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Screenwriting

POP: ScriptGirl Report for August 1st 2008
2008-08-06 14:30:00
Great! Another Fast & Furious type movie. I thought the horse was dead. Oh right they're still beating the $%^& out of it.
POP: Joe Eszterhas on Screenwriting
2008-08-03 14:30:00
Yes! It is actual advice from a screenwriter who actually has made films that people watch. I read his most recent book The Devil's Guide to Hollywood and is definitely worth checking out, even when he repeats himself.
Of Titanic and screenwriting
2008-04-18 21:09:00
Last night, I was in kind of a strange, mellow mood. Maybe it was because a date (which I had understood was to be a dinner-date) ended up being a let’s-get-acquainted date (a not unwelcome development), I decided to order in and pop in DVD. Before even rooting through my DVD collection, it ...
POW POW - BANG BANG!!
2007-12-03 21:40:00
Series: Diary of a would-be filmmaker Report: Expat Filmmakers Author: Craig McGeady, Seoul PC-Bangs* are glorious places when the smell of smoke isn?t getting to you and the noise from the million little clicks on keyboards isn’t pounding into your hangover or even the constant ‘pow-pow, bang-bang’ from what ever currently fashionable computer game is quickly driving ...
The Mighty Pencil - A Way to Support Writers
2007-11-26 04:21:00
www.pencils2mediamoguls.com I’ll be make my bulk order this week. Share This
Screenwriting - Adapting ?Cholera? to the Screen
2007-11-16 00:00:00
Adapting a novel to the screen is one of the most challenging assignments there is. In almost every case, the screenwriter has to pick the story apart and put it back together again so that it would be interesting and appealing as a story told in moving pictures. Everything internal has to be externalized so ...
My ?4? Cents on the Writer?s Strike
2007-11-10 16:07:00
I know I should have mentioned this sooner but I’ve been spending some time on messageboards and reading comments about the current WGA strike. It blows my mind how easily manipulated people are by the rich. It actually makes me nauseous. If you don’t like Unions it’s either because you’re rich with a golden ...
Integrated and Open. Celtx screenwriting and pre-production podcast.
2007-11-09 14:00:00
Presented here for download is a two-part podcast of a recent presentation I gave at the Los Angeles Screenwriters conference. Entitled "Re-thinking the process of script to screen: Integrated approaches to writing and screenplay development with Celtx." the presentation looks at an integrated and multi-perspective approach to screenwriting using Celtx open source software. It covers all the major features of Celtx but goes beyond simply what they can do and into what they represent and evoke in terms of creative process and a holistic engagement with 21st century cinema and cinematic writing.- PART 1and- PART 2(right+click and select Save As) Download Celtx for Free Here
By: Blog Zone
Race Wars
2007-11-07 19:10:00
When Loren and Gabriel started drinking Smirnoff Ice in my apartment the other day, I hurled a series of appropriate insults at them: "Smirnoff Ice?! What are you?sorority girls? What next?you want me to get you some peach wine coolers? How 'bout after that?you wanna go to Chevy's and order margaritas?" But I did recognize it as a perfect opportunity to throw on Madea's Family Reunion, Tyler Perry's second movie. We all, of course, laughed hysterically throughout the film. (Me, without the aid of alcohol because that's how I roll).Watching the movie reignited Gabriel and Loren's repeated insistence that I follow Tyler Perry's career trajectory, cornering the Asian-American market instead of the African-American one. "Thai-Ler Par-Lee!" Loren often declares. "Get it? Get it?!" And in order to drive the point home, he'll write out "Thai-Ler Par-Lee" on a stray piece of paper and shove it in my face.To evaluate how best to approach the Asian-American market in question, Gabriel...
Screenwriting Self Help
2007-11-05 14:00:00
A week in LA at the Los Angeles Screenwriter's conference and expo was always bound to be a fascinating experience on a whole range of levels. And predictably the range spanned from the sublime to the ridiculous.What struck me as particularly fascinating (bordering on the hilarious) as I perused the presentations and trade show was the broad culture of 'justification'. LA is a city drowning in screenwriters - stop any given person, of any demographic, in any given LA suburb and ask 'how their screenplay is comin'? and you're all but guaranteed to get a legitimate response.Now truth be acknowledged, writing a feature screenplay is hard, really hard. And that's well before you begin to factor in the seemingly random 'leaf in the wind' personality shifts of producers and studios as to what it is they're looking for. Writing the screenplay is really hard and selling it is excruciating. Consummate ability and masses of hard work are required and yet still no guarantee of anythi...
By: Blog Zone
Frequently Asked Questions, Part I: "How Do You Spend Your Day?" and "What
2007-10-26 21:06:00
I'm launching a new occasional feature today that aims to answer questions that I am most frequently asked. Although the question I receive most by far is, "What hole is your favorite?," we'll save that one for a later date and tackle these two: "How do you spend your day?" and "What are you working on?"When it comes to how people perceive me, folks tend to fall into two camps. There are those who think I am a stereotypical overachieving Asian, a workaholic who slaves away at various projects with tireless (and inscrutable!) dedication and focus. And then there are those who assume I do pretty much nothing but watch TV, surf the Internet, and download porn, since I am home all day long. To the former people, I feel like a fraud because I think they over-idealize the life of a writer; to the latter people, I feel like smacking them because you don't achieve the things that I've achieved by lounging about with a vibrator rammed up your ass all day. What's closer to the truth is p...
Gorman On Screenwriting #1
2007-10-18 09:47:00
I know being an ‘aspiring screenwriter’ doesn’t make me a greatest authority on the subject, but I’ve read a lot of books, and I’ve written a lot of self proclaimed garbage. That might as well make me a trained professional. Well at least ‘trained’. Rather than cover some pretentious post about three act structure (which ...
LA Screenwriting Expo
2007-10-14 16:00:00
Everyone else gets a conference trade-show, why not screenwriters...? Screenwriting Expo-6 is on again this October - 24th- 28th - with quite an array of guest speakers including William Goldman and Steve Zallian. And for comic relief, if nothing else, yours truly will also be in attendence delivering several presentations looking at :New Approaches to Writing from Script to Screen Presented by CeltxIntegrating processes of writing and screenplay development with Celtx. For too long the writing of the screenplay has been divorced from the development of ideas into cinematic vision. Now in the digital age we are afforded enormous opportunities to embrace tools that allow for an holistic approach to developing a movie project from concept, character and script - through to pre-visualization, storyboarding and production. Celtx is just such a tool. Open source and free, Celtx brings together comprehensive screenwriting, character and plot development tools with storyboarding,break-down...
By: Blog Zone
Screenwriting Secrets Exposed.
2007-10-03 22:47:00
This Revolutionary Book Teaches Screenwriters How To Captivate Their Audience In Every Scene! These Concepts Are Taught Nowhere Else On The Planet. This Book Will Alter The Manner In Which Screenplay Structure Is Taught World-wide.
Still Joey McIntyre After All These Years
2007-09-20 19:53:00
In reading over "How a Playwright Got His Groove Back," which I originally wrote eight years ago, I am most struck by how much I've changed. (I'm way sluttier nowadays.) Sure, as I pointed out, most of the ideas and principles that I wrote about are still valid today, but it's amusing to notice how different I am (or am I?) and it's also fun to mull over the behind-the-scenes stuff that happened thereafter. So here are sort of DVD-commentary revelations about that essay:1. I still go to Joey McIntyre concerts, but I'm not embarrassed to go alone.2. I met Joe Mac in 2001, after he performed in Jonathan Larson's Tick, Tick...Boom! in New York. He autographed a picture of himself and then touched my shoulder tenderly?a shoulder that I have not washed since. I am still tickled by what he wrote and by the fact that he actual listened to my incoherent blubberings. (I could recount the experience here, but, believe me, it'll be far more fun for you to think about me, think about Joe...
Meme Madness
2007-09-20 19:09:00
For the love of Christ, I hate getting tagged with a meme. It always feels like I've been handed a homework assignment, and you know how much I hated school. ("How much did you hate school, Prince?") If you look at my profile or read my bio on my main website, you'll notice how there is no mention that I went to college. Yes, indeed, I went to San Francisco State University for seven years, earning my BA in Film and MFA in Playwriting, but I hold such a grudge against those bastards that I've practically disowned them. Okay, well, not really, because I still have SFSU friends and such, but, c'mon, they still owe me prize money from a 1995 playwriting contest I won! And when it comes to playwrights and monies not paid, we never ever forget. As you can see, I hold petty grudges, so never wrong me, motherfuckers!Anyway, playwright Tim Bauer tagged me with this meme on his blog:Make a list of five strengths that you possess as a writer/artist. It?s not really bragging, it?s an hones...
How a Playwright Got His Groove Back
2007-09-19 21:54:00
[The following is an essay I wrote in 1999 for Callboard magazine (now Theatre Bay Area magazine), in which I expound about the writing life and matters of the soul. Although I have changed tremendously over the last eight years, much of the stuff here is pretty valid. And some of this stuff will make you roll your eyes and declare, "Man, that Prince! Some things never change!" I'm always kind of hesitant to dig into my archives because my writing is so much better nowadays and a lot of my beliefs and opinions are very different from when I was younger?but I think many people may find value here despite.] I do not know any 13-year-old girls. Otherwise, I would've easily found someone to go with me to see Joey McIntyre in concert. (Joey is a former member of the '80s boy band New Kids on the Block. He's now 26, he's gone solo, and he's the sexiest man in the universe.) All my friends gave me looks of either confusion and/or concern when I asked them to chaperone me (after ...
Citing Shakespeare Makes You Seem Smart
2007-09-12 20:15:00
Last night was the second week of the Writing Is Rewriting workshop, and I found myself once again referencing Hamlet, which makes me seem smarter than I actually am. That's the power of Shakespeare. Cite him every once in a while, and whatever you say has the air of authority and the ring of gospel truth.We've been talking a lot about the idea of a play's thematic journey and how most plays express certain thematic ideas at the beginning and usually express nearly opposite thematic ideas at the end. And that thematic journey from beginning to end often dictates the development of the narrative, the characters, and the emotional core.For example, one of the major themes that Hamlet tackles in its opening scenes is the necessity for revenge. By the end, of course, that idea is turned upside down, and we see that the play is about the futility of revenge. That's one of the thematic journeys of the play, of which there are many and include ideas of familial obligation, betrayal, ac...
How Cultural Elitists Are Destroying Art and Creativity; Or: Why Guilty Ple
2007-09-09 18:55:00
The words "a Rob Zombie film" and the fact that I'm not particularly fond of John Carpenter's original Halloween did not deter me from going to see Zombie's remake of the 1978 slasher film. It's two hours of innocent people getting gruesomely hacked to death (as well as slaughtered in other horrifying ways) by a masked psychopath with no emotion or an ounce of human decency?what's not to like about a movie like this, really? Besides, Malcolm McDowell shows up, supposedly lending the project some artistic cred. (But is that cancelled out by the fact that he starred in Firestarter 2: Rainbird?)This Halloween pretty much replicates the plot and carnage from the first movie, but with Zombie's deft and convincing directorial vision. And an hour-long first act is tagged on in order to humanize the crazed killer, Michael Meyers, delving into his grotesque white-trash childhood and documenting his murderous antics at the age of 10?four people beaten or stabbed to death by his young h...
Wheat Only, Please
2007-09-05 17:09:00
Last night was the launch of Writing Is Rewriting, a new workshop facilitated by me through East West Players' David Henry Hwang Writers Institute. In order to cut the wheat from the chaff*, Jeff (EWP's literary manager) and I devised a complicated application process, complete with short essay questions; asked for a writing sample; scheduled the workshop on inconvenient Tuesday nights (instead of the usual Saturday mornings, when traffic is much easier to deal with); and raised the fee. Despite these tactics, people signed up anyway, and the class is full at the cap of six students, all of whom I've worked with before. Gluttons for punishment or serious writers? How about: both.My first words: "No more screwin' around!" During the course of 13 weeks, they will take their plays to the next level and get them production-ready.The first session sparked lots of lively discussion, and I sort of wish we recorded it because we talked about issues that people in theater talk about all ...
Mark Twain?s Rules Governing Romantic Fiction
2007-09-04 22:58:00
He wrote these rules in response to Cooper's first novel Deerslayer which was being praised by Professors of Literature. Not only are these rules a good laugh, but they are actually point out fundamentals in writing.
Kick Me While I'm Down...Please
2007-09-02 17:56:00
[The following is an essay I wrote in 2001 for Callboard magazine (now Theatre Bay Area magazine), in which I wax philosophical about success and failure. Thanks to Peter for prompting me to dig it out of my archives and liking it enough that I thought it would be worth it to share with you all.]After I read a particularly mean-spirited review of a play of mine, I immediately dove into a self-help book for guidance and comfort. The book told me literally to shake my fist at the heavens and exclaim, "I'll show them!"My friend Trevor suggested that, though it sounded ridiculously new-agey and melodramatic, this might be therapeutic for someone like me. (You can draw your own conclusions as to what "someone like me" is like.) So indeed, right there and then, I raised my fist to the sky and screamed as loud as I could?twice?much to Trevor's embarrassment because he didn't realize that I would actually do it while we were walking down a crowded sidewalk.PRINCE: I'll show them!TREVOR:...
Most People Don't Know How to Give Feedback to Writers
2007-08-23 17:30:00
Works-in-progress are sacred ground. And in the past I have taken enough writing workshops myself to know that people piss on that ground all the time. I mean, have any of you ever taken a fiction class? I don't think I've ever encountered more self-hating artists with a thirst for blood anywhere else. The Brutal Writing Workshop has been parodied in enough films for me to know that it's a common phenomenon.As explained in my recent post, one of the greatest challenges that writers face is finishing what they started. Many will cite lack of time as the number one factor that keeps them from getting to the end, but I actually think it's the internal critic that is the most problematic. When it comes to working on first drafts, self-criticism leads to self-defeat. And in a group of your supposed peers, the wrong kind of feedback compounds the problem. If you are full of self-doubt about your work, others tend to pick up on that and see it as an invitation to kick your literary ass...
Finishing What You Started
2007-08-15 06:43:00
Moose in the Kitchen recently brought up the following writing issue:If you post about how to, you know, finish a piece of writing, or even just finish a second draft, I will REVERE you. (I've been reading your blog long enough to know you have a hard time turning down reverence, i.e., just long enough to know how to manipulate you shamelessly.)A girl who properly uses "i.e." (as opposed to "e.g.") is a girl after my heart or, at the very least, my attention. So here we go....We live in a society of exchange. And the way things operate (whether they should operate that way is irrelevant) has been burned into our psyche since birth. When you work, you receive something in return. Most of the time it's money. Some of the time it's food, drugs, or sex. (I mean, who hasn't received a blow job after doing some yard work?) Simply put, when we work, we expect to get paid in some way, shape, or form. If there's no tangible return, it saps our motivation and we lose our sense of purpo...
Marketing Your Screenwriting, Acting, and Filmmaking Blogs
2007-04-20 00:00:00
Getting people to read your blog takes some action on your part. Of course, the Scriptologist.com staff is reading all the blogs in our network and looking for the best ones to add to our newsletter and feature on the home page of Scriptologist.com. We're also adding blog sites to the Scriptologist Blogs Directory . You can click here to add your blog to the directory if your blog is not already listed.One of the fastest ways to get people to read your blog is to use the send-to-a-friend feature located underneath your blog articles. This feature allows you to email your blog article links to everyone you know. It's also considered to be viral marketing because it enables you to send your message to many people at once.When you tell people to check out your blog, will they really read it? They will probably say, 'Yeah, I'll take a look at it.' But they never do.When you use the send-to-a-friend feature, you know they'll open their email and click on the link to ...
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