Archive for the 'Los Angeles' Category

• 11.03.08 Vote.

  There’s a strong likelihood that the networks (and the internet) will announce the presidential winner before the polls close in California. But if you’re headed to vote after work — or if you’re waiting in lines for hours — I’d urge you not to head home just because the big race has been decided. [...]

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• 09.10.07 Moving to LA (via NYC)

  At the Nuart last weekend for The Nines, Kris Galuska re-introduced himself. He’s a writer I had met at the Austin Film Festival last year. On a short elevator ride, I had tried to convince him that he really needed to move to Los Angeles if he was serious about working as a screenwriter. [...]

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• 08.17.07 Starting out in Hollywood

  I met Adam Davis last year. He was a student at Drake University, my alma mater, and came with the high recommendation of a mutual mentor. Adam wrote and directed a lot of short films while he was at Drake, and movies were clearly his calling. He was wondering whether he should bite [...]

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• 08.07.07 Google-Mapped, part two

  Matt sent me an LA Times article this morning which confirms that Google has been busy adding Street View to Los Angeles.

  My earlier suspicion that I’d been van-captured has proven true. So far, my mug doesn’t show up in any of the shots, but that’s likely because they seem to have only [...]

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• 08.02.07 Student Films Across America

  Tonight, I attended the LA screenings of Student Films Across America, a traveling film festival that highlights great shorts made by film students nationwide. I was one of the judges this year — months ago, I watched a bunch of screeners. So it was nice to see the final results.

  And here’s where I beg [...]

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• 07.27.07 Guest-blogging on EW.com

  Because I’m just not busy enough, I’ve started guest-blogging on EW.com’s PopWatch blog, detailing some of the madness related to launching The Nines. You can read the first of these entries today.

  One observation so far: I’m snarkier on other people’s blogs than my own.

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• 07.19.07 My role in Transformers

  Are you in TRANSFORMERS? There’s a quick shot of a soldier escorting someone away from a helicopter. On screen for two or three seconds. Looks EXACTLY like you.

  Just curious.

  – Ben Los Angeles

  I haven’t seen the movie yet, but as far as I know, I am not in Transformers. I have [...]

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• 05.28.07 Screenwriters’ dinner

  Last week, I attended the First Annual WGAw Screenwriters’ Dinner. I’m not sure one should call a first-ever event “annual,” but it was successful enough that it merits a repeat in 52 weeks.

  Since screenwriters tend to work alone, there’s not a lot of water-cooler talk on a daily basis. Message boards [...]

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• 02.22.07 The Week in Review

  It’s been a busy week, and the next few days promise to be equally action-packed. So I thought I’d do a quick recap before two weeks go by without any real updates.

  Boulder

  I gave a lecture on screenwriting at the Boulder International Film Festival. It’s always weird going back to your home town, and even [...]

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• 12.14.06 Because nothing says quality like a cow

  In an article in today’s LA Times about his collaboration with Laura Dern, director David Lynch bemoans how expensive Academy Award campaigns have become:

  So in what must have looked like a scene from one of his own films, Lynch recently made a “For Your Consideration” sign touting Dern, hired a piano player and a cow [...]

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• 12.08.06 Clive Cussler really, really dislikes Sahara

  Today’s LA Times has a lengthy article about Clive Cussler’s lawsuit over SAHARA. It’s a fun, gossipy read, partially because I’ve had beers with many of the people involved:

  Josh Oppenheimer and Thomas Dean Donnelly are classmates of mine, James V. Hart often works at the same Sundance labs, and the estimable Josh Friedman’s anal [...]

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• 10.09.06 What job should I beg for?

  A friend of mine is a writer whose work has been lucky/funny enough to make it to the big screen. The sequel has been greenlit and he just shot me an email letting me know that he’s signed on as the director! I am an aspiring screenwriter and I understand how valuable it [...]

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• 09.15.06 It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia

  Probably my favorite comedy after The Office is FX’s It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. I developed a meta-appreciation for it this season, when I realized it’s shot at the Herald-Examiner building in downtown Los Angeles, using some of the same sets we used for The Movie.

  Last I heard, there was talk of converting the [...]

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• 08.29.06 Helicopter day

  Today was the first and only day of aerial photography for The Movie. We rented a helicopter, a Wescam mount, a pilot, an operator, a camera and burned two thousand feet of film. Minute for minute, it was the most expensive part of the entire production.

  How was it, you ask?

  Pretty effin’ [...]

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• 08.22.06 Additional photography

  In Hollywood parlance, “additional photography” is the polite term for what used to be called reshoots. It’s a rare case where the new word is better. Most of the time, you’re not reshooting anything. You’re getting new things you didn’t know you needed the first time around.

  Woody Allen is famous for [...]

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• 07.28.06 Turns out, he was busy reconsidering Tyra Banks

  You know how you can go months without seeing someone, then suddenly, they’re everywhere? This morning as I was getting into my little Prius, screenwriter/neighbor/inconstant blogger Josh Friedman rolled up in the Death Star Escalade to discuss our respective children’s nap schedules in anticipation of a playdate.

  Yeah, I said playdate. This is how [...]

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• 02.09.06 In which I attend the Grammy Awards

  As I might have mentioned, I got nominated for a Grammy Award (along with Danny Elfman) in the Best Song TV/Movie/Visual Media category for “Wonka’s Welcome Song” from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

  The nomination came as a surprise, in that (a) I didn’t realize the Grammys were coming up, (b) I didn’t know [...]

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• 10.06.05 Is the Screenwriting Expo any good?

  My question is about the Screenwriting Expo and other industry seminars. I realize that you are speaking this year, but is it really a worthwhile event? It seems like just another one of the money-sucks preying on desperate fledgling writers. Thanks!

  – Corey Los Angeles, CA

  To be honest, I don’t know if the Screenwriting Expo [...]

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• 08.25.05 A message to Dr. Phil

  I ventured over to the Paramount lot yesterday for a meeting. None of the studios have ample parking, but Paramount’s main parking lot is comically over-crowded. Their solution is a crew of pseudo-valets who don’t actually park your car, but rather jockey other cars around when you inevitably find yourself stuck behind three [...]

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• 08.20.05 Don’t panic as you hit the panic button

  This sign in the Beverly Center parking garage is, I think, an example of found poetry.

  I find the decision to switch from subjunctive to indicative mood in the second line bold and foward-thinking; the elevator will become inoperative, in the same way that all men will grow old and feeble.

  In lines three and four, [...]

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• 05.27.05 Michelle Pfeiffer, Supervolcanoes and the Yellowstone Fallacy

  I recently watched the Discovery Channel’s Supervolcano, a docu-drama about what would happen if the massive caldera underneath Yellowstone National Park were to erupt.

  The program had been sitting on my TiVo for a while, because it’s hard for me to commit to an hour of Alias, much less a three-hour made-for-cable movie. [...]

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