Saturday Hot Links

Time for the 361st installment of Saturday Hot Links, your week’s essential reading about movies, TV, streaming, Hollywood, and other things of writerly interest.

New York Film Festival: 15 Must-See Films To Watch.

What to Expect From The 2018 Los Angeles Film Festival.

‘Star Wars’ Chief Kathleen Kennedy’s Lucasfilm Deal Extended for Three Years.

Michael Ovitz: It’s Hard Out There for a Super Agent.

Sky Auction: Comcast Beats Fox With $39 Billion Bid.

Fox to Sell $15 Billion Sky Stake to Comcast.

Universal Launches 2019 Writers Program.

Two movies, one plot: Why we sometimes get ‘twin films’ which are weirdly similar.

France Offers More Subsidies for Movies That Hire More Women.

French TV Exports Rose by 18% in 2017 With Factual, Scripted Programs.

Aggressive Incentives Help Spain Remain Major Production Destination.

‘The New Romantic’ Trailer: The Rom-Com Revival Continues.

Ethan Hawke Has One Fix to Make Film Schools Better: Teach Directors About Acting.

Jeff Bridges Approves of a ‘Big Lebowski’ Remake: ‘If I Was in It’.

‘Sorry to Bother You’: Boots Riley Pitched a Movie About Sidney Poitier as a Serial Killer to Make His Actual Movie Sound Normal.

Stalking Cinema: The Surrogacy of Tracking Shots.

James Lipton Retiring From ‘Inside the Actors Studio’.

A Pep Talk for the Hopeless Aspiring Comedy Writer.

International Emmy Award Nominations Unveiled.

CBS Licenses Fall Season Shows to U.K.’s Channel 4.

PBS Masterpiece Channel on Amazon Prime Adds International Dramas From Walter Presents.

Netflix and Amazon Set to Nearly Double Originals Catalog.

Jeffrey Katzenberg’s WndrCo Invests $30 Million in The Infatuation, Owner of Zagat Restaurant Guide.

Instagram CEO Kevin Systrom, Co-Founder Mike Krieger Are Leaving the Company.

James Woods’ Twitter Account Locked.

Cheddar to Bring Live Sports News to Amazon-Owned Twitch.

Facebook Security Breach Exposes Accounts of 50 Million Users.

‘Wicked’ Creator Reveals Fate of the Movie Musical.

‘Almost Famous’ Stage Musical in the Works.

Ticketmaster is operating its own secret ticket scalper program.

‘Stairway to Heaven’ Copyright Case Gets New Life From Appeals Court.

Indie Band Deerhoof Covers Famous Song From ‘The Shining’ For New Stanley Kubrick-Inspired Album.

The rise of the female composer.

Listen: Scriptnotes (Episode 369).

Screenwriting Master Class tip of the week

Style goes beyond mere ‘scene description’. It goes to Narrative Voice.

Start with this question: Who tells your story? Obviously, when you sit down to create a screenplay, you write the story. But when a manager, producer, agent, or studio executive reads your script, who tells your story to them?

It is someone who remains largely invisible, but whose presence is felt from FADE IN to FADE OUT. Someone about whom many screenwriters have little knowledge and yet traffic in that unseen world every time they write a scene. Someone who can make a screenplay a great read — or something less.

Let’s call it Narrative Voice.

Narrative Voice is not a narrator per se. You will never see it with its own side of dialogue. In fact, you will never name it in your screenplay. But Narrative Voice is there. And it is a critical aspect of your script’s success.

What is Narrative Voice?

Narrative Voice is the storytelling sensibility you bring to your screenplay through your writing style. Think of Narrative Voice as your script’s invisible character. Although silent, it is present in every scene, every line, every word you write. As you develop and sharpen each visible character in your screenplay, you also need to figure out who your Narrative Voice is, what your Narrative Voice sounds like, and how your Narrative Voice will play an active role in the telling of your story.

In Core IV: Style, a 1-week online class I will teach starting on Monday, October 8, you will learn about:

• The ins and outs of Narrative Voice
• Elements of screenplay style
• Psychological writing (Perspective, Proximity, Perception)
• Imagematic writing (Verbs, Descriptors, Poetics)
• Action writing (Lines, Paragraphs, Direction)

And much more. The course consists of four components:

• Lectures: There are six lectures written by me, each posting Monday through Saturday.
• Writing Exercises: These optional exercises offer you the opportunity to test out your own writing style, plus the chance to workshop and receive feedback on one of your own loglines.
• Teleconference: We will have a Skype teleconference call to discuss course material.
• Forums: The online course site has forums where you may post questions / comments.

Our study scripts: Wall-E, The Hangover, The Dark Knight, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, The Last Boy Scout, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, Chinatown, The Matrix, Black Swan, Legally Blonde, American Beauty, Little Miss Sunshine, Basic Instinct, Unforgiven, True Grit, The King’s Speech, and Winter’s Bone.

For those of you who have not taken an online class, the interface is extremely easy. Plus online classes can be an amazing experience. Most of the activities you can do on your own time — download and read lectures, review and respond to forum discussions, upload loglines and track comments. In addition, I’ve been teaching online for over a decade and it never ceases to amaze me how much of a community emerges in such an environment.

I only teach my Core classes once a year and the 2018 cycle begins next month. Everything you need to know about screenwriting theory in this unique curriculum based on eight principles: Plot, Concept, Character, Style, Dialogue, Scene, Theme, Time.

CORE I: PLOT — A one-week class which begins with the principle Plot = Structure and explores the inner workings of the Screenplay Universe: Plotline and Themeline. Start date: Available for study.

CORE II: CONCEPT — A one-week class which begins with the principle Concept = Hook and examines multiple strategies to generate, develop and assess story ideas. Start date: Available for study.

CORE III: CHARACTER — A one-week class which begins with the principle Character = Function and delves into archetypes: Protagonist, Nemesis, Attractor, Mentor, and Trickster. Start date: Available for study.

CORE IV: STYLE — A one-week class which begins with the principle Style = Voice and surfaces keys to developing a distinctive writer’s personality on the page. Start date: October 8.

CORE V: DIALOGUE — A one-week class which begins with the principle Dialogue = Purpose and probes a variety of ways to write effective, entertaining dialogue. Start date: October 22.

CORE VI: SCENE — A one-week class which begins with the principle Scene = Point and provides six essential questions to ask when crafting and writing any scene. Start date: November 5.

CORE VII: THEME — A one-week class which begins with the principle Theme = Meaning and gives writers a concrete take on theme which can elevate the depth of any story. Start date: November 19.

CORE VIII: TIME — A one-week class which begins with the principle Time = Present and studies Present, Present-Past, Present-Future and time management in writing. Start date: December 3.

These eight Core classes represent decades of my work on the front lines of the entertainment business as a writer and producer, and engaging the craft as a teacher as well, over time pulling together a coherent, comprehensive, and cohesive approach to screenwriting theory.

This is not about secret systems or magic formulas, rather the Core content presents a story-crafting process that starts with characters, works with characters, and ends with characters. That process of engaging you with your story universe through your characters and getting you in touch with these living, breathing individuals informs every step of your creative process, leading you to story structure, themes, conflict, subplots, and all the rest. As I say, Character Based Screenwriting.

I provide feedback and am actively involved in our online chats. That includes a 90 minute teleconference for each Core class.

This cycle, I am offering a special sale price. Normally the Core classes are $95 each. In 2018, each is on sale for $79!

A popular option is the Core Package which gives you exclusive access to the content in all eight Craft classes which you can go through on your own time and at your own pace, plus automatic enrollment in each 1-week online course — all for nearly 50% off the normal price of each individual class. If you sign up now, you can have immediate access to all of the Core content.

“I’m a huge fan of Scott’s classes, and I signed up for his Core Package, which I cannot speak highly enough about. If anyone wants to take a serious look at improving their writing, there is more than enough material to keep you busy for a few… dare I say, lifetimes? He’s the best. No bones about it.”

~ Heather Farlinger

To learn about any of the Core classes, click here.

I look forward to the opportunity to work with you!