PEOPLE & NEWS
The Buzz
Film school in a box: Hard Scrambled hits DVD; Slamdance Screenplay contest
Anatomy of a Spec Sale
Muskrat Love gives Martin Sweeney warm spec fuzzies and a Six-figure payday.
Production Co. Spotlight
Lost Scenes: Election
Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor show that in adapting the type-A world of Tracy Flick to the big screen, it’s good not to know too much about your next (class) presidential candidate.
Breaking In
Cathryn Humphris, Marcelo Mitnik
People
Young Storytellers Program, Norman England
Why I Write
Pan’s Labyrinth‘s Guillermo del Toro tells you why keeping a little black book can help your muse, and reveals the music of writing.
Book Review
The Power of Film
COMING SOON…
Freedom Writers
When Richard LaGravenese read Erin Gruwell’s story of using journaling to reach her at-risk students he knew he not only had to write her story, he had to direct it, too.
BY TOM MATIHEWS
Miss Potter
The reason that Peter Rabbit’s creator stopped writing was the reason that Tony Award-winning director James Maltby, Jr. wanted to write her life story.
BY JAMES NAPOLI
Seraphim Falls
David Von Ancken co-wrote a Western about two men consumed by tragedy and revenge, then turned down $1,000,000 to make it his way.
BY PETER CLINES
The Curse of the Golden Flower
Zhang Yimou transports a ’30s stageplay into the tenth-century Tang Dynasty for a story of Shakespearean proportions.
BY JEFF GOLDSMITH
Breach
How two un produced writers and the writer-director of Shattered Glass followed the facts and a simple emotional journey to write the true story of the biggest security breach in US history.
BY NANCY HENDRICKSON
Catch and Release
Susannah Grant pens her directorial debut to investigate how the worst thing that could happen to someone might be their salvation.
BY PETER CLINES
COLUMNS
The Business of Screenwriting
Even Insomniacs Can Dream
In a market filled with sequels, remakes and adaptations, what’s a spec writer to do?
BY RON SUPPA
Agent’s Hot Sheet
Oh, the Horror!
How to get a piece of the bloody good action in the still-robust horror genre.
BY JIM CIRILE
Our Craft
What’s at Stake?
How to use Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs to enrich your scenes.
BY KARL IGLESIAS
You’ve Got to Produce
Hollywood South
L.A. ain’t the only town in the game. Just ask Florida.
BY CATHERINE CLINCH
The Final Scene
Dreamgirls
BY BILL CONDON
FEATURES
Bringing the Dream to Life: Bill Condon Takes Dreamgirls from Broadway to Hollywood
Twenty-five years ago, the brilliance of Michael Bennett’s Dreamgirls stunned critics and theatergoers alike. Now, Bill Condon, who was in that opening-night audience, brings a lifelong dream to fruition.
BY JEREMY SMITH
Scrubbing Up: Bill Lawrence’s “Noble Failure” Re-Invents Sitcoms
After getting fired from a half-dozen TV writing gigs, the future creator of NBC’s Scrubs co-created Spin City before flying solo on his new Single-camera comedy. Here Bill Lawrence talks about creating Scrubs, how shooting in a creepy hospital is a good thing, and why TV is Shangri-La for writers.
BY JASON DAVIS
Blood from a Stone: Charles Leavitt Explores the Price of Vanity in Blood Diamond
Charles Leavitt tells how he turned an adventure story into a gripping drama of one man’s quest to save his family, how to balance the story and the soapbox, and why he’ll never look at jewelry ads the same way again.
BY DAVID MICHAEL WHARTON
Road Trippin’: Michael Arndt’s Path to Little Miss Sunshine
How Michael Arndt quit his job, wrote seven scripts in a year, saw a Japanese anime movie, and ended up writing this summer’s $80-milliongrossing indie comedy hit.
BY JEFF GOLDSMITH
The Devil in Mr. Eszterhas
Joe Eszterhas was big, brash and rich, a screenwriting rock star in an era when the parties were long and the paychecks were fat. Now that he’s older, wiser, and living in self-imposed Hollywood exile, Eszterhas is telling stories from the trenches and issuing a call-to-arms for all screenwriters.
BY STEVE RYFLE
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