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Academy’s Film Noir series

April 19, 2010 Genres, Los Angeles, News

noirThe Academy is hosting a [Monday night screening series](http://www.oscars.org/events-exhibitions/events/2010/noir.html) focusing on film noir:

> Fifteen film noir classics from the 1940s, all of which were nominated in the writing categories, will be celebrated in a summer-long screening series, introduced by contemporary screenwriters whose own work reflects the film noir style.

I’ll be handling “The Dark Mirror” on July 12. (Olivia de Havilland! Twins! Murder!)

It’s a unique chance to see these films on the big screen, with terrific prints.

Date Film
May 10 “The Maltese Falcon,” introduced by Lawrence Kasdan
May 17 “Shadow of a Doubt”
May 24 “Laura,” introduced by Scott Frank
June 7 “Double Indemnity,” introduced by Nicholas Meyer
June 14 “Mildred Pierce,” introduced by Callie Khouri
June 21 “The Killers,” introduced by Billy Ray
June 28 “The Strange Love of Martha Ivers,” introduced by Robin Swicord
July 12 “The Dark Mirror,” introduced by John August
July 19 “The Blue Dahlia,” introduced by Wesley Strick
July 26 “The Stranger”
August 2 “Body and Soul”
August 9 “Crossfire,” introduced by Brian Helgeland
August 16 “A Double Life”
August 23 “Kiss of Death”
August 30 “White Heat”

Tickets are $5, or $30 for the entire series. It may sell out, so if you’re interested, [reserve now](http://www.oscars.org/events-exhibitions/events/2010/noir.html).

Snake People for iPad

April 4, 2010 Follow Up, Snake People

snake people iconIf you got an iPad this weekend, you know the iBooks app comes pre-installed with Winnie-the-Pooh. The attached iBookstore has a bunch of titles with which to fill your wood-grained shelves.

But in a welcome change from the walled garden of the App Store, iBooks will happily show you any ePub file you throw it. Including [last week’s short story](http://johnaugust.com/archives/2010/snake-people), Snake People.

If you want to test it out, you can download the ebook and try it out for yourself.

You’ll be downloading an ePub file that you need to drag over to iTunes. It will end up in the “Books” section of the sidebar, and should transfer the next time you sync. If it doesn’t, check that you have “Sync Books” ticked.

sync books

It’s not as slick as being able to purchase directly through the iBookstore, but Apple doesn’t let you “sell” free books. Neither does Amazon. It’s frustrating but understandable; they have costs, too.

If you have an iPad, try it out. Problems/concerns, leave a note here, or tweet.

Snake People

March 29, 2010 Projects, Snake People, The Variant

snake people coverI have a brand-new short story called Snake People. It’s [available today](http://www.mulhollandbooks.com/popcornfiction/stories/Snake_People_by_John_August.html), free.

Snake People is a bit shorter than The Variant, and…well, kinkier. By movie terms, it would still be Rated R, but I feel some fair warning is called for. It’s both fleshy and scaly.

The story is part of Popcorn Fiction, an ongoing anthology of short fiction by screenwriters, including original work by Scott Frank, Larry Doyle, Jeff Lowell and many others. Derek Haas created the whole endeavor.

Cover art is by Ryan M. Nelson.

Making and releasing the micro-budget indie

March 19, 2010 Follow Up, Indie

Several readers who couldn’t make it to the [One Too Many Mornings screening](http://johnaugust.com/archives/2010/one-too-many-mornings-screening) on Tuesday night asked whether there might be video from the Q&A I hosted afterwards. Thanks to the OTMM crew, there is:

* [Part One (8:45)](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2SFKb9_EgU&feature=channel) talks about the genesis of the movie, from script through Sundance.

* [Part Two (9:57)](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-nuiJj5tdo&feature=channel) looks at how they’re trying to get the movie out in the world, from direct downloads to DVDs to college screenings around the country.

Although the discussion in general will make sense to anyone interested in making indies, some of the specific details on OTMM will make more sense if you watch the movie.

In the rooftop party after the screening, several people asked about my interest in tiny movies — most of the projects I work on have a lot more commas and zeros in the price tag. To me, it’s an experiment in disintermediation, just like [The Variant](http://johnaugust.com/variant) was.

What happens when you take out the typical distributor? What do you gain? What do you lose?

I’m toying with the idea of doing [The Remnants](http://johnaugust.com/archives/2009/the-remnants-in-full) as an itty-bitty feature, but would only do it if I could get it out in the world in a way that made sense creatively and financially. So I’m watching things like OTMM closely. I’m happy to be a trailblazer, but would love to know what cliffs and monsters lie along that path.

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