My fifteen minutes of glory and fame (it was more like four or five years) have come and gone. There was a time when I constantly appeared on radio and TV political talk shows: maybe ten times on Today, a dozen on (may God forgive me) The O’Reilly Factor, perhaps two dozen on MSNBC’s Hardball […]
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I rarely read movie reviews. Here and there I may peek at a review, but never one that treats a movie I have not yet seen. My reluctance is not because I want to avoid spoilers. The reason is this: if a reviewer loves a film, I’m likely to find it disappointing. Conversely, if a […]
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Thirty years ago I was profiled in The Wall Street Journal. Their reporter called me–I’ve memorized it—“… the prime broker for Hollywood’s hottest commodity: new writing talent.” I mention this not to brag—though it’s surely worth bragging about, and I’m a shameless braggart—but to explain why agents and producers approach me regularly in search of […]
Comments Off on WRITE WHAT YOU DON’T KNOW (WITH THANKS AND APOLOGIES TO JULIAN HOXTER)
A well known and somewhat wacky NY stage actor friend of mine was irresponsible regarding the way he managed his money. ‘Wacky actor,’ I expect, strikes many as a redundancy. His finances were handled by an old neighborhood pal whom he’d known since grade school. The kid had become an accountant. As his bookkeeper and […]
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Not the director but the writer is film’s first artist, if for no other reason because she’s first. There’s no use for upscale stars, fancy effects, and sophisticated equipment without a worthy script. – Richard Walter LONELY AT THE TOP – A DIRECTOR’S NARCISSISM Heave a sigh of relief. If you’ve been losing sleep worrying about […]
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A privilege I have enjoyed now over several decades is to travel the world lecturing, teaching master classes, and consulting on film and screenwriting issues to international audiences. I’ve taught and advised and counseled writers and producers and studio executives and national film development corporation officials all across North America and also in London, Paris, […]
Comments Off on Lost in Translation: Killing In Beijing
I know it’s a cold call, designed to sell me some product or cause, even before the caller speaks. Indeed, more often than not the caller doesn’t speak at all. The equipment in telephone boiler rooms dials multiple phone numbers simultaneously. The software connects with the first one that answers, hanging up on the others. […]
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Art, Picasso tells us, is the lie that tells the greater truth. Screenwriters need to learn how to lie through their teeth. As a screenwriting educator and script doctor I have seen more scripts brought down by a writer’s wrongheaded devotion to some idealized, romanticized, self-conscious, narcissistic, pie-in-the-sky notion of The Truth. In script consultation […]
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Einstein told us there are two—and only two—constants in the universe: 1) the speed of light and 2) The Rolling Stones. They showed up in downtown Los Angeles last spring celebrating their fiftieth anniversary. The first time I saw them was October of 1965, in Syracuse, New York, when I was enrolled in a jackpot, […]
Comments Off on THE QUALITY OF GENIUS or SNEAKING A CREW BACKSTAGE TO FILM THE ROLLING STONES
The graduate screenwriting program at UCLA enjoys an embarrassment of riches. We receive fifteen times as many qualified applications as we have available slots for new writers. The ‘take rate’ for students admitted is virtually one hundred percent. That is, among applicants admitted, almost everyone enrolls. Continue reading…
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