Saturday Hot Links

Time for the 323rd installment of Saturday Hot Links, your week’s essential reading about movies, TV, streaming, Hollywood, and other things of writerly interest.

Holiday Box-Office Winners and Losers.

Even with ‘Star Wars’ surge, moviegoing could hit 22-year low: Blame bad sequels, rising ticket prices and streaming.

‘Star Wars: The Last Jedi’ Lifts 2017 Worldwide Box Office 3% to $39.9 Billion.

Could ‘Logan’ Be Awards Season’s Dark Horse?

They’re Back: 19 Movie Sequels to Hit Theaters in 2018.

How to Improve Moviegoing in 2018.

Hollywood Should Put an End to the December Contender Crunch.

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

International Box-Office Surprises of 2017.

The year in movies: Why Hollywood’s survival might depend on what women want.

Women-fronted films are top three highest-grossing movies of 2017.

Female-Led Films Top Box Office for the First Time in 59 Years.

Women, Non-White Directors Show No Gains in Last Year’s Top 100 Grossing Movies, USC Study Finds.

Hollywood in 2018: The Old Order Ends, a New One Rises.

China & Hollywood: After A Topsy-Turvy 2017, What’s In Store For The Year Ahead.

With Disney Deal Looming, Murdoch’s Empire Is Fractured.

How the Disney Acquisition Will Affect New Fox Television.

2017 was almost devoid of black leading ladies on the big screen, but 2018 looks fuller.

Jodie Foster Says Hollywood Is ‘Ruining the Viewing Habits of the American Population and Then Ultimately the Rest of the World’.

Powerful Hollywood Women Unveil Anti-Harassment Action Plan.

Can Hollywood Change Its Ways?

2018 is Set to Be a Banner Year for Animation.

How Guillermo Del Toro Made ‘The Shape of Water’ For Less Than $20 Million.

Dustin Lance Black To Receive WGA’s Valentine Davies Award.

‘Get Out’ Director Jordan Peele on Why He Changed That Ending.

Greta Gerwig and Saoirse Ronan on How They Found the Voice of ‘Lady Bird’.

Barry Jenkins Watched ‘Notting Hill’ on a Plane and Tweeted His Hilarious Commentary for You.

Book versus movie: David Fincher’s ‘Fight Club’ breaks the first rule of adaptations (it’s better).

‘The Sopranos’ Was Still One of 2017’s Most-Binged TV Shows, Even 10 Years After It Ended.

The 28 Most Anticipated TV Shows of 2018.

HBO’s ’Game of Thrones’ and Anti-Netflix Strategy Ruled 2017: Here’s What’s Ahead for 2018.

Netflix Firms ‘Bright’ Sequel With Will Smith.

Help Wanted: Amazon, ESPN Hunt for New CEOs.

Video game creators look to Hollywood for new narratives.

Unions Are Gaining a Foothold at Digital Media Companies.

New Yorker: 2017 in Review.

Listen: Screentalk (Episode 180).

Listen: Scriptnotes (Episode 332).

Watch: Tiffany Haddish’s Epic Acceptance Speech at the NYFCC Dinner.

Screenwriting Master Class tip of the week

My one-week online class “The Coen Brothers and the Craft of Storytelling” begins Monday, January 8th.

I have two favorite contemporary filmmakers. In terms of mainstream commercial films, there is Pixar. For independent movies, there are the Coen brothers. Both are hugely successful in what they do, commercially and critically.

That’s why I’m thrilled to follow up the popular Pixar class I teach with a companion course: Coen Brothers and the Craft of Storytelling.

In this 1-week online course, we will analyze all of the movies the Coen brothers have written and directed including such memorable films as Blood Simple, Raising Arizona, Fargo, The Big Lebowski, O Brother, Where Art Thou, No Country for Old Men, and True Grit.

Through extensive analysis and discussion, we will dig into six narrative dynamics that appear throughout Coen brothers movies, and enable you to use them to workshop your own original story.

Let’s face it: The Coen brothers have created some of the most distinctive, entertaining movies in the last two decades. They return to certain themes, tropes, memes and talismans like this one: The Howling Fat Man.

We will look at that minutia because… well, it’s just fun. However our focus will be on larger principles that are more applicable to our own writing.

Here is the lecture schedule [all written by me]:

Lecture 1: The Coen Brothers’ Narrative Legacy
Lecture 2: Ordinary Character / Extraordinary Circumstance
Lecture 3: The Long Shadow of Authority Figures
Lecture 4: The Shiny Hope of Grand Schemes
Lecture 5: The Dynamism of Violence
Lecture 6: Morally Complicated Universe
Lecture 7: Unresolved Endings

Plus I will share 6 practical storytelling tips gleaned from Coen brothers movies.

The class includes:

Seven lectures written by Scott Myers
Six Coen brothers inspired storytelling tips
Daily forum Q&As
Workshop writing exercises with feedback
A 75-minute live teleconference between instructor and class members

Movies written by Joel and Ethan Coen have been nominated for 14 Academy Awards, winning 4 times, and nominated for the Cannes Film Festival Palm D’Or 7 times, winning once.

Like Pixar, the Coen brothers have carved their own path and have proven themselves to be master storytellers.

I am excited to share storytelling insights I have learned from studying Coen brothers movies in this exciting 1-week online class providing insights you can use to elevate your own writing.

Consider joining me beginning Monday, January 8th for Coen Brothers and the Craft of Storytelling, a great way to learn principles, dynamics and techniques apparent in the movies of these fine filmmakers to upgrade your own story-crafting abilities.

As the Dude might say, “That’s fuckin’ ingenious, if I understand it correctly. It’s a Swiss fuckin’ watch.”

Sign up now here.

And there’s this: The Coen Brothers class is just one of 10 (ten) Craft classes I’ll be offering in 2018. Check out the roster:

January 8, 2018 — Craft: The Coen Brothers and the Craft of Storytelling
Learn More

January 22, 2018 — Craft: Story Summaries — From Loglines to Beat Sheets
Learn More

February 5, 2018 — Craft: Handling Exposition
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February 19, 2018 — Craft: Scene Description Spotlight
Learn More

March 5, 2018 — Craft: Character Development Keys
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March 19, 2018 — Craft: Create a Compelling Protagonist
Learn More

April 2, 2018 — Craft: Write a Worthy Nemesis
Learn More

April 16, 2018 — Craft: Scene-Writing Workshop
Learn More

April 30, 2018 — Craft: Dialogue-Writing Workshop
Learn More

May 14, 2018 — Craft: Pixar and the Craft of Storytelling
Learn More

May 28, 2018 — Prep: From Concept to Outline
Learn More

June 11, 2018 — Pages I: Writing First Draft
Learn More

July 9, 2018 — Prep: From Concept to Outline
Learn More

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.