Screenwriting From Iowa

“I wanted to make something set in Sacramento, because I am from Sacramento and I love it. I had the idea of wanting to make a love story between a mother and a daughter, but the line I actually started with was the moment in college when someone says, ‘Where are you from?’ and she […]

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“I wanted to make something set in Sacramento, because I am from Sacramento and I love it. I had the idea of wanting to make a love story between a mother and a daughter, but the line I actually started with was the moment in college when someone says, ‘Where are you from?’ and she […]

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“I have a theatrical temperament…. I think it comes out of being a ‘daughter of the Golden West.’ A lot of the stories I was brought up on had to do with extreme actions-leaving everything behind, crossing the trackless wastes, and in those stories the people who stayed behind and had their settled ways-those people […]

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“Just keep swimming, just keep swimming.” Dory in Finding Nemo While today won’t be the release of the book based on this blog, I’m getting closer to a release date. And since today is the 10th anniversary of starting this blog, I thought I’d at least share with you the artwork done by Predrag Capo for […]

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“The way that I conceptually looked at it was I wanted it to be one person’s coming of age is another person’s letting go. With just as much attention on the letting go side of it, as the coming of age side of it.” Greta Gerwig on writing Lady Bird WTF with Marc Maron podcast interview […]

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Yeah, what he said… Related post: Don’t Try and Complete with Hollywood—Edward Burns Shooting a Feature Film in 4 Days (Joe Swanberg) The Best Film School (Robert Rodriguez) Scott W. Smith

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”With the actors [on Lady Bird] I’d always say don’t play the comedy, play it truthful and it will be funny.” Writer/Director Greta Gerwig The Deadline Podcast P.S. This quote reminds me of one that Tina Fey said of one of the father’s of modern improv: “I remember taking workshops with Del Close, and he always used […]

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(Note: This is a reworking of a post originally written in 2008.) “Find a strong-willed character with a nothing-will-stand-in-my-way determination to reach his or her goal confronting strong opposition, add a strong action line, keep throwing obstacles (conflicts) in his or her path, and you’re well on your way to a gripping screenplay.” William Froug […]

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I’ll continue my run of posts on writer/director Greta Gerwig tomorrow but wanted share a photo I took yesterday of a nicer than average Florida sunset. As I driving east toward downtown Orlando I saw a man looking to the west with his camera pointed at the sky. “What’s that dude taking pictures of?” I […]

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The way I write is to allow myself to do things kind of unconsciously, and then I try to craft them after I’ve done it unconsciously. I have the distinct experience of tapping into something where I can just write, and write, and write, and it doesn’t feel like I’m doing the choosing of the […]

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