Saturday Hot Links
Time for the 380th installment of Saturday Hot Links, your week’s essential reading about movies, TV, streaming, Hollywood, and other…
Time for the 380th installment of Saturday Hot Links, your week’s essential reading about movies, TV, streaming, Hollywood, and other things of writerly interest.
Writers Guild Sets Vote Targeting Talent Agents: “We Are Making a Power Grab — Divide and Conquer”
Writers Guild, Talent Agent Battle Heats Up as WGA Sends Out New Agency Code of Conduct
Oscar and Guild Voters Don’t Match Up Anymore — Here’s Why
How Twitter Amplified The Ugliest Awards Season Ever
From ‘Roma’ to ‘Vice’: How Oscar-Nominated Directors Got Personal With Their Films
The Uncomfortable and Profound Authenticity of Roma
Camille Paglia: Sexism and the ‘Star Is Born’ Films
‘BlacKkklansman’: Balancing Comedy and Drama in Spike Lee’s Racial Allegory
In Bid to Conquer Oscars, Netflix Mobilizes Savvy Campaigner and Huge Budget
Why China Hasn’t Received Oscar Nominations in Recent Years
‘Captain Marvel’ Tracking for Marvelous $100M-Plus Debut
Box Office Preview: ‘How to Train Your Dragon 3’ to Fly Past $40M
Marvel Studios Chief Kevin Feige: ‘Black Panther’ Features “One of the Best Lines We Ever Read”
Is Marvel’s Way Forward in the Past?
‘Star Wars: Episode IX’ Wraps as Lucasfilm Plans “Triple Force Friday”
Studio Profit Report: Fox’s Final Rise, NBCUniversal Falls
In Race to Beat Netflix, Studios Give Up Billions In Profits
Box Office: Winter 2019 Revenue Hits 8-Year Low in U.S.
A24 Seeks Summer Box Office with Release Dates for ‘The Farewell’ and ‘Last Black Man’
Participant Media Proves the Value of Movies with Messages
Disney Film Chief Alan Horn Talks Fox Merger, ‘Star Wars’ and Pixar Post-John Lasseter
Murdochs Divvy Up Disney Payday, Limiting Influence
Paramount Launches New Dev/Green Light Process, Aims to Make Film Slate More Inclusive
Emma Thompson Exits Skydance’s ‘Luck’ After John Lasseter Hire
Study: More Female Protagonists in 2018 Films, but Speaking Parts Stagnant
Time’s Up a Year Later: Hollywood Women Test Their Clout
Reese Witherspoon’s Hello Sunshine Lands Investment From Otter Media, Emerson Collective
Megan Ellison’s Moment of Truth: Inside the Reboot of Annapurna Pictures
Theater Chain Bets That Building in “Underserved” Latino Markets Will Grow Business
Who Deserves Credit for a Movie’s Success?
How to Read Movie-Embargo Tea Leaves
Film was a catalyst for change in postwar Europe. It can be again.
‘Animal House’ Revived Frats — and Their Excesses
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar: Breaking Down Hollywood’s Addiction to the “Myth of Manliness”
Justin Bieber, Hailey Baldwin, and the Return of Celebrity Purity Culture
“Who’s an EGOT?”: How ’30 Rock’ Made a Fake Award Into a Real-Life Goal
Why Is TV So Obsessed With the Afterlife Right Now?
Ava DuVernay, Casey Bloys Among New TV Academy Executive Committee Appointees
Michael Jackson Estate Sues HBO Over ‘Leaving Neverland’ Documentary
Lena Waithe Sets Comedy Anthology as Next Showtime Project
Netflix Launches Newest Production Hub in Toronto
Netflix’s Marvel Cancellations Signal Start of the New Streaming World Order
Amazon Cancels Plans for New York City Headquarters
Amazon Got Burned by Its Own HQ2 Game Show
Amazon Ad Revenue to Top $11B This Year as Digital Overtakes Traditional Spend, Study Finds
How Amazon’s Film Plans Differ from Netflix (and All the Rest)
Amazon Chief Jennifer Salke Unveils Film Plan to Battle Netflix: 30 Movies a Year (Q&A)
Roku Hits 27 Million Accounts in Focus on Streaming Platform
Mattel Launching Slate of 22 Multi-Platform Television Shows
The Young Men Who Turn to ‘Fortnite’ for Mental Health Support
When Will “Netflix for Games” Become a Reality?
The Future of Gaming Is Subscription
‘You Get Paid For Doing Therapy’: Stand-Up Comedians On Anger
What “Peanuts” Taught Me About Queer Identity
Women Will Dominate — and Dismantle — the Music Industry in 2019
Screenwriting Master Class tip of the week: Character Development Keys
Starting March 4, my 1-week online class not only immerses you in five key archetypes, you also use them to workshop one of your stories.
One question I get asked about screenwriting theory a lot is what’s my deal with character archetypes? Here’s your chance to find out with the Screenwriting Master Class course: Character Development Keys.
My mantra is this: Start with characters. End with characters. Find the story in between. As per the old adage, Character should equal Plot because it’s their story. By immersing ourselves in the lives of our characters and determining the nature of their interrelationships as well as their respective narrative functions, we can create a character map along the lines of the one above which informs the crafting of your story’s structure.
This process lies at the heart of Character Development Keys, a one-week online class which begins Monday, March 4. There are seven lectures written by yours truly:
1: Character Archetypes and Story Structure
2: Protagonist
3: Nemesis
4: Attractor
5: Mentor
6: Trickster
7: Switch Protagonist
The study script for the course: The Dark Knight, screenplay by Jonathan Nolan & Christopher Nolan, story by Christopher Nolan and David S. Goyer, based on characters created by Bob Kane.
If you’re a fan of The Dark Knight trilogy, that alone is probably reason enough to take this class because you will understand the films in a whole new way, through the lens of character archetypes.
In addition, you will get the opportunity to put the theories you learn into action by workshopping one of your own stories.
And as a bonus: I’ll be presenting a set of character development tools I have assembled over the years to help you dig into characters even further to uncover their unique personalities and voice including: questionnaires, biographies, monologues, interviews, sit-downs, secondary character archetypes, and much more.
This is a great chance to delve into what I consider to be one of the most fascinating and helpful ways of approaching character development and indeed, the story-crafting process as a whole: character archetypes.
All of that in only 1-week beginning Monday, March 4.
Take advantage of the benefits of online classes where you do pretty much everything on your own time schedule: download and read lectures, review and post comments on the public forums, upload ideas and optional writing exercises. You want to do that in bed in your pajamas sipping coffee? Devouring chocolate bon bons? Be my guest!
There is one teleconference which is live, but I record and upload that, so you can even check that out on your own time, too.
“It was the perfect primer for all things character and has opened me up to the possibilities within my writing immensely.”
~ Jack Wesley
Who should take this course?
Screenwriters, TV writers, novelists, playwrights, and anyone interested in learning tools to dig into their characters and make their stories come alive.
For more information, go here.
Plus there’s this: For nearly 60% off, you can gain immediate access to the entire content of all 10 Craft classes as well as automatic enrollment in each 1-week Craft course. Check out the Craft Package here.
As always, I look forward to the opportunity to work with you!