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Things I’ve Learned As A Moviemaker
What I have learned from my filmmaking experience is to trust my instincts. This dates back to when I went to film school in Finland in the late 1970s. I made a little student film-just a couple of...
View ArticleThings I’ve Learned As A Moviemaker
Keep it simple. Encourage the actors after every take. Acting is like jumping without a parachute—it’s a scary thing to do. My acting coach made me try it once, so I know. Don’t worry about coloring...
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Ed Harris’ Artist’s Sensibility
Ed Harris Since the late 1970s, Ed Harris has made more than 50 television and film appearances. It didn’t take long for audiences to stand up and take notice. In 1983, Harris’ performance as John...
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Michael Berenbaum: Things I’ve Learned As A Moviemaker
Berenbaum worked with Al Pacino on Chinese Coffee. Trust yourself. A lot of times I’ve worked with first time directors and they get into situations where people are telling them ‘This is the way it...
View ArticleAdapting Indie Fiction: A Resource for Finding Your Next Story
You’ve been working on your first script for a year and a half. Maybe you got a lukewarm reception at your first staged reading last month, or maybe that .FDX file is still languishing half written on...
View ArticleA Journal For Jordan Screenwriter Virgil Williams Learned This ‘Powerful’...
A Journal For Jordan screenwriter Virgil Williams learned one “incredibly powerful” mantra from director Denzel Washington during the making of the movie that he’ll never forget. Starring Black Panther...
View ArticleSundance Institute Chooses 16 Writers for 2022 Screenwriters Lab
The Sundance Institute has chosen its 16 screenwriters to participate in the 2o22 Screenwriters Lab. Taking place from January 15-18 online, the writers were chosen from a whopping 3,200 applicants....
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Zodiac Screenwriter on His Overlong Spec Script and Convos With David Fincher...
James Vanderbilt wrote the screenplay for 2007’s Zodiac on spec — meaning he wasn’t commissioned to write it. So he began cutting it down before he sent it out to studios. “I was just like, This script...
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How Actors Writer-Director Betsey Brown Turned a Rare Moment of Sibling...
In 2017, actress Betsey Brown was in Austin, Texas for the world premiere of Assholes, directed by her brother, Peter Vack. It was Brown’s first big role, and the buzzy film picked up SXSW’s first-ever...
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Good Girl Jane Writer-Director Sarah Elizabeth Mintz Wrote A ‘Page Turny,...
In 2017, Good Girl Jane writer-director Sarah Elizabeth Mintz was living any moviemaker’s dream. Her script, then titled Junk Food Diary, had gotten into the Sundance Institute’s coveted Screenwriters...
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Austin Film Festival’s 2022 Screenwriters To Watch List, Presented by MovieMaker
The screenwriter might be the last person you’re thinking about walking out of a movie theater. Nonetheless, it is the screenwriters who provide the foundational art for all movies by giving...
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Bob Odenkirk Asks Better Call Saul Creator About Finale’s ‘Lack of Fireworks’
Bob Odenkirk is very happy with the ending of Better Call Saul, which wrapped Monday after six astonishing seasons. But in the latest episode of the Better Call Saul Insider Podcast, he asked the...
View ArticleHouse of the Dragon Made a Small Tweak That Changed Everything
In Blood and Fire, the George R.R. Martin novel that inspired the acclaimed Game of Thrones prequel House of the Dragon, Alicent marries King Viserys when she’s about 19 and his daughter, Rhaenyra, is...
View ArticleEdgar Wright on the Art of ‘Creative Procrasination’
Edgar Wright brings such an exacting, lovingly detailed sensibility to films like Baby Driver, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World and last year’s Last Night in Soho that you’d never guess he, like everyone...
View ArticleRyan Murphy Loves The Watcher So Much, He Offered to Write It For Free
After Ryan Murphy read Reeves Weideman’s 2018 The Watcher story in New York Magazine’s The Cut, he was so taken with the bizarre tale that he immediately tried to buy the rights and make it the subject...
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What Finding Nemo Can Teach Us About Screenwriting (and Change)
Haley Bartels is a Los Angeles-based screenwriter and a 2021 Academy Nicholl Fellow. Her first feature, an independent indie horror film with the working title The Great God Pan, is slated to shoot in...
View ArticleThe Black Panther: Wakanda Forever Ending Makes No Sense
Spoiler warning: Don’t read this, obviously, if you don’t want to hear about the ending of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. Many spoilers follow. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever ends joyously, with the...
View ArticleShe Said Writer Rebecca Lenkiewicz: Connecting With Weinstein Survivors Was...
Screenwriter Rebecca Lenkiewicz got to speak with multiple Harvey Weinstein accusers during the making of She Said, the new Universal Pictures drama that tells the true story of how New York Times...
View ArticleThe Whale Writer Samuel D. Hunter Explains How His Life Story Inspired The Movie
“It’s never gonna be this good ever again,” says Samuel D. Hunter, screenwriter of The Whale. An experienced playwright, Hunter adapted his work from the stage to the screen for the very first time on...
View ArticleWatch the Charlie Kaufman WGA Awards Speech: ‘I Have Wasted Years Seeking the...
Charlie Kaufman told writers not to seek “the approval of people with money” and instead to “work for the world” by telling truthful stories. The Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Being John...
View ArticleAIR: The True Story of Sonny Vaccaro and Michael Jordan’s Game-Winning Shot...
The way that Sonny Vaccaro discovers Michael Jordan’s potential for greatness in Ben Affleck’s AIR is a little bit different from how it happened in real life, according to screenwriter Alex Convery....
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Ernest Anemone’s ‘Family Affair’ is a Short With Sitcom Overtones – Stay Tuned
“Family Affair” is a funny, warm-hearted short film about secrets, friendships and family. But it also feels like just the beginning of a longer story — a day in the life of characters we want to get...
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Director Sam Fox on Embracing Your Inner Weirdo
My whole life I’ve second guessed myself, never thinking I was good, smart, funny or profound enough. I’ve only recently discovered that these insecurities came from not being authentic and true to...
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How to Format Text Messages in Your Screenplay
If you’re writing a movie or TV script set in the present day, the moment will probably arise when your lead character sends or receives a dramatic text message. Some of us even text more than we talk...
View ArticleHouse of Gucci Writer Says the Key Was to ‘Make It Very Ironic and Really Not...
https://shows.acast.com/moviemaker-interviews/episodes/roberto-bentivegna-house-of-gucci House of Gucci went through several writers before the project found one who could do justice to the surreally...
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The Austin Film Festival’s 25 Screenwriters to Watch in 2024
Since its inception in 1994, the Austin Film Festival has been dedicated to honoring the art and skill of screenwriting as the core of storytelling. Writers not only construct the worlds we immerse...
View ArticleMeet Will Beall, the Former Cop-Turned-Screenwriter Behind Beverly Hills Cop:...
Will Beall is no stranger to contributing to cop drama blockbusters. Perhaps its because he once lived a similar life to the characters he writes about. A screenwriter behind sequels from big...
View ArticleThe Simplest Screenplay Advice: ‘Don’t Do the Work of the Other Artisans’
I’m Michael Klug. I’m a screenwriter, an actor, a script consultant, a filmmaker, a novelist, a film critic and an overall movie nerd. In my 20 years of screenwriting, I’ve discovered shortcuts,...
View ArticleEssential Tips for Student Moviemakers: From Script to Screen
Making a movie is a complex, hand-soiled affair combining creativity, technical talent, and collaboration. This journey can be both exhilarating and overwhelming for student filmmakers. This piece...
View ArticleHow to Start Writing Your Very First Movie: A Guide for Film Students
Writing your very first movie can be both exciting and daunting. As a film student, you likely have plenty of creative ideas but may struggle with transforming those ideas into a compelling script....
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