Category: Commentary

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 Well, that post’s already dreadfully outdated.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/

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/

NYTimes: Writing Documentaries

The New York Times has posted this piece today that tackles the question of writing credits in documentary filmmaking. “While a documentarian taking a writing credit for narration rarely raises eyebrows, nonfiction filmmakers are also beginning to consider the behind-the-scenes structuring of their films to be a type of writing. The trend, which is being …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.screenplayology.com/2012/08/24/nytimes-writing-documentaries/

Vertigo ousts Kane, but which is the better screenplay?

After 50 years at the top of Sight & Sound‘s list of all-time greatest films, Citizen Kane has dropped to #2 behind Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo. Just for fun I ask, which is the better screenplay?

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.screenplayology.com/2012/08/01/vertigo-ousts-kane-but-which-is-the-better-screenplay/

Danny Boyle’s Olympic Opening: the Future of Screen “Writing”?

The Liverpool Echo has this interview with screenwriter Frank Cottrell Boyce on his role in the conceptualization of Danny Boyle’s Olympic opening ceremony production. His description of the process and tools used to plan the Olympic ceremony reminds me of Kathryn Millard’s exploration of prototypes and simulations in her contribution to Analysing the Screenplay (ed. …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.screenplayology.com/2012/07/28/danny-boyles-olympic-opening-the-future-of-screen-writing/

More on the WGA Annual Report

In my recently published essay in Frames Cinema Journal, “Screenwriting 2.0 in the Classroom? Teaching the Digital Screenplay,” I tried to make a point about the employment challenges facing aspiring screenwriters: Screenwriting instructors have little incentive to change the way they teach because, in spite of the advent, indeed the proliferation of screenwriting software programs …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.screenplayology.com/2012/07/27/more-on-the-wga-annual-report/