Saturday Hot Links
Time for the 378th installment of Saturday Hot Links, your week’s essential reading about movies, TV, streaming, Hollywood, and other…
Time for the 378th installment of Saturday Hot Links, your week’s essential reading about movies, TV, streaming, Hollywood, and other things of writerly interest.
2019 SUNDANCE FILM FESTIVAL AWARDS ANNOUNCED
Here Are the Winners of the 2019 Sundance Awards
Sundance: Oscar Comes To Sundance & Six Other Takeaways From A Workmanlike Fest
Sundance Deals: “One Child Nation,” “Honey Boy,” and “American Factory”
Sundance Wrap: Amazon Takes Control of an Explosive Market
Big Buys at Sundance Mean Indie TV Is Real, and Gaining Ground
Critics’ Debate: What Is a “Sundance Movie”? 2019 Edition Broadens the Picture
Hollywood Reporter Critics Pick the 20 Best Films of Sundance 2019
Critics Survey: Sundance 2019’s Best Movies According to 102 Film Journalists
15 Movies We Loved at Sundance
Sundance 2019: The 13 Best Movies of This Year’s Festival
Inclusive Indie Film Crews: How 15 Sundance Films Achieved Diversity Behind the Camera
The Black List Celebrates Sundance 2019
10 Must-See Films at the 2019 Berlin International Film Festival
Berlin Film Festival Releases Gender Gap Figures
4 Oscar-Nominated Directors Reveal Their Biggest Inspirations
How Nominees Directed Their Way Onto the Oscar Ballot
Just Who Has Seen ‘Roma’? Netflix Offers Clues
‘Roma’s’ Alfonso Cuaron Takes Top Honor at DGA Awards
Annie Awards: ‘Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse’ Wins Best Animated Feature
Super Bowl Weekend Box Office Lowest In Almost 20 Years As ‘Miss Bala’ Fails To Impress
‘Lego Movie 2’ Ready to Rebuild Box Office After Slow 2019 Start
Canadian Screen Awards: ‘Anne With an E,’ ‘Schitt’s Creek’ Lead Nominations
The Death and Revival of Independent Film in China
Digital Media’s Crash: Will Hollywood Buy In or Cash Out?
Anxiety, AWOL Executives and “Bloodshed”: How Disney Is Making 21st Century Fox Disappear
Paramount Accepts #4PercentChallenge from Time’s Up and Annenberg Inclusion Initiative
MGM, Annapurna Team for Distribution Label United Artists Releasing
Starz CEO Chris Albrecht to Step Down
Starz Chief Chris Albrecht Exited Amid Lionsgate Turf War
Raven Capital Management Buys Open Road for $87.5 Million
Jeff Bezos Publishes National Enquirer’s “Extortion” Letter About “Below the Belt Selfies”
Woody Allen Sues Amazon for Terminating Movie Deal
Paul Feig wants to “Break the Room” with more diverse TV writers
Screenwriter Max Landis Stages His #MeToo Comeback With a Girl Power Action Movie
Guillermo del Toro Is Choosing Optimism in 2019 — Read His Beautiful Essay Explaining Why
Why Dwayne Johnson Went Indie for His New Movie
Peter Jackson to Make New Beatles Documentary With Unused ‘Let It Be’ Footage
Austin Film Fest Alum Joins Lit Entertainment Group
How a “Populist” Film Studio Is Turning Rage and Violence Into Revenue
Timeline: How The Matrix Got Made
How The Matrix’s Red Pill Became the Internet’s Delusional Drug of Choice
The Matrix Was the One Time the Wachowskis’ Ambition Intersected With the Mainstream
The story of (500) Days of Summer, from its writers and director
Secrets of the Chateau Marmont
The Great Hollywood Screenwriter Who Hated Hollywood
Mary Pickford: The Woman Who Shaped Hollywood
FX Faces Creative Conundrum as Top Shows Sit Out 2019
ESPN+ Reaches 2 Million Paid Subscribers
The Stealth Magic of Sesame Street Is Its Celebrity Guest List
HBO Made Sunday Night a Showcase. It Wants the Same on Monday.
Netflix iPhone, iPad Apps Get Smart Download Featurez
Netflix Greenlights First German-Language Films
AT&T’s Streaming Headache: Why Is DirecTV Now Losing Subscribers?
Hulu Experiments With Using ‘Pause Ads’ Over Traditional Commercial Breaks
Twitter Loses 5 Million Users In Last Quarter
Spotify and Apple get competition with the new $100M podcasting network Himalaya
Spotify to Acquire Podcast Firms Gimlet Media, Anchor
Has Facebook been good for the world?
One Way The Social Network Got Facebook Right
Facebook Messenger Now Lets You Delete Texts
Vice, BuzzFeed and the Reckoning for New-Media Companies
‘Kingdom Hearts III’ Ships Five Million Copies in One Week
Albert Finney, Five-Time Oscar Nominated Actor, Dies at 82
Screenwriting Master Class tip of the week — A Cutting Edge Way to Learn the Craft
Save nearly 60% on 10 of my Craft classes. Details at the end of this post!
Screenwriting is a craft. While that certainly encompasses the actual script-writing process, it also entails everything from finding one’s writing voice to mastering techniques in developing characters, learning different story-crafting principles to knowing how to write loglines, treatments, and beat sheets.
In other words, there’s a lot to learning the craft.
In 2019, I am offering 10 Craft classes, each a one-week immersion into specific aspects of the writing craft.
Here is the schedule:
Pixar and the Craft of Storytelling [Online site available]
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Story Summaries — From Loglines to Beat Sheets [Online site available]
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Handling Exposition [Online site available]
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February 18—Scene Description Spotlight — Express Your Voice
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March 4, 2019 — Character Development Keys
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March 18, 2019 — Create a Compelling Protagonist
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April 1, 2019 — Write a Worthy Nemesis
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April 15, 2019 — Scene-Writing Workshop
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April 29, 2019 — Dialogue-Writing Workshop
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May 13, 2019 — The Coen Brothers and the Craft of Storytelling
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Each class offers:
- Seven lectures written by me
- 24/7 online forum Q&As moderated by instructor
- Pro insider writing tips
- A 90-minute live teleconference with instructor and class members
Since the classes are online, you can pretty much do everything on your own time, at your own pace. Download and read lectures. Listen to my audio commentary. Track and interact with others in message board conversations. Workshop your own loglines or writing.
You can participate as much or as little as you’d like, although I have to say the writers who take my classes are terrific, so you’ll probably find the community created in each session a welcome one to join in the dialogue.
Also this: Writers from over 40 countries have taken Screenwriting Master Class courses and that variety of backgrounds enhances the educational and social experience.
Access courses anytime and anywhere on your computer, tablet or smartphone.
Learn the craft amidst a supportive, lively, and fun online community from around the world.
Receive feedback from instructors who know the business and have a passion for teaching.
You can double down on your learning curve by enrolling in the Craft Package which gives you exclusive access to all of the content provided in each of the Craft classes at a savings of nearly 60% off the regular rate.
How to put learning the craft into overdrive in 2019? Consider the Craft curriculum at Screenwriting Master Class.
And consider taking advantage of the Craft Package special offer: Immediate access to all of the Craft class content. Automatic enrollment in all ten Craft classes. All at a nearly 60% discount.
As always, I look forward to the opportunity to work with you.
Onward!
To learn more about Screenwriting Master Class, go here.