cinema to find inspiration—sometimes a 1950s TV movie will do. Airplane! is one of the funniest movie ever made. AFI’s […] |
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