Roger Ebert Looks Back at Cinema Classic

BY ROGER EBERT
John Ford's "The Grapes of Wrath" is a left-wing parable, directed by a right-wing American director, about how a sharecropper's son, a barroom brawler, is converted into a union organizer. The message is boldly displayed, but told with characters of such sympathy and images of such beauty that audiences leave the theater feeling more pity than anger or resolve. It's a message movie, but not a recruiting poster.

Thought For Today

"If you treat an individual as he is, he will remain how he is. But if you treat him as if he were what he ought to be and could be, he will become what he ought to be and could be."
-- Goethe

How can a film's screenplay take shape in 10 seconds?

"If I decide to embark on a project, it is because the whole movie took place before my eyes in 10 seconds. Then I spent a year and a half trying to rediscover what was so special during those 10 seconds."
--Steven Spielberg

Leno Came Back To Late Night To Do This?

Here's NiKki Finke's post on Jay's late night performance these days. She truly tells it the way it is.

BY NIKKI FINKE | Saturday January 29, 2011 @ 12:03am PST
I haven't watched Leno in ages but tonight I was tipped that he did a segment on the Oscar nominations so I tuned in to see if it was worth posting on Deadline. Jeez, when did Jay stop giving a damn about generating laughs? (No wonder I keep hearing rumors he wants to quit the show after this season.) He looked bored, the show's writing was worse than ever, and not only was his monologue unfunny but the Academy Awards segment was a lamefest. Oh wait, Justin Bieber just walked out. Now this is truly a crapfest.

Hitchcock, Bombs and Anticipation

Matt Byrnes leads the Venice Beach Screenwriters group, and he's written some good stuff on the screenwriting craft. In one recent article he talks about anticipation, and how to build it in your audience.
He also co-wrote an article in the winter ScriptWritersNetwork newsletter (a downloadable PDF) about organizing a staged reading of your script. Check out the ScriptWritersNetwork website, as well as Matt's own screenwriting site, InScreenwriting for info on the Venice Beach Screenwriters.

Haggis Offers Some Sound Screenwriting Advice

"Crash" screenwriter Paul Haggis sits down and discusses the craft. He offers some of the best, most logical advice I've heard in a while.

How Are Sitcoms Written?

I'm listening to the Thursday tele-seminar by sitcom guru Ken Levine, who runs sitcomroom as well as a fascinating blog on writing sitcoms, and offers seminars that teach you what it's like to be in the sitcom writers room. Ken has cranked out episodes for many classic TV shows including "The Jeffersons," "Mash" and "Cheers." He's fielding questions from dozens of us who phoned in to listen and ask about the writing process.
Some of his suggestions for beginning writers include, always begin with an outline, rather than jumping in to writing the script right away--it's too easy to paint yourself into a corner. Makes sense to me--I'm a big believer in outlining.
Establish your story in an outline first, and figure out your act breaks (space for commercials) and, most importantly, how your story will end.
Story ideas need interesting characters--on "The Office," we see a delusional boss who is inept in performing his job and wrongly believes he's the best boss in the world.
Supporting characters must offer opportunities for conflict with the central character.
What's the one best thing people can do tomorrow to further their careers?: Continue to write. If you have one good script, don't rest on your laurels. "If you write three scripts. I'm almost certain that the third script is going to be better than your first," said Dan O'Day, Levine's writing partner.
Added Levine, "Remember, no one can stop you from writing."