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New technology creates challenges for writers

Yup, another technology blog.  And it's not that I'm complaining about technology.  It's just that creating a comprehensive arena for your characters to live in can be a real challenge.

Unless you're in steampunk land, the PAST is pretty much set.  But Hollywood calls that a "period piece" and doesn't want to fund those projects.  Too expensive, and they think kids don't look backward.

The future...  Creating that can be expensive too.  And might include stuff like this:

Accentuate the Positive

There's a sign hanging in my bathroom, something my wife found, that says, "What would you do if you know you could not fail." 

Inspirational, but it depends on the dream.  And when writing your script, it's imperative that the protagonist's external goal be POSITIVE. 

The False Piety of Entitlement

Screenwriting is full of reflection.  Writers must see through the surface, to delve into the true nature of humanity, regardless of the cost, and tell the truth.

I looked up from my current project directed at our culture of entitlement to find the following image is displayed across the fruited internet:

SOPA's gonna have a problem with this

It may be stealing intellectual property, but it's BECOME intellectual property.  And funny.  Beat that.

 

Hello from ant1mat3rie on Vimeo.

A new window of technology

Why am I blogging this?  This isn't about screenwriting!

But it is. We imagine, and it becomes reality...  Some day.  Sometimes things exist only in theory or on the silver screen, like socialist utopias.  Other things are just a matter of time.  That, and the laws of physics, political bias or social acceptance. 

Star Trek came out with flip phones and now they're so 2005.  We have smarter phones now!

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

I love spy movies.  I can't understand why anyone wouldn't.  And this is John le Carré!  The spy master's big story on the big screen.

So why did I have to drive 22 miles to see Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy?  Seriously, this is Los Angeles and only TWO theaters want to open a spy movie with Gary Oldman, Colin Firth, Mark Strong, Tom Hardy, John Hurt and a host of other crack actors at the top of their game? 

Script Cops: McKee Sting

These guys are starting to play hardball with writers.  But they did have it coming.  See the video here:

http://vimeo.com/7015951

Tragic really.  Writers so addicted to the rush of script seminars, to some guru's biting analytical approach, willing to sit through hours of frame-by-frame deconstruction of movies for what seems like educational purposes. 

Friends, with lateral benefits

Friends With Benefits comes out on DVD/Blueray today.  Not that you should get it -- in fact, you shouldn't.  It's crass, mean-spirited, promotes the division of sexuality from emotions even while it's theme expresses the opposite, and perhaps the worst thing for Hollywood, it's derivative.  For all its snarky banter, it's structure is still paint-by-numbers. It wants to mock its romcom conventions but ends up rolling in them. 

Anonymous: Analysis

Ah, historical revisionism.  My favorite.   And Anonymous tackles one of history’s greatest “what if” conspiracies: was William Shakespeare (WS) NOT the writer of his plays?  

The movie is daring, engaging and the acting is top notch, but it will probably leave the audience cold.  It left me disappointed.   

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