Screenwriting From Iowa

“I  never tailor a screenplay to fit the actor. I always demand the actor come to the script – even if it’s Nicholson or Clooney.” Alexander Payne Nebraska Coast Connection Q & A “I’m not there to give an acting class. I’m there to make a movie. And I often don’t know, nor do I often care […]

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Today let’s look at how to cast farmers in Nebraska. Really. Relax— It’s going to be okay. Two-time Oscar-winning screenwriter Alexander Payne (Sideways, The Descendants) will be our guide. Come on,  I have this little blog called Screenwriting from Iowa…and Other Unlikely Places—what are the odds I’m going to pass up writing about Payne’s new […]

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“When you read a good screenplay, you know it—it’s evident from page one.” Syd Field “Shakespeare knew his audience; the groundlings standing in the pit, the poor and oppressed, drinking freely, talking boisterously to the performers if they didn’t like the action on stage. He had to ‘grab’ their attention and focus it on the action.” […]

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Since it’s Thanksgiving weekend and many people are watching football games, shopping, or working (at football stadiums and malls), I thought I’d expose you to another part of the United States you may be unfamiliar with—as well as give you a little trivia about The Truman Show that I think screenwriters will find interesting. (And […]

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“Meet Seaside, the idyllic town on the Florida Panhandle known for its perfect beaches, pastel cottages, and the kind of laid-back vacations we Southerners adore.” Jennifer Mckenzie Frazier Southern Living It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas…even in Seaside, Florida. I took the photos on this post earlier this month when driving through the […]

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“I’m saying you are stuck in Wichita.” Del Griffith (John Candy) Planes, Trains and Automobiles On Thanksgiving Day 2013 I decided to challenge myself to a movie mash-up. Could I take a classic 26 year old Thanksgiving story (Planes, Trains and Automobiles) and somehow connect it with a movie that is currently number one in […]

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“I have always depended on the kindness of strangers.” Blanche DuBois in A Streetcar Named Desire Written by Tennessee Williams Yesterday we went global big, today we’re going local small. Well, at least small in the big city. In one of the many posts I did on playwright Tennessee Williams this month I mentioned that his […]

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“[Franlkin] Leonard grew up in Columbus, Ga., as one of a handful of black students in his high school, which he says has always helped him identify with outsiders.” Rachel Dodes The Wall Street Journal It always seems to come back to Juno. Yesterday I came across the The Black List Annual Report for 2013 […]

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“Actually the really cool thing about being more and more gimpy is I really don’t care about my hair loss at all.” Screenwriter Scott Lew (Who has ALS, known as Lou Gehrig Disease) Today on Screenwriting from Iowa…and Other Unlikely Places we’ll learn about an unlikely place not tied to geography. My last post was on Franklin, […]

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”Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing.” Ben Franklin After traveling around the county over the years for various productions there are a few cities and towns that I find special—Franklin, Tennessee is one of those places. Located just south of Nashville the town was founded in 1799 and named after Ben […]

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