Category: Featured Articles

Update: Veronica Mars and the Future of Lean Film Development

Earlier I posted about the Veronica Mars Kickstarter campaign that show creator Rob Thomas launched this morning to fund a movie continuation of the TV heroine’s story. Well, that post’s already dreadfully outdated.

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.screenplayology.com/2013/03/13/update-veronica-mars-and-the-future-of-lean-film-development/

Will Veronica Mars Kickstarter Campaign Change Film Financing Forever?

As I type this, the numbers are skyrocketing. Veronica Mars creator Rob Thomas launched a $2,000,000 Kickstarter campaign hours ago, and more than 10,000 rabid fans have already sent him well past the 1/3rd mark. We all know that Kickstarter has changed the way independent filmmakers raise production funds. What’s revolutionary here is that Thomas …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.screenplayology.com/2013/03/13/will-veronica-mars-kickstarter-campaign-change-film-financing-forever/

Harrison Ford’s “Raiders” Script

Cinephilia & Beyond has some excellent page scans of Harrison Ford’s shooting script of Raiders of the Lost Ark. Ford’s handwritten script analysis notes are evidence of an actor seriously engaged in dissection of the screenwriter’s work — a great window into his process.

Permanent link to this article: https://www.screenplayology.com/2013/02/16/harrison-fords-raiders-script/

Vanity Fair: “Will the Spec Script Rise Again?”

Vanity Fair is out with this insightful history of the spec market boom that lasted in Hollywood from 1990 to 2008. A must read for aspiring screenwriters and screenwriting scholars alike.

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.screenplayology.com/2013/02/16/vanity-fair-will-the-spec-script-rise-again/

Could Validation Board Lead to Better Screen Stories?

Permanent link to this article: https://www.screenplayology.com/2013/02/05/could-validation-board-lead-to-better-screen-stories/

Should We Build Movies Like We Build Houses?

Lately I’ve been thinking about the screenplay as a kind of software and have turned to certain software development processes in search of models for alternative methods of screenplay development (particularly for microbudget features). I see many commonalities between programming and screenwriting (“A computer script is a list of commands that are executed by a …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.screenplayology.com/2013/02/03/should-we-build-movies-like-we-build-houses/

John August’s Courier Prime

This week saw the release John August’s new (free) typeface, Courier Prime: By standardizing around one typeface set at a specific size, we can take advantage of some rules-of-thumb. For example, one page of screenplay (roughly, sometimes) equals one minute of screen time. More importantly, producers can be assured that a 119-page draft really is …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.screenplayology.com/2013/02/02/john-augusts-courier-prime/

More Screenwriting 2.0

Last August, I blogged about a paper I presented to the University Film and Video Association called, “Teaching the Digital Screenplay and Its Role in Conception and Execution.” In that paper I began to use the term “Screenwriting 2.0” to refer to the application of Web 2.0 principles and processes to the craft of screenwriting.

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.screenplayology.com/2012/07/25/more-screenwriting-2-0/

Review: Unforgiven (Unspecified Shooting Script: 1992)

Unforgiven, originally written by David Webb Peoples in 1976 as The William Munny Killings, effectively flips the moral conventions of the 1950s era classical Western genre (typified by such screenplays as High Noon), by asking the audience to invest in an outlaw’s efforts against an unsympathetic lawman.

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.screenplayology.com/2011/09/12/review-unforgiven-unspecified-shooting-script-1992/

Review: Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (Shooting Script: 7/15/68)

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid is William Goldman’s first original screenplay. A Western script written in the late-1960s, its style and format nevertheless has more in common with the continuities of the silent era than with other screenplays available from Goldman’s period. This may not be coincidence.

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.screenplayology.com/2011/09/01/review-butch-cassidy-and-the-sundance-kid-shooting-script-71568/