Screenwriting From Iowa

Iowa has been a popular state this week. First Lady Michelle Obama was here on Tuesday and President Obama was here yesterday. It appears from the interviews I was hired to shoot for a D.C. group on Tuesday and Wednesday in Des Moines, Michelle is much more popular than her husband. From what I (a [...]

Original Source…

Here’s an exchange found in Creative Screenwriting magazine, Volume 4, #3 (Fall 1997) that should be an encouragement to you wherever you are writing in the world; Geoff Jordan: You’ve written a couple of scripts set in Omaha, Nebraska. Why? Alexander Payne: Because I kind of ‘get” Omaha’s world. If you’re going to make movies in [...]

Original Source…

Gotta keep rollin’, gotta keep ridin’ Gotta keep searchin’ till I find what’s right Bob Seger Roll Me Away  I was in the city today—Des Moines. Late Friday I received a call from a group in D.C. to do a video shoot in Des Moines on Tuesday and Wednesday, but it didn’t have anything with [...]

Original Source…

“You’re born alone and you die alone and this world just drops a bunch of rules on top of you to make you forget those facts. But I never forget. I’m living like there’s no tomorrow, because there isn’t one.” Don Draper (Jonn Hamm) Mad Men “Well, what if there is no tomorrow?” Phil (Bill [...]

Original Source…

I really should say “Story Plotting the J.K. Rowling Way,” but Harry Potter seemed more catchy and fun. But it was J.K. Rowling who actually wrote the Harry Potter books  empire. The one that helped create her net worth (as of March 2011) of over one billion dollars. Want to know what part of her [...]

Original Source…

“In 1998, I had finished writing ‘Toy Story’ and ‘A Bug’s Life’ and I was completely hooked on screenwriting. So I wanted to become much better at it and learn anything I could. So I researched everything I possibly could. And I finally came across this fantastic quote by a British playwright, William Archer: ‘Drama [...]

Original Source…

Reading departures signs in some big airport Reminds me of the places I’ve been… Jimmy Buffett Changes in Lattitudes, Changes in Attitudes  If you ever wonder why you ride the carousel, You do it for the stories you can tell… Jimmy Buffett Stories You Can Tell  Jimmy Buffett has said when he was a youth [...]

Original Source…

“His body was battered, his whole world was shattered And all he could do was just cry…” Jimmy Buffett He Went to Paris When you think of Jimmy Buffett in terms of geography you probably think of the south, but did you know part of his early performing roots were in the Midwest? Buffett was [...]

Original Source…

As a dreamer of dreams and a travelin’ man I have chalked up many a mile Read dozens of books about heroes and crooks And I learned much from both of their styles  Jimmy Buffett Son of a Son of a Sailor  Jimmy Buffett will be playing in Iowa Tuesday night. The Des Moines Register [...]

Original Source…

      “On my first night in Vienna, Jonathan [Carroll, author of Bones of the Moon] walked me down to the Danube, where we sat on a flight of steps leading down to the river. The dog walkers were out in force. Greetings were exchanged with small movements of the eyes, and the dogs sniffed [...]

Original Source…