Author Archive
Aug
24
2013
 
The Breakfast Club for Writers (2.0)Posted by: screenwritingfromiowa in Screenwriting From IowaOn this repost Saturday I’m going to tap into a post I wrote several years ago where I quoted Elmore Leonard who passed away earlier this week. Here’s the post that originally ran in June of 2009: Finding time to write is one of the biggest struggles for those writers with jobs and a family. […]
Aug
23
2013
Start Small…But Start SomewherePosted by: screenwritingfromiowa in Screenwriting From Iowa“When I wrote 3:10 to Yuma. I sold the original [short] story for $90, and then got $4,000 for the movie rights.” Elmore Leonard (Leonard did add that “a 5,000 word story was a hundred bucks. And in the early ’50s, that wasn’t bad.) “In 1961, Leonard quit his job at the ad agency to […] It’s fitting to follow yesterday’s post Elmore Leonard (1925—2013) with this exchange between Erik Bauer and Quentin Tarantino that is part of a larger interview that was first published in Creative Screenwriting magazine back in the January/February 1998 issue: Bauer: How exactly have Elmore Leonard’s books influenced your writing style? Tarantino: Well, when I was a […] “Characters are much more important to me—to my book— than plot.” Elmore Leonard Elmore Leonard and his work always embodied much of what I’ve tried to convey on this blog. He wrote more than forty novels, and his work showed up over seven decades in dozens of films and TV programs including Get Shorty, 3:10 […]
Aug
20
2013
“Storytelling Without Dialogue” (Tip #82)Posted by: screenwritingfromiowa in Screenwriting From Iowa“IF YOU PRETEND THE CHARACTERS CANT SPEAK, AND WRITE A SILENT MOVIE, YOU WILL BE WRITING GREAT DRAMA.” David Mamet “Storytelling without dialogue. It’s the purest form of cinematic storytelling. It’s the most inclusive approach you can take. It confirmed something I really had a hunch on, is that the audience actually wants to work for their meal. They just don’t want to know that they’re […]
Aug
19
2013
“The Greatest Story Commandment” (Tip #81)Posted by: screenwritingfromiowa in Screenwriting From Iowa“Storytelling is joke telling. It’s knowing your punchline, your ending, knowing that everything you’re saying, from the first sentence to the last, is leading to a singular goal, and ideally confirming some truth that deepens our understandings of who we are as human beings. We all love stories. We’re born for them. Stories affirm who we are. We all want affirmations that our lives have meaning. And […] “I love for music to be like cinema and there be a beginning, an end, and a climax and all those good things.” John Paul White Back in 2010 I wrote the post Musician Charlie Peacock who happens to be the producer of Billboards No. 1 album this week, the new self-titled album The Civil Wars. The […]
Aug
16
2013
Danny Strongs’ “Lee Daniels’ The Butler”Posted by: screenwritingfromiowa in Screenwriting From IowaIt’s my job to be cleaning up this mess And that’s enough reason to go for me It’s My Job/Mac McAnally “But I kind of like the ring of “Lee Daniels’ The Butler.” I’m thinking about naming everything after Lee Daniels.” Danny Strong screenwriter of Lee Daniels’ The Butler Huffington Post article by Christopher Rosen […] Enough about all these Indiana Jones posts I’ve been writing, today I’m pulling a quote from Iowa’s Ashton Kutcher. The one that when I last checked was the highest paid TV star. Forbes estimated his May 2011 to May 2012 earnings were $24 million dollars. The actor who not only stars in Two and A […] Enough about all these Indiana Jones posts I’ve been writing, today I’ll pulling a quote from Iowa’s Ashton Kutcher. The one that when I last checked was the highest paid TV star. Forbes estimated his May 2011 to May 2012 earnings were $24 million dollars. The actor who not only stars in Two and A […] |
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