Category: Opinion

Peggy Bechko Wants Us to Kill Our Darlings

by Peggy Bechko

killkillWe’re all writers. Whether of scripts or novels, right? So, how many times have you heard it? Variations of Stephen King’s classic advice: “Kill your darlings.”

Let’s roll that phrase around in our minds again. “Kill your darlings.”

Meaning, rip a scene or scenes from a script or novel that you just loved creating and think reads fantastically, but just doesn’t fit into the book. Doesn’t keep the story in the script moving forward. Doesn’t contribute much except a bit of writer’s dazzle. read article

The regrettable demise of the made-for-TV movie

TV movies have always been a mixed blessing. But now, with so few of them being made, have we, audience and writers, been damned to hell?

by Matt Brennan?

LB's favorite TV movie, written by his friend and early mentor, WilIiam Blinn
LB’s favorite TV movie, written by his friend and early mentor, WilIiam Blinn

Midway through Bessie — director Dee Rees’ made-for-television biopic of blueswoman Bessie Smith (Queen Latifah), which premiered on HBO earlier this year — the singer meets writer Carl Van Vechten (Oliver Platt) at a swanky New York party. A promoter of the Harlem Renaissance, the pasty, rotund novelist nonetheless “praises” black culture in the patronizing terms of the era’s white, Northern liberals. Van Vechten misjudges his audience; the title of his new book, Nigger Heaven, doesn’t sit well with Smith. She throws her champagne in his face, smashes the flute on the floor, and pillories the particular brand of racism that flourishes above the Mason-Dixon Line.

This is what’s great about made-for-TV movies. They have long offered a (relatively) prominent platform to women, people of color, and LGBT people. They make way for voices, subjects, and styles too often excluded from the airwaves. They tell stories that don’t often get told. And now, sadly, made-for-TV movies are dying. read article

How corporate America killed my writing

via lowriderarte.com
via lowriderarte.com

by Jim Sollisch

A good editor makes a good writer’s writing very good. A bad editor gives your writing a haircut with a chain saw.

And as a copywriter at an ad agency, I work pretty much exclusively with really bad editors. It’s not fair to call them editors; they are my clients, often marketing managers or communication specialists. Many have MBAs and are brilliant at so many things. Writing not included. They’ve had the English knocked out of them. Now, they speak Power Point. Worst case scenario, my work is edited or critiqued by the legal department or by committees.

It’s the same for so many professional writers. Public relations writers have their annual report copy “edited” by corporate executives or their minions. Technical writers have their work “edited” by engineers. And if you buy a corporate speechwriter a drink, be prepared to hear about the horrors of writing for the tone deaf. read article

John Ostrander’s Summer Movie Wrap-Up

Dreamvilleby John Ostrander

Labor Day 2015 has been and gone. Technically, the season’s change on September 23rd but for all intents and purposes, summer closes shop right after Labor Day. The summer movie season is over and the fall seasons are gearing up. Among things to look forward to is the new Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens, coming out around Christmas. However, we’re going to look back at the offerings from last summer, specifically the ones I saw and most enjoyed.

I freely admit I haven’t seen all the cinematic offerings that were out. Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation got missed, for example. I saw a fair amount, though, and I’m prepared to talk about those. You should be prepared for spoilers since I may reveal plot elements. That’s okay; you should have seen these films by now anyway.

There are six films on the list – Avengers: Age of Ultron, Ant-Man, Tomorrowland, Inside Out, Jurassic World, and Mad Max: Fury Road. All entertained me, some surprised me, and I’ll want all of them on disc for repeated home viewing, some more than others. read article

Servicing Your Characters

will-s

by Diana Black

Last week explored what we must know about a character in The Character Profile – hell, we barely scratched the surface! However, it didn’t include their shoe size, favorite dessert or the color they most like to wear unless those ‘choices’ figure prominently in their psyche; influencing their interaction with those around them and the events unfolding in the narrative..

If we’re to flesh the character/s out in order to get them up off the page, especially in moments when we’re seriously contemplating flipping burgers (or whatever) because of plot issues, then we need to be respectful. If we don’t take our characters seriously, how can we expect people other than ourselves, to root for them? read article