Screenwriting From Iowa

“Once there was a tree, and she loved a little boy.”  Shel Silverstein, The Giving Tree Like a good antagonist there are many ways a hurricane can do damage. The above photo I took the day after Hurricane Irma hit Central Florida is one example. There’s the powerful winds (including tornados tucked inside the hurricane) that […]

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“It could have been much worse. That was the grateful mantra on the lips of many on Monday, even as an estimated 12 million Floridians prepared for a dark night without air conditioning in the muggy post-storm swelter.” The Washington Post on Hurricane Irma 9.11.17 Courtesy of Hurricane Irma I spent 40 hours this week living […]

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“It’s like we’re in this sweet spot. It’s like we’re blessed somehow, protected.” Allison Yeh, a planner for Hillsborough County in Tampa (As quoted in the Washington Post/July 2017.) “We’re about to get punched in the face.” Tampa mayor Bob Buckhorn /September 10, 2017 “By a stroke of gambler’s luck, Tampa Bay hasn’t suffered a […]

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“Sometimes you know something’s coming…you feel it in the air. A voice in your head is telling you something is going to go terribly wrong…and there’s nothing you can do to stop it.” John Rayburn (Kyle Chandler) in Bloodline Todd A. Kessler,  Glenn Kessler,  Daniel Zelman created the Netflix series Bloodline which was shot in the Florida Keys. […]

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Scott W. Smith  

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This is the storm before the storm. I took the above photo of Irma Avenue after making a wrong turn in downtown Orlando today trying to work around heavier than normal traffic. (Those clouds are just a normal summer clouds…Hurricane Irma is still a few days away from hitting Central Florida.) Interesting times: Flooding in […]

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“I learned a lot from [Ernest Rides Again director] John Cherry…He told me, ‘If it’s not about world domination, it’s not about anything at all.’ What do you think that means? And why should something that applies to a goofy comedy created for little kids to watch with babysitters apply to your magnum opus? In […]

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“One characteristic emerged as a significant predictor of success. And it wasn’t social intelligence, it wasn’t good looks, physical health, and it wasn’t IQ—it was grit. Grit is passion and perseverance for very long term goals. ” Author Angela Lee Duckworth (Grit) Ted Talk Related post: Screenwriting & a 10 Foot Concrete Wall Scott W. […]

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“Need is undoubtedly the most common, the most useful, the most malleable, and the most easily understood and accepted basis for a story…In The African Queen two completely diverse personalities are forced to ride the length of a dangerous African river in a dilapidated boat—that is the situation. Their need is two-fold; first, to leave the territory, which […]

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“There’s a giant group of people who want to be writers, and a smaller group who actually write, and an even smaller group who are actually going to strive so hard that someone’s going to pay attention to them…I was obsessed at one point. I took every course, I read magazines, and I just kept […]

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