"Angry Birds Real Life"

If you're familiar with Angry Birds, you'll love this short film by Tom Antos. 

If you're not familiar with Angry birds, it might confuse you, so it's probably best to skip this one.

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What makes a great screenplay?

John Yorke is Managing Director of Company Pictures, the UK independent that produces Skins, Shameless, The White Queen and Wolf Hall.

Over many years he was both Head of Channel Four Drama and Controller of BBC Drama Production. He has worked on big popular works such as Hustle, Spooks, Casualty and Holby City alongside award-winners such as Bodies, Omagh, Sex Traffic, Not Only But Always and The Curse of Steptoe.

His career began by single-handedly story-lining EastEnders in its very first year, beginning a 14 year association that produced some of the biggest audiences in British television history.

As a commissioning Editor/Executive Producer, he championed some of the defining works of British television including Life On Mars, The Street, Shameless and Waterloo Road.

In 2005 he created the BBC Writers Academy, a year-long in-depth training scheme which has produced a generation of successful television writers. He's also worked as Editor of The Archers. John is Visiting Professor of English Language and Literature at the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne.

Likes to keep himself busy, does John.

And now he has also written a book: Into the Woods: A Five Act Journey into Story, which will be published by Particular Books on 4 April 2013. To celebrate the fact, The Guardian published an article called What makes a great screenplay? on 15 March 2013. It was written by John Yorke, and imparts some of the substance of his book.
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"Once upon a time, in such and such a place, something happened."
In basic terms that's about it—the very best definition of a story.

What an archetypal story does is introduce you to a central character—the protagonist—and invite you to identify with them; effectively they become your avatar in the drama. So you have a central character, you empathise with them, and something then happens to them, and that something is the genesis of the story. Jack discovers a beanstalk; Bond learns Blofeld plans to take over the world. The "something" is almost always a problem, sometimes a problem disguised as an opportunity. It's usually something that throws your protagonist's world out of kilter – an explosion in the normal steady pace of their lives: Alice falls down a rabbit hole; spooks learn of a radical terrorist plot; Godot doesn't turn up.

Your character has a problem that he or she must solve: Alice has to get back to the real world; our spooks have to stop a bomb going off in central London; Vladimir and Estragon have to wait. The story is the journey they go on to sort out the problem presented. On the way they may learn something new about themselves; they'll certainly be faced with a series of obstacles to overcome; there will be a moment near the end where all hope seems lost, and this will almost certainly be followed by a last-minute resurrection of hope, a final battle against the odds, and victory snatched from the jaws of defeat.

You'll see this shape (or its tragic counterpart) working at some level in every story. It might be big and pronounced, as in Alien or Jaws, it might be subtler, as in Ordinary People, or it might represent a reaction against it (Jean-Luc Godard's Weekend)—but it will be there. It reveals itself most clearly in the framework of the classic crime or hospital drama. A murder is committed or someone gets sick; the detective or doctor must find the killer or make their patient well. That's why detective fiction is so popular; the unifying factors that appear at some level in all stories are at their most accessible here.

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Read the full article here.

How to build a following, for independent filmmakers

Ted Hope, the the producer of independent films such as American Splendor, 21 Grams and The Savages, advised actor/writer/director/independent filmmaker Edward Burns (director of Nice Guy Johnny, Newlyweds, and The Fitzgerald Family Christmas) that he should use Twitter to bolster his fan base and connect with his film's fans on a deeper level.

Burns took that advice and now he is utilizing social media, not only to get in touch with his fan base about all sorts of topics related to filmmaking, but also to get his films out to his audience without spending money on advertising. His next project, Winter Spring Summer Fall, is in production with a Kickstarter campaign planned to help finance the film.

In the following video, Burns discusses the value of using Twitter to connect with fans, and the making and distributing films for little money outside of the studio system.

Movie parodies in MAD Magazine

The current issue of FilmComment, the film magazine of Lincoln Center Film Society, is running a story about the movie parodies which have appeared in MAD Magazine for the last 60 years. 

Casabonkers

Before MAD, audiences looking for movie parodies had to be content with Britain’s relatively toothless Carry On films, Bob Hope’s gentle genre ribbing, or Abbott & Costello’s goofy send-ups. But MAD was out for blood. Deeply meta and full of in-jokes, it constantly conflated characters with the actors playing them (lancing Brando’s foppish accent in Mutiny on the Bounty aka Mutiny on the Bouncy one character says, “Don’t worry, Trevar! He pulled a stupid Southern accent on me in Sayonara and I still won an Oscar!”) and gleefully pointed out plot holes. When Roy Scheider is fatally stabbed in Marathon Man he manages to make it back to his brother’s apartment, over 60 blocks away. “Good Lord! What happened to you?” Dustin Hoffman gasps in Marathon Mess. “I was stabbed in Lincoln Center, so I dragged myself to Broadway, caught an uptown bus to 72nd Street and got a crosstown bus to Riverside Drive, grabbed a No. 4 bus to 116th street…walked up the hill…and here I am…” Scheider replies.

Home A-Groan

But the arrival of Mort Drucker in 1957 changed everything. Initially no one saw Drucker’s talent. Then in 1959 he drew the television parody The Night Perry Masonite Lost a Case and the basic movie parody format for the next 44 years was born. Opening with a splash panel that took up two-thirds of the page, it was all cartooning, used square word balloons, and the dialogue was copy cast. Playing to Drucker’s strengths, The Night Perry Masonite Lost a Case opted for an extremely tame design, mandated by art directors John Putnam and Leonard Brenner, who gave Drucker his panel layouts. The panels were mostly two-shots and medium shots, usually showing the characters from the waist up. The comedy came from Drucker’s uncanny ability to capture the likeness of an actor and then blow it up to the point where it started to deform but didn’t quite tip over into caricature. The cartoonist’s equivalent of an actor’s director, Drucker was a master of drawing hands, faces, and body language, and his approach (he wound up creating 238 movie satires) became the house style.

You can read the whole article here, if you like that sort of thing.

"Notes on the Other"

Notes on the Other is a short film directed by Sergio Oksman, and written by Carlos Mugiro and Sergio Oksman. It records key elements in the life of Ernest Hemingway, and examines how they spilled over into the lives of others.

Each summer, a crowd of Ernest Hemingway doubles meet in Key West, Florida, to choose the authentic Hemingway after Hemingway's death. One day in 1924, the real Ernest Hemingway also wanted to be someone else. This film is the story of this hypothesis.

Ernest Hemingway (1899–1961) was an American author and journalist, whose economical and understated style had a strong influence on 20th-century fiction, while his life of adventure and his public image influenced later generations.

After high school, Hemingway worked as a reporter for a few months for the Kansas City Star, before leaving for the Italian front to enlist with the World War I ambulance drivers. In 1918, he was seriously wounded and returned home. His wartime experiences formed the basis for his novel A Farewell to Arms. He moved to Paris, where he worked as a foreign correspondent. The Sun Also Rises, Hemingway's first novel, was published in 1926.

From 1937 to 1939 he covered the Spanish Civil War as a journalist, after which he wrote For Whom the Bell Tolls. He was in London during World War II, and present at the Normandy Landings and the liberation of Paris.

Shortly after the publication of The Old Man and the Sea in 1952, Hemingway went on safari to Africa, where he was almost killed in two successive plane crashes that left him in pain or ill health for much of the rest of his life. In 1959 he moved to Idaho where he committed suicide in 1961.

"Lego Dance"

This Lego animation of Michael Jackson dancing was created by Annette Jung and her studio, Talking-Animals Animation Studio, Berlin. It only runs for 29 seconds, so you can afford the time to watch. It's worth it.

Interview with Lucy V Hay

Lucy V. Hay is a qualified teacher, novelist, script editor, screenwriter, a blogger who helps writers, and one of the organisers of the London Screenwriters' Festival (LSF), where she currently holds the position of Director of Education. She is the associate producer of the British thriller Deviation, and the author of the books Bauchentscheidung ("Gut Decision"), and Writing and Selling Thriller Screenplays.
    That this blog still exists today is due, in part, to the kindness shown to me by Lucy back in 2011. After a chance meeting on Twitter in January 2013, I took the opportunity to ask her a few questions. ________________________________________________________________________

•  Where were you born, and where did you grow up?

I was born in the North of England in Yorkshire, but spent the first part of my childhood in The Midlands near Hereford and Worcester. There's lots of history around

those parts relating to The Civil War around the reign of Charles II and Oliver Cromwell, plus some of the Industrial Revolution, so I felt quite struck as a child by the weight of history and was very interested in it all.
    My family moved to Devon just as I became a teenager and, when I had stopped sulking about being stuck in the middle of nowhere, I realised the history there was just as rich: I learnt all about the Highwaymen on Exmoor and how even the Romans were afraid of the desolate moorlands. I feel certain living in such beautiful and historical places made a big impression on me and my desire to write.
 

•  What kind of a family did you grow up with?

I was the eldest of five children. During the course of my childhood and teenage years—like many others here in the UK—in the recession of the 1990s, we went from comfortably off to NOT, very quickly. Despite being desperately short of money, my mother worked hard to hold our heads above water.
   We lived in a house at the bottom of a valley near a river that was gorgeous but unbearably cold in winter. I used to fantasise about finding secret places like Francis Hodgson Burnett's The Secret Garden.
   I never did, but I did find an endless supply of magic mushrooms in a nearby wood! And, no, I didn't take any.

•  Where did you go to school?

I had an eclectic education, going to three secondary schools as we moved about a fair bit. I didn't like school at all and was always "the new kid", so I never really fit in. I was also bullied a fair bit for being apparently weird or poor or both.

•  When did you first take an interest in films/stories?

Always. I remember getting in trouble at primary for writing a "novel" in my maths book instead of my homework. It was eight pages long and called Dustcart George.

•  What was your first paying job (in any field)?

I was 14 and I was Gnorman the Gnome for a local holiday park! It involved dressing up in a big Gnome costume, like the ones you see at Disney, and waving to tourists. It paid £1.70 an hour.

•  What was your first job in the movie business?

My first paid job was for the Lego company, coming up with storylines for their toys. It was great and I also got lots of Lego for my son. It was an awesome job and I'd do it again if I could.

•  What was your first spec script about?

It was a crime drama about a young woman who plotted revenge against a man who wronged her in some way (I don't remember why). Anyway she sent him clues, all in a song by Massive Attack. It was horrendous. I was 17, that's my only excuse! I remember a kind producer read it and gave me feedback. I met him again at London Screenwriters’ Festival and nearly died a thousand deaths because he remembered it. haha!

•  You’ve held key roles with the London Screenwriters’ Festival (LSF) since 2010. How did you become involved, and what is your personal goal for the LSF?

I have known Chris Jones for several years and after a chat at the Cheltenham Screenwriters' Festival 09, he invited me to hold a script reading workshop at Ealing Studios. Not long after this we heard SWF 09 had folded and Chris said, "Why don't we do our own festival in October?" I said, "Sure!" thinking, he meant in October 2011. But no—he meant October 2010!! After coming down off the ceiling, I thought, "Why not?" and sought to help him set it up. I think sometimes you just have to go for something. It's what Chris is all about and he's changed my life in that regard.
    My personal goal for LSF is to be as inclusive as possible. I've been very vocal about including female delegates, in particular, and I won't apologise for this, especially when such a small amount of our media output is from women, particularly in film. I want to include ethnic minorities and disabled delegates more on this same basis. We're working very hard behind the scenes to try and ensure no one is "locked out" of the industry.
   I also want to make people realise it's all in OUR hands. Ten years ago I was a single Mum working out of my kitchen. I want to give people the tools to realise the only thing standing in their "way" is them. Make a choice: get going or stay put.

•  What are three things you wish someone had told you about screenwriting when you were starting out?

Everything takes forever.
Concepts sell, so make them bombproof.
There is no destination, so enjoy the journey.

•  Who was the screenwriting teacher who had the biggest influence on you?

Not a screenwriting teacher per se, but my friend and collaborator J.K. Amalou has taught me more about screenwriting and indeed life than anyone else.

•  You’ve had a Young Adult novel published in... German. How did that come about?

Because a German publisher bought it first!
   You can sell your manuscript in any language. 
   The likes of Agatha Christie, JK Rowling, Stephen King, et al, have sold their novels in just about ALL languages. That's why they're so rich and why novel writing is so cool. You write one manuscript, yet get the opportunity to sell it multiple times.

•  You’ve written a screenwriting book—Writing and Selling Thriller Screenplays—that’s due out in September. Why did you choose to write about thrillers, rather than, say, rom/coms or family dramas? 

 

Because I love Thriller; it's why I got involved in Deviation years back. Thriller is so malleable, it can link up or cross over with so many different genres—it's a real chameleon.
    It's also the one genre I see do consistently badly in the spec pile, with writers telling me they're writing a Thriller ... only for me to read it and discover that it's actually a drama!
    Loving Thriller as I do, I feel I need to do my bit to help rectify this issue, so when Kamera Books approached me, I bit their hand off when they asked me which genre I'd like to do!

•  If you had to suggest just one screenwriting book (not your own) to a newbie screenwriter, which one would it be?

Writing Drama, by Yves Lavandier. It's quite heavy going but not a "how to" book; instead it approaches how to wring conflict out of your writing and make it the lifeblood of your scenes. I read lots of screenplays where not much happens, or on the other end of the scale in that they're completely hysterical. This means Yves' book is really relevant and a worthwhile read for ALL writers.

•  What are your ten favourite movies of all time?

I love Hollywood movies, 'cos they're so fun. I think British output could learn a lot from them; we don't have to be "worthy" all the time, though I would love some better heroines in general. Where are the Sigourney Weavers and Jodie Fosters of the One Direction generation?

The Poseidon Adventure (1972)
Tremors (1990)
Psycho (1960)
The Sixth Sense (1999)
Alien (1979)
Sexy Beast (2000)
Dust Devil (1992)
Panic Room (2002)
Con Air (1997)
Die Hard (1988)

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