Saturday Hot Links
Time for the 382nd installment of Saturday Hot Links, your week’s essential reading about movies, TV, streaming, Hollywood, and other…
Time for the 382nd installment of Saturday Hot Links, your week’s essential reading about movies, TV, streaming, Hollywood, and other things of writerly interest.
Agencies Sign Joint Letter as Writers Guild Labels System “Corrupt”
Box Office: ‘How to Train Your Dragon 3’ Roars to $30M; ‘Madea Family Funeral’ Strong №2 With $27M
Box Office: ‘Green Book’ Scores Biggest Post-Oscar Bump in 8 Years
Box Office: Oscar Winner ‘Green Book’ Drives Past $200M Worldwide
Box Office Preview: ‘Captain Marvel’ Eyes $125M-Plus U.S. Bow, Nearly $300M Globally
‘Captain Marvel’ Flying to $150 Million-Plus Opening in North America
Air Force’s Use of ‘Captain Marvel’ to Recruit Women Ignores a Grim Record on Sexual Assault
Cannes Festival Buzz: 50 Films That Could Make the Lineup
Disney CEO Bob Iger Says Fox Deal to Close “Soon”
WarnerMedia’s handling of Kevin Tsujihara scandal under the microscope
Warner Bros. CEO Apologizes for ‘Mistakes’ Amid Sexual Impropriety Investigation
Is Steven Spielberg’s Netflix Crusade Too Little, Too Late?
Spielberg vs. Netflix: Separating Myth and Reality About the Post-Oscars Battle
Jeffrey Katzenberg: Steven Spielberg Isn’t Out to Get Netflix
Rob Delaney Still Wants to Make You Laugh
Jordan Peele Is the New Master of Suspense
Inside Rhett & Link’s $10 Million Deal for Smosh
FX Grabs Don Winslow’s Cartel Novels to Develop for TV
In Conversation: Peter Bogdanovich
Brie Larson to Star in Apple CIA Drama Series
Ava DuVernay Recalls Making the Jump From Compton to Hollywood
Why China Has Embraced ‘Green Book’ Like a Blockbuster
South Korean Box Office: Local Comedy ‘Extreme Job’ Becomes Biggest Film Ever
Going Global: How Streaming TV Blew Up Old Ideas About What Americans Will Watch
Mike Schur Inks Nine-Figure Overall Deal to Stay at Universal TV
Bob Greenblatt Officially Joins WarnerMedia in Top Content Job
Bob Greenblatt on WarnerMedia Move, HBO’s Content Push and Managing His Massive New Portfolio
WarnerMedia Content Chief Says Competitors ‘Are Eating Our Lunch’
Why did it take 10 years for America to leave Michael Jackson’s Neverland?
Women’s History Month: 17 Women Who Revolutionized Hollywood
The Larger Lessons of ‘Leaving Neverland’
Big Media Isn’t Ready to Fight Back (Netflix Misunderstandings, Pt. 5)
Amazon Ditched New York, but the Big Apple Isn’t Giving Up So Easily
Disney Hires Netflix Alum to Help Run Upcoming Streaming Service
U.K. Culture Secretary Hints at Possible Regulation for Netflix, Amazon
The future of cable may be no TV at all, as one small company from Arizona shows
Mark Zuckerberg says Facebook will shift to emphasize encrypted ephemeral messages
With Big Stars and Paid Subscriptions, Luminary Aims to Be the Netflix of Podcasts
Spotify’s grand plan for podcasts is taking shape
Room & Pod: The Hot New Hotel Amenity Is a Podcast Studio
Luke Perry, ‘Beverly Hills, 90210’ and ‘Riverdale’ Star, Dies at 52
Luke Perry Knew What He Meant to So Many
Sid Sheinberg, Powerful Universal Exec and Champion of Spielberg, Dies at 84
Listen: Scriptnotes (Episode 389)
Screenwriting Master Class: How to Create a Compelling Protagonist
Workshop your story’s central character in my 1-week online course.
In almost every movie, the most critical character is the Protagonist.
- Typically the story is told through their perspective.
- Their goal usually dictates the end point of the plot.
- All the other primary characters are somehow linked to the Protagonist.
- Normally they go through the most significant metamorphosis.
- And the Protagonist acts as the main conduit into the story for a script reader and moviegoer.
So guess what? You need to create a Protagonist that grabs a reader’s attention and keeps it for 100+ pages.
How to do that?
That’s what we will be exploring in my upcoming 1-week online class “Create a Compelling Protagonist”.
Go beyond writing a ‘sympathetic’ Protagonist. Dig deeper than giving your Protagonist a ‘flaw.’ That is surface level writing. In this class, you will learn an approach that will help you immerse yourself into this key character, and craft a Protagonist worth writing… and reading.
This class not only explores proven ways to help you create a compelling character, it also lays out an approach you can use as the groundwork for developing the rest of your story.
Seven lectures, 24/7 forum feedback, insider tips, 90-minute teleconference, and the opportunity to workshop your story’s Protagonist [or Protagonists].
Plus if you’re a fan of the movies Bridesmaids, The Social Network and Up, we’ll be using those as our study scripts. They offer a diverse set of Protagonists and yet the approach we will study next week shows how a writer can craft such compelling and different lead characters.
It all starts Monday, March 18. You can learn more and sign up here.
Here are some observations from writers who have taken the class with me:
“One week of Creating a Compelling Protagonist challenged me in ways I couldn’t challenge myself. If you want to develop your ideas, this is a rare opportunity at great value. Thank you, Scott!” — Brianna Garber
“I’ve taken a ton of classes, both inside and outside film school, and this was one of the best. The material provided a ton of inventive ways to approach the development of a solid, three-dimensional protagonist, and helped me dig deeper into the character’s internal world — forcing me to reject easy solutions, the first ideas that came to mind.” — Jason Young, 2016 Black List Feature Writer Lab selectee
“Scott generously offers up his knowledge, insight, time and resources, so that in just one week a fully formed character can begin to lead you into your story.” — Ellen Musikant
“A class that is perfect for anyone looking to learn the primary character archetypes, their psychology, and how they relate to the protagonist. The lectures provide thorough examples of these character archetypes in modern and classic movies, and the online forums were a hotspot to ask questions about the material or anything related to screenwriting. Scott’s style of teaching is highly accessible to anyone, as he creates an environment of easy, open discussion on the subject of character and welcomes any other questions you may have along the way.” — Kristen Vincent, sold spec script “Fetch”
This 1-week Craft course is coupled with another class: Write A Worthy Nemesis. That begins Monday, April 1. For information on that session, go here.
This is the only time I will be offering these Craft classes in 2019, so take this opportunity and sign up now!