Elmore Leonard’s rules
I can’t remember where I got this from, but this pretty much says it.
Every time I find myself typing the word “suddenly,” I want to kill myself. On the other hand, I use exclamation points all over the place in my screenplays. Screenplays seem to demand it for some reason.
ATTENTION!
Attention Angelenos!
SECOND SATURDAY is here!
It’s a live serial, at the awesome Six01 Studio!
Three storylines, by Todd Alcott, R Scot Gemmill, and Michael Udesky!
It is hysterical and outstanding! I’ve been going to rehearsals and I can attest to this fact!
COME SEE IT!
There are actors you will recognize from TV!
Attendance is mandatory!
Saturday at 8, at Sixo1 Studio, 601 S. Anderson St, in the heart of beautiful downtown Los Angeles!
Query
For a new project, I’ve been watching movies about evil computers and university advanced-science communities.
My primary concerns are:
1. How are supercomputers built, and how do they operate?
2. How do the people who would build such a thing, in a university setting, behave?
As ever, I turn to my community of readers for help. Movies about evil supercomputers, and movies about university-level scientists. What should I watch? What should I read? I’m sure the science-fiction world is teeming with great novels on these topics, I just don’t know enough to track them down.
Thanks!
Favorite screenplays: The Poseidon Adventure part 4
Once The Poseidon Adventure metaphor turns literal, the movie becomes largely about problem-solving and group dynamics. The Rebel Priest leads, The Cop keeps order, The Lonely Man has ideas and watches out for The Waif, The Girl moons over The Rebel Priest, The Boy knows everything, The Elderly Jewish Couple kvetches, The Whore bitches, The Waiter falls to his death.
Favorite screenplays: The Poseidon Adventure part 3
It’s New Year’s Eve, approaching midnight, on this ship that is upside-down but nobody realizes it yet. We check in with all our main characters once again before disaster strikes. The working-class Rogos fight, then kiss and make up, the waif Nonnie sings, the lonely Mr. Martin (surrounded by young ladies) takes his vitamins, the Rosens kibitz, The Captain relaxes, Acres pours champaign, Rev Scott waxes hippy, Susan lusts for Rev Scott, and little Robin interrogates the Purser, who will soon become a pivotal character. The Purser, explaining himself to Robin, is the ship’s manager — not the owner (the businessman), not the captain (the leader) but the manager, the middle-man of song and story. Now that we’ve met everyone and examined their strategies for dealing with the chaos of a world upside-down, the world goes ahead and actually turns upside-down. Read more
3 Films 3 Days
Chris Lauer was one of the producers of my debut feature Blood Relative, and is also a super guy and a wonderful creative personality. I urge my readers to donate to the Kickstarter fund for his film project.
Favorite screenplays: The Poseidon Adventure part 2
So, let’s remember, the metaphor in play in The Poseidon Adventure is “the world is upside-down.” The important thing to remember about this metaphor is that it’s already in play before the ship turns upside-down. That is, the world is already upside-down for the characters on the Poseidon, the tidal wave only serves to make the metaphor literal.
Hunger Games at Cultural Weekly
If you were interested in what I had to say about The Hunger Games, you can read it again and a lot more cool stuff over at Cultural Weekly.
Favorite screenplays: The Poseidon Adventure part 1
The Poseidon Adventure was the first new, “grown up” movie I ever saw. I think the last movie I had seen previous to it was The Aristocats. People generally feel The Poseidon Adventure to be ham-fisted, stale and clunky, but in the winter of 1973 it was pretty mind-blowing, especially to an 11-year-old boy, and it changed the way I felt about movies forever. I would never be happy with Herbie Rides Again or The Apple Dumpling Gang after I had seen mass death and gripping adventure in the passageways of a capsized ocean liner. Read more