The Curious Engineer

John August

2003–2007

857 posts

2008–2014 →

2007 236

December 2007

  1. On horseshit, and the New York Times
  2. Characters who are not yet important
  3. For Your Consideration
  4. Strike, days 42 and 43
  5. LA Times Dust-Up
  6. Strike, day 38
  7. At the gates of Paramount
  8. Indie Gate
  9. The Nines, as planned
  10. Strike, days 33-36
  11. Tuesday picketing
  12. Including the unknowable
  13. Strike, day 32
  14. Strike, days 30 and 31
  15. Blog day on the line
  16. Tomorrow at WB
  17. Short answer sprint
  18. Screenbloggers, live
  19. Strike, day 29
  20. Back at Paramount
  21. The History Boys

November 2007

  1. Updates and changes
  2. Strike, day 25
  3. Strike, days 23 and 24
  4. Tin Fish
  5. Flu shot
  6. Frankenweenie
  7. The Nines, U.K.
  8. Strike, day twenty-two
  9. Back on the line
  10. Douglas McGrath on the strike
  11. Hollywood rally
  12. Strike, day thirteen
  13. Strike, day twelve
  14. Strike, days ten and eleven
  15. Not The Daily Show
  16. Should I change my name?
  17. In other news
  18. Tomorrow at Universal
  19. What to do with a mediocre short film
  20. Strike, day nine
  21. Strike, day eight
  22. Why writers get residuals
  23. Worm-catching time
  24. Strike, day five
  25. Using “we” in scene description
  26. Strike, day four
  27. Strike, day three
  28. Not a word
  29. In transit
  30. The Office is closed
  31. The Monkey is alive
  32. Strike, Day Two
  33. On the line
  34. Where I’m picketing
  35. Pencils down
  36. Words is words
  37. Heroes: Origins: Gone

October 2007

  1. Puppies and air vents
  2. Gravatars
  3. Authorship in the digital age
  4. What does he want?
  5. Advice for terrible writers
  6. Pre-Lap
  7. Mis-pinned
  8. They love it and they’re passing
  9. From Russia with Questions
  10. New York, Africa
  11. The trees are a metaphor, incidentally
  12. Defeat keeps on going
  13. Script Cops
  14. Heroes: Origins
  15. Michael Clayton
  16. The Challenge of Writing in a Digital Age
  17. Summing up The Nines
  18. Sundance Advice
  19. Mom and Dad are fighting
  20. Easter Eggs for Halloween
  21. The Nines in the U.K.
  22. The Kingdom opening titles
  23. Calling on the hive mind: Writing the future
  24. Strike authorization vote
  25. 2007 Insomnia Film Festival

September 2007

  1. Remembering the Alamo
  2. Trailer Competition: The Winners
  3. Trailer competition judging in progress
  4. T-Minus one day
  5. Reminder: The Nines in Austin
  6. Trailer competition FAQ
  7. Trailer competition details
  8. Trailer competition, teaser
  9. Upwardly mobile in Africa
  10. On fanatacism
  11. Skipping drama class
  12. Time to steal back
  13. Other controversial advice
  14. MTV, an intervention
  15. Moving to LA (via NYC)
  16. Sheep lice
  17. String theory
  18. The Nines expands
  19. Back from Venice
  20. Open Thread
  21. The Nines soundtrack

August 2007

  1. Nines news, reviews and updates
  2. The Nines audio commentary
  3. The Nines opens Friday
  4. Is it risky to spec something in the public domain?
  5. The Nines trailer, HD
  6. Trailer competition, second update
  7. Press Day
  8. The Nines in Austin
  9. Starting out in Hollywood
  10. Cannibals in canoes
  11. Me in Men’s Health
  12. The big Fox deal
  13. INT. BOOKSTORE, or something better?
  14. Selling novel rights
  15. The Advocate
  16. The Nines at the Nuart
  17. The One-Sheet
  18. Technical details on The Nines
  19. Google-Mapped, part two
  20. Filmmaking, permitted
  21. The trailer for The Nines
  22. Student Films Across America
  23. Getting shot
  24. Permitted filmmaking

July 2007

  1. Look out! He is a Spider-Pig
  2. Location scouting vs. reality
  3. On Parade
  4. Guest-blogging on EW.com
  5. Three from The Nines
  6. Economics of Screenwriting
  7. Mr. Sebastian and the Negro Magician
  8. An air duct speaks back
  9. The Nines goes to Venice
  10. Silent Evidence
  11. My role in Transformers
  12. The virtues of technology failure
  13. Photos from Malawi
  14. I think I just got Google Mapped
  15. Home from africa
  16. Split screens
  17. September 11th
  18. Linear writing for non-linear films

June 2007

  1. Where to begin a script
  2. Summer Reruns
  3. Summer Sundance, part two
  4. Summer Sundance
  5. Watch out for Dana
  6. Her least favorite mistake
  7. Cannon fodder
  8. Prince of Perhaps
  9. Should I direct my spec?
  10. Changes while directing
  11. The Unnecessary General
  12. Interview up at cecil vortex
  13. Based on your own novel
  14. Trailer competition update
  15. I talk with my hands
  16. An intern with a script

May 2007

  1. Giving credit where it’s due
  2. Housekeeping
  3. Life is now worth living
  4. Screenwriters’ dinner
  5. Calling on the hive mind
  6. Title page trouble with Final Draft .pdfs
  7. Inconvenient brilliance
  8. The Nines at Cannes
  9. Hello, Residuals
  10. What is a script doctor?
  11. Fish food for thought
  12. The perils of coincidence
  13. Being typecast as a writer

April 2007

  1. Finding out if a book has been optioned
  2. Blood stains and clown pants
  3. Make your introduction
  4. Comments for Jane Espenson
  5. Five things
  6. Chad sold a spec
  7. The Nines gets all domestic
  8. Feeds and subscriptions
  9. On the topic of old things sucking
  10. A Captain Marvel Reader
  11. Goodnight Moon, Hello Movie

March 2007

  1. Renumbering when moving a scene
  2. How do you become successful?
  3. TV in movies
  4. Writer/Directors and Co-Ops
  5. Regarding the Gyllenhaal rumor
  6. Publicity 101
  7. The Big Red Cheese
  8. All-new MySpace beta
  9. After the digg

February 2007

  1. Blingons and despair
  2. Masturbating to Star Trek
  3. The Week in Review
  4. Seven Things I Learned from World of Warcraft
  5. Writing for the very small screen
  6. GreeneStreet acquires The Nines
  7. That’s a pretty expensive pad of paper
  8. Pause vs. beat
  9. What if my agent doesn’t like my idea?
  10. How to write dialogue
  11. Trusting your audience
  12. Eddie Murphy on Parade
  13. Nope, not my Barbarella
  14. Music of The Nines

January 2007

  1. What is independent film?
  2. Jennifer Lopez on Parade
  3. MTV Overdrive on The Nines
  4. Sundance, expanded edition
  5. Best editors
  6. Some of The Nines
  7. About the live updates
  8. Sundance panels
  9. The Nines, in script form
  10. Staring into mirrors
  11. That’s one expensive paper clip
  12. Forums are fun!*
  13. The Hollywood Standard
  14. Farrah Fawcett on Parade
  15. Scribble version, final version
  16. Sell out
  17. Clarification on point one
  18. MTV News on The Nines
  19. How to write a scene
  20. Found
  21. The Queen on a silver platter
  22. Carrie Underwood on Parade
  23. Josh posted
  24. Four for four, or Hooray for Chad
  25. Raining on my Parade
  26. Ands and Ampersands
  27. Idiocy on Parade

2006 131

December 2006

  1. On why the site looks a little different
  2. Little Children, a little late
  3. Sundance catalog is out
  4. For My Consideration
  5. Toddler books in the Store
  6. Seeing The Nines at Sundance
  7. Is Scriptblaster worth trying?
  8. Lost Rooms and American Zombies
  9. Should I worry about a competing project?
  10. I would have gone with “catfishscan”
  11. I heart WriteRoom
  12. Because nothing says quality like a cow
  13. Follow up: What job should I beg for?
  14. Clive Cussler really, really dislikes Sahara
  15. When should I panic?
  16. The Nines screening schedule at Sundance
  17. Workshops: An invitiation to idea theft?
  18. More in the Store
  19. Why isn’t The Nines in competition at Sundance?

November 2006

  1. The Movie is premiering at Sundance
  2. Retcon
  3. A Thousand Roads lead to this
  4. When do you walk away?
  5. Follow up: Advice not taken
  6. Follow up: That crushing doubt
  7. Follow up: How to write a bio
  8. The great big list of fictional diseases
  9. Follow-up, please
  10. Confessions of a genius script reader
  11. Final Draft updated
  12. What’s new in jaWiki
  13. High net-worth individuals
  14. Is the Slamdance script competition a bad idea?
  15. Introducing jaWiki
  16. Help! I’m getting screwed on my own series
  17. Final Draft serves left-overs
  18. Chicago: The Musical. No, not that one.
  19. On floating jets

October 2006

  1. Depression on film
  2. Movies look nothing like reality
  3. What if my movie is too much like another?
  4. Using overheard dialogue
  5. Back from Austin
  6. When characters have multiple names
  7. Final Draft buys Script magazine
  8. I Heart Shortbus
  9. As it turns out, I could care less
  10. The collected works of 17.255.XXX.2
  11. In defense of script supervisors
  12. What job should I beg for?
  13. Austin Film Festival schedule
  14. Macworld review of Montage

September 2006

  1. Do screenwriters get a chunk of foreign TV money?
  2. Two thoughts on the future of video
  3. How to Revisit Fried Worms
  4. Agency wants me to pay their “editor”
  5. Using your friend’s name in a script
  6. Am I a writer or a director?
  7. Can Dracula’s son get a book deal?
  8. Previewing score with GarageBand
  9. It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia
  10. Does anyone actually use long division?
  11. ControllerMate and automatic fingers

August 2006

  1. Helicopter day
  2. Vampires are the imaginary numbers of modern literature
  3. To the guy sitting in 7A
  4. Additional photography
  5. Monovision [update]
  6. Test screening The Movie

July 2006

  1. Turns out, he was busy reconsidering Tyra Banks
  2. Temp Music
  3. Mixing in bits of other languages
  4. Crisis of Infinite Celebrities
  5. J.J. Abrams got a $55+ million deal
  6. Monovision
  7. Spec, or write it for the producer?
  8. NPR interview postponed
  9. Who’s that mumbling screenwriter on NPR?
  10. Because really, he should drive a Chrysler LeBaron
  11. Update on the promiscuous player problem
  12. Location scouting
  13. I want a cheap, slutty DVD player
  14. I choose flight

June 2006

  1. What’s it like being the writer and director?
  2. So I made a movie
  3. Making the geek movie
  4. Rejection

May 2006

  1. Gone fishin’
  2. How do I break into Hollywood?
  3. Are you somebody?

April 2006

  1. Why I don’t have Google ads, part 432
  2. Air vents are for air
  3. What if the movie I wrote turns out god-awful?
  4. Writing what can’t be shot
  5. MyAmbivalence
  6. Things that get caught in the spam filter
  7. La escritura profesional y el auge de los amateurs
  8. Of course grammar matters
  9. TV staffing season

March 2006

  1. 10 things I hate about me
  2. Cut-scenes do not a videogame make
  3. How accurate is the page-per-minute rule?
  4. How many drafts does it take?
  5. What does “calling bullshit” actually mean?
  6. Copyright: The Comic Book
  7. Why the Matrix trilogy ultimately blows
  8. Prince of Persia retrospective
  9. Geek Help Wanted: The missing sidebar
  10. The answer is…Bob: The Musical
  11. Professional Writing and the Rise of the Amateur

February 2006

  1. How to format lyrics in scripts
  2. Write-up of my recent WGA Foundation Q&A
  3. Does the editor even read the script?
  4. If a trade paper has a blog, is it still a trade?
  5. In which I attend the Grammy Awards
  6. Footnotes on the footer
  7. Redesign, part one

January 2006

  1. How the hell did I get on this mailing list?
  2. The word escapes me
  3. I’m setting the TiVo for Bubble
  4. Ops stops
  5. Writer and Director and Disaster
  6. Why most scripts never become movies
  7. Virtual Sundance
  8. Drive-by tagging
  9. Because not all screenwriters live in Wisconsin
  10. Something weird with the RSS feed
  11. What’s with all the remakes?
  12. Turn to page 17 for a sex joke
  13. Matt gets millions to make a movie
  14. Race and the screenwriter

2005 161

December 2005

  1. Interview with me at DVguru
  2. Fixing broken windows
  3. Liam found a mistake in the Bible
  4. The TV spec of the season
  5. Readers write in: Don’t put gum behind your ear
  6. Dude, I got a Grammy nomination
  7. Day or Night when neither is apparent
  8. About a boot
  9. Can’t stop writing
  10. On accents

November 2005

  1. About the Store
  2. Set lingo for the clueless writer
  3. Armageddon is bad. Near-Armageddon? Damn entertaining.
  4. Shake for less
  5. Two sides to the story
  6. Charlie out on DVD
  7. Does Corpse Bride have a happy ending?
  8. Where I’ve been hiding

October 2005

  1. Four quadrants of screenwriting style
  2. Songs and production companies
  3. Comments are working again
  4. I am a white male of European descent
  5. Good Night, and Good Luck. And Good Job.
  6. Digital filmmaking and the paradox of choice
  7. What happened
  8. Yes, some stuff is broken
  9. Is the Screenwriting Expo any good?
  10. Avoiding AD mistakes
  11. Which side of the pond should I choose?
  12. The sky is not falling

September 2005

  1. I am Hillary Clinton’s clavicle
  2. Being a reader
  3. Metablogging
  4. As good as the Good Book?
  5. Curse of the Pop-In
  6. Why is Charlie so passive?
  7. Should I fudge the date on the cover?
  8. My NY Times profile, Rashomon-style
  9. Corpse Bride has risen
  10. Someone actually wants to read my script
  11. On friends, colleagues and jealousy
  12. The Constant Gardener, infant edition
  13. Hey, why didn’t my comment get posted?
  14. Dear Governor Schwarzenegger: Marry Me
  15. Please state your purpose
  16. O Great Rosenfeld!
  17. Corpse Bride article in Script magazine

August 2005

  1. Abolish the states, mate
  2. Which agent should I choose?
  3. A message to Dr. Phil
  4. Project update
  5. New server on the way
  6. Don’t panic as you hit the panic button
  7. How to Rewrite
  8. Welcome to the O.C., bitch
  9. Big Fish’s Karl the Giant has died
  10. Podcasting is for babies

July 2005

  1. When should a writer become a corporation?
  2. What format should I send my script in?
  3. What’s the difference between Hero, Main Character and Protagonist?
  4. Two big debuts
  5. Is that how the line was supposed to go?
  6. Writing characters you would hate in real life
  7. New, longer Corpse Bride trailer up
  8. Ton of Charlie clips online

June 2005

  1. I didn’t get here on my looks
  2. New videocamera
  3. Back from the Charlie press junket
  4. Deciding which parents get to visit the factory
  5. Organizing reality
  6. Writing loglines for a comedy
  7. Hey look! err..Listen! John’s on NPR. Briefly.
  8. Formatting the one-sided phone conversation
  9. Read lots of bad scripts
  10. Introducing Off-Topic
  11. Theory #1
  12. Fixing double-spaces after periods
  13. Writing when the movie could get ruined
  14. Handling dialogue-like situations
  15. Screenwriting wastes a lot of paper
  16. Cheaper Charlie shirts
  17. They still haven’t found what they’re looking for
  18. More Charlie goodness

May 2005

  1. Good advice from agents
  2. Michelle Pfeiffer, Supervolcanoes and the Yellowstone Fallacy
  3. Holy Buckets! It’s the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory trailer!
  4. Glossary: Manuscript and Tentpole
  5. From FD to MMS
  6. Opening titles
  7. Weekend numbers
  8. Greetings NY Times readers
  9. Official Charlie site updated
  10. An afternoon at E3
  11. Recycled articles
  12. Does bad work spoil mine?
  13. A movie by any other name
  14. Inciting Incident: Koo Koo Roo edition
  15. Buy clothes Charlie Bucket couldn’t afford
  16. Readers speak, part two
  17. Readers speak, part one
  18. English isn’t Latin
  19. Teenage girls and gay men
  20. Good interviews about Father Knows Less
  21. Good article on Shane Black
  22. Sundance Screenwriters Lab announces projects

April 2005

  1. Mongolian characters speaking Chinese
  2. Answer: You are an American male in his twenties
  3. Taking a meeting without an agent or manager
  4. Who are you? Where do you come from?
  5. LA Times story on DVD sales
  6. Annoying Trend Watch: Technorati spam blogs
  7. Tracking a comment thread by RSS
  8. Shoe leather and bric-a-brac
  9. Writing about real events
  10. How to include abstract images
  11. Movable Type vs. WordPress
  12. Whether to pitch or to spec
  13. Whether or not to American-ize
  14. Printing words on-screen
  15. New Charlie posters up
  16. Intercutting
  17. Why do you answer some questions, but not others
  18. Sensible sluglines
  19. New Charlie poster
  20. Back to the Word Factory

March 2005

  1. Happy Easter from Beijing
  2. Writing vs. relationship
  3. What does a writer’s assistant do?
  4. Picking a printer
  5. Removing duplicate iCal entries
  6. Wonka Industries open for business
  7. How to get into film school
  8. Pitch fests: Are they worth it?
  9. Rewriting bad movies
  10. No, Mr. Bond. I expect you to die!
  11. Using the story of a friend’s life
  12. Screenwriter makes, saves a million dollars
  13. Keep scene headers simple
  14. Archives section working, sort of
  15. Random slowdowns and non-existence
  16. Introducing off-screen characters
  17. To Do: Destroy the world

February 2005

  1. Google cheat sheet
  2. Celtx screenwriting application shows promise
  3. Update on Firefox numbers
  4. Other writer sites
  5. German (and French) Charlie teasers now available
  6. UK Charlie teaser now up
  7. How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Courier
  8. Formatting for sign language

January 2005

  1. Finding the RSS feeds
  2. Phantom of the Opera
  3. Why does anyone still use Internet Explorer?
  4. Non-errors in English
  5. Corpse Bride trailer up
  6. Archives section (temporarily) broken
  7. Formatting text shown on screen
  8. Keeping motivation after four drafts
  9. Character depth in a short film
  10. Writing about what you don’t know
  11. A new year, new technical difficulties

2004 154

December 2004

  1. Other interests and hobbies
  2. Blind man’s point of view
  3. Cover page artwork
  4. Comments temporarily off
  5. Avoid clichés
  6. New photos up
  7. Are four scripts better than one?
  8. Dialogue versus exposition
  9. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory teaser up
  10. Formatting a reality show proposal
  11. Getting sidetracked by other movies

November 2004

  1. Back to work
  2. Pay-for-mentoring, part two
  3. Off to Miami
  4. How many lines per page?
  5. His name is my name too
  6. Getting permission
  7. How wide to take your spec script
  8. What became of American McGee’s Alice?
  9. The Dead File
  10. Whatever happened to…
  11. Big Green Envelopes
  12. Glossary: Residuals
  13. New comment spam blocker

October 2004

  1. Good “Choose or Lose” spot
  2. Page count and tight formatting
  3. McGuffin and Set-Piece defined
  4. Producer credits and what they mean
  5. Stressing over structure
  6. New CSS template for screenplay formatting
  7. Avoid CUT TO’s in a busy sequence
  8. Back from Austin
  9. Good Daniel Wallace interview up
  10. Writers Guild agreement reached
  11. Where to find Natural Born Killers novelization
  12. New Fox show announced

September 2004

  1. How do I find out who represents a given actor?
  2. Can you be just a screenwriter anymore?
  3. Atom feed fixed
  4. ‘Data’ is singular
  5. Good book vs. movie comparison for ‘Big Fish’
  6. Very useful “Dead Zone” writer’s guides
  7. Rewriting based on other people’s notes
  8. Researching and writing The Circle
  9. More D.C. stuff available in the Downloads section
  10. Four Seasons, Five Season or just some fancy hotel
  11. Backing up is hard to do
  12. A very, very big fish
  13. My schedule for the Austin Film Festival
  14. All the Feeds you can eat
  15. Get yer Downloads here
  16. Transcript of my first meeting with Daniel Wallace
  17. New look, new engine
  18. More about the RSS feeds
  19. Fatter RSS feed now available

August 2004

  1. Digital cinema gets a little closer
  2. Optioning a screenplay
  3. Speaking at the Austin Film Festival
  4. Does your own writing make you laugh?
  5. Using a song in a short without permission
  6. Average price for a short story option
  7. Short films and writer’s assistants
  8. The not-so-well-dressed screenwriter
  9. American English and troublesome contractions
  10. Finished a short film: Now what?
  11. The Get A Mentor program
  12. Page count for animation scripts
  13. Ingenious comment spam booster
  14. Hiring a “script doctor”
  15. Bringing a ringer for a pitch
  16. Writing the script for a cooking show
  17. My new keyboard setup
  18. Why agents send out terrible scripts
  19. The challenge of writing good dialogue
  20. Seeing a rough cut of your film

July 2004

  1. Off to Phoenix
  2. Regaining confidence when nothing is working
  3. Setting up a project without having the underlying book rights
  4. Two scripts for “The Circle” now up
  5. The fine line between talented and bonkers
  6. History of Confederated Products
  7. Urban Challenge re-cap now available
  8. Using the music of an unknown band
  9. Including illustrations with your screenplay
  10. The difference between homage and rip-off
  11. Writers Boot Camp
  12. Slandering historical figures
  13. Back from vacation, and the Urban Challenge

June 2004

  1. New answers up at IMDb
  2. Reading scripts at the WGA library
  3. Working, but what’s the next step?
  4. Everyone in London smokes
  5. Did I ever watch the original Charlie and the Chocolate Factory?
  6. David Kelly to play Grandpa Joe in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
  7. The status of Barbarella

May 2004

  1. Panelist at the Nashville Screenwriters Conference
  2. Everything is turned in
  3. ‘A’ scenes and ‘B’ scenes
  4. Dead copyright holders, and being too young
  5. Getting a reader job
  6. Freddie Highmore cast as titular Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
  7. Do screenwriters make anything from video rentals?
  8. Sending a script to an actor
  9. Article about Rawson Thurber in the June issue of Premiere
  10. Big Fish sells 2 million DVDs in its first week
  11. Screenwriting software survey results are in

April 2004

  1. Using a different font for the cover page on a script
  2. Big Fish now available on DVD
  3. Survey up for screenwriting software
  4. New Wiki for discussing better screenwriting software
  5. Writing on the Coast Starlight from Los Angeles to Seattle
  6. Met the guy who runs Final Draft
  7. David Dean Bottrell on How I Write
  8. New Final Draft version 7.0 is…marginally better

March 2004

  1. Formatting a montage sequence
  2. Working on multiple projects
  3. AICN Charlie and the Chocolate Factory faux-review noted
  4. AICN review of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory script is completely bogus
  5. Ergonomics for the screenwriter
  6. I’m not writing The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe
  7. RSS feeds fixed
  8. Getting help as a deaf screenwriter
  9. Incorporating titles into a screenplay
  10. Selling a story if you’re not a screenwriter
  11. Jessica Bendinger on How I Write
  12. How I Write
  13. Tyger Williams on How I Write
  14. Getting rights when the story is based on actual events
  15. Todd Graff on How I Write
  16. Do you need permission to use a quotation?
  17. Prince of Persia announced
  18. Leonard Maltin’s mid-term exam
  19. Big Fish available on DVD beginning April 27, 2004

February 2004

  1. British Film Awards in London
  2. Franchises and the original writer
  3. Getting a job from a pre-visualization
  4. When Final Draft won’t open under OS X
  5. Script in March 2004 Esquire
  6. Does lack of confidence lead to great writing?
  7. Metaphors in Big Fish
  8. Archives and individual entry pages rebuilt
  9. Go scripts added
  10. Early Daniel Wallace interview added

January 2004

  1. Paperback version of shooting script now available
  2. Big Fish receives Oscar nomination for Best Score
  3. Good day jobs for writers and others
  4. Big Fish script
  5. Finding a writer
  6. Elephant and Columbine’s actual events
  7. Big Fish receives seven BAFTA nominations
  8. Getting a pitch meeting
  9. Big Fish opens at #1
  10. Big Fish opens wide
  11. Will digital ever replace film?

2003 175

December 2003

  1. Big Fish opens in more cities
  2. First rewrite
  3. Big Fish gets four Golden Globe nominations
  4. Big Fish gets five Broadcast Film Critics Award nominations
  5. Big Fish opens tomorrow in NY/LA/Toronto

November 2003

  1. Jinks/Cohen Big Fish interview in The Hollywood Reporter

October 2003

  1. Pearl Jam’s “Man of the Hour” in Big Fish
  2. Interview up at charliesangels.com
  3. GO at Arclight tickets available
  4. Ph.D. on adapted screenplays
  5. Big Fish trailer in QuickTime
  6. Big Fish website is up
  7. Big Fish trailer up at Yahoo! Movies
  8. Big Fish on Entertainment Tonight
  9. Big Fish trailer to debut on Wednesday

September 2003

  1. Generating ideas
  2. New Big Fish image from Yahoo! movies
  3. New Steve Buscemi photo from Big Fish
  4. Special GO screening Nov. 25th at the ArcLight
  5. Big Fish release date now December 10th
  6. Daniel Wallace website now open
  7. Getting rights to a concept album
  8. New RSS Feed
  9. New Big Fish paperback
  10. Do writers have a say in the music?
  11. More copyrights and changes
  12. Specs, treatments, and pitches
  13. A Go sequel?
  14. Writer/director disagreements
  15. Reading reviews
  16. Do I show my scripts or my short?
  17. Paying for notes?
  18. My idea’s been stolen
  19. More on becoming a co-producer
  20. The sequence of Go
  21. Formatting and software
  22. Is film school necessary?
  23. Theory #2
  24. More camera angles
  25. Worried about copyrights
  26. Was Go written on-the-fly?
  27. Writer control
  28. Are characters based on people you know?
  29. MPAA numbers
  30. A character sings a song
  31. How long a treatment?
  32. Dead rapper’s mom is calling the shots
  33. Camera angles and edits
  34. How long is a scene?
  35. Courier 12 pt. font
  36. To live and die in LA
  37. Transitions
  38. Using copyrighted material in a short
  39. Do I have to write the courtroom scene?
  40. To google google
  41. Finding the structure
  42. The essentials of adaptation
  43. Writer on-set
  44. Ratio of pages to screen time
  45. How much research does it take?
  46. What should a 14-year old do?
  47. How long to write a script
  48. Got the story, but I can’t write
  49. Over-editing
  50. Rewriting, but where’s the script?
  51. Finding assistant gigs
  52. Index cards
  53. Sold a script, next stop: agency
  54. 9/11 – the movie
  55. Agency papers
  56. Are jokes public domain?
  57. Research
  58. 11-year old film fan
  59. How old is too old?
  60. Surviving development hell
  61. Rewriting an old movie
  62. Determining credit
  63. Script, story, screenplay
  64. Portraying "endurance"
  65. Writing for actors/actresses
  66. Registering ideas
  67. Stealing sequels
  68. Actress audition
  69. Shooting shorts
  70. How many pages
  71. Drafts and revisions
  72. Finding the rights
  73. Choosing character names
  74. Good writing vs. the idea
  75. “Fictional events” disclaimer
  76. Characters w/ multiple names
  77. Co-producer credit
  78. Being rewritten
  79. Flashbacks and dreams
  80. Finding time to write
  81. Script promotion websites
  82. Script adaptations
  83. Process of writing
  84. Action writing
  85. Foreign languages
  86. Nominated screenplays
  87. Character caps
  88. How young were you?
  89. Ad-libbing
  90. Generating ideas
  91. Journalism degree
  92. Split-screen
  93. The problem of multiple screenwriters
  94. Getting rights to a concept album
  95. Optioning a book
  96. Writing a biography
  97. Using CUT TO:
  98. Male vs. Female lead
  99. Writing is hard
  100. Collaborating with multiple writers
  101. Moving to Hollywood
  102. Television scripts vs. Screenplays
  103. Using parentheticals
  104. Script length
  105. Western’s out?
  106. Film festival contacts
  107. Does a Brit have a chance?
  108. Copyrighted materials in your script
  109. Script formatting
  110. Scripts sold
  111. Being a writer’s assistant
  112. Based on a true story
  113. Writer’s strikes
  114. More LA relocating
  115. Third-party storytelling
  116. Where to find scripts
  117. More research
  118. Genres and structures
  119. Optioning your book
  120. Film vs. TV writers
  121. Various locations
  122. Book before the script?
  123. Original films
  124. Writers on art direction and cinematography
  125. Screenwriting contests
  126. Robert Mckee
  127. Avoiding cliches
  128. Past mistakes
  129. Getting stuck in a genre
  130. Writing for VFX
  131. Secondary scene headings
  132. Voice-overs
  133. Actors and dialogue
  134. Adapting a videogame into a movie
  135. What a “pitch”
  136. Bob Marley
  137. Film censorship
  138. Spoofs in your script
  139. Themes
  140. First impressions
  141. Television ideas
  142. Television specs
  143. Script comments
  144. Movie quotes
  145. Copyright and changes
  146. Finding confidence
  147. Script writing software
  148. Story first, then characters
  149. Similar plotlines
  150. Big Fish Release Date Changed
  151. Writing a biography
  152. Naomi Foner on How I Got My Agent
  153. Tom Smith on How I Got My Agent
  154. David Steinberg on How I Got My Agent
  155. Howard Rodman on How I Got My Agent
  156. Derick Martini on How I Got My Agent
  157. James LaRosa on How I Got My Agent
  158. Doug McGrath on How I Got My Agent
  159. How I Got My Agent

June 2003

  1. Craft service

2008–2014 →