Any Screenwriters On The Board??
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10 Ways To End Your Screenplay
The opening scenes of your screenplay are the first impressions a reader will get of your story. They are critical becau
creativescreenwriting.com
10 Ways To End Your Screenplay
The opening scenes of your screenplay are the first impressions a reader will get of your story. They are critical because they invite the reader into your story and encourage them to stay for the duration of your film or TV script. They will likely make their decisions on whether to invest in your screenplay or not.
What about the ending? A reader has already invested in your story and made it through to the words “Fade Out.” A reader can’t unread your screenplay. No, they can’t. The ending is equally critical because it forms lasting impressions that last beyond your screenplay. It informs how a reader will discuss your screenplay with others, decide if they want to read any more of your work, or recommend you for writing assignments or industry introductions.
Screenwriters should always put as much effort into their closing scenes as their opening scenes.
Let’s explore some common ways that could end your screenplay:
1) Circular
Circular endings rely on the story or the main character does a full circle and ends up in the same place as they started. Although it may ostensibly appear that the character has not progressed, this is not true. These endings are more about the character’s journey than the final outcome. How has your character grown as a person? Why was this experience essential to your character’s development if they end up in the same circumstance.
Circular endings are deceptive in their nature because they may also indicate that a character needs to have multiple experiences and end up in the same place before they break away and achieve the desired goal.
2) Bookend
Similar to the circular ending, a bookend indicates that your main character ends up in the same physical space as the opening scene with a change in circumstances. It is different than a circular ending because it relies on the central question or message, being posed at the start of your screenplay and answered at the end. It represents a profound transformation in your main character such as emotional, spiritual, perceptional, attitudinal, or cognitive that relates back to the goal or theme.
3) Moral
A moral ending is a common feature of cause-based films because it relies on a principle. Morality shines a light on the difference between right and wrong with the sole purpose of influencing audiences. A common use of the moral ending is in superhero films where good always wins out over evil. Justice is served most of the time.
4) Surprise
A surprise ending is always plausible, but unexpected. These types of endings are often seen in thrillers and detective movies which end with a twist, such as when the perceived perpetrator turns out to be the hero instead. Surprise endings must be earned and organic to the story.
These types of endings are refreshing to audiences because they subvert their expectations to make them memorable. Screenwriters should set up these endings and leave a few subtle clues to appease audiences. Surprises can’t be so left-field that they destabilize your reader into confusion.
5) Emotional
These endings are meant to elevate your audience into a heightened, intense emotional state. If it’s a comedy, your reader should still be laughing after they’ve read “fade out” or crying after finishing your heart-wrenching drama. They can also activate other emotions such as anger, fear, and joy. Some screenwriters rely on taking their readers through a rollercoaster of emotions so they experience a spectrum of feelings in the one story.
6) Reflection
This is a philosophical, internalized ending that lingers on the final scene. They typically occur when the main character looks back and takes stock of their journey throughout the story and consider how much they’ve evolved and how it will impact their lives. Reflection endings or are frequently depicted through voiceovers so that audiences can directly tap into the character’s innermost thoughts.
7) Cliffhanger
Cliffhanger endings generate anticipation and excitement to see what happens next. They should provide enough momentum for audiences to guess several potential outcomes that might be realized after the scene’s conclusion. Screenwriters should not be fooled into this is an incomplete story just because the final ending hasn’t been told.
A notable point of discussion is the final scene of the final episode of The Sopranos on HBO in which the series ended abruptly mid-sentence in the final scene. It takes a great deal of finesse to successfully write these endings so you don’t irritate your reader.
8) Humor
Humor is an uplifting ending that adds to the entertainment value of your story. It could be a joke or an amusing situation that reinforces the central theme and genre of your screenplay. If your screenplay has been heavy-duty drama, a moment of levity in the closing scene of your story suggests your character will be fine in the post-screenplay world.
9) Banter
Banter is a witty, quick-fire back and forth dialogue between two or more characters. It could be a continuation of an argument, discussing grand plans for the future, or waxing lyrical about everything and nothing.
10) Image
Since film is comprised of a moving image, the final words of your screenplay should evoke some kind of imagery to guide the reader into your characters’ world beyond the story. It could be a moving image, a still, or even a black screen.
This article is wild. Hollywood is just learning something they should have figured out decades ago. Here's an excerpt...
www.hollywoodreporter.com
Hollywood Agents Navigate New Complexities of Balancing the Demand for Diverse Voices and Artistic Freedom
As studios seek creators who can tell tales from a personal perspective, unintended consequences can arise: "Some people feel rooted in telling stories about their identity, and some people want to be seen as a filmmaker regardless of their gender and race."
In 2020, Hollywood agents and managers who represent female and minority filmmakers are experiencing a mostly welcome, if long delayed, phenomenon — lots and lots of incoming calls.
"I have seen an increased commitment and desire for directors and writers to have something in connection with the potential project," says ICM literary agent Ava Greenfield, who represents Black filmmakers such as Regina King, making her directorial debut this year with the Amazon Studios Muhammad Ali film One Night in Miami, and Matthew Cherry, who sold a series based on his Oscar-winning animated short Hair Love to HBO Max in July. "If, for example, the story is centered on Black woman, there is an initial commitment from buyers to find a Black female director or writer for this project. It comes from this understanding that there has to be a connection to the material by a writer or a director."
Studios, motivated either by a sincere desire to diversify their hiring, a sense that genuine connection to material leads to better storytelling — or the simple fear of being internet-shamed — are increasingly focusing on staffing films and TV shows about underrepresented groups with filmmakers and showrunners from those groups. Current projects that studios are hoping to populate with Black behind-the-camera talent include Marvel's Blade movie starring Mahershala Ali, which is looking for writers, and MGM's Sammy Davis Jr. biopic, which Lena Waithe is producing.
This approach represents a pivot from the way Hollywood used to do business, relying on a short list of mostly white, mostly male directors to helm a broad swath of material. As the marketplace evolves, a question agents have long asked themselves when they receive word of a new project — who should tell this story? — comes with new complexity.
"People are very aware of the optics of authenticity," says WME agent Tanya Cohen, who represents clients including M. Night Shyamalan and Janelle Monáe. "Since the pandemic and Black Lives Matter protests, there's been a real shift, and studios are increasingly being conscious and judicious about finding the voices to tell a story from a very authentic point of view."
Some of that awareness has come as a result of audience or critical backlash. Just a few years ago, movies with Black leads like Fox's 2016 best picture nominee Hidden Figures and Warner Bros.' 2013 Jackie Robinson biopic 42 arrived in theaters with little scrutiny about their white male directors. Instead, they were mostly hailed for their inclusive casts and messages of uplift. In 2018, some critics lambasted Universal's Green Book for white filmmaker Peter Farrelly's reliance on racial clichés, but the movie still went on to win best picture and earn $322 million at the worldwide box office.
But when red carpet interviews at the Mulan premiere in March revealed a mostly white production team working under white female director Niki Caro, a headline on the Canadian pop culture website Flare.com read, "The live-action Mulan is already making me mad." A writer for the British newspaper Metro noted, "I've loved Mulan since childhood, but the remake is too white behind the camera."
Industry figures, too, have begun signaling their discontent when a filmmaker doesn't seem steeped enough in a culture to direct a film about it. When news broke in September that Ron Howard would direct a biopic about Chinese concert pianist Lang Lang, The Farewell writer-director Lulu Wang tweeted her frustration. "As a classically trained pianist born in China, I believe it's impossible to tell Lang Lang's story without an intimate understanding of Chinese culture and the impact of the Cultural Revolution on artists and intellectuals and the effects of Western imperialism," Wang said. "Just saying."
Some in the talent-rep world say they worry the new expectations are limiting. "These are writers who are supposed to be able to fictionalize stories that didn't exist from their brains, and we are curbing their ability to create," says one representation source. And some are beginning to steer their white or male clients away from projects that may become controversial because of their attachment. "Twitter and social media are the sole fear of the studios," says the representation source. "We don't want to spend our clients' time [on projects] that studios are going to shy away from."
If white male clients are guided away from projects, that's just fine, say some agents with diverse client lists. "For 120 years it's been assumed that white men can direct any movie," says one agency source. "The pendulum has swung the other way for so long. If we are now living in a period where the pendulum swings too far to the other side, so be it."
On some recent high-profile projects where a white storyteller is presenting a film or TV show featuring a protagonist of color, creators have been careful to open up the process to a more inclusive group of collaborators. When Damon Lindelof created HBO's Watchmen, which features King as its lead, he kept the number of white men in his writers room to four of 12. In making Soul, which introduces Pixar's first Black lead character, a jazz musician, director and studio chief Pete Docter enlisted Black playwright Kemp Powers to join the writing team while the film was in development; Powers has a co-director credit on the film.
But some representatives say the studio inquiries are getting so targeted by demographic, they are creating a whole new problem — pigeonholing the underrepresented clients. "The push for diversity has been increasing steadily, but studios are asking much more transparently now," says one industry source. "Now it's, 'Do you have any Mexican writers?' It's very specific where the diversity asks are coming from, and not all clients want to be thought of that way. Some people really feel rooted in telling stories about their identity, and some people want to be seen as a filmmaker regardless of their gender and race."
Some of the incoming calls are perplexing, like the company that sent a comedy script to the agent of a Black female director whose body of work is dramatic because the comedy featured a Black female protagonist, prompting the agent to wonder whether she should be grateful for the submission or point out the obvious mismatch in sensibility.
"As they start to make this outreach, studios are finding that people of color have interest in telling all kinds of stories," says Greenfield. "It's not necessarily just telling stories featuring trauma onscreen. Black people are also interested in comic books, in superheroes, in interesting histories of Black people as a whole."
If studios are overcorrecting to the point of sending any project to a demographically appropriate filmmaker regardless of that person's creative interests, that's a side effect of the industry's long-standing pattern of exclusion, some agents say. The agency source notes: "It speaks to the systemic failure of our business to have nurtured more of these kinds of filmmakers that sometimes you'll just put someone on a list because they're Black or female."
READ MORE
"Who Can Tell Whose Stories?" Is the Wrong Question Hollywood Should Be Asking (Guest Column)
Mia Galuppo and Borys Kit contributed to this report.
Hollywood Agents Navigate New Complexities of Balancing the Demand for Diverse Voices and Artistic Freedom
As studios seek creators who can tell tales from a personal perspective, unintended consequences can arise: “Some people feel rooted in telling stories about their identity, and some people w…
www.hollywoodreporter.com
Hollywood Agents Navigate New Complexities of Balancing the Demand for Diverse Voices and Artistic Freedom
As studios seek creators who can tell tales from a personal perspective, unintended consequences can arise: "Some people feel rooted in telling stories about their identity, and some people want to be seen as a filmmaker regardless of their gender and race."
In 2020, Hollywood agents and managers who represent female and minority filmmakers are experiencing a mostly welcome, if long delayed, phenomenon — lots and lots of incoming calls.
"I have seen an increased commitment and desire for directors and writers to have something in connection with the potential project," says ICM literary agent Ava Greenfield, who represents Black filmmakers such as Regina King, making her directorial debut this year with the Amazon Studios Muhammad Ali film One Night in Miami, and Matthew Cherry, who sold a series based on his Oscar-winning animated short Hair Love to HBO Max in July. "If, for example, the story is centered on Black woman, there is an initial commitment from buyers to find a Black female director or writer for this project. It comes from this understanding that there has to be a connection to the material by a writer or a director."
Studios, motivated either by a sincere desire to diversify their hiring, a sense that genuine connection to material leads to better storytelling — or the simple fear of being internet-shamed — are increasingly focusing on staffing films and TV shows about underrepresented groups with filmmakers and showrunners from those groups. Current projects that studios are hoping to populate with Black behind-the-camera talent include Marvel's Blade movie starring Mahershala Ali, which is looking for writers, and MGM's Sammy Davis Jr. biopic, which Lena Waithe is producing.
This approach represents a pivot from the way Hollywood used to do business, relying on a short list of mostly white, mostly male directors to helm a broad swath of material. As the marketplace evolves, a question agents have long asked themselves when they receive word of a new project — who should tell this story? — comes with new complexity.
"People are very aware of the optics of authenticity," says WME agent Tanya Cohen, who represents clients including M. Night Shyamalan and Janelle Monáe. "Since the pandemic and Black Lives Matter protests, there's been a real shift, and studios are increasingly being conscious and judicious about finding the voices to tell a story from a very authentic point of view."
Some of that awareness has come as a result of audience or critical backlash. Just a few years ago, movies with Black leads like Fox's 2016 best picture nominee Hidden Figures and Warner Bros.' 2013 Jackie Robinson biopic 42 arrived in theaters with little scrutiny about their white male directors. Instead, they were mostly hailed for their inclusive casts and messages of uplift. In 2018, some critics lambasted Universal's Green Book for white filmmaker Peter Farrelly's reliance on racial clichés, but the movie still went on to win best picture and earn $322 million at the worldwide box office.
But when red carpet interviews at the Mulan premiere in March revealed a mostly white production team working under white female director Niki Caro, a headline on the Canadian pop culture website Flare.com read, "The live-action Mulan is already making me mad." A writer for the British newspaper Metro noted, "I've loved Mulan since childhood, but the remake is too white behind the camera."
Industry figures, too, have begun signaling their discontent when a filmmaker doesn't seem steeped enough in a culture to direct a film about it. When news broke in September that Ron Howard would direct a biopic about Chinese concert pianist Lang Lang, The Farewell writer-director Lulu Wang tweeted her frustration. "As a classically trained pianist born in China, I believe it's impossible to tell Lang Lang's story without an intimate understanding of Chinese culture and the impact of the Cultural Revolution on artists and intellectuals and the effects of Western imperialism," Wang said. "Just saying."
Some in the talent-rep world say they worry the new expectations are limiting. "These are writers who are supposed to be able to fictionalize stories that didn't exist from their brains, and we are curbing their ability to create," says one representation source. And some are beginning to steer their white or male clients away from projects that may become controversial because of their attachment. "Twitter and social media are the sole fear of the studios," says the representation source. "We don't want to spend our clients' time [on projects] that studios are going to shy away from."
If white male clients are guided away from projects, that's just fine, say some agents with diverse client lists. "For 120 years it's been assumed that white men can direct any movie," says one agency source. "The pendulum has swung the other way for so long. If we are now living in a period where the pendulum swings too far to the other side, so be it."
On some recent high-profile projects where a white storyteller is presenting a film or TV show featuring a protagonist of color, creators have been careful to open up the process to a more inclusive group of collaborators. When Damon Lindelof created HBO's Watchmen, which features King as its lead, he kept the number of white men in his writers room to four of 12. In making Soul, which introduces Pixar's first Black lead character, a jazz musician, director and studio chief Pete Docter enlisted Black playwright Kemp Powers to join the writing team while the film was in development; Powers has a co-director credit on the film.
But some representatives say the studio inquiries are getting so targeted by demographic, they are creating a whole new problem — pigeonholing the underrepresented clients. "The push for diversity has been increasing steadily, but studios are asking much more transparently now," says one industry source. "Now it's, 'Do you have any Mexican writers?' It's very specific where the diversity asks are coming from, and not all clients want to be thought of that way. Some people really feel rooted in telling stories about their identity, and some people want to be seen as a filmmaker regardless of their gender and race."
Some of the incoming calls are perplexing, like the company that sent a comedy script to the agent of a Black female director whose body of work is dramatic because the comedy featured a Black female protagonist, prompting the agent to wonder whether she should be grateful for the submission or point out the obvious mismatch in sensibility.
"As they start to make this outreach, studios are finding that people of color have interest in telling all kinds of stories," says Greenfield. "It's not necessarily just telling stories featuring trauma onscreen. Black people are also interested in comic books, in superheroes, in interesting histories of Black people as a whole."
If studios are overcorrecting to the point of sending any project to a demographically appropriate filmmaker regardless of that person's creative interests, that's a side effect of the industry's long-standing pattern of exclusion, some agents say. The agency source notes: "It speaks to the systemic failure of our business to have nurtured more of these kinds of filmmakers that sometimes you'll just put someone on a list because they're Black or female."
READ MORE
"Who Can Tell Whose Stories?" Is the Wrong Question Hollywood Should Be Asking (Guest Column)
Mia Galuppo and Borys Kit contributed to this report.
This article is wild. Hollywood is just learning something they should have figured out decades ago. Here's an excerpt...
Imagine that. SMH
Came across this while working on my Imagine Impact x Netflix submission.
variety.com
How to Pitch to Netflix, According to Christopher Mack, Streamer’s Creative Talent Director
At Netflix, character is often more important than plot, said the company’s creative talent director Christopher Mack at CineGouna Bridge, the industry section of Egypt’s El Gouna Film Festival, on Monday during his “Pitch Realization Masterclass by Netflix.” But it’s not about making him or her likeable, as their transformation is key to the storytelling experience.
“This change is driving people to watch our content. Your job is to make it interesting and engaging. Think about Walter White,” said Mack, explaining how to successfully pitch new concepts to Netflix. “Viewers develop a relationship with the characters, their engagement depends on whether they relate to them or not. Otherwise they won’t care.”
Mack also advised new writers to think about genres in need of reinvention, mentioning South Korean series “Kingdom” as an effective twist on the zombie thriller, or the hot-button topics in their country that aren’t often explored.
“What do people want more of? Teen sex? Family scandals? In some countries these are very sensitive, but push the envelope – that’s what we are saying,” he said. “The more authentic you are to your culture, the better it travels. Especially during this time of pandemic, when people are doing their traveling while watching our shows.”
Having a relationship with a star also helps, as well as making sure there is a broad enough audience for the project. “If it’s right for the local broadcaster, it’s probably not right for us,” said Mack, who started his career on “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air,” and served as a writer on “ER” and “The New Twilight Zone” before coming back to being an executive. He also focused on short-form content for a while. “I am glad I got out of it before Quibi failed. I don’t think people really want their content in such short form unless it’s on TikTok,” he said, referring to the streaming platform shutting down after just six months.
As the audience decides whether they are going to watch a series in approximately five seconds, it’s important to think how you introduce it – also by having a good teaser. “The researcher told me: think about going on a blind date. You walk into the restaurant, you see them and your mind decides whether there is going to be a second date. If you sell a series to us, the executives are going to ask you to put more story earlier. By the end of the pilot, the viewer must know who is your hero, what they want, their central conflicts, key dynamics and the basic rules of the world.”
While viewers like to get new information from each scene, the cliffhangers drive the binge-watching behavior: plot cliffhangers or emotional cliffhangers; they may be small on the screen, but their impact is huge.
“What is going to happen next? How are they going to get out of this situation? These are the questions you want the audience to ask after each episode. That’s what makes them click the button leading to a new episode and skipping the intro.”
Mack also described a perfect pitch document, which should include information about central conflicts and stakes. Also, it’s crucial to describe the story without mentioning the plot, concentrating on themes instead, as Christopher Nolan does.
“If you look at his body of work, he nails on a theme and beats it to death. The characters in [The Dark Knight Trilogy] talk about the themes. He really explores it through their point of view and that’s what makes his storytelling so relatable,” he said. “Coming up to me, a writer should say: ‘I want to explore greed. Or loss.’ If you ever meet me, try it this way.”
When writing the short synopsis for a proposed series, it should answer these questions: Who is the hero? What do they want? Why now? What happens if they don’t get what they want? Again Vince Gilligan’s series provides a model, with the short synopsis stating: “’Breaking Bad’ is a family drama about a down-on-his luck, high-school chemistry teacher who turns to cooking meth in order to provide for his family after he is diagnosed with a terminal cancer. Armed with his intellect and the best meth on the market, he will outsmart rival drug kingpins and the DEA to become the biggest, baddest drug dealer in New Mexico. The only thing that scares him more than being killed or locked up is being found out by his pregnant wife and teenage son. It will explore the themes of family, greed and power.”
It’s important to know what makes a story fresh, be it location or tone. This can be subjective (“My version of ‘dark’ is different from my wife’s,” said Mack), so it’s useful to use pictorial references when pitching. If the story is set in the past, it’s better to wrap it around some historical event, and with sci-fi or fantasy, it’s good to figure out the mythology. Mack also stressed that the audience enjoys seeing characters who are flawed, like “The Witcher’s” Yennefer, as well as getting to know their backstory and moral compass.
“For me, she was the reason why the show was so successful. She wants beauty and power, so she exchanges it for her ability to bear a child, but then she wants to have it all and this obsession drives her to making decisions we may not agree with, but we understand her desire. We relate,” he said.
Quoting Kurt Vonnegut, he added: “Be a sadist. No matter how sweet and innocent your leading characters, make awful things happen to them in order that the reader, or a viewer, may see what they are made of.”
How to Pitch to Netflix, According to Christopher Mack, Streamer’s Creative Talent Director
During his masterclass at El Gouna Film Festival, Netflix's creative talent director explained that a character needs to change.
variety.com
How to Pitch to Netflix, According to Christopher Mack, Streamer’s Creative Talent Director
At Netflix, character is often more important than plot, said the company’s creative talent director Christopher Mack at CineGouna Bridge, the industry section of Egypt’s El Gouna Film Festival, on Monday during his “Pitch Realization Masterclass by Netflix.” But it’s not about making him or her likeable, as their transformation is key to the storytelling experience.
“This change is driving people to watch our content. Your job is to make it interesting and engaging. Think about Walter White,” said Mack, explaining how to successfully pitch new concepts to Netflix. “Viewers develop a relationship with the characters, their engagement depends on whether they relate to them or not. Otherwise they won’t care.”
Mack also advised new writers to think about genres in need of reinvention, mentioning South Korean series “Kingdom” as an effective twist on the zombie thriller, or the hot-button topics in their country that aren’t often explored.
“What do people want more of? Teen sex? Family scandals? In some countries these are very sensitive, but push the envelope – that’s what we are saying,” he said. “The more authentic you are to your culture, the better it travels. Especially during this time of pandemic, when people are doing their traveling while watching our shows.”
Having a relationship with a star also helps, as well as making sure there is a broad enough audience for the project. “If it’s right for the local broadcaster, it’s probably not right for us,” said Mack, who started his career on “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air,” and served as a writer on “ER” and “The New Twilight Zone” before coming back to being an executive. He also focused on short-form content for a while. “I am glad I got out of it before Quibi failed. I don’t think people really want their content in such short form unless it’s on TikTok,” he said, referring to the streaming platform shutting down after just six months.
As the audience decides whether they are going to watch a series in approximately five seconds, it’s important to think how you introduce it – also by having a good teaser. “The researcher told me: think about going on a blind date. You walk into the restaurant, you see them and your mind decides whether there is going to be a second date. If you sell a series to us, the executives are going to ask you to put more story earlier. By the end of the pilot, the viewer must know who is your hero, what they want, their central conflicts, key dynamics and the basic rules of the world.”
While viewers like to get new information from each scene, the cliffhangers drive the binge-watching behavior: plot cliffhangers or emotional cliffhangers; they may be small on the screen, but their impact is huge.
“What is going to happen next? How are they going to get out of this situation? These are the questions you want the audience to ask after each episode. That’s what makes them click the button leading to a new episode and skipping the intro.”
Mack also described a perfect pitch document, which should include information about central conflicts and stakes. Also, it’s crucial to describe the story without mentioning the plot, concentrating on themes instead, as Christopher Nolan does.
“If you look at his body of work, he nails on a theme and beats it to death. The characters in [The Dark Knight Trilogy] talk about the themes. He really explores it through their point of view and that’s what makes his storytelling so relatable,” he said. “Coming up to me, a writer should say: ‘I want to explore greed. Or loss.’ If you ever meet me, try it this way.”
When writing the short synopsis for a proposed series, it should answer these questions: Who is the hero? What do they want? Why now? What happens if they don’t get what they want? Again Vince Gilligan’s series provides a model, with the short synopsis stating: “’Breaking Bad’ is a family drama about a down-on-his luck, high-school chemistry teacher who turns to cooking meth in order to provide for his family after he is diagnosed with a terminal cancer. Armed with his intellect and the best meth on the market, he will outsmart rival drug kingpins and the DEA to become the biggest, baddest drug dealer in New Mexico. The only thing that scares him more than being killed or locked up is being found out by his pregnant wife and teenage son. It will explore the themes of family, greed and power.”
It’s important to know what makes a story fresh, be it location or tone. This can be subjective (“My version of ‘dark’ is different from my wife’s,” said Mack), so it’s useful to use pictorial references when pitching. If the story is set in the past, it’s better to wrap it around some historical event, and with sci-fi or fantasy, it’s good to figure out the mythology. Mack also stressed that the audience enjoys seeing characters who are flawed, like “The Witcher’s” Yennefer, as well as getting to know their backstory and moral compass.
“For me, she was the reason why the show was so successful. She wants beauty and power, so she exchanges it for her ability to bear a child, but then she wants to have it all and this obsession drives her to making decisions we may not agree with, but we understand her desire. We relate,” he said.
Quoting Kurt Vonnegut, he added: “Be a sadist. No matter how sweet and innocent your leading characters, make awful things happen to them in order that the reader, or a viewer, may see what they are made of.”
Great thread & info.
The 2020 Black List dropped today. It's a list of the (supposedly) the best unproduced screenplays in Hollywood.
Only some of them will get made and even fewer will be commercial or critical successes. But it is cool so see what's hot in Hollywood.
The loglines for these three caught my eye:
MURDER IN THE WHITE HOUSE
Jonathan Stokes
The President is murdered during a private dinner, and Secret Service agent Mia Pine has until morning to discover which guest is the killer before a peace agreement fails and leads to war.
EXCELSIOR!
Alex Convery
The true story of the meteoric rise (and subsequent fall) of Marvel Comics and the star-crossed creators behind the panel: Stan Lee & Jack Kirby.
REWIRED
Adam Gaines, Ryan Parrott
Harvard. 1959. A young Ted Kaczynski is experimented on by Dr. Henry Murray during a secret CIA psychological study that may have led to the creation of the Unabomber.
They all have commercial potential but who knows? Overall, it's a good mix of thrillers, coming of age stories, romance, comedy. Something for everybody. Saw a few loglines with Black leads, of course there had to be one about slavery, but nothing really grabbed me.
Only some of them will get made and even fewer will be commercial or critical successes. But it is cool so see what's hot in Hollywood.
The loglines for these three caught my eye:
MURDER IN THE WHITE HOUSE
Jonathan Stokes
The President is murdered during a private dinner, and Secret Service agent Mia Pine has until morning to discover which guest is the killer before a peace agreement fails and leads to war.
EXCELSIOR!
Alex Convery
The true story of the meteoric rise (and subsequent fall) of Marvel Comics and the star-crossed creators behind the panel: Stan Lee & Jack Kirby.
REWIRED
Adam Gaines, Ryan Parrott
Harvard. 1959. A young Ted Kaczynski is experimented on by Dr. Henry Murray during a secret CIA psychological study that may have led to the creation of the Unabomber.
They all have commercial potential but who knows? Overall, it's a good mix of thrillers, coming of age stories, romance, comedy. Something for everybody. Saw a few loglines with Black leads, of course there had to be one about slavery, but nothing really grabbed me.
I forgot to post this when it went down but you still can sign up on the Sundance website and watch a recording of the seminar for free.
Gina Prince-Bythewood on Writing, Directing, and Representation
collab.sundance.org
these three sound like HITS!!!!
The Stan Lee one could be Oscar worthy
the white house one has a female action franchise potential
I could see Lupita as the Secret Service Agent. I'm gonna read them when I find the time.
You freaking NAILED IT FAM!!!
This nigga lefty swore he was Suge
You just can't make this stuff up folks