Mentioning yesterday that the character William Holden played in Sunset Boulevard was a screenwriter from Dayton, Ohio triggered in my mind an actor/comedian with Daytion ties, Jonathan Winters. Winters was born in Bellbrook, Ohio and went to Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio (where Paul Newman also attended) where he studied acting and began developing his [...]
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It’s been many years since I watched the classic Billy Wilder film Sunset Boulevard. I don’t recall seeing it in the over five years since I moved to Iowa. What I realized seeing it recently is that perhaps the most famous on-screen screeenwriter ever had Midwest roots.
“As I drove back into town I added up [...]
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Screenwriter Millard Kaufman who died last week at age 92 was twice nominated for an Oscar for writing Bad Day at Black Rock (1955) and Take the High Ground (1953), but he may be more remembered for writing Raintree County which starred Elizabeth Taylor and Montgomery Clift. And for those unfamilar with those movies or Kaufman [...]
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There’s been a lot written about why the majority of feature films fall between the 90-120 minute mark. Today we’ll hear a practical perspective for this time lock from one of the most respected independent filmmakers who has written over 30 films including Eight Men Out, Matwan and more recently The Spiderwick Chronicles:
“Because movies are [...]
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Leonardo da Vinci is best known as creating two of the greatest pieces of artwork ever, The Last Supper & Mona Lisa. But he was a curious kind of fellow and his mind wandered into many arenas beyond painting; architecture, science, anatomy, botany, geology and physics, engineering, sculpturing, designing, traveling, and inventing. Of course, one could point out that the [...]
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Screenwriter Anna Hamilton Phelan came on scene in 1985 when she wrote Mask which starred Cher and Eric Stoltz. The film was directed by Peter Bogdanovich and earned Phelan a WGA nomination. It’s an excellent film and one I’m surprised is not mentioned more these days. Phelan followed that up with Gorillas in the Mist; [...]
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“I think when people come here they really feel the power of the land, which transcends beautifully on film.”
Robin Lambaria, Marfa Film Festival founder
At the 2008 Academy Awards two of the films nominated [...]
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It was Anne Lamott’s book Traveling Merices that first drew me to her writing and I quickly followed it with bird by bird; Some Intsructions on Writing and Life. Lamott writes in a way that makes you believe that there is something significant about writing and about life. And she does it with her own quirky [...]
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Last night I watched for the first time the old Billy Wilder film The Spirit of St. Louis which starred Jimmy Stewart as Charles Lindbergh. I’m not sure why I hadn’t connected it to this blog earlier. After all Screenwriting from Iowa is all about the fly-over states. About great stories coming from unusual places. [...]
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“Aspiring screenwriters always ask what’s the best way to break into the Hollywood? I say move to Minnesota.”
Ken Levine
Emmy-winning TV writer [...]
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