“… They book the notes call before they’ve read the material, which is psychologically good because you don’t get that clunk in spirits when you hand something in and wait and wait and then get summoned to have the error of your ways explained to you. Plus, they’re committing up-front to turning it around at […]

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Anne Thompson spoke with Sam Raimi recently via flip cam about his latest film, Drag Me to Hell.
“… Raimi’s expert skill is knowing how to gross you out and take you on a thrilling E-ride–without making you too frightened to enjoy yourself. It’s all in the tone, so that that the audience is screaming with […]

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“… Onto a conversation I had with a writer friend recently about a project she and a writing partner had pitched to a studio.  The studio loved it and told the partners to go to script - only then revealing that the version they’d sold to the network was completely different than what the partners […]

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“… Spoof movies are not satires. They do not use comedy or mockery to comment on social problems, politics or any other serious issues of the day. South Park (and the excellent South Park films) is a satire that often uses parody (a humorous reimagining of something serious) to make a point.
“Spoof movies, however, have […]

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CJ Farr has just signed an option/purchase contract for her short film, “Song of War,” which is based on a true incident from the Civil War.
The filming will be on location in South Carolina and Pennsylvania. It will include battle footage as re-enactors depict the battle of Gettysburg. The director has attached a cinematographer who […]

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We appreciate everyone who participated in the PS Alumni internal contest and hope you had a wonderful experience.  
After much work, we have narrowed it down to our list of finalists. 
And the finalists are…
       Cash Anthony
       Eliza Crosland
       Jeremy Simmons
       Kaden San
       Kevin McCarthy
       Mike Davidson
       Shaene M. Siders
       Steven Hammon
       Victoria Wu
Please congratulate each of the […]

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Winners were announced over the weekend at Cannes. The award for Best Screenplay went to Lou Ye for Chun Feng Chen Zui De Ye Wan (Spring Fever).

Go To Festival De Cannes Site …

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Anne Thompson spoke with Kathryn Bigelow in Toronto last September about her film, due out for wider release this summer, about a military bomb squad unit in Iraq.
Go To Anne Thompson’s Place …

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Salon’s Heather Havrilesky spoke last summer with Ed Burns, writer and co-creator of the HBO miniseries Generation Kill.
“… How did you make decisions about where to stray from writer Evan Wright’s story and where to stick to it?
“Well, we try to stay as much as possible with the story. A lot of times we didn’t […]

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The Washington Post’s Lloyd Rose interviewed Stanley Kubrick prior to the release of his 1987 film set during the Vietnam War.
“… ‘We were just going for the way it is,’ he says, unable to resist a chuckle, perhaps thinking about all the film buffs who will be chewing on it for years.
“‘I certainly don’t think […]

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Alan Waldman interviewed Robert Rodat at a Writers Guild Awards nominees’ reception in February, 1999, about Saving Private Ryan and a feature of great screenwriting.
“… The biggest challenge was coming up with the emotional reality of the characters.  I think there is a misconception about the generation that fought World War II that is largely […]

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Over at the Writers Guild of America, West Web site, Dylan Callaghan spoke with John D. Brancato and Michael Ferris (Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, Terminator Salvation).
“… When [the studio] first came to us after 3 and said, ‘Well, how about imagining a new trilogy — going a whole new direction?’ it was […]

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“… While every book sale and subsequent career has a lot to do with luck and timing, I also know that my own quick representation and sale had a lot to do with the fact that even though I was a first-time novelist, I had already written dozens of screenplays, some of which were original […]

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“… Last fall something remarkable happened here in the Greater 310.
“In the same week, four top screenwriters went out with pitches they had come up with independently — and guess what?
“4 pitches: All the exact same idea.
“I won’t reveal the pitch. But know that two versions sold, to two different studios….”
Go To Blake Snyder’s Place […]

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“… I think there’s an excellent argument to be made on over-reliance on these structures … However, being able to see the broad moves within your work, using these structures as a handle on the sheer bear of bringing a film over the finish line … not a bad thing. At the very least they […]

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