Time to go public again. I have a new play – THE PRINCES OF KINGS ROAD – opening September 11, at the Neutra Institute and Museum. I’ll have bulletins (extree extree read all about it!) occasionally and it’s time to recommend some movies, give some opinions, rile people up. Watch for it. DOCUMENTARY RECOMMENDATION – […]
I am now on page 26. I got to about page 16 and, after exhausting my initial energy with a new idea, I hesitated…and stopped moving forward. I lost confidence, felt I didn’t have enough information to write a full script, hadn’t done my research enough to have enough content, so I went back and […]
I’m writing a new script. It’s been a while. I’ve been solving other creative problems – that’s what I do – but I haven’t written a script in a while. The process of starting with the simple idea – of evolving it with research and free flow thinking – then organizing my thoughts and notes, […]
I just caught up with PHILOMENA, starring Dame Judi Dench. Based on a true story, this slyly amusing, heartfelt film highlights a pitch perfect performance by Dench. What was remarkable to me was how little she did and how much it accomplished. I was also impressed by the storytelling, which was satisfyingly unpredictable. All in […]
Last night, I saw ERIN BROCKOVICH again. Directed by Steven Soderbergh and written by Susannah Grant, the movie is terrific and there’s a lot to be learned from it. First, the main character is in the center of the movie – it felt like she was in every single scene. Julia Roberts won a well-deserved […]
A couple of writers who who attended my Writer’s Store Webinar yesterday emailed me to thank me for ‘setting them free.’ Every time I speak to a group of screenwriters, inevitably a few writers approach me afterwards and thank me for ‘setting them free.’ What they mean is: like me, they feel constricted by the […]
After being out of action for a bit, I’m back, Baby. I’ve been hired and fired writing a script for amateurs (thank goodness) and just today hosted a webinar called A PRO SCREENWRITER’S TIPS FOR WRITING A PAGE TURNER, for the The Writer’s Store which re-ignited my passion for screenwriting and teaching. I’m presently writing a […]
As the decades speed by, I find it’s helpful to re-visit movies and TV shows I’ve seen years ago, to refresh me as to why they were so influential to me. I rented a show that has always had a warm spot in my brain – THE PRISONER. Made in England in 1967-68 […]
One of the writers I’m working with wrote: INT. CHEESY BAR – NIGHT Soaked by Pancho’s drink, Red runs at him like a rhinoceros in heat. Really? The problem with that or “runs like a gazelle” or “waddles like a platypus” or any simile or metaphor, that it places in the reader’s mind an image […]
A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of speaking to a group of screenwriters about the craft of writing and how to survive as a screenwriter in Hollywood. The speaker before me told the assembled writers that ‘They should write from the heart, and that writers who write solely for money – are […]
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