Screenwriting From Iowa

The book that inspired Bruce Springsteen to write the song Youngstown on his The Ghost of Tom Joad album is Journey to Nowhere: The Saga of the New Underclass. The book was written by Dale Maharidge with photography by Michael Williamson. The book was out of print when the album came out in 1995, but [...]

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Happy Thanksgiving.
Before I take a circuitous route to point out yet one more connection between Youngstown and Hollywood let me first thank everyone for reading this screenwriting blog as it’s given me much encouragement in my quest to post daily. It’s not easy to write something original daily and finding odd connections really is a [...]

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Do you have an idea bank? A file or notebook full of articles and ideas that you’d like to explore and develop further? I have several notebooks and one of them I stumbled upon yesterday happens to tie in directly with the last couple posts on Youngstown, Ohio.
It was an article on a guy named [...]

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Since I agree that creativity is simply connecting influences (not my phrase) today’s post is a good example of that. A few days ago I wrote about writer/director John Hughes and yesterday I wrote about Youngstown, Ohio. In doing that research I stumbled upon a connection between the two—Home Alone.
That little $15 million film that [...]

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“These mills they built the tanks and bombs
That won this country’s wars”
Bruce Springsteen
Youngstown

I don’t know if it’s common for kids growing up in Poland, Ohio to dream about living aboard a yacht someday, but that short life story of Mary Wells.
When I was a kid I first learned about Poland, Ohio and I wasn’t thrilled [...]

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“Kids are smart enough to know that most teenage movies are just exploiting them. They’ll respond to a film about teenagers as people. [My] movies are about the beauty of just growing up. I think teenage girls are especially ready for this kind of movie, after being grossed out by all the sex and violence in [...]

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Using advertising as a stepping stone to screenwriting has been going on for decades. Basically all writers need time to develop their craft, pay the bills, and meet people.  The five years that John Hughes spent in advertising hit all those goals. And according to Robert Nolan who hired him at Leo Burnett, Hughes didn’t [...]

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I have no idea how many advertising copywriters have become produced screenwriters, but I have an idea how many would like to make that leap—about 100%. One of the great modern day success stories of an ad writer turning screenwriter was John Hughes.
Just found an article on John Hughes by Robert Nolan who hired Hughes [...]

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“Technology is not a subtitute for an idea, it’s the thing that can nuture and allow ideas to get bigger and be more amazing.”
Lee Chow
Lee Chow is considered one of the great minds of modern advertising. He’s most known for his role in creating the Apple commercial “1984″ that air during the Super Bowl and [...]

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“Advertising…changes the perception of everything.”
George Lois
Last night the local chapter of the American Advertising Federation (AAF) had a special screening of the feature length documentary Art & Copy. The film was directed by Doug Pray and was an official selection at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival and is a look at advertising and creative inspiration.
It’s [...]

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