The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug – An Epic Failure of Adaptation
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug is a perfect storm of predictability. If you decide to adapt a single novel into a movie trilogy, the middle story, the bridge, is the hardest one to pull off successfully. Having the middle Read more…
Hunger Games: Catching Fire – Adaptation Choices
“I have an image of Prim in a white room, strapped to a table, while masked, robed figures elicit those sounds from her. Somewhere they are torturing her, or did torture her, to get those sounds.” In my last podcast Read more…
Residuals
A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, I was a screenwriter. I wrote screenplays, won some awards, had some optioned and a few produced. One of those screenplays I wrote at the request of a friend of Read more…
Writing Space
Does where you write effect how you write? When I was starting out writing screenplays, I read an interview with Patrick Sheane Duncan, screenwriter of the film Courage Under Fire, who said that he taught himself to write anywhere with Read more…
How Video Games Can Make You a Better Writer
Video games can make you a better writer. I know what you’re thinking. I’m nuts. My wife would agree with you. She is fond of calling them “stupid little video games.” She’s also fond of calling anything that she thinks Read more…
It Only Took Sixty-Three Drafts to Learn How to Write
Writing can be a painful experience. I spent the majority of my life around, involved in and pursuing a life in film. I studied it, I performed in it, I wrote for it, I directed it and I loved it. Read more…
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