Funny, we like to think of Mark Zuckerberg as the myth. Oh well:
by Geoff Weiss
During Mark Zuckerberg’s first-ever trip to Bogota, Colombia — where he touched down yesterday to herald the launch of Internet.org — the Facebook founder made a rather surprising admission: “I’m a big fan of Shakira. A really big fan,” he blushed. “I don’t speak Spanish, but I like her Spanish music.”
Zuckerberg, who seems more visible than ever of late after kicking off avirtual book club and rolling out a series of public town hall-style discussions, spoke of his love for the pop star — among more serious topics — during the third-ever installment of Q&A with Mark, which can be viewed in full right here.read article
Short post this week cause I am BUSY!! Mostly doing rewrites, tightening, tweaking and finishing up the final few episodes of the Lele Show relaunch which has proved more daunting than I counted on. I’m preparing a ridiculous amount of material and there’s so much to organize, write and polish. But the one thing that stands out is: Kill your darlings.
What does that mean? It’s a phrase (possibly) coined by writer William Faulkner (“In writing, you must kill your darlings”) and, in general, known among a lot of writers, particularly screenwriters. It refers to throwing out jokes, lines, phrases, writing that you absolutely love love love but that don’t further the narrative. And that take away from it being tight and cohesive. Argh! It’s very tough to do. Especially when you’re writing comedy. And have to crank out joke after joke.
I’m raking the scripts over the coals. Tightening the narrative. Driving myself insane by cutting, tweaking, cutting. Mourning the loss of certain punchlines. Making sure the tone remains intact. And redefining and settling/on accepting that tone. Reading different versions to a select group of trusted friends for opinions. And the conclusion I’ve come to is: The only thing that really helps is…time. To give the piece space to gel and remove myself a bit so I can what really truly works. And…kill your darlings.read article
Um…probably. But should we really be surprised at what they’re like?
by Molly Hannon
In episode two of the new season of Girls, Hannah, played by Lena Dunham, attends a workshop in which classmates applaud a story by second-year African American student DeAugust. They love its spare language and how it addresses gender issues in an “almost offensive, but not offensive” way.
“I would cut off my arm to just read three more pages. I just have to know what happens,” one student gushes.read article
“I’m Catherine, by the way. I’m forty-seven, I’m divorced, I live with my sister who’s a recovering heroin addict. I have two grown-up children; one dead, and one who doesn’t speak to me.”
So begins Happy Valley, a BBC drama created by the fiercely talented Sally Wainwright (Season One available on Netflix).read article
by Geoff Weiss
by Molly Hannon