Oscar Noms 2013 Full List

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Here they are. Let us know who you’re rooting for in the Comments below and who you feel got snubbed.

Nominations for the 85th Academy Awards

Best motion picture of the year

  • “Amour” Nominees to be determined
  • “Argo” Grant Heslov, Ben Affleck and George Clooney, Producers
  • “Beasts of the Southern Wild” Dan Janvey, Josh Penn and Michael Gottwald, Producers
  • “Django Unchained” Stacey Sher, Reginald Hudlin and Pilar Savone, Producers
  • “Les Misérables” Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Debra Hayward and Cameron Mackintosh, Producers
  • “Life of Pi”Gil Netter, Ang Lee and David Womark, Producers
  • “Lincoln” Steven Spielberg and Kathleen Kennedy, Producers
  • “Silver Linings Playbook”Donna Gigliotti, Bruce Cohen and Jonathan Gordon, Producers
  • “Zero Dark Thirty”Mark Boal, Kathryn Bigelow and Megan Ellison, Producers Read more

Spec screenplay market for 2012 is up 10%

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Quick jolt of positive ions here for you guys:

Spec Market guru Jason Scoggins reports today that December 2012 was a strong month for spec sales in Hollywood, and 2012 was even better. Read more

Protected: Call for Screenplays (Exclusive Lead)

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Academy Award consideration screenplays available for download

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I’ve seen a number of pages with links to the various studio sites where they offer pdf downloads of screenplays, but this page on Rope of Silicon looks to be one of the best. They include links to many of the screenplays that are serious Oscar contenders, like Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained, Tony Kushner’s Lincoln, Rian Johnson’s Looper and Tom Stoppard’s Anna Karenina. Lighter fare like This is 40 and Ted are also included.

Oscar nominations will be announced this week, on Thursday, January 10, and the Academy Awards telecast date is Sunday, February 24.

Stay tuned for more information on my next webinar, STORY MAPPING OSCAR-WINNING SCREENPLAYS! on Wednesday, February 20, 2013, where I’ll be analyzing this year’s nominated screenplays and past winners, like Little Miss Sunshine, Sideways, Slumdog Millionaire, The Godfather, Gladiator and more.

Good luck and happy writing,

Dan

HAPPY NEW YEAR FROM ACT FOUR SCREENPLAYS!

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Dear Screenwriters,

Happy New Year and here’s to 2013 being the year of your GREAT SCRIPT!

I know it’s been way too long since I posted here, and even longer since I sent out a newsletter (yikes), so I apologize for the delay. But I can tell you that I’ve been very busy with my Master Class students and many other projects that I’ll be telling you about in the near future. Here’s what’s up with me and Act Four:

  1. I’m currently taking apps for new Master Classes, both group and private, to launch later this month. I’d love to run two groups, one experienced and one for newer writers, if we can field enough qualified writers. I also have one or two slots open for private students, depending on when I hear from you. I’ve updated the Master Class page with more information. Please don’t wait to contact me if you’re interested in applying as space is limited. Speaking of the Master Class…
  2. Update: Several of my Master Class writers have completed all-new spec scripts, developed from loglines in the workshop, and they are prepping them for the market. I can say with certainty that I plan to personally email at least three of these scripts to one of the biggest script managers in the business.
  3. I’ve been taking time off from script consultations so don’t be surprised if I’m not available to give you notes, but please check with me anyway and I’ll let you know my status or I can refer you to a trusted colleague.
  4. I’ve been catching up on movies from 2012, in anticipation of my next webinar with the Writer’s Store, STORY MAPPING OSCAR-WINNING SCREENPLAYS! on Wednesday, February 20 at 1:00 A.M. PST. I’ll get you a link when The Writer’s Store puts it on sale, and I promise I will cut down my intro this time! (I was a tad slow on my last call.)
  5. Hey, what happened to that Christopher Nolan book you’ve been touting for about 14 years, you ask? Well, we’re still in the home stretch (knock on wood) but we’ve got ourselves a new cover…

 

That’s progress, right?

Gotta go for now, but I’ll see you soon with some cool stuff.

Good Luck and Happy Writing,

Dan

Justified Season 4 Red Carpet Interviews

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Natalie Zea, Timothy Olyphant and Graham Yost

I remember someone telling me that in a good screenplay or teleplay there should be a surprise on every page.
-Graham Yost

Read more

Sitcom writing with the creators and cast of “The League”

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The League on FX is now in its fourth season and I recently attended the premiere in Hollywood at the Arclight Cinemas and interviewed the talent on the red carpet. As always, I tried to ask each person about what they look for in a screenplay. Here’s three videos and I will have more coming soon.

Creators and Executive Producers of the comedy series The League Jeff and Jackie Schaffer (Seinfeld, Curb Your Enthusiasm) discuss their writing process:

Read more

Contest: Win a free Christopher Nolan Webinar spot!

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For the next 24 hours, I’m giving away five free spots in my webinar Story Mapping the Films of Christopher Nolan, hosted by The Writers Store, on Wednesday, September 19, 2012 at 1:00 PM Pacific time. Read more

WEBINAR 09/19/12: Story Mapping the Films of Christopher Nolan (The Writers Store)

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Calling all screenwriters, story analysts, fans of The Dark Knight, Inception, Batman Begins, The Dark Knight Rises, Memento, Insomnia and The Prestige:

I invite you to attend my upcoming Webinar hosted by The Writers Store: Story Mapping the Films of Christopher Nolan!

SIGN UP NOW

This Webinar includes a FREE CRITIQUE, a Q&A session and an exclusive Inception Story Map (you’ll notice that I’ve never uploaded a map of Inception in my various blog posts about the film, which many call Nolan’s masterpiece.) Read more

Is Inception better than The Dark Knight Rises? (Inception Podcast)

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Which film can be called Christopher Nolan’s masterpiece? His Dark Knight trilogy is truly an amazing accomplishment, with The Dark Knight shining tall as the greatest of Nolan’s Batman films, in my humble opinion, but one must consider that Inception was all Nolan. His concept, his script, his direction. It’s a complicated movie and a complicated screenplay structure, so Rob Rich and I took time out to discuss it in the latest episode of our Story Maps Screenwriting Podcast.

Listen to the Inception Podcast:
[audio:http://traffic.libsyn.com/storymapspodcast/Episode_Four_-_Inception_Podcast_1.mp3]

Back to the masterpiece question. Let’s compare Inception to Nolan’s other films. Read more

The Dark Knight Rises Beat Sheet and Podcast (FREE Story Map Download)

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The trilogy is complete! How close did I get with my predictions?! (Not too shabby, if I may say so myself.)

We’ve seen The Dark Knight Rises twice in the theaters and we have lots to discuss about the film, the story, themes, logic issues and Bane’s voice. Read along with the free The Dark Knight Rises Beat Sheet download as you listen.

Listen to
the Story Maps Screenwriting Podcast #3:
The Dark Knight Rises:

[audio:http://traffic.libsyn.com/storymapspodcast/Episode_Three_-_The_Dark_Knight_Rises_1.mp3]

Download the FREE
The Dark Knight Rises Story Map

Read more

Louie Season 3 — Louis C.K. continues to tell new stories that we want to see

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Do writers keep telling the same story until they get it right? In the past week, I’ve watched Woody Allen’s To Rome With Love and Aaron Sorkin’s The Newsroom (pilot episode available for free streaming on HBO.com), and I met author Jonathan Franzen (The Corrections, Freedom, Farther Away). Throw in the trailers for Judd Apatow’s new film, This is 40, billed as the “unofficial sequel to Knocked Up,” and Spike Lee’s Red Hook Summer, his sixth (?) film set in Brooklyn, in which he even reprises his role of Mookie from Do The Right Thing in 1989, and you’ve got some really interesting case studies for this theory.

In all of the examples above, I see so many common themes, characters and situations in these artists’ work that it’s difficult to deny that they may be just chipping away at the same block of stone, one iterationat a time. Maybe that’s okay, and they just get better at it, or maybe it’s a sign of creative stagnation? I think it depends on the subject and the work, but it’s definitely a topic worth discussing.

However, I’ve also just watched an advance screener of the first five episodes of season three of Louie (the TV series on the FX network that returns tonight at 10:30 pm in the U.S.) and it throws a wrench into this theory. Louis C.K. just may be the exception to the rule. Well, almost. Read more

The Dark Knight Rises beat sheet speculation

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The Dark Knight Rises Script

Originally published on May 7, 2012

The Dark Knight Rises has yet to open, and since I’ve been analyzing Christopher Nolan’s films for a larger project, especially the first two chapters in his Batman trilogy, Batman Begins and The Dark Knight, I can’t help but speculate about The Dark Knight Rises beat sheet.

I’ve seen a lot of predictions and theories online as to the story, but not any that attempted to break down the entire film or incorporated Nolan’s signature style of complex story structure, using templates like The Dark Knight and Inception. Below, you can download my Full Story Map for The Dark Knight Rises, before I’ve seen the movie.

I’m using a five-act structure which most closely resembles The Dark Knight, as that seems the obvious parallel, plus there’s so much content advanced in the trailers that a four-acter (my normal Story Maps structure) just won’t cut it. Read more

Story Maps Podcast #2: The Dark Knight (Free Story Map download)

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Episode #2 of the STORY MAPS SCREENWRITING PODCAST is here: Christopher Nolan’s THE DARK KNIGHT:

Listen to
the Story Maps Screenwriting Podcast #2:
The Dark Knight:

[audio:http://traffic.libsyn.com/storymapspodcast/Episode_Two_-_The_Dark_Knight_Podcast.mp3]

Download the FREE
The Dark Knight Story Map
screenplay analysis by Daniel Calvisi

Read more

Miles and Jack in the modern "buddy comedy" Sideways

Rex Pickett interview (Sideways, Vertical)

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Rex Pickett, author of the novel Sideways

Author Rex Pickett. Photo: rexpickett.com

I met Rex Pickett, the author of the novel Sideways that inspired the beloved film, at a showing of Sideways: the Play, which is currently playing at the Ruskin Group Theatre in Santa Monica, CA.

We spoke over a glass of Pinot (yes, the wine comes with your ticket, which is already surprisingly affordable for live theater), and he was very gracious with his time, even though he was no doubt answering the same questions about the movie that he’s fielded dozens of times. Most of all, he came across as an uncensored, uncompromising artist with no fear of burning any bridges — he shoots from the hip because he has to — that’s just his personality and he doesn’t compromise.

I knew I had to get him on my blog. Read more

INDIE FILM Interview: Small, Beautifully Moving Parts

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Small, Beautifully Moving Parts, written and directed by Annie J. Howell and Lisa Robinson and starring Anna Margaret Hollyman, is fast on its way to becoming an indie film success story. The film began as a low-budget web series shot in New York City that was optioned by the Sundance Channel, and, a few years later, the creative team decided to expand it into a feature. Now, the completed film has received glowing praise from many top publications, including Roger Ebert, who writes about the film: “Effortlessly engaging … this is a small film and knows exactly how to be a small film. Like many New Yorker short stories, its purpose is to strike a particular note and allow it to reverberate.” Read more

The Human Race indie horror film needs your help (Kickstarter)

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Dear friends,
My friend, former NYU Film classmate and award-winning filmmaker Paul Hough is looking for audio finishing funds for his smart Horror/Sci-Fi feature THE HUMAN RACE before it premieres at the FANTASIA FILM FESTIVAL in Montreal in July (Tarantino’s North American premiere of Inglorious Basterds was at this genre festival; it’s a huge platform for an indie horror film and an honor to be accepted).

See footage from the film and a testimonial by its star, one-legged actor EDDIE McGEE, at the link below. The film features a number of disabled actors, so in that sense it’s breaking down some barriers. But above all, it’s just a bad-ass horror movie with a really cool concept that is sure to find a cult audience. Read more

Story Maps Podcast #1: Batman Begins (Free Story Map download)

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The inaugural episode of the STORY MAPS SCREENWRITING PODCAST is here!

Listen to
the Story Maps Screenwriting Podcast #1:
Batman Begins:

[audio:http://traffic.libsyn.com/storymapspodcast/Episode_One_-_Batman_Begins_Podcast.mp3]

Download the FREE
Batman Begins Story Map

Read more

THEME: Mad Men Season 5

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"The Other Woman"

As per usual, we’ve been diligently watching each episode of the current season of Mad Men and loving every minute of it. In my household, one must respect the golden rule…

In Weiner we trust. Read more

HORROR: Interview with LOVELY MOLLY screenwriter Jamie Nash

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Jamie Nash is a working screenwriter who lives in Maryland and primarily writes genre films — horror, supernatural, fantasy, etc. He has a strong working relationship with Eduardo Sánchez, co-director of The Blair Witch Project — they have collaborated on a number of projects — the films Altered, Seventh Moon and Exists, and the comedy web series ParaAbnormal.

Jamie and Ed’s latest film is Lovely Molly, an intense horror thriller about the possession of a young woman told via a mix of standard narrative and “found” footage. The film is currently in theaters in a limited release, after playing the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) and South by Southwest film festival. There is a wider release planned for the UK and it will go to VOD and DVD in August. Read more