A series of articles on the US film and TV industry.
There are so many stories of wunderkinds and overnight successes that it can become dispiriting for filmmakers still plugging away. However, some of the world’s most renowned filmmakers didn’t start early, whether they pursued other careers first or toiled away at lower levels of the industry. For many of them, the process of honing their …
Late Risers: 40 Filmmakers Over 40 When They Hit It Big Read More »
15 Great Paul Feig Quotes Paul Feig has had a unusual career. He created the cult comedy FREAKS & GEEKS, where many of the Judd Apatow stable (James Franco, Seth Rogen, Jason Segel) first appeared. For a while, he continued as a TV producer and director (THE OFFICE, ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT, even directing an episode of …
15 Paul Feig Quotes Writers and Filmmakers Can Learn From Read More »
LA CONFIDENTIAL LA CONFIDENTIAL put a modern spin on the hard-boiled noir, reinvigorating the genre and leading to an Oscar win for Brian Helgeland and Curtis Hanson for Best Adapted Screenplay. The world they create on screen is partly familiar – Hollywood of the 1950s. But the story mostly takes place in its seedy underbelly, …
Writing & Filmmaking Lessons From LA Confidential (1997) Read More »
15 Great Spike Lee Quotes Spike Lee, with 32 years of film experience, is a figure that any aspiring writer and filmmaker can learn from. His breakthrough debut film SHE’S GOTTA HAVE IT, a lighthearted comedy, exceeded all box office expectations giving Lee future creative freedom. He chose to dive deeper into the racial tensions …
15 Spike Lee Quotes Writers and Filmmakers Can Learn From Read More »
Christopher McQuarrie After an inauspicious few years working at a detective agency, Christopher McQuarrie broke out as a screenwriter with two collaborations with director Bryan Singer. PUBLIC ACCESS won the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival, but it was soon eclipsed by THE USUAL SUSPECTS, for which McQuarrie won an Academy Award. McQuarrie …
Chris McQuarrie Quotes For Writers, Directors & Producers Read More »
Taylor Sheridan Taylor Sheridan got his start as an actor, his most notable role arriving in the form of Deputy Chief of Police David Hale in SONS OF ANARCHY. He transitioned this experience into screenwriting. Over a few years, he wrote SICARIO, HELL OR HIGH WATER, and SICARIO: DAY OF THE SOLDADO, also writing and …
Taylor Sheridan Quotes For Writers, Directors & Producers Read More »
Vince Gilligan Vince Gilligan got his start as a writer for THE X-FILES, but these days he’s best known as the creator, showrunner, writer and director of BREAKING BAD and its spin-off, BETTER CALL SAUL. Following the rise and fall of meek science teacher turned meth kingpin Walter White (Bryan Cranston), BREAKING BAD ran for …
Vince Gilligan Quotes For Writers, Directors & Producers Read More »
In our Genius Character Reveals series we examine scenes and moments where a film or TV show reveals a tremendous amount of character information in a compressed amount of screen time. This instalment focuses on Jim Hopper (David Harbour), the chief of the police department in the sleepy town of Hawkins, from the Netflix hit STRANGER THINGS. …
GENIUS CHARACTER REVEALS: Jim Hopper (STRANGER THINGS) Read More »
Ryan Murphy Quotes Ryan Murphy is one of the few super-producers working in TV, along with the likes of Shonda Rimes and Greg Berlanti. His run of hit shows includes NIP/TUCK, GLEE, AMERICAN HORROR STORY, AMERICAN CRIME STORY, and FEUD. On the feature film side, he’s written and directed RUNNING WITH SCISSORS and directed EAT, PRAY, …
Ryan Murphy Quotes For Producers, Writers & Directors Read More »
In our Genius Character Reveals series we examine scenes and moments where a film or TV show reveals a tremendous amount of character information in a compressed amount of screen time. This instalment focuses on Martin Brody (Roy Scheider), the police chief of Amity island in Steven Spielberg‘s JAWS. Martin Brody and JAWS After the …
Jason Blum founded Blumhouse Productions in 2000, but it wasn’t until 2009 that it started getting its reputation for making some of the most profitable films of all time. The model: find a strong, high-concept but micro-budget horror concept or script, pair with a director with vision, and market the resulting film cleverly. In 2014, …
Jason Blum Quotes For Producers, Writers & Directors Read More »
As a screenwriter, it can be confusing navigating the multitude of literary agents out there. Big or small, almost all literary agents won’t accept unsolicited material. Many specify that unsolicited material will be returned or destroyed unread, in order to protect them from complaints or lawsuits from disgruntled amateurs. These days, when it’s easier …
12 Quotes about the Importance of Networking No matter if you are a producer, writer or director, a would-be executive or talent agent, if you want to crack film and TV you have to make yourself known. There is no escaping the necessity of attending events, arranging meetings and introducing yourself to begin those important relationships. …
12 Quotes about the Importance of Networking in Film & TV Read More »
Hoss Amini Interview Industrial Scripts is pleased to announce the release of our first “Reflection Series” mini-courses, with a unique Hoss Amini interview. These email sequences consist of a weekly drip containing exclusive interview content from high-end filmmakers and screenwriters. First Reflection Series Our first Reflection Series is with DRIVE, THE WINGS OF THE …
Figuring out how to get a bona fide literary management company to represent you is complicated, especially if you’re new(ish) to the entertainment industry. Unlike most things, Googling “literary managers” won’t instantly answer your questions. It’s a confusing marketplace, due, in part, to the semi-collapse of the full-time script development job market in LA in …
20 Must Know Hollywood Literary Management Companies Read More »
Hollywood Films and British IP The wider British public are usually treated, once-a-year or so, to a slick piece of PR spin usually including the phrase “British film is booming” and citing major Hollywood releases as contributing to said boom. But the next time you sit down to watch a ‘British’ hit, consider whether it …
I’ve spent the week in LA, (City of Angels & Devils) As I have previously mentioned, many times, I love LA and this time was no exception. I ate dinner on a table exactly next to Gwyneth Paltrow (she drank martini and wine, and did not order the ‘steamed vagina’), I spotted Lena Dunham and …
30 Quotes about Screenwriting from A-List Directors & Actors Whether they produce films, direct them, write them, or star in them, these iconic figures all agree on one thing: the importance of the screenplay. Here are thirty quotes about screenwriting, from people who would really, really know best… The Quotes 1. “To make a great …
30 Quotes about Screenwriting from A-List Directors & Actors Read More »
All Screenwriters LOVE Moaning Because there’s been quite a lot in the press lately about the plight (or otherwise) of women screenwriters, I’ve been thinking a bit lately about whether I think I’m hard done by because of my sex (sex as in female, not sex as in, I’ve been trying to sleep with people for …
Why Women Screenwriters should Stop Moaning and Just WIN Read More »
Most screenwriters would cite a moment in their careers that proved critical. It might be the day they signed with an influential literary manager, or the moment a key producer spotted something in their spec screenplay that piqued his or her interest. Of course, it might be more spectacular than that, and a writer might break through …
10 Hollywood Screenwriters Reveal Their Big Break Read More »
The Insider Interviews series started in 2010 as a set of recorded interviews, featuring the likes of Tom Hiddleston, Gareth Unwin, who produced THE KING’S SPEECH, Ben Wheatley and Hossein Amini, the Oscar-nominated writer of DRIVE and THE TWO FACES OF JANUARY. You can watch these here. The Insider Interviews now exist as live monthly events in central London, which is a combination of a compered interview …
PT Anderson A man who, remarkably, made a film of the quality of BOOGIE NIGHTS at just 27 years of age, PT Anderson has won a host of admirers over a two-decade career for his own, original brand of cinema. Like a kind of thematically-souped-up Tarantino, Anderson’s films and scripts are in some way a …
10 Great PT Anderson Quotes for Screenwriters & Filmmakers Read More »
Michael Mann Michael Mann started out writing for TV in the 1970s but made his feature directorial debut with THE JERICHO MILE in 1979. Several films later he finally struck gold in 1984, creating the long-running TV show MIAMI VICE which made Don Johnson a household name and pastel clothing de riguer. Over the years …
10 Great Michael Mann Quotes for Screenwriters & Filmmakers Read More »
Where There’s a Will There’s a Way They say where there’s a will, there’s a way and if ever a profession needed to believe this mantra, it’s that of screenwriting. So pump yourself up, splash some cold water on your face and, as infamous ENTOURAGE uber-agent Ari Gold would say: “strap on a helmet and start …
With the arrival of GODZILLA at your local multiplex you might be thinking it’s time to get writing some monster movies of your own — how hard can it be, right? But while GODZILLA may have roared onto screens large and small over 200 times since the mid 60s, quantity is no indicator of quality. …
Why The Holy Trinity of Monster Movies are Impossible to Top Read More »
The World’s Highest Paid Screenwriters Screenwriting can mean big money for those at the top. After all, screenplays usually account for around 1-3% of a film’s budget, and when a budget soars as Hollywood tentpoles usually do…well…get your calculator out. Some screenwriters can start breaking ground on those holiday homes when the cheques clear. Here …
Beneath the murky waters of the western film industry, the odyssey towards equality is ongoing, and according to ‘Celluloid Ceiling’ – an industry consensus conducted by the Centre for Women in Film and Television – the beast of gender-bias has, once again, reared its ugly head. The report revealed a two per cent drop in numbers …
10 British Screenwriters Who Broke Into Hollywood Our own screenwriting talent is well known on these shores – Simon Beaufoy, Richard Curtis, David Hare, Abi Morgan, Tom Stoppard, Peter Morgan, William Nicholson… the list is impressive. But what about Brit talent working in Hollywood? Industrial Scripts looks at British Screenwriters who have made the leap …
10 British Screenwriters Who Broke Into Hollywood Read More »
Burning Bright Becoming a professional screenwriter is one thing, but staying at the top of the Hollywood screenwriters game is quite another. After last week’s look at Screenwriters Who Broke In Late, Industrial Scripts looks at those Hollywood screenwriters who hit the big time, but whose star gradually faded.
Despite the image of the wunderkind screenwriter a-la Orson Welles or Diablo Cody, many screenwriters broke in late to the game, with a wealth of wisdom and life experience to fuel their writing. As an encouragement to those who remember a time before the internet, or to those who are wondering when their efforts will …
Mid-Budget Movies Fading After Spielberg and Lucas’ dire warnings on the future of the film industry and the growing box office prominence of high budget tentpole releases, many audience members are asking; where are the mid-budget movies classics of yesteryear? Industrial Scripts breaks down the reasons behind the loss of the mid-level film and looks …
10 Mid-Budget Movies that Wouldn’t Get Made Today Read More »
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