Screenwriting From Iowa http://screenwritingfromiowa.cedarvalley.com …or wherever you live outside of L.A. Sun, 18 Dec 2022 21:27:40 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.5 en Composing a Symphony vs. Playing Jazz (for Screenwriters) http://screenwritingfromiowa.cedarvalley.com/2020/12/22/composing-a-symphony-vs-playing-jazz-for-screenwriters/ http://screenwritingfromiowa.cedarvalley.com/2020/12/22/composing-a-symphony-vs-playing-jazz-for-screenwriters/#comments Tue, 22 Dec 2020 18:00:02 +0000 screenwritingfromiowa http://screenwritingfromiowa.cedarvalley.com/2020/12/22/composing-a-symphony-vs-playing-jazz-for-screenwriters/ I’m always on the lookout for fresh illustrations and analogies that apply to the writing process. Here’s one I just heard last week where author Salman Rushdie compared writing symphony music with how he used to write which was a very structured approach where the story was planned out, and how he writes now which […]

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]]> http://screenwritingfromiowa.cedarvalley.com/2020/12/22/composing-a-symphony-vs-playing-jazz-for-screenwriters/feed/ Once Upon a Time in Hollywood…and New Orleans http://screenwritingfromiowa.cedarvalley.com/2020/12/21/once-upon-a-time-in-hollywood%e2%80%a6and-new-orleans/ http://screenwritingfromiowa.cedarvalley.com/2020/12/21/once-upon-a-time-in-hollywood%e2%80%a6and-new-orleans/#comments Tue, 22 Dec 2020 00:00:06 +0000 screenwritingfromiowa http://screenwritingfromiowa.cedarvalley.com/2020/12/21/once-upon-a-time-in-hollywood%e2%80%a6and-new-orleans/ Over the weekend I started a massive project to organize my old photos. A couple decades of slides and negative film before I started shooting digitally in 2006. The first shot was taken at Paramount Studios in Hollywood. It’s a quintessential backlot location as you can see the Hollywood sign in the background. I was […]

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]]> http://screenwritingfromiowa.cedarvalley.com/2020/12/21/once-upon-a-time-in-hollywood%e2%80%a6and-new-orleans/feed/ Your Contract with the Audience is Written in the First 15 Minutes http://screenwritingfromiowa.cedarvalley.com/2020/12/18/your-contract-with-the-audience-is-written-in-the-first-15-minutes/ http://screenwritingfromiowa.cedarvalley.com/2020/12/18/your-contract-with-the-audience-is-written-in-the-first-15-minutes/#comments Fri, 18 Dec 2020 07:00:05 +0000 screenwritingfromiowa http://screenwritingfromiowa.cedarvalley.com/2020/12/18/your-contract-with-the-audience-is-written-in-the-first-15-minutes/ “Moss Hart said the audience will give you all their attention in the play’s first fifteen minutes; but in the sixteenth minute they will decide whether to go on the journey you want them to take. The first fifteen minutes draws up the contract of your agreement with the audience. You can subvert it or […]

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]]> http://screenwritingfromiowa.cedarvalley.com/2020/12/18/your-contract-with-the-audience-is-written-in-the-first-15-minutes/feed/ ‘Tell all the Truth but tell it slant’—Emily Dickinson http://screenwritingfromiowa.cedarvalley.com/2020/12/16/%e2%80%98tell-all-the-truth-but-tell-it-slant%e2%80%99%e2%80%94emily-dickinson/ http://screenwritingfromiowa.cedarvalley.com/2020/12/16/%e2%80%98tell-all-the-truth-but-tell-it-slant%e2%80%99%e2%80%94emily-dickinson/#comments Thu, 17 Dec 2020 04:00:05 +0000 screenwritingfromiowa http://screenwritingfromiowa.cedarvalley.com/2020/12/16/%e2%80%98tell-all-the-truth-but-tell-it-slant%e2%80%99%e2%80%94emily-dickinson/ Tell all the Truth but tell it slant —Success in Circuit liesToo bright for our infirm DelightThe Truth’s superb surpriseAs Lightning to the Children easedWith explanation kindThe Truth must dazzle graduallyOr every man be blind ——Emily Dickinson poem # 1129 (Tell all the Truth but tell it slant) The Emily Dickinson poem known as Tell […]

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]]> http://screenwritingfromiowa.cedarvalley.com/2020/12/16/%e2%80%98tell-all-the-truth-but-tell-it-slant%e2%80%99%e2%80%94emily-dickinson/feed/ My Favorite Film of 2020 (is a 1964 Japanese Film) http://screenwritingfromiowa.cedarvalley.com/2020/12/15/my-favorite-film-of-2020-is-a-1964-japanese-film/ http://screenwritingfromiowa.cedarvalley.com/2020/12/15/my-favorite-film-of-2020-is-a-1964-japanese-film/#comments Wed, 16 Dec 2020 03:16:37 +0000 screenwritingfromiowa http://screenwritingfromiowa.cedarvalley.com/2020/12/15/my-favorite-film-of-2020-is-a-1964-japanese-film/ “One day in August a man disappeared. He had simply set out for the seashore on a holiday, scarcely half a day by train, and nothing more was ever heard of him.”The opening words from the novel The Woman in the Dunes by Kôbô Abe Last night I was able to close the gap one […]

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]]> http://screenwritingfromiowa.cedarvalley.com/2020/12/15/my-favorite-film-of-2020-is-a-1964-japanese-film/feed/ Borrowing a Germ of an Idea http://screenwritingfromiowa.cedarvalley.com/2020/12/14/borrowing-a-germ-of-an-idea/ http://screenwritingfromiowa.cedarvalley.com/2020/12/14/borrowing-a-germ-of-an-idea/#comments Mon, 14 Dec 2020 23:00:03 +0000 screenwritingfromiowa http://screenwritingfromiowa.cedarvalley.com/2020/12/14/borrowing-a-germ-of-an-idea/ “As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into a gigantic insect.”Opening line of The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka In the second chapter of my book Screenwriting with Brass Knuckles I discuss a long list of filmmakers, musicians, screenwriters and artists —Spielberg, Stravinsky, Paul Schrader, Salvador Dali—who […]

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]]> http://screenwritingfromiowa.cedarvalley.com/2020/12/14/borrowing-a-germ-of-an-idea/feed/ You Don’t Need No Stinkin’ Computer and Screenwriting Software http://screenwritingfromiowa.cedarvalley.com/2020/12/11/you-don%e2%80%99t-need-no-stinkin%e2%80%99-computer-and-screenwriting-software/ http://screenwritingfromiowa.cedarvalley.com/2020/12/11/you-don%e2%80%99t-need-no-stinkin%e2%80%99-computer-and-screenwriting-software/#comments Sat, 12 Dec 2020 05:13:17 +0000 screenwritingfromiowa http://screenwritingfromiowa.cedarvalley.com/2020/12/11/you-don%e2%80%99t-need-no-stinkin%e2%80%99-computer-and-screenwriting-software/ Often times writers get into debates about which computers and screenwriting software are best. And others complain about the expense of computers and screenwriting software. (Though there are some pretty darn cheap computers these days—as in laptops cheaper than Xbox video game consoles— and screenwriting software that’s free.) But it’s worth pointing out some some […]

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]]> http://screenwritingfromiowa.cedarvalley.com/2020/12/11/you-don%e2%80%99t-need-no-stinkin%e2%80%99-computer-and-screenwriting-software/feed/ ‘Stories are about people who are messed up’ —Judd Apatow http://screenwritingfromiowa.cedarvalley.com/2020/12/10/%e2%80%98stories-are-about-people-who-are-messed-up%e2%80%99-%e2%80%94judd-apatow/ http://screenwritingfromiowa.cedarvalley.com/2020/12/10/%e2%80%98stories-are-about-people-who-are-messed-up%e2%80%99-%e2%80%94judd-apatow/#comments Thu, 10 Dec 2020 19:00:07 +0000 screenwritingfromiowa http://screenwritingfromiowa.cedarvalley.com/2020/12/10/%e2%80%98stories-are-about-people-who-are-messed-up%e2%80%99-%e2%80%94judd-apatow/ “Stories are about people who are messed up. . . . Comedy is where it all goes wrong.”—Judd ApatowExample A: Bridesmaids where Kristian Wigg’s character has it all goes wrong in her life—conflict with her career, her love life, and with her family and best friends. “You know people go to the movies to see […]

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]]> http://screenwritingfromiowa.cedarvalley.com/2020/12/10/%e2%80%98stories-are-about-people-who-are-messed-up%e2%80%99-%e2%80%94judd-apatow/feed/ Chuck Yeager, Sam Shepard & ‘The Right Stuff’ http://screenwritingfromiowa.cedarvalley.com/2020/12/08/chuck-yeager-sam-shepard-%e2%80%98the-right-stuff%e2%80%99/ http://screenwritingfromiowa.cedarvalley.com/2020/12/08/chuck-yeager-sam-shepard-%e2%80%98the-right-stuff%e2%80%99/#comments Tue, 08 Dec 2020 22:59:05 +0000 screenwritingfromiowa http://screenwritingfromiowa.cedarvalley.com/2020/12/08/chuck-yeager-sam-shepard-%e2%80%98the-right-stuff%e2%80%99/ For various reasons when The Right Stuff landed in movie theaters in 1984 it did not find a wide audience. But I was glad to experience it in all its glory on the big screen. I was in film school at the time and just delighted by the overall filmmaking of the movie. I was […]

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]]> http://screenwritingfromiowa.cedarvalley.com/2020/12/08/chuck-yeager-sam-shepard-%e2%80%98the-right-stuff%e2%80%99/feed/ ‘The Peanut Butter Falcon’ http://screenwritingfromiowa.cedarvalley.com/2020/11/24/%e2%80%98the-peanut-butter-falcon%e2%80%99%f0%9f%91/ http://screenwritingfromiowa.cedarvalley.com/2020/11/24/%e2%80%98the-peanut-butter-falcon%e2%80%99%f0%9f%91/#comments Wed, 25 Nov 2020 04:00:09 +0000 screenwritingfromiowa http://screenwritingfromiowa.cedarvalley.com/2020/11/24/%e2%80%98the-peanut-butter-falcon%e2%80%99%f0%9f%91/ “My wound is geography. It is also my anchorage, my port of call.”― Pat ConroyThe Prince of Tides When I finished watching The Peanut Butter Falcon over the weekend it reminded me of seeing Ferris Bueller’s Day Off the Friday it hit theaters back in 1986. In that I greatly enjoyed both and while the titles […]

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