Megan McArdle wonders if procrastination stems largely from a fear of failure.
It’s a week of big egos as Craig and John take a look at when (or whether) filmmakers will be able to pull a Beyoncé and surprise-release a feature film, and what Mrs. Carter’s tussle with Amazon and Target means for the future of retail DVD.
Guinevere Turner doesn’t want to talk to you, not when she’s writing.
Jake Malooley tracks down writer-director Paul Brickman, who more or less vanished after Risky Business.
John and Craig sit down with screenwriter-turned-psychotherapist Dennis Palumbo to discuss writer’s block, procrastination, partnerships and more. It’s a can’t-miss episode for aspiring writers and professionals alike.
This week, I’ve been working on a feature, a TV pilot and the stage musical of Big Fish. It’s gotten me thinking about the nature of different forms of dramatic writing.
A listener wonders if the lack of female screenwriters stems in part from the social part of the profession, specifically confidence in one’s ability.
In response to the discussion Craig and I recently had about the perceptions of nepotism and wealth in the film industry, a listener wrote in to share his experience of being quite literally a trust-fund screenwriter.
Craig and John take a brief look at the misguided Girls backlash and complaints about nepotism in Hollywood, before segueing to a bigger discussion of spec scripts and positioning.
Burn one minute and twenty-seven seconds with this nice motion graphic by Ryan Perera.
Lauren Bagby offers an office PA’s perspective how it feels when your show gets cancelled.
Over at Tom the Dancing Bug, Ruben Bolling looks at how journalists have a faulty memory when it comes to past award seasons.
I’d missed this piece from November by Jesse Lasky in which he describes his first experience pitching a TV show.
Pivoting of the discussion Craig and I had about Charlie Kaufman’s speech, Josh Barkey outlines a path that may lead screenwriters to resent their audiences.
Screenwriter and TV scribe Christine Boylan talks through her work habits and tools.
At the end of any day in which I’ve had to keep up in French, I’m zombie-tired. Research Daniel Kahneman has the explanation.
John and Craig discuss why screenwriters want to please people — and how it often hurts them and the movie they’re writing — before a lengthy discussion of the pros and cons of going to film school.
I had a hunch that late in the day wasn’t the best time to introduce a new song for Big Fish. Science agrees.
Sean Hood writes up his experience of dealing with a film flop.
How do you handle a producer who won’t stop giving notes?
I never watched Oprah. But I’m not surprised she had some good parting thoughts.
College was the first time I started writing how I speak. Or, more accurately, college was when I stopped trying to write the way I thought I should write.
Sure: everyone’s already linked to Austin Kleon’s wonderful post How to Steal Like an Artist (and 9 things nobody taught me). But I can’t know that you’ve read it. And I don’t have better advice for you today, or even this week. So I really recommend you read it, and take some notes.
Lawrence Turman suggests asking random people for their opinions of your concept. Great idea for a producer, but potentially a bad idea for a screenwriter.
The Time Magazine profile on Mark Zuckerberg offers a concise description of what makes me uneasy about Facebook in its current form: the binary definition of friendship.
