Tag: Spec Scriptacular Contest

Is TV Better Because More Playwrights are Writing It Now?

A fair question, all things considered. Let’s see what a top writer at one of the most prestigious and respected of U.S. theater organizations has to say on the subject, yeah?

1 of the top productions in TV's real 'Golden Age,' REQUIEM FOR A HEAVYWEIGHT
1 of the top productions in TV’s real ‘Golden Age,’ REQUIEM FOR A HEAVYWEIGHT

by Rob Weinert-Kendt

Television was supposed to kill films and print journalism and radio, right? Just as the movies once purportedly threatened to make theatre and the novel obsolete, or photography to obviate the art of painting, or recorded music to replace the concert…well, you see where I’m going with this. All of these media have changed irrevocably, some beyond recognition, and there has unquestionably been a lot of attrition—what economists rather coldly call “churn” (a moment of silence, please, for vaudeville, drive-in movies, LPs, well-stocked newsstands and bookstores).

But while I’ve read my share of Walter Benjamin and Neil Postman, I’m not inclined to declinism—at least no more than I am to utopianism—in regards to culture. To those who would deplore fragmentation and narrowcasting and niche-ification, I would reply with questions about hegemony, homogeneity, and monopoly: Were American arts and entertainment really better off with just three networks, Hollywood’s cartelized studio system, and a national theatre dominated by Broadway and tours? In the area I know the most about, I’d argue that the regional/resident theatre movement that sprang up in the 1960s and thereafter, for all its problems and shortcomings, offers a far richer and more variegated American theatre culture and literature than we would have had without it. read article

10 Tips for Indie Filmmakers

Yes, we know the title says “filmmakers,” but let’s get real. If you’re even thinking about creating, say, a web series (let alone a broadcast or cable series), you’ve just put yourself square into the indie filmmaker camp. (In other words, ‘fess up: Where do you watch most of the films you see? On the web or your TV, are we right?)

by Gary Nick Dawson

Gary Hustwit is a successful documentary filmmaker. Last week Filmmaker magazine ran an article by Nick Dawson, called “Gary Huswit’s 10 Web Tips for Doc Filmmakers.” The article is drawn from a workshop run by Hustwit at the 2012 Documentary Lab, which is an initiative of the Independent Filmmaker Project in New York. And although the focus is on documentary filmmaking, many of the principles can be applied to any independent filmmaking project. =&0=& With his most recent film, Urbanized, Hustwit launched a website for the movie after he been working on the film for a year, meaning he had a lot of work already under his belt and a clear sense of where the project was going. =&1=& Three of the urban design projects featured in Urbanized came to his attention via Twitter. Hustwit reaches out to his 150,00 Twitter followers to solicit suggestions for venues in certain cities or towns that he doesn’t know or has not been to recently. =&2=& Aside from tweeting, blog a couple of times a week and send out a newsletter every one or two months when you’re still in production, and once every two weeks when your film is actually screening. When teasing your film during production, put up pictures but not footage.

The fantasy of what your film’s going to be about is often better than the reality….

Read it all at Adelaide Screenwriter read article

If You Only Get 1 Bit of Advice About Your Writing…

…this bit, from THIS AMERICAN LIFE’s Ira Glass should be it:

Found on the interwebs by LB,who hopes this answers a question he’s always being asked. I.e., “Why does your contest Feedback always tell me to keep writing as much as possible and gain experience? How will experience help someone as uninformed as I am get me over the hump?” read article

Now That The New X-FILES Is Over…

Let’s talk about what effect the series really has had. Or, better still, let’s see what, John Kenneth Muir, one of the web’s most knowledgeable and entertaining TV critics has to say:

The X-Files: “My Struggle” (January 24, 2016)
by John Kenneth Muir

xfileslogoAfter far too long an absence from television, Chris Carter’s The X-Files (1993-2002) returned to television on Monday night with an episode titled, cannily, “My Struggle.”

That title — not coincidentally, I presume — is also the translated-to-English title of Adolf Hitler’s 1925 literary autobiography, Mein Kampf. read article

Animated Series of the ’90s that were Made to be Loved

…Especially by people like us. What kind of people are we? You’ll know once you’ve learned more about what kind of series we’re alluding to, and what better place to learn than right here:

renundshtimpyby Bryan Lufkin

Last month, it was announced that 25 years’ worth of Nicktoon characters—possibly everyone from Eliza Thornberry to Invader Zim to Ginger to Doug—will join forces in one all-star, ensemble, Avengers-style movie. A lot of these guys were on the airwaves back in the ‘90s. Seeing the fan-made promo images made me nostalgic. But it also made me think: Wow. Cartoons in the ‘90s were weird as hell.

I watched a lot of TV as a kid. A lot. It’s not because I hated sunlight or human interaction, either. It’s because the cartoons on TV consistently captured my imagination, or left me in a fetal position on the living room floor from laughing so hard. Sometimes they even freaked me out and haunted me. And I couldn’t stop watching. When you look up episodes of these old shows online, one thing is clear: ’90s cartoons were odd. Dark. At times, deeply disturbing. That’s what made them fantastic. read article