Cutting Out the Middle Man in Film Distribution
The Berlin International Film Festival was distinctly different this year. Sure, there was the typical melee of execs taking pictures around remnants of the Berlin Wall. And yes, as per …
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The Smell of Fear in LA
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 …
9 Observations about Aaron Sorkin’s THE NEWSROOM
THE NEWSROOM This post started as a tweet, developed into a Facebook status and is now finding full expression as a blog post. recently I finished, in a double-bill, The …
My Pain At Being “Replaced” as a Screenwriter
Being “Replaced” A couple of years ago, I became that person: a replaced screenwriter. It was a screenplay I dearly loved and had put my heart and soul into and, …
Swerving Development Hell in the New Dawn of Crowdfunding
Welcome and hello to the thousands of you who visit the IS website every week. By way of an introduction, I’m Miranda Fleming, and I’m thrilled to be starting this …
31 Screenwriting Books You MUST Own
When I say “screenwriting books you MUST own”, I’ll be honest: the MUST is for effect. You don’t have to do anything, particularly buying screenwriting books in such volume that …
10 Signs That You, My Friend, Are A Writer…
Do These Signs Match Your Habits? Someone tells a tragic family story that has taken them years to open up about and you unwittingly shout “DIBS ON THAT” the second …
Script Reader Jobs: Your Complete Guide
Like it or lump it, the role of the industry script reader is becoming increasingly important in film and TV. With the volume of scripts increasing year-on-year, the challenge for …
How to Write a Screenplay: Your 30-Step Guide
So – you want to learn how to write a screenplay. You think about it constantly. Whenever you watch a movie you annoy your friends, going on about how you …
Read It And Weep
“Will you read my script for me?” Gah. Five words to strike fear into the heart of anyone with eyes. As a former Development Exec, it’s something I hear an …
30 Quotes about Screenwriting from A-List Directors & Actors
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 …
Five Screenwriting Rules You Can Break and Five You Can’t
Even the notion of screenwriting rules gets some people into a serious tizz, and it’s this controversial topic I want to explore this week. I’ve spent the last three weeks …
The Brit List Scripts 2014
The Brit List Scripts 2014 The votes are in for the Brit List Scripts 2014! Out of the 140 scripts that were submitted, 34 scripts made the cut. For a …
Why Women Screenwriters should Stop Moaning and Just WIN
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 …
My Search for a Screenwriting Truth
In Screenwriting, the truth matters… Today we’re going to talk about The Truth. Not this sort of truth. Or this. Or even this. We’re going to talk about the kind …
What I’ve Learnt about Screenwriting: Part I, The Idea
What I’ve Learnt about Screenwriting: Part 1, The Idea So I’ve been doing this for a while now, and for some reason I feel a powerful, hubristic, intimations-of-mortality urge to …
To Screenwrite Right, Write What You Know
Write What You Know or Just Say No! (and other rhymes) I’m going to give you procrastinating scribblers a little bit of advice today. Yes me, who gets up at the …
Screenplay Format: Your 30-Step Guide
Screenplay Format – Your 30-step Guide Before you start writing the next great film, it is essential that you have a comprehensive understanding of screenplay format. It won’t matter how amazing …
Screenwriting & The Fine Art of Procrasturbating
I’ve always been a big fan of those books that are a collection of interviews with Hollywood screenwriters where they tell you, with grating self-deprecation and lashings and lashings …
Unheralded Scene: RUSHMORE (1998)
Unheralded Scene: RUSHMORE (1998) In our “Unheralded Scene” section, our consultants nominate a classic film or TV scene, which in their view hasn’t received the admiration it deserves. It might be …
Seething With Screenwriting Envy!
Screenwriting Envy “In order to succeed, your desire for success should be greater than your fear of failure”. Guess who said that? You never will. It was Bill Cosby! I …
10 Hollywood Screenwriters Reveal Their Big Break
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 …
The Insider Interviews: Nev Pierce
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 …
The Insider Interviews: Gareth Unwin
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 …
The Screenplay & The Mountain
The Screenplay. Like some kind of Mordorian tower it looms over the land. We can barely make out the top of it, so shrouded is it in snow, ice and …
The Insider Interviews: Rob Kraitt
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 …
The Insider Interviews: Nick Marston
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 …
10 Great PT Anderson Quotes for Screenwriters & Filmmakers
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 …
The Insider Interviews: Kevin Lehane
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 …
The Insider Interviews: Jack Thorne
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 …
The Insider Interviews: Ben Wheatley
Insider Interviews 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 …
The Insider Interviews: Robert McKee
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 …
The Insider Interviews: Sophie Meyer
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 …
In Screenwriting, Hope Springs Eternal
The Rafn Column Part III Screenwriting – Hope Springs Eternal When I worked as a Development Executive, the most terrifying thing I ever had to do was fly to LA …
10 Ways To Irritate a Development Executive
The Rafn Column Part II 10 Ways to Irritate a Development Executive When I finally made the transition from being a Development Executive to becoming a writer, I believed that …
10 Honest Quotes about the Life of the Screenwriter
Nobody worships more reverently at the altar of screenwriting than us. We believe in The Screenplay. We recognise it as the critical component in whether a film or TV shows lives, …
Unheralded Scene: STAND BY ME (1986)
Unheralded Scene: STAND BY ME (1986) In our “Unheralded Scene” section, our consultants nominate a classic film or TV scene, which in their view hasn’t received the admiration it deserves. …
The Rafn Column Part I: Explaining the Obvious
The script, the script, the script… I have always had a love affair with scripts. I love, love, love them. Love them warm coming off the printer, love the font …
The 10 Greatest British Screenwriters of All Time
Well, there’s one word for this article: contentious. Nowadays British screenwriters are at the top of their game, ranging from Dominic Minghella to Jed Mercurio, however this hasn’t been …
15 Anthony Minghella Quotes for Screenwriters & Filmmakers
ANTHONY MINGHELLA will be best remembered for THE ENGLISH PATIENT, the film that won 9 Academy Awards including Best Picture and Best Director. But the biggest tribute one can pay him …
Why Writers Should be Sceptical of Script Hosting sites
Script Hosting Sites – Friend or Foe? Script hosting sites divide opinion, arguably more than any other screenwriter or filmmaker resource. Maybe it’s the business model which sticks in many …
10 Great Michael Mann Quotes for Screenwriters & Filmmakers
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 …
Unheralded Scene: HAROLD & MAUDE (1971)
Unheralded Scene: HAROLD & MAUDE (1971) In our “Unheralded Scene” series, our consultants nominate a classic film or TV scene, which in their view hasn’t received the admiration it deserves. …
10 Akira Kurosawa Quotes for Screenwriters & Filmmakers
Akira Kurosawa Probably most famous for his epic, THE SEVEN SAMURAI, Akira Kurosawa was often seen as more popular in the West than in his native Japan. His big breakthrough …
Unheralded Scene: SUNSET BOULEVARD (1950)
Unheralded Scene: SUNSET BOULEVARD (1950) In our “Unheralded Scene” section, our consultants nominate a classic film or TV scene, which in their view hasn’t received the admiration it deserves. It …
Unheralded Scene: TWIN PEAKS – FIRE WALK WITH ME (1992)
Unheralded Scene: TWIN PEAKS – FIRE WALK WITH ME (1992) In our “Unheralded Scene” series, our consultants nominate a classic film or TV scene, which in their view hasn’t received …
Unheralded Scene: THE PIANO (1993)
Unheralded Scene: THE PIANO (1993) In our “Unheralded Scene” series, our consultants nominate a classic film or TV scene, which in their view hasn’t received the admiration it deserves. It …
Unheralded Scene: THE SIXTH SENSE (1999)
Unheralded Scene: THE SIXTH SENSE (1999) In our “Unheralded Scene” series, our consultants nominate a classic film or TV scene, which in their view hasn’t received the admiration it deserves. …
Unheralded Scene: LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE (2006)
Unheralded Scene: LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE (2006) In our “Unheralded Scene” series, our consultants nominate a classic film or TV scene, which in their view hasn’t received the admiration it deserves. …
The Insider Interviews: Tom Hiddleston Interview
We interviewed actor Tom Hiddleston as part of our Insider Interviews series way back in 2011, as his star was beginning to rise. Since then, he’s become a household name …