Mm. Hmm.
- It’d be just like John August to kick-start 2009 with a short and sweet pep talk.
- A new blog of note: TV writer Earl Pomerantz (Major Dad, Becker) is Just Thinking. (Fedora-tip: Alex Epstein.)
- Kiwi scribe (and fellow guild board member) Mike Riddell joins the scribosphere with The Interminable Moon, about the journey his novel, The Insatiable Moon, takes on its way to the silver screen.
- My favourites of multi-hyphenate Edward Zwick‘s ten filmmaking rules are –
- 3. No plan survives contact with the enemy.
- 10. Where there is no solution there is no problem. At some point in every production, the director loses faith in the movie and the crew loses faith in the director. Somehow it all works out.
(Fedora-tip: Movie Maker Magazine, by way of Mr Epstein.)
- The mighty Joss Whedon has ten writing tips, my picks being –
- 4. Everybody has a reason to live. Everybody in your scene, including the thug flanking your bad guy, has a reason.
- 7. Track the audience mood. Think in terms of what [your audience is thinking]. They go to the theatre, and they either notice that their butts are numb, or they don’t. If you’re doing your job right, they don’t.
(Fedora-tip: Catherine Bray, by way of Danny Stack.
- John Rogers‘ episode-by-episode online commentary and Q&A his Leverage series is a must-read for television junkies. Favourite moment so far: an ep that [seemed] so simple. It begins with us in the writers’ room cheering “They’re on an airplane, and have to pull off the con before they land! It’s practically a bottle show!” and ends with a 70-foot replica fuselage on the soundstage. Oh, and we had to build an airplane bathroom with wild walls, because you just can’t get a camera in there.
