Screenwriting From Iowa

“Overnight, we went from an industry that makes $15 billion a year — $11 billion in ticket sales and $4 billion in concessions — to one that is not going to make a penny for three or four months,” —John Fithian, president and CEO of the National Association of Theatre Owners (NATO). Variety, March 21, […]

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Since this is a blog on screenwriting and filmmaking, I wasn’t quite sure what to do with the coronavirus in my posts. But it looks like it’s going to be with us a while—and potentially alter our lives into a new normal—so I’m going to roll with it as best I can. If you have […]

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“The first Mickey Mouse was made by twelve people.” Walt Disney As original a thinker as Walt Disney was, he didn’t create things out of thin air. And the creation of Mickey Mouse was no exception. The inception was probably somewhere between Aesop’s Fables (that Disney enjoyed reading)  that often featured mice and real life […]

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I took the above photo of The Old State House in Bostonon the first day of this month. Just 11 days ago—but it seems like a year of events have transpired in that time. At least in New England life seemed relatively normal.  I went to a documentary workshop in Rockport, Maine the last week […]

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“The things that you are fired for are often the things in later life that you are celebrated and given lifetime achievements for.’ Oscar-winning writer/director Francis Ford Coppola (The Godfather, Patton) Scott W. Smith 

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“I wanted to move to a place where I could live for nothing, and I moved to New Hampshire . . . The best professional decision I have made was deciding to stay here once [Brooklyn Bridge] was nominated for an Oscar.” Filmmaker Ken Burns (on leaving New York City) After the Fact podcast interview […]

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“We were able to show some early footage [of Crip Camp] to Priya Swaminathan and Tonia Davis, who run Higher Ground, and they were really intrigued by this kind of reel that we’ve cut together.” Crip Camp co-director Nicole Newnham No Film School interview with Oakley Anderson-Moore (On a turning point on getting the film completed […]

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Today I completed a five-day workshop on Writing and Developing The Documentary at the Maine Media Workshops in Rockport. It was led by former Time magazine reporter Emmy Jack McDonald, whose writing and directing credits include working with Discovery, National Geographic, and PBS. I watched and discussed more documentaries than I have in any single week of […]

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Today I completed a five-day workshop on Writing and Developing The Documentary at the Maine Media Workshops in Rockport. It was led by former Time magazine reporter Emmy Jack McDonald, whose writing and directing credits include working with Discovery, National Geographic, and PBS. I watched and discussed more documentaries than I have in any single week of […]

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Just your average blue sky day in Salem, Massachusetts where a guy on single wheel electric skateboard carrying a dog on his hip, outnumber witches. Scott W. Smith    

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