18th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards Sunday
Best Acting Awards, voted on by only peer actors in the union, SAG awards show for 2011 best acting in TV and film airs this Sunday January 29, 2012, 8:00 pm Eastern Standard Time, 5:00 pm Pacific Time California. Screen Actors Guild Awards shows on channels TNT and TBS.
Specials to watch on the Internet: red carpet and stuntman / stunt woman honors at 6ET/3PT on TNT.tv, TBS.com, and People.com.
Read more at: SAG Awards
Best Screenplay Best Picture Oscar Nominations Announced for the 84th Academy Awards
Best Screenplay, Best Picture, Best Film Shorts,
Oscar Nominations Announced for the 84th Academy Awards!
Represented here by these movies and scripts are what the Academy deems the biggest and best screenwriters of 2011.
Jaden’s picks are in green, winners will be in red.
THE IRON LADY written by Abi Morgan is curiously not nominated for Best Picture or Best Screenplay. Written by a woman, it is the story of the first female Prime Minister of the UK, politically conservative Margaret Thatcher. The Iron Lady script is the most profound, meaningful, interesting, multi-dimensional, and story tight of all the movies I’ve seen this year — I’d say the Best Screenplay! The Iron Lady has two Oscar nominations: one for Makeup and one for Acting, but how can it be nominated for acting without a sensational script to act? Every year, it seems a superior script is mysteriously left out of the game, while inferior scripts prevail; this year, it’s The Iron Lady that has been bumped.
The nominees for the 2012 Academy Awards are…
Best Picture
- “The Artist” Thomas Langmann, Producer
- “The Descendants” Jim Burke, Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor, Producers
- “Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close” Scott Rudin, Producer
- “The Help” Brunson Green, Chris Columbus and Michael Barnathan, Producers
- “Hugo” Graham King and Martin Scorsese, Producers (Click here for Jaden’s review)
- “Midnight in Paris” Letty Aronson and Stephen Tenenbaum, Producers
- “Moneyball” Michael De Luca, Rachael Horovitz and Brad Pitt, Producers
- “The Tree of Life” Nominees to be determined
- “War Horse“ Steven Spielberg and Kathleen Kennedy, Producers
Writing (Adapted Screenplay)
- “The Descendants” Screenplay by Alexander Payne and Nat Faxon & Jim Rash
- “Hugo” Screenplay by John Logan (Click here for Jaden’s review)
- “The Ides of March” Screenplay by George Clooney & Grant Heslov and Beau Willimon
- “Moneyball” Screenplay by Steven Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin; Story by Stan Chervin
- “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy” Screenplay by Bridget O’Connor & Peter Straughan
Writing (Original Screenplay)
- “The Artist” Written by Michel Hazanavicius
- “Bridesmaids” Written by Annie Mumolo & Kristen Wiig
- “Margin Call” Written by J.C. Chandor
- “Midnight in Paris” Written by Woody Allen (Click here for Jaden’s review)
- “A Separation” Written by Asghar Farhadi
Short Film (Animated)
- “Dimanche/Sunday” Patrick Doyon
- “The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore” William Joyce and Brandon Oldenburg
- “La Luna” Enrico Casarosa
- “A Morning Stroll” Grant Orchard and Sue Goffe
- “Wild Life” Amanda Forbis and Wendy Tilby
Short Film (Live Action)
- “Pentecost” Peter McDonald and Eimear O’Kane
- “Raju” Max Zähle and Stefan Gieren
- “The Shore” Terry George and Oorlagh George
- “Time Freak” Andrew Bowler and Gigi Causey
- “Tuba Atlantic” Hallvar Witzø
Ryan Gosling to Play 49ers Quarterback Alex Smith ?
Am watching the epic NFL Championship football game today, the New York Giants against the San Francisco 49ers. Score is currently tied 7 to 7.
Can’t help but notice how much Hollywood’s sweetheart Ryan Gosling looks like 49ers quarterback Alex Smith.
Gosling played a football character in an independent film called The Slaughter Rule (2002) written and directed by none other than brothers Andrew and Alex Smith! (A different Alex Smith of course.)
If anyone makes a movie about Niner Alex Smith, Ryan Gosling has to play the part.
Go Niners!!!
…
Ok now, the Giants-Niners score is tied again at 17 to 17! Suspense.
…
Giants won.
Guess there won’t be a movie with Gosling playing Alex Smith.
‘Tis fate.
YouTube & Your Chance at the Venice Film Festival
The one thing I am always pushing on Screenwriting for Hollywood is that screenwriters make their own movies and show them wherever they can, especially on YouTube where the world is your audience.
Now YouTube has partnered up with Scott Free, the Venice Film Festival, and Emirates Airlines to award someone, anyone, a great unknown filmmaker from anywhere in the world, $25,000 director salary and $475,000 to make a film!
50 finalists will be voted on YouTube and the top 10 will be shown at the Venice Film Festival; one will win the grand prize.
This is the longest shot of long shots, but if you believe in yourself and you were uploading your films to YouTube already, why not go for the gold?
There are few requirements. It has to be new since January 1, 2010 and it has to be under 15 minutes. You must be over 18 years old.
Free, no entry fee.
Remember what I talked about in Make a Movie with No Money? It is extremely important for this competition that you SAY SOMETHING, that your story develops and surprises viewers, and that your character goes through some kind of change. If you don’t have story arch and development, if you just have some nonsensical pretty footage, I can assure you, you will not win this competition. This is about storytelling, first and foremost, and then your acting and visuals need to also be stunning.
Watch the above video about some filmmakers who have launched their careers through YouTube. They each have very different styles and tales to tell, but the public liked what they had to show.
Read more about the film festival competition here: http://www.youtube.com/user/yourfilmfestival
Location Location Location
by Jaden
“Location, location, location,” is a real estate property motto, meaning to say that it is not about the house itself that has value, but rather the land on which it sits that determines how much the house is worth.
A little shack with a small garden out in the middle of Kansas has very little value, whereas the same exact house and garden could be worth millions if it was on Manhattan in New York.
Location is equally important when writing your screenplay. The choice of your location settings in your scripts could also mean the difference between millions of dollars or your script never selling.
Location gives mood and setting to your story. It is part of the story. By choosing famous locations, your readers and viewers already know certain things, so it saves you a lot of time in explaining them in your story.
Woody Allen has famously used New York as his backdrop to many screenplays and movies. He has not only used New York to augment his stories, but he has also added to the general public’s knowledge of what is New York and what it is to be a New Yorker.
Woody Allen more recently has chosen to branch out and spotlight Paris and Barcelona, even using the cities’ names in the movie titles, which brought great film success by city association. People like me who love Paris or long to go to Barcelona will pay money to see the movie just based on the title and city alone.
Each time you tell a story, your use of a location adds to the world knowledge of information about that location.
Perhaps you will choose your hometown as a backdrop to your story and maybe your script will be the only movie ever featuring that town. As long as there is something special about that town, something that separates it and makes it unique, then your story would probably be the authority providing information about that town.
On the other hand, maybe your hometown is exactly like hundreds of other towns, and for that reason, for being nondescript, you might tell an ironic or dark humor story.
In the current show Once Upon a Time, the Any Town is a witch’s fairytale curse.
Characters are what drive most TV shows through the seasons, not the location. Television sitcoms capitalize on the nondescript Any Town America so that they can focus on the distinctions or parallels of their characters.
For movies, you want to do something different than TV. David Lynch specializes in taking the Any Town and making it creepy with all sorts of dark secrets and strange characters.
Alcatraz is an exciting new TV show coming out tomorrow night January 16. Picked up by Fox, the TV pilot episode was based on a screenplay by Elizabeth Sarnoff, Steven Lilien and Bryan Wynbrandt. The Alcatraz title and story immediately enthrall you because of the history and mystery of its real life location, the high security island prison in the San Francisco Bay. The Alcatraz prison location comes with boatloads of intriguing real and fictitious characters from which to select.
If you are having writer’s block, studying locations is wildly inspiring.
When I study a new location, there seems to be a serendipity of interesting facts that play perfectly into my story.
If you are struggling to find a location for your story, do a search using mood and theme keywords that express what kind of story you are trying to write. You can do searches for “romantic city” or “scary country” or “mysterious place” or “strangest architecture” or “roughest river” or “highest mountain”. Look at the locations of what each of your searches brings. You just might find the exact right place to encapsulate your story.
Say your movie title was “Highest Mountain,” a general location: what it implies is hope and achievement. Wouldn’t it be interesting to flip that upside-down and tell a story about failure and sinking to all time lows?
I could go on forever about the importance of location and all the ways in which it can liven up or sell your story, but hopefully you get the idea now.
In researching a location, ideal ingredients and missing links present themselves to you and help take your story in a new direction that may have otherwise eluded you. Respect and always consider location in your screenplays.
Note: Remember, when writing screenplays, the goal is to be as tight and clear as possible, using the least words to say the most; continue to do that with your locations and scene headings: short and to the point!
Top 5 Ways to Get Noticed as a Screenwriter
by Jaden
1) Go To Film School
Go to film school at USC, UCLA, or NYU. If you are young and in high school, have great grades, this the best option for you. You will get experience writing and making movies. You might win awards at film festivals. You will make invaluable friendships who will later become your references when they get into the working world.
2) Move to Hollywood
Move to Hollywood, meet people, work in Hollywood, write scripts, make independent movies, socialize, and earn a real personal writing reference.
3) Enter Screenplay Contests
Enter legitimate screenplay competitions where the winner has access to legitimate writer agents.
4) Use the Internet
Use the Internet to develop a creative writing blog, self publish a novel or short stories, exhibit your screenplays online, and build a following of people interested in your writing. By establishing yourself as a writer and building an audience, you will eventually get noticed by someone with the big bucks who can get your career going for you, like an agent, publisher, producer, or filmmaker. You have to do the initial work to get noticed.
5) Make Movies
Make movies. Connect with local filmmakers. Either direct a movie yourself or find someone else interested in your writing who will make a movie from your script. Make the movie! Submit your short film or feature film to film festivals. Load up short films to YouTube. Film your scripts and be seen! You can make movies with your cell phone and YouTube is free, so don’t tell me you don’t have equipment or money. One thing I did was buy a nice video camera and use my friend’s editing software; after I finished filming my movie, I sold the camera immediately and got all my money back. Give screen credit in your film to anyone who helps you. Get creative!
If you want to be a screenwriter, you need to…
- prove that you can write entertaining stories that people like,
- prove that you can inspire paying customers by building an audience,
- prove that you understand the business of filmmaking and television by having experience in the entertainment industry from jobs or making independent movies,
- and make some friends with entertainment industry people who will one day be your references and know these things are all true about you.
Patience and persistence my friends.
RELATED ARTICLES:
Do I Need an Agent?
Hollywood or NYC?
Reality Bites: Life of a Screenwriter In Hollywood
Sexist America, Racist Hollywood
Write a Screenplay in One Month: Week Zero
What are Spec Scripts?
FAQs
For clarity, this article has been truncated from its original size.
More about references will be provided in a separate post.
How To Write War Movie Scripts
by Jaden
11-11-11
Today is Veterans Day in the United States.
To honor veterans and soldiers around the world who have a story to tell, this article is for you.
Writing military movies is extremely difficult. You have to walk the thin red line between a gruesome reality, idealistic fantasy, and the emotional realm, while also catering to what the majority of people find acceptable to watch on screen.
Every military veteran surely has a personal story to tell, even if it is just one of boredom, such as in Jarhead (2005), or one of fear, as in Oscar winner The Hurt Locker (2008), or one of being an arms dealer businessman, as in the great Lord of War (2005).
Then there are street war films like groundbreaking City of God (2002) that have more freedom but also have some of the same development obstacles.
How do you explain the unexplainable and mention the unmentionables of war in a reasonable way without coming across as unpatriotic, unsympathetic to the military, or uncaring to humanity as a whole?
Telling the story of what you experienced is a moral challenge in and of itself that may become the subject of your script: a conflict between actions, feelings, and public perception.
There are thousands, if not millions of military people who have a story to tell, so what makes your story unique and attractive to the masses?
The public wants to watch your war story for a few possible reasons: 1) they can relate to it; 2) it is something new they never considered; 3) shock value, 4) current propaganda, 5) for pure entertainment, or 6) to right the wrongs, or perhaps, to wrong the rights.
To have a big hit of a movie, people must sympathize with your lead character(s). My articles about understanding your audience and how to write a likable bad guy will help you to write your military characters.
In short, to have popular characters, you have to show reasonable motivations. Some common war story motivations are the drive to survive, the conflict between duty and morals, maintaining sanity in the face of madness, and stories of love and hope.
Your audience will skew male, so action, suspense, artillery, machinery, and sexy women usually go over well.
Military stories tend to be one-sided and only appeal to one’s own nation.
If you can appeal to an international audience, then you probably will have tapped into the essence of humanity itself and will have created a huge commercial success. Usually, you have to turn to science fiction or fantasy to do this, thereby not naming any particular nation as the bad guy, and use fictitious beings and nations to address current political issues at home. Great sci-fi fantasy war movies that have worldwide appeal are Star Wars (1977), Avatar (2009), and Lord of the Rings (2001).
If you want to write a script, you have to read scripts to know how they are structured and function. Start by studying the war scripts of those who have marched before you.
To read scripts, click on the titles below or this list here of successful military war movie scripts for more screenplays.
Some of these scripts may have been written by individuals who have no real military experience at all, but maybe they were adapted from a novel by a veteran.
What is important for you to focus on is not the reality of their stories, but rather their ability to entertain and present a story that the masses want to watch.
Apocalypse Now (1979)
Novel by Joseph Conrad
Screenplay by Francis Ford Coppola, John Milius, and Michael Herr
Directed by Francis Ford Coppola
Starring Martin Sheen, Marlon Brando, Robert Duvall, and Dennis Hopper
Story:
During wartime, who can say what is sane? Surfing, slaughtering, and sloshing, this is a bizarre psychedelic tale of one Captain Willard on a secret mission in Cambodia to hunt down highly decorated Colonel Kurtz who has set himself up as a local spiritual leader.
Movie Quotes:
CLEAN “What did you put in all those ammo boxes?”
WILLARD “Rocks, sand — those two men who deserted.”
CHIEF “Shit! Fucking arrows! They’re shooting fucking arrows at us.”
MOONBY “I said to myself, why didn’t he shoot me? He didn’t shoot me, because I had a stash like you wouldn’t believe. — Opium — cocaine — uncut Heroin; the Gold of the Golden Triangle. and Acid — I make Koolaid that makes purple Owsley come on like piss. Now I’m Kurtz’ own Disciple — I listen he talks. About everything! Everything. I forgot there’s such a thing as sleep. Everything. Of love, too.”
Public Response:
Apocalypse Now had 8 Oscar nominations and 2 wins for Best Cinematography and Sound.
Forty years later, Apocalypse Now is still chilling and psychologically disturbing. This movie is all over the place as it visits the strangest circumstances of the Vietnam war.
Tom writes, “Many people complain about the ending, but I think it’s perfect. Nothing is explicitly stated, and no grand meaning is given to the prior events, but that is the point. War is chaos. Kurtz, despite making some sense, is actually “insane”. Willard kills him, as per his orders, but he has been changed by the whole ordeal, as has the audience, as has America after Vietnam. The script is good, this draft is OK, but the film itself is a masterwork, particularly the Redux. It is so beautiful and haunting.”
To read more comments, click here.
Full Metal Jacket (1987)
Here are two different versions of the script at corky.net and visual-memory.co.uk.
Novel by Gustav Hasford
Screenplay by Stanley Kubrick, Gustav Hasford, and Michael Herr
Directed by Stanley Kubrick
Starring Matthew Modine, R. Lee Ermey and Vincent D’Onofrio
Story:
From bootcamp to the streets of Vietnam, this 1960s U.S. Marines story Full Metal Jacket is tough to swallow, as is war.
Movie Quotes:
SERGEANT ”I want it so sanitary and spotless and sparkling that the Virgin Mary herself would he proud to go in there and take a dump.”
SERGEANT ”What is your major malfunction, numbnuts?!! Didn’t Mommy and Daddy show you enough attention when you were a child?!!!”
Public Response:
Full Metal Jacket had 1 Oscar nomination and 1 win for Best Adapted Screenplay.
Stanley Kubrick is my favorite director, so much that I named my female dog after him. All his films blow my mind, this is no exception. The distinct movie score, music, and sound effects are particularly outstanding and withstand the test of time, as does the dark twisted humor of the script.
Veteran Richard Stafford writes, “I spent a total of 5 yrs and and 3 months in Viet-Nam (3 tours plus 3 extensions). I was in the Infantry and my last tour I was in the Air Wing Helicopters. I found the movie starting from Bootcamp through the very end more realistic than any movie I have watched on the Viet-Nam War. I am a Disabled Marine Veteran and I enjoyed your movie very much. Respectfully, Richard Stafford, USMC DV Retired.”
Anonymous writes, “The older Marines in my family have been known to remark how very closely the movie Full Metal Jacket stayed to actual situations in boot camp, but my uncle who served in the Vietnam conflict said that had they made it more realistic, the average american would protest against the treatment of the soldiers.”
Gaffa writes, “Funny in parts, but on the other hand very serious.”
The Mouse Avenger writes, “As a general rule, I don’t usually enjoy war movies, but in this case, I make an exception for Full Metal Jacket. Not only did Stanley Kubrick, one of my favorite directors (the greatest of all time, in fact!), direct this movie, but the characters, music, cinematography, script, acting, & everything else about it are just absolutely wonderful beyond description.”
To read more comments, click here.
Platoon (1986)
Screenplay by Oliver Stone
Directed by Oliver Stone
Starring Charlie Sheen, Tom Berenger and Willem Dafoe
Story:
Platoon takes a dark path to the Vietnam war as it tells the story of going from feeling very important, wanting to be patriotic and to serve one’s country, to feeling not important at all out in the jungles of Vietnam, playing out the struggle between good and evil, right and wrong.
Movie Quote:
CHRIS “I think now, looking back, we did not fight the enemy, we fought ourselves – and the enemy was in us.”
Public Response:
Platoon had 8 Oscar nominations and 4 wins for Best Picture, Director, Editor, and Sound.
Mark Davies from Chester, England says, “Oliver Stone’s Platoon is quite simply the best Vietnam war film ever made in my opinion.”
Andrew Phillips writes, “I Served in Nam, and found it to be the same way as portrayed in the movie, a bloody shit hole. This movie just reminds me of the horrors of the war and reminds me of what I went threw.”
Craig writes [edited for clarity], “Platoon is a metaphor film. Stone made it look real though. I saw little in this film that represented my experience [in the 60's], except for the 24 hr fear, the heat, the tension and some the bullshit we all saw and heard from Command. The troops in the 60′s were better mentally and we had a some seasoned Korea and WWII experienced officers and senior NCO’s. By the early to mid-70′s [the time of Platoon], it was different. Lots of drugs, many professional soldiers rotated out and wounded etc. [Platoon] looks more like a diary.”
To read more comments, click here or here.
Three Kings (1999)
Story by John Ridley
Screenplay by David O. Russell
Directed by David O. Russell
Starring George Clooney, Mark Wahlberg and Ice Cube
Story:
A few American soldiers in Iraq intend to do a hefty gold theft and have conflict over what to do with the locals in their way.
Movie Quote:
TROY ”You think I don’t know what I’m saying. I know what I’m saying. We’re gonna do more than steal, that’s what I’m saying. We’re gonna help these people out.”
Public Response:
Three Kings is no Oscar winner, but it does have a lot of fans. Dealing with a war that we are still fighting is often too sensitive for its citizens to handle, hence why people are still telling World War II stories from 70 years ago!
NamDC from Palm Springs, California writes, “I avoided this film for some time because I have a strong dislike of war films, particularly relatively recent wars. Too bad for me. I finally rented it because of the impressive works I’ve seen by Mr. Russell. This is not a war film, even though it takes place during a war, and in a war zone. This is a film of humanity. Like many other films that I find excellent, this film deals with the human condition on many levels. There’s pathos, humor, love, violence, ad infinitum. You’d get a sterilized version of what this film shows on the evening news. It shows that our soldiers, just as ourselves, are human, with all our frailties. And, I believe, it gives an honest account of what life is like for the people of the Middle East. Fine acting by truly fine actors, great cinematography, and a very intelligent script make this a must see film.”
To read more comments, click here.
Inglourious Basterds (2009)
Screenplay by Quentin Tarantino
Directed by Quentin Tarantino
Starring Brad Pitt, Diane Kruger, Mélanie Laurent, and Christoph Waltz
Story:
During World War II, we follow an alternate reality of two main fantasy stories that start in different places and come together in a French movie house in the end. There is the story of a French girl’s revenge for her slaughtered family and there is the story of a secret American military terror task force.
Movie Quotes:
COLONEL LANDA ”Unless some fool is stupid enough to try and handle a live one, rats don’t make it a practice of biting human beings. Rats were the cause of the bubonic plague, but that was some time ago. In all your born days, has a rat ever caused you to be sick a day in your life? I purpose to you, any disease a rat could spread, a squirrel could equally carry. Yet I assume you don’t share the same animosity with squirrels that you do with rats, do you? Yet, they are both rodent’s, are they not? And except for the fact that one has a big bushy tail, while the other has a long repugnant tail of rodent skin, they even rather look alike, don’t they?”
LIETENANT ALDO ”We’re gonna be dropped into France, dressed as civilians. And once we’re in enemy territory, as a bushwackin, guerrilla army, we’re gonna be doin one thing, and one thing only, Killin Nazi’s. The Members of the National Socialist Party, have conquered Europe through murder, torture, intimidation, and terror. And that’s exactly what we’re gonna do to them. Now I don’t know bout y’all? But I sure as hell, didnt come down from the goddamn Smoky mountains, cross five thousand miles of water, fight my way through half Sicily, and then jump out of a fuckin air-o-plane, to teach the Nazi’s lessons in humanity. Nazi ain’t got no humanity.”
Public Response:
Inglourious Basterds had 8 Oscar nominations and 1 win for Best Supporting Actor.
Basterds has mixed reviews due to its stylized fantasy script.
Of all military movies, I was least of all looking forward to another Nazi World War II movie, but Inglourious Basterds became one of my favorite movies: dark, twisted, superb performances, beautiful cinematography, and most important, a creative script with careful suspenseful pacing, this wacky convoluted war fantasy is unique.
Dr. Sam from Lebanon writes, “One thing I hate about a movie is when it treats audience as bunch of dumb people. Now I know Tarantino’s style is based on fantasy and fictitious plots, but come on…”
Produpp from United Kingdom writes, “Inglorious Basterds makes no apologies, asks for no forgiveness, it’s a no holds barred assault on the senses. Tarantino doesn’t care if he offends, if he steps all over stereotypes and clichés, this is film making at it purest. It’s great to see a film maker whose work clearly isn’t interfeared with by the powers that be. Tarantino is a master of effortlessly cranking up immense tension and suddenly mixing it with laugh out loud moments; you’re not sure if you should be looking away in disgust or rolling around laughing, either way it’s a roller coaster and one not to be missed! It’s not for everyone, certainly if you’re not a fan of Tarantino’s style, this may be a little hard to swallow, but never-the-less, it is a film which simply has to be seen. No self respecting film fan should miss this. And the performance of Christoph Waltz… Oscar don’t you dare ignore him!!”
Ron writes, “This screenplay is exhausting to read. I know Tarantino is one of Hollywood’s “wonder boys” but since the man obviously can’t write, he should at least hire someone to correct his spelling and grammar. I’ve seen better written stories come out of the second grade.”
(Tarantino may not have written this version of the script.)
To read more comments, click here.
~ ~ ~
If you are strong in vision and story, but weak in grammar and spelling, to play it safe, make sure to have a friend or family member edit your script before sending it off to anyone in the biz.
What is your favorite war movie script and why?
READ THESE RELATED ARTICLES
How to Format a Script for a Hollywood Movie
Write a Screenplay in One Month: Week Zero
Click on the title for scripts. If any of these script links in red do not work, please let me know.
18 Things Yoga and Porn Movies Have in Common
1) Porn and Yoga are both available on DVD and VHS.
2) Viewers don’t want a story, they want to get right to the action!
3) Often, porn and yoga videos are shot entirely at one location.
4) Unlike yoga or sex in real life, filmmakers have the opportunity to create the perfect experience by going back to reshoot or add dialog for anything they missed or mucked up the first time around, including cutting out farts and queefs.
5) If you miss something while watching, you can rewind.
6) You can go along at your own pace with a DVD, whereas in real life, you have to go at the speed of your instructor or partner.
7) Since it is on DVD, chances are that you will get a highly qualified person, whereas sometimes, a bad instructor or partner in real life can cause you serious bodily injury.
8) If you really want to make sure you are doing it right and want to take a closer look, or you just really like one particular part, you can pause and freeze frame.
9) Men will have an equally hard time getting women to watch porn and follow along as women will have a hard time getting men to watch yoga and do it with them.
10) It is MUCH cheaper to buy the DVD once and to be able to watch it over and over any time, than to have to pay for it each time and at someone else’s convenience.
11) Different movies offer different positions and outfits, but it is essentially the same thing.
12) Usually, you only see perfect bodies on the videos, but in real life it is another thing.
13) You have no foul smells or straggling hairs in watching porn and yoga movies.
14) Nobody else’s sweat drips on you while participating with the DVD at home.
15) If you don’t like how the people perform, you can get rid of them without hurting anyone’s feelings.
16) Porn and yoga teach you how to work your muscles in new ways, making sure to show you in all the angles.
17) You feel really good and relaxed when you are done watching it.
18) It may be more spiritually, physically, and emotionally fulfilling to have sex or yoga in real life with real people, but alone with the TV is better than nothing.
PS. My man added the ever important Dog Position that is always in both porn and yoga movies, “doggy style” and “downward dog” respectively.
Happy Thanksgiving
from Screenwriting for Hollywood!
Add your two cents!
Best Movies & Screenplays For 2011, So Far…
For some nice holiday movie gift ideas, here is a look at Screenwriting for Hollywood’s favorite movies and screenplays of 2011, so far…
#1 Midnight in Paris
Written by Woody Allen
A fantasy movie for literary, art, and travel lovers. Takes you away!
[2012 Update: WON GOLDEN GLOBE for Best Screenplay - Motion Picture]
#2 Puss in Boots
Written by Charles Perrault, Brian Lynch, David H. Steinberg, Tom Wheeler, and Jon Zack
Fun for the whole family, full of clever kitty jokes, twists on old fairytales, and modern humor. Brightens your day!
#3 PBS American Masters: Woody Allen: A Documentary
By Documentary Filmmaker Robert Weide
Get into the mind of the most prolific and successful screenwriter of all time, Woody Allen, he’s just as timid as the rest of us. Inspiring for writers!
(To support Public Broadcasting, purchase the DVD.)
#4 Tower Heist
Written by Ted Griffin (screenplay & story), Jeff Nathanson (screenplay), Adam Cooper (story), and Bill Collage (story).
A laugh out loud modern comedy about some people who set out on the impossible task of getting their life savings back from a top tier conman financial investor. Funny and moving story!
#5 Killer Elite
Written by Matt Sherring (screenplay) and Ranulph Fiennes (book, inspiration).
A fast paced action movie, we follow a reluctant assassin who does a job to save a friend. Can an assassin ever really retire? Excellent cast!
~ ~ ~
I have not seen yet, but am looking forward to seeing, Hugo. I am sure there will be several other great movies coming out in December, as is how it typically goes each year.
What are your favorite movies and scripts so far this year?
Hugo 3D: You’ve Been SteamPunked!
by Jaden
As a lover of Paris and all things old, 2011 has been a special year for me with movies Midnight in Paris and Hugo 3D. Both films touched me in the way an old photo album would. I’ve already reviewed Woody Allen’s Midnight, so let’s talk about Martin Scorsese’s Hugo.
Cinematically and visually, Hugo 3D is one of the most striking and stunning films to experience; it is definitely a REAL 3 DIMENSIONAL movie. Hugo, Avatar, and Jaws 3D are the movies that have best used the 3D medium.
The opening setup for the Hugo story is art film-esque.
The young troubled boy Hugo spends a lot of time steampunking his way through the clockwork systems of old Paris, running through endless cranks, gears, cogs, and steam! Venturing to our 1920s past, it is most au courant and fashionable today.
The story part of Hugo takes a long time to get going, it’s like when your girlfriend is giving you the silent treatment, making you frustrated with anticipation. Yes, you are beautiful, you acknowledge to yourself about her. Yes, I love you. But you want to scream, “What the heck’s your problem?!” Instead, you sit there quietly, patiently awaiting for the reason of her anger. This is sort of how Hugo unfolds, a bit slow and torturous, yet absolutely picturesque as you watch it; you sit there wondering what on earth is everyone’s major malfunction, but eventually everyone’s tale is told.
Late into the movie, we discover the tale of following your dreams, achieving greatness, and then having political circumstances completely crush your world and strip you of everything you ever had.
The second half of Hugo is largely a lesson in film history, and I say that most affectionately. Incorporating many of the most famous earliest films ever made, viewers have the luxury of seeing films they may otherwise never have the opportunity to see, save for going to film school. Scorsese splices real old footage with new footage and tapes together an entertaining and educational story.
There was one point of dialog and story that most moved me… it was the comparison of mechanical things to humanity on earth. There is a saying that is commonly used in America, “You’re just a cog,” meaning to say that you are not important, you are just this little part of a big machine. This story is the reversal of that saying, to say the same words but to have the opposite meaning, a positive one instead of a negative one. Hugo is trying to repair an old mechanical wind-up doll, yet he needs all sorts of small parts before it will function. In regard to this mechanical doll and the massive inner workings of the clocks of Paris to which he tends for work, Hugo points out how important the cog is: without one tiny part, an entire enormous machine can’t work. He says something to the effect that he imagines every person to have a purpose, to be a part of something bigger, and this was the loveliest moment in the movie for me.
The characters are uniquely interesting. The child actors (Asa Butterfield and Chloë Grace Moretz) are dangerously beautiful and easily hold up the feature film. Sacha Baron Cohen plays the Station Inspector with a quiet subtle comedic timing, unlike his famous outrageous roles as Borat or Ali G; I loved seeing him do this understated style of acting and we all awaited anxiously for each of his delicate moments on screen. Ben Kingsley was intense and great as is his way.
Overall, the film Hugo 3D is visually exceptional: you must see in the theatre while you can. Hugo is a film for the now and for all time. Not only is the film beautiful, but it is historically informative, so it would make for a nice part of one’s DVD collection at home, especially for filmmakers, historians, and cinema enthusiasts.
Hugo 3D is written by John Logan (screenplay) and Brian Selznick (book), directed by Martin Scorsese, and stars Asa Butterfield as Hugo, Ben Kingsley as a broken old man, Chloë Grace Moretz as an adventure seeker, Sacha Baron Cohen as the station inspector, Emily Mortimer as the flower girl love interest, and Jude Law has a small part as Hugo’s dad.
Don’t miss it!
The Movies Playing at the Bars During Christmas Time
After dinner out on the town with my family, we went to my favorite swanky bar.
Aunt to my mom, “You’re having another drink?!” (That being the second.)
My mom, “I ruined my reputation a long time ago.”
My mom’s husband, “You know what they say, tequila makes women’s clothes fall off.”
My boyfriend, “What does vodka do?”
My mom, “Vodka’s slower, just takes longer.”
I say, “I am writing everything you are saying.”
Mom says, “If you are going to write everything, you have to write everything, like how I said how much I love you.”
“That’s boring,” I say.
She goes on, “And how you said you can understand now because you love your dog so much, you even love when she poops? Did you write that?”
“No.”
What movies are playing at the bars during Christmas time?
BAD SANTA (2003)
… which is about a bad santa of course! Like the famous Dr. Seuss Grinch, all bad intentions and great plans get thwarted by a kid.
Director: Terry Zwigoff
Writers: Glenn Ficarra, John Requa
Stars: Billy Bob Thornton, Bernie Mac and Lauren Graham
Elf (2003)
A very big elf doesn’t fit in at the North Pole and adventures out into the world to find himself.
Director: Jon Favreau
Writer: David Berenbaum
Stars: Will Ferrell, Edward Asner and Bob Newhart
If you owned a bar, what movies would you play for your holiday patrons?
HAPPY HOLIDAYS!
Make a Movie with No Money
It is really hard for screenwriters to get anyone to read their scripts, so I strongly encourage writers to make their own movies. Getting people to watch a movie is much easier than getting people to read a script. The shorter it is, the greater your odds someone will watch it.
One beautiful thing about humanity is their ability to think big…
… big big big, far beyond what they might be able to do today, therefore, it can sometimes be a hindrance, this ability to think big, because it takes a lot of small steps to get someplace, steps that people don’t want to take.
Instead of holding out for that million-dollar 3-picture deal (that is never going to just fall on your lap), how about you start with whatever resources you have around you right now? If you truly love storytelling, then do it! You don’t have to be rich to tell a story. If you can eke out a little bit of time and a little bit of ingenuity, you can make a movie.
Here is a fun project to test your creative juices.
Can you make a movie with no money, no time, no actors, and tell a full and complete story with character arch in less than two minutes?
How? You ask.
Let’s Start with Story and Character.
Without story and character(s), you have a blob of color and sound, which is ok too, but we screenwriters, we want to write something, we want to say something, and we to connect with our human audience.
No matter if your movie is 2 minutes or 2 hours, something has to happen, right? Since this is a short short, let’s keep it to one event.
Although your character doesn’t necessarily have to have a change of heart, it is more interesting if your character learns something new and we learn with him or her.
How are you going to do that?
There needs to be an action…
…an event, a happening, a cause that will create the effect of your character thinking differently or behaving differently. Something has to happen that propels your character along an interesting and new path.
If no fictitious ideas come to mind, think about your own life in the past year… Think about one single moment, one thing you saw, one thing you read, or one thing you dreamt that permanently changed your way of thinking. That’s a story. That’s a character arch. What was that thing? It can be small or large, but it should have meaning and resonate with people.
Take that one moment that affected you and brainstorm with it… Imagine different scenarios and different characters involved and affected by that one moment, and choose the most interesting character and moment of them all.
Sometimes, we are just bystanders or observers of something interesting, so it doesn’t have to be your personal event, it can be someone else’s; maybe you were just passing by, but it personally affected you anyway.
When telling the story, put yourself in the shoes of the most interesting character involved and tell it from their perspective, no matter how good or bad that person happens to be.
My example provided here, in my video is a short story inspired by a powerful upsetting dream I had that truly affected me and changed me.
This is our goal with film and cinema and any type of storytelling, at least my ultimate goal, to say something meaningful to the world in a very short amount of time.
Use What You’ve Got!
Once you have a moment and a character that you want to explore on film, now you need to think of the free-est possible way to do it.
In my case, I don’t have the time, people, equipment, backing, or money to actually go out and shoot most of my film ideas, and you might not either. So my goal is to just get the maximum effect out of whatever is available to me.
As an experienced graphic artist and actor, what I had and used for this short were pop culture images, my Apple computer, Adobe Photoshop, iMovie, and my own voice. My 1 1/2 minute short took about 20 hours to make: research, image-altering, movie editing, and adding sound.
You might think my short is crap, but I didn’t have a big crew and $50,000 to blow on making this thing, so it is what it is — FREE — and gets my point across.
Ad Lib
For my short, I used an ad lib script, meaning I did not write a script for it at all, it was just an idea in my head. With ad lib scripts, you can save money by letting the images and concept dictate the dialog on the spot.
Either you can narrate, as I did, or your actors can ad lib, which saves time (and time is money) because the actors don’t have to memorize an entire screenplay. They just have to get across a general feeling and idea, which can be more fun, more liberating, more natural sounding, and more magical.
Ad lib allows art to take on its own form and surprise you.
Some directors prefer to let their actors alter the script with the natural flow of ad libbing. In this way, cinema has taken a great departure from theater plays, novels, and poetry, where the written word is sacred.
Ad lib can be great for emotional human concept movies like dramas, romance, and comedy, where the stiffness of a script might not play out well.
Sticking to a screenplay would be highly important for convoluted detailed stories that are true or have a thick plots, like with mysteries, thrillers, suspense, and sci-fi.
Hone in on your own strengths.
Whatever your assets and creative strengths are, they are probably different from mine or other people’s.
Maybe you have more time, money, or equipment at your disposal? A nice camera? Some willing friends to act? Some creative friends to do props, set, and makeup? A massive catalog of profound photos you took? A supportive family?
Maybe you like drawing cartoons? Or doing photography? Or making Play-Doh clay figure stop motion animation with your digital camera? Maybe you have a go-pro camera and are an adrenalin junky?
Everyone has different things at their disposal and different amounts of time or money. You are going to do the best you can do with the best of what you have.
Show a change.
For this project, your character needs to go from being a worm to a butterfly in under two minutes.
The main thing I am asking here is that you have a story and character arch in your movie. Something should be happening other than filming something pretty, or funny, or scary that has no story arch. Those types of movie clips are good for YouTube and for TV clips, but they are not full complete stories, which as a screenwriter, you need to be practicing the development of characters and stories that have something to say.
Life is full of opportunities for you, even if you have no disposable money. Look around you; be creative.
If you have made a movie on a no-money budget, please come back and share your film and experiences with us here in the comments section.
The 2011 Year End Wrap-Up for Screenwriting for Hollywood!
by Jaden
Over 74,000 new visitors came to SfH this year and over 5,000 people can call themselves regulars.
Our busiest day was June 23 and our most popular article is and has always been Most Famous PG Underwear Scenes in Cinema, proving once again the old marketing proverb that sex sells, or more precisely that suggesting, hinting at, or insinuating sex… sells! Remember that writers.
Thank You to the websites A TV Calling, Karen J Lloyd’s Storyboard Blog, Daily Actor, Wikipedia, and the Google search engine who referred the most people to SfH during 2011.
The majority of our visitors have come from the USA, the UK, Canada, India, and Australia.
Speaking over 100 languages, people from almost every country on the planet have visited SfH to learn about screenwriting, Hollywood, and to see Scarlett Johansson’s butt.
Only from the places of Greenland, Turkmenistan, Svalbard, Jan Mayen, and a few small West African countries (the coldest and hottest places on Earth), no peoples have yet visited SFH. Should we go to them and bring some satellite Internet cafes with Italian coffee and controlled climate heating and cooling systems? I wish. I bet they have the strangest most interesting stories to tell.
Since 2008, SFH has presented 200 articles and 1,600 public comments.
Movie Reviews is the most popular category.
Coming up this 2012 are some exciting new interviews, articles, and special features.
Here’s looking forward to a wildly imaginative and exciting 2012 for us all!
Happy Writing!
