Saturday Hot Links

Time for the 322nd installment of Saturday Hot Links, your week’s essential reading about movies, TV, streaming, Hollywood, and other things of writerly interest.

Inside Hollywood’s Craziest Year: Shrinking Box Office, Netflix Rising, and a Harassment Reckoning.

Superheroes, Women, and POC Won the 2017 Box Office.

Why Oscars Could Produce Only 7 Best Picture Nominees This Year.

The Sane Person’s Guide to Disliking ‘Star Wars: The Last Jedi’.

The Last Jedi Has a Snoke Problem.

What Would the Democratization of the Force Look Like in the Star Wars Universe?

‘The Last Jedi’ Has Such An Unconventional ‘Star Wars’ Moment That AMC Theaters Are Warning Fans.

How The Last Jedi Brought Back a Key Star Wars Character.

Feign Surprise When We Tell You Carrie Fisher Wrote The Last Jedi’s Funniest Lines.

Rian Johnson Admits ‘Star Wars: The Last Jedi’ Fan Backlash Hurts, But He’s Not Taking It Personally.

‘Star Wars, Episode IX’: 8 Huge Questions J.J. Abrams’ Film Will Have to Answer After the Events of ‘The Last Jedi’.

Why Are All “Star Wars” Movies the Same?

Disney’s ‘Star Wars’ Movies Cross $4 Billion in Global Box Office, Earning Back Lucasfilm Purchase Price.

Disney Becomes Only Studio to Hit $6 Billion Twice at Global Box Office.

2017 U.S. Box Office Set to Fall to Three-Year Low.

Italian Box Office Drops 12.5% in 2017.

Paramount’s First Virtual Reality Theater Contradicts Itself With ‘Top Gun’ in 3D.

In the Darkest Hour, Liz Hannah and “The Post” Seize the Moment.

Kenneth Turan reflects on ‘The Post’: How a film critic watches movies about experiences he lived through.

‘The Shape of Water’: Why Are Monster Romances So Appealing?

‘Wonder Woman’ Makes History: How Patty Jenkins Lost the Chance to Direct One Big Superhero Movie and Landed a Better One.

Jordan Peele’s Second Act: How the ‘Key & Peele’ Comedy Star Became a Bonafide Horror Director With ‘Get Out’.

The Michael Showalter Guide to Reinventing Yourself As a Fancy-Pants Filmmaker.

Die Hard and Home Alone Are The EXACT Same Movie.

Die Hard screenwriter explains that pesky plot hole.

‘Die Hard’ Screenwriter Confirms the Film is a Christmas Movie, So Everyone Can Stop Debating Now.

The Definitive Analysis Of ‘Love Actually,’ The Greatest Christmas Movie Of Our Time.

Never Before Seen ‘The Breakfast Club’ Deleted Scene Surfaces.

X-Files’ Creator Chris Carter on That New York Times UFO Expose: Told You So.

Dustin Lance Black, the Screenwriter Behind “Milk” and “When We Rise,” on Coming Out As a Gay Activist.

Trash Film: Why We Enjoy Unrealistic Realism.

How Do the MoviePass Competitors Stack Up?

Netflix Just Granted CEO Reed Hastings $28.7 Million in Stock.

Podcast Network Feral Audio Being Shut Down By Founder Following Abuse Claim Against Him.

How Fans Invented the Ultimate Social Media Supercouple.

The Best Reviewed Movie of Each Year in the 21st Century, According to Rotten Tomatoes.

22 Movies That Form a Secret Cinematic Universe.

20 Rising Female Filmmakers You Need to Know.

50 Movie Titles That Sound Like Love-Making Techniques.

The 10 Best Onscreen Uses of Food Items in 2017.

2017 Was a Bad Year for Cinema’s “Tortured Artists”.

20 Biggest Movie Letdowns of 2017: From ‘Life’ to ‘Justice League’.

2017: The Year Almost Everything Went Wrong for Marvel Comics.

Looking Back at Specialty Distribution in 2017: 14 Hard Lessons.

Traditional Entertainment Media Stocks Suffer in 2017.

The Working Class Heroes of 2017.

The Amazing Character Actors Who Dominated Cinema in 2017.

The Year Sex With Fruit Changed Cinema.

12 Movies That Left the Real World Behind in 2017.

20 Criminally Overlooked Indies and Foreign Films Released in 2017.

The Best Movie Villains of 2017.

The Best Sex Scenes Of 2017.

The 17 Best Foreign Language Movies of 2017.

The 17 Most Overlooked Performances of 2017.

Most-Watched Television Networks: Ranking 2017’s Winners and Losers.

The 10 Best Late-Night Moments of 2017.

The 17 Best Stand-up Specials of 2017.

10 excellent comics that flew under the radar in 2017.

RIP: 17 Film Luminaries We Lost in 2017.

2017: The Sequel … Seven Lessons for Hollywood After Summer’s Disasters.

The 10 Best Concerts of 2017.

81 Movies Directed by Women to Look Forward to in 2018.

7 Predictions for 2018’s Biggest Stories in Media, Film and TV.

Stop-Motion Will Lead Animation in 2018.

15 Original Movies, TV Shows & Albums To Look Forward To In 2018.

Variety Critics Name the 20 Most Anticipated Movies of 2018.

Movie Biz Banking on Big Franchises (Again) in 2018 to Reverse Box Office Slump.

18 HBO Original Programs To Be Excited About in 2018: ‘Sharp Objects,’ ‘Paterno,’ and More.

The 18 Netflix Original Series to Be Excited About in 2018.

Will Advanced Viewing Formats Boost Movie Sales in 2018?

Listen: Scriptnotes (Episode 331).

Listen: The Unlikely Friendship Of Henry Fonda And James Stewart.

Listen: Movie Theaters Want You Back, So They’re Rushing to Modernize.

Read: Scott Beggs — Things I’m Happy I Published in 2017.

Read: Jordan Peele — Now You’re in the Sunken Place.

Watch: Mad Max: Fury Road | Beyond Badass: Female Action Heroes.

Watch: Logan vs. Children of Men — The End is in the Beginning.

Watch: The Filmmaker’s Voice: 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Screenwriting Master Class tip of the week

It’s not too soon to be thinking about courses I am offering through Screenwriting Master Class in 2018.

January 8, 2018 — Craft: The Coen Brothers and the Craft of Storytelling
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January 22, 2018 — Craft: Story Summaries — From Loglines to Beat Sheets
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February 5, 2018 — Craft: Handling Exposition
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February 19, 2018 — Craft: Scene Description Spotlight
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March 5, 2018 — Craft: Character Development Keys
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March 19, 2018 — Craft: Create a Compelling Protagonist
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April 2, 2018 — Craft: Write a Worthy Nemesis
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April 16, 2018 — Craft: Scene-Writing Workshop
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April 30, 2018 — Craft: Dialogue-Writing Workshop
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May 14, 2018 — Craft: Pixar and the Craft of Storytelling
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May 28, 2018 — Prep: From Concept to Outline
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June 11, 2018 — Pages I: Writing First Draft
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July 9, 2018 — Prep: From Concept to Outline
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I only offer my Craft classes once per year. Moreover the two Prep and one Pages I workshops I have scheduled in summer 2018 are the only times I will be leading group versions of these courses.

Consider the Craft Package: All 10 Craft classes for $40 per course. Exclusive access to the Craft curriculum. Automatic enrollment in each Craft class.

For more information, go here.

As always, I look forward to the opportunity to work with you!