Screenwriting From Iowa

Back in 1929 a young Moss Hart spent months working with the establish playwright George S. Kaufman on the play Once in a Lifetime. On its way to Broadway the play opened in Atlantic City with much laughter in the first half followed by a less than enthusiastic second half. They stayed up all night making […]

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Back in 1929 a young Moss Hart spent months working with the establish playwright George S. Kaufman on the play Once in a Lifetime. On its way to Broadway the play opened in Atlantic City with much laughter in the first half followed by a less than enthusiastic second half. They stayed up all night making […]

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“Poverty was always a living and evil thing to me.” Moss Hart (on his childhood in the Bronx and Brooklyn) Before Moss Hart become the wonder boy of Broadway at age 26, before be would buy a farmhouse on 87 acres in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, and before he won a Pulitzer Prize in Drama, he […]

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“Poverty was always a living and evil thing to me.” Moss Hart (on his childhood in the Bronx and Brooklyn) Before Moss Hart become the wonder boy of Broadway at age 26, before be would buy a farmhouse on 87 acres in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, and before he won a Pulitzer Prize in Drama, he […]

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“If it is true that no more eager disciple ever sat at the feet of a teacher, it is equally true that no disciple was ever treated with more infinite patience and understanding.” Moss Hart on his early collaboration with George S. Kaufman I forget who said “All disappointment comes from unmet expectations”—but that would […]

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Playwright/screenwriter Moss Hart not only didn’t go to college, but he didn’t even finish high school. He grew up “relative poverty” in the Bronx and when he was 17 was working in a fur vault in New York City and looking at want ads on his lunch breaks. After 2 ½ years at the fur […]

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When Moss Hart was an office boy in New York City before becoming a Pulitzer and Tony-winning playwright, one of the perks of his job was free tickets to Broadway plays. This was in the early 1920s when there were 70 theatres “going full blast” at peak season. By pulling a few favors, and because […]

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This is a repost from a 2010 post: “I’m considered the most cynical of the group here at Pixar. I’m the first one to say when something is getting too corny or too sappy. Yet, I’d say I’m probably the biggest sucker romantic in the group, if the emotion is truthful.” Andrew Stanton Co-writer/co-director, Finding Nemo […]

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Upon hearing Emily Zulauf  on Scriptnotes (Episode 387) use the phrase “smart with heart” in relation to Pixar movies, I thought this would be a fitting time to repost one of the most read posts on this blog.  This was originally posted in 2011 under the title Screenwriting the Pixar Way (Part 2): “Toy Story 3 is […]

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One of the benefits to this time of year is there are a lot of current Oscar-nominated screenplays that are easily available. Focus Features has the screenplay for BLACKkKLANSMAN on their website. Written by Charlie Wachtel & David Rabonwitz and Kevin Willmott & Spike Lee, the script is an excellent example of getting to the […]

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