Best o/t Web 19 Sep

:: Finally: The great Bill Martell on video. (& Hitch, too)
:: Carson Reeves: How To Write For An A-List Actor
:: A Declaration Of Love To The Expendables
:: I’m Still Here Reviewed – And Exposed
:: The Social Network: Early Review
:: Bill Martell On Luck In Screenwriting
:: A Story Should Have Multiple Themes
:: SubPlots Add Emotional Depth
:: Best Of SciFi On io9 This Week
:: Script Worth The Read: Now You See Me
:: From Porn Set Dresser To Don Draper: John Hamm
:: Roger Ebert’s Seance With Errol Morris

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Best o/t Web 12 Sep

:: John August’s blog revamped. Gorgeous!
:: Danny Boyle and the Art of Amputation
:: Blake Snyder’s Story Patterns vs. Genre
:: Universal brings King’s Dark Tower to the cinema
:: Top 7 New York Films
:: Sixty Bill Murray facts to celebrate his 60th
:: Movies for free: Phantom of the Opera
:: Carson Reeves vs. M Night Shyamalan. Guess who loses
:: Screenwriter Peter Morgan just can’t get enough of Tony Blair
:: Roger Ebert’s collection of 100 Great Movie Moments (via Kottke)
:: Actors have a job too. So stick to writing the story
:: Sequences will save you during the rewrite
:: Who might be the new Ellen Ripley? Here’s a good candidate…
:: More arthouse doom and gloom. Next victim: Breillat
:: Nolan is hot, Bruckheimer is not. Summer winners and losers
:: Mad Men: The future of American cinema is on TV, says David Hare
:: Screenwriter finally makes first sale: old lamp on eBay (Hollywood Roaster)

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The Secret

While you were out celebrating New Year’s Eve, I was watching David Cronenberg’s eXistenZ on DVD. Not that I’m such a pathetic hermit; it was just my wife’s fun idea of closing the Old Year. She admitted afterwards she might have been wrong. Missing the Sydney Fireworks and all that. Meanwhile, the Story Dept. has … Read more

Act One: No Inciting Incident

BRUBAKER strays from the traditional structure because of its offbeat First Act. It lacks an Inciting Incident, nor does it have any significant protagonist characterisation. We witness from Robert Redford’s character’s POV how the most appalling injustice and brutality is inflicted relentlessly upon his fellow inmates. Over thirty minutes into the movie, Redford’s character identifies … Read more