favorite story about a legendary TV Director I played some ping pong with once:
While sitting at the monitor, she got a very brash note from one of the network heads seated behind her.
“She’s too shrill. Tell her to tone it down.”
So she gets up and walks over to the actress…
a legendary gaffer carried a clothespin in his pocket and when he got stupid lighting notes, would "put up another light", then sit at the monitor w/ the note giver and snap the pin at his side saying "on, off. on, off. which one?" they'd answer, he'd smile and say "good choice"
And says, “hey so I just got a really stupid network note, and it’s completely wrong, so I just want you to know you’re doing a great job and you should nod in agreement right now because they’re watching me talk to you.”
The actress smiles and nods.
She returns to the monitor.
@Tedoffthegrid
my Mom and I talked about this book all the time while I was helping take care of her with terminal cancer. We all end up in diapers, and if we’re lucky, surrounded by loved ones.
I am thrilled to announce that I am no longer going to be an artist or a director or a writer I am now going to be one of those people with a remote job who says “thanks all” at the end of every Zoom and nobody knows their actual role and they make 110k a year and I am now them
Hey babe you wanna take a romantic stroll across the most random interchange in all of LA that also happens to be completely un-walkable and not even remotely connected to anything?
Any individual or group who thinks FILM EDITING is a tertiary element of moviemaking has no business ranking, judging, or giving out awards to films and filmmakers.
as a kid I thought if you were a director in Hollywood and you sold a script, your agents took you out to drinks that night to celebrate and then the next day all the money was in your account and you were rich and all your troubles were over and you started working on your movie
Talked to a Talent Agent from CAA today. Been in the business twenty years. Their advice was simply to keep going and never stop, and that on a long enough timeline talent does not go unnoticed.
Put that in your vape and smoke it.
incredible thing about the strike is how working creatives in Hollywood have dropped the facade of success and instead are saying things like “I worked on this huge hit and it made a ton of money and I still work at my gig survival job” and it’s uniting artists against capital
@red_baiting
Gee why didn’t we think to have 12 MONTHS of savings during a pandemic 9 MONTHS into a pandemic?
Thanks for the helpful tips, financial advisors!
Warner Bros Discovery's Hour-Long Earnings Call Omits Any Mention Of WGA Strike, But CEO David Zaslav Tells CNBC He Believes "A Love For Working" Will End The Impasse
hey remember when this guy went into the jungle and lost his mind and had seventeen heart attacks and bankrupted himself just so he could make the single greatest movie of all time?
THIS SUMMER
HE’S BACK
too much screenwriting advice around here. we need some directing advice!
(we really don’t but here it is anyway, YMMV of course)
Ten tips from my time in the trenches—
🧵
1.Time is your enemy and ally
A friend worked on PTA’s recent film. I met up with him and of course, the first words out of my mouth were “tell me all about it!”
and he gushed and says he’s a genius but then just very casually goes
“we can do what they do.”
And I’ll never forget that as long as I live.
Screenwriters in WGAW who declared income in 2020: 2,055
Active Players in the NFL: 2,080
If you want to make a living as a screenwriter in LA, then you’re essentially saying you should be in the NFL of screenwriting.
Pretty rad. Pretty gutsy.
Let’s act accordingly, yeah?
@_5256
I mean if you understand that it’s a horror film about toxic masculinity enmeshed with corrupt capitalism and a commentary on how those things are the most destructive forces on the planet when paired together and sold to us as the American dream in action...then sure.
The one note I give on scripts more than any other:
I feel like the characters in this scene are speaking to the audience, instead of speaking to each other.
After tonight, it’s clear:
Screenwriting Twitter is the greatest community around. Thank you all for your support, kindness, and commitment to make this industry a little brighter, a lot kinder, and less forgiving of this brand of nonsense. This means the world to me. Thank you.
Finished the new script at 5:04 AM PST.
It’s the best thing I’ve ever written. I say that every time, but this time it’s true.
I hope you feel many things in the course of your life as an artist—
But most of al I hope you find it in you at times to feel downright DANGEROUS.
THEY DONT ALLOW GUNS INSIDE THE NRA CONVENTION BECAUSE THEY WANT TO CREATE A SAFE ENVIRONMENT WHERE PEOPLE CAN RELAX AND FEEL SAFE KNOWING THEY ARE FREE FROM HARM HELLO IS THIS THING ON
@DannyGroner
@kelkord
“I don’t have access to [a percentage of] myself” is one of the most eloquent and insightful ways I’ve heard someone describe what it’s like to live through this event.
I understand the artistic reasons not to have a video village and fully support that.
But let the people sit, man. They work hard for you. They stand most the time. We all know there is downtime on film sets no matter how efficiently you shoot.
Let the people sit.
Bradley Cooper says "there's no chairs" on set when he directs: "I’ve always hated chairs on sets; your energy dips the minute you sit down in a chair. There's no video village."
He's also adopted Christian Bale's acting method: "I had heard stories about Daniel Day-Lewis. I
a great film teacher used to love to say “you have to critique the film that’s there, not the one you wish was there” and I wish more of the fine folks on Twitter could have taken his class
something i find frustrating about the state of film criticism is that i feel like people have a tendency to focus on what a movie is NOT rather than thinking about what the movie actually is. “it should’ve had ____ in it!!!” well, it didn’t. because the movie wasn’t about that.
If you are fortunate to make movies long enough, you come to understand a Hollywood secret:
the craziest group of people on any given set - BY FAR - are the background actors
I got drunk tonight and texted my Dad at 3am and told him he was a good father and he did a hell of a lot better than his Dad did and I wanted him to know that.
and that’s how we’re gonna fight toxic masculinity, one drunk losing-my-mind-in-a-global pandemic text at a time.
Friendly reminder: if you’re facing rejection it means you’re in the arena.
And a whole hell of a lot of folks never even had the courage to step into the arena.
Easy to lose sight of that. When you’re in the arena.
@AJisTweeting
In January I quit my job waiting tables to get back into the film industry to show my girlfriend I was serious about my career and our relationship.
In December I am zero steps closer to working in the film industry and she’s lone gone.
A for effort, though.
Hi friends! I figure it might be a good time to re-introduce myself.
I’m Scott. 🤝
When I was a kid I wanted to be either a pro mountain biker or a movie critic. I broke my collarbone biking. And discovered it’s more fun to make movies than critique them.
Here’s my 1st film:
The best networking advice I ever got: network deep, not wide.
Don’t work the room and try to meet a bunch of people. Instead try to make one genuine friend or connection.
This takes the social anxiety out of it. My mission is not to accomplish anything, just meet one homie.
Real talk: one of the most depressing things about living Los Angeles while working or trying to work in entertainment is how transactional nearly every relationship is. Networking is necessary, but...go make friends with people you like, not people you think will hire you.
What’s the coolest compliment you’ve ever gotten as a creative or a writer?
Someone once told me simply “you have the fire” and that always stuck with me.
I wanna hear the beautiful, wonderful things people have said about you and your talents.
watching the film and television industry constrict to an obscene extent as original storytelling appears to be on life support all while being historically difficult to launch a successful career after spending 20+ years learning your craft and fearlessly finding your voice
“I’m just not sure where my all my creative energy has gone lately” he says in the midst of the global pandemic and the mass shootings and the bloodsport domestic violence trial and the assault on women’s rights and the societal collapse and the media indifference and the
If you ever think that you are a screenwriter who has it figured out go read the first 55 pages of Aaron Sorkin’s STEVE JOBS script and then come here and comment “I ain’t shit” and get back to work
whelp, if ever there were a week that would prepare me to face my greatest fear of saying goodbye to my Mom, this was it.
I’ve shared this journey with you because I didn’t know what else to do.
Still don’t, obviously.
Off we go to celebrate and eulogize.
Wish me luck.
I am a slow writer. I spend months and years working out features. I embrace gestation periods. A good day for me is a couple fresh pages. An average day is probably a couple lines.
I’ve been thinking about writing a short for a few years. I started last night.
I have 27 pages.
Someone got cranky about me writing a 27 page short (could be longer even!) and said that festivals would never program it and making it would be a waste of time.
Which really bums me out.
Damn.
Oh well.
Anywho, check out this 30 minute short that I’m insanely proud of! 😂
I am a slow writer. I spend months and years working out features. I embrace gestation periods. A good day for me is a couple fresh pages. An average day is probably a couple lines.
I’ve been thinking about writing a short for a few years. I started last night.
I have 27 pages.
man I can go on Vimeo and tell you exactly what line of dialogue made someone turn off my pilot in moral disgust, don’t tell me these streamers don’t have access to the most advanced viewership statistics and metrics you’ve ever seen in your life
For what it’s worth:
When an amateur writer sends you their script, it’s accompanied by multiple paragraphs qualifying it and all their intentions.
When a pro sends you a script, it’s “attached below! Thanks.”
If the writing doesn’t speak for itself, fix it until it does.
Writers sending their scripts to literally anyone “hey thank you for agreeing to read this haha hope you like it but take your time but also I’ve already decided you hate it so I’m quitting either way haha just kidding thank you I’m sorry goodbye!”
A story:
The summer before my last semester of college, some close friends told me they were going to do LSD and invited me to join.
It felt a bit out of my comfort zone, so I declined, but said I would love to hang out with them while they did it. 🧵
It’s a coming of age rom-com; an addiction / relapse story about love and dating, a biopic of a guy that nobody knows, and an LA movie about impossible dreams and the big hearts that carry them
It’s the best thing I’ve ever written and even now I can’t believe it exists
THE END
Warner Bros is reportedly now allowing the filmmakers of ‘Coyote vs. Acme’ shop the movie to other potential distributors after the backlash
(via
@pucknews
)
it’s my birthday today and I’m turning 38 but for the last like six months when people ask how old I am I’ve said 38 which has dramatically lessened the blow of getting one year older by soft launching it and I would like to pass along this life hack to all of you.
love y’all 🎂
Okay, since it’s his 79th birthday (🥳) I have a very cool Michael Mann story to share. Well it’s two stories, but I think it’s one big story.
Michael Mann is the only pro writer / director who has
1) almost killed me
2) seen my work and
3) reached out to compliment my work
/
I’m allowed one snarky comment and this is it:
Here’s a tip to any budding writers…
Maybe don’t brag about view counts in an apology letter about you sexually harassing people.
Here’s another:
Maybe don’t title this letter “Fun and Games”
YMMV.
Anywho.
Onwards!
😂
Michael Mann reached out to me to praise my work and request a copy of it (twice) so if any managers wanna snatch me up and put me on their roster just in case we think he’s a good evaluator of talent now might be a good time
Alright twitter friends. Looking for an artist to help design a poster of sorts. Pretty simple and I have a strong vision for it, just zero skills in this department. If you know anyone good for this sort of thing send em my way!