Video: The Battle of Long Tan

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It’s Australia Day and I have been working on my favorite project for the moment: the feature screenplay for LONG TAN, the feature based on the eponymous Vietnam battle from 1966. For the occasion I wanted to share something special with you. This week Sam Worthington mentioned our project in an interview to the press … Read more

Best o/t Web 22 Aug

:: Joss Whedon discusses Captain America
:: Facebook meddles with Social Network script
:: In praise of Toy Story 3 (and Pixar as a whole)
:: Francois Truffaut’s last interview
:: Check the Box Office prediction model before you start
:: Best comic book adaptation: Road to Perdition
:: The Zombie version of Assault On Precinct 13
:: Chinese remake Coen’s Blood Simple
:: Fighting leaks: Watermarking for script security.
:: Act three and the art of the universal ending.
:: Justin Adler’s The Escort ranks impressive.
:: Screenwriter Walter Hill on writing movies.
:: Angelina Jolie & George Clooney set for Marilyn Monroe film.
:: The cliche conundrum, can you make it work?
:: A look at 10 past scripts and their box office results.

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Structure: Toy Story 2

The second movie in the Toy Story trilogy resonates with me the most. Toy Story 3 builds on it thematically, far more than on the first installment. Like all Pixar pics, Toy Story 2 is not just a kids movie. It digs deeply into the fears of its characters. After seeing Inception this week, for me … Read more

Structure: Toy Story 1

In his book Screenwriting: The Sequence Approach, Paul Gulino offers an excellent analysis of Toy Story 1, based upon the tools of anticipation.  The breakdown below follows this almost religiously, except only for some minor details. Apart from the division in 3 acts and 8 sequences, later I will also indicate how some story points … Read more

Structure: Toy Story 3

Toy Story 3 is my favorite movie of the year and it will be hard to beat this. Usually when my expectations are high, I end up disappointed. Not here. The movie pays off on every possible level. It’s fun, emotional and has tremendous depth. I have seen it three times, each in a different … Read more