Month: June 2015

Adapt Your Feature Idea into a Short Film

There are any number of great reasons to do this, as you’re about to see. Our personal fave: YouTube is today’s rocket to stardom, and we think y’all should hop on:

adapting-a-short-cover-865x505by Noam Kroll

One of the most common approaches to feature film development today involves writing a feature length screenplayand then shooting a short film based around it. The idea behind this approach is that the short film will act as a proof of concept and essentially show potential collaborators what the director/producer team is able to do stylistically, even on a small scale.

Although many filmmakers seem to understand the importance of adapting their feature length material into a short, many of them aren’t able to actually execute on it in an effective way. The reason being that features and shorts are in some ways completely different art forms, and an idea that works well as a feature doesn’t always work as well as a short film… Or vice versa. read article

WGAW June Calendar of Events

wgaw-calendar-june-15See the Clickable Version HERE

John Ostrander on Choosing Your Future!

Choose-Your-Future-Mad-Max-or-Tomorrowlandby John Ostrander

There’s an interesting duel going on at your local Cineplex – two very different views of the future. One is Mad Max: Fury Road and the other is Tomorowland. The first is a reboot of the classic Mad Max films, set in a very dystopian future, while Tomorrowland is based, in part, on a section of Disneyland. (While that might seem a bit thin a premise on which to base a film, keep in mind that the initial Pirates of the Caribbean was based on a ride at Disneyland and, the initial film at least, was delightful.)

While I haven’t yet seen the latest Mad Max incarnation, I know its predecessors very well and the trailers have certainly more than suggested that it’s the same landscape. Tomorrowland posits a city founded by the likes of Jules Verne, Thomas Edison, Nikolai Tesla, and Gustave Eiffel. In some parallel dimension, they created a utopia where the best and the brightest from all walks of life, art as well as science, can come and are encouraged to do anything they can dream. The four recruit other scientists and dreamers with a pin that has the letter “T” on it. It’s supposed to be science although for all extents and purposes, it’s a magic talisman.

I’m not going to do a review of either film but I am interested in the two contrasting visions of the future. Tomorrowland acknowledges the problems facing this world, any of which could lead to a dystopian future but it maintains that this future is not inevitable. As the villain in the piece, Governor Nix, maintains what makes it inevitable is that humanity embraces that dystopic vision, even runs towards it, because it is easier. All we have to do is nothing. Changing it requires doing something. I think doing something requires belief that the actions will have a positive effect, that the future can be changed, that it all can be made to work. read article

Diane Vaccarelli Sees SECRETS AND LIES

Did he do it? Sorry, gang, but we aren't telling.
Did he do it? Sorry, gang, but we aren’t telling.

Everyone Has Those Little Secrets
by Diana Vaccarelli

My favorite genre to watch on television is suspense.  Secrets and Lies follow the aftermath of the murder of a young boy name Tom Murphy.  The show is told through the eyes of Ben Crawford, played by Ryan Phillippe, whose world is turned upside down as he is the prime suspect but claims his innocence.

Phillippe portrays Ben Crawford as a sensitive nice guy always looking to do the right thing even when the right thing gets him in trouble. He establishes a poise and grace even though you can see the frustration on his face.  Phillippe manages to change his mood when his family is in the room, mainly his youngest daughter Abby.  He does everything he can to assure them that everything is going to be okay.

When he is alone you can see the anger building and tension and then he flips the switch. This is where he shines in the role. He makes that seem so easy, which we know is not as an actor. It is a rare gift. read article

Cartoons: “You Know TV Luvin’s Gone Too Far When….

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