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The Second Rat
In the modern world of social media, it has never been easier to support your fellow artists. Twitter is the perfect example: if you like an article or blog post, tweet it so others can retweet it; the...
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Fiction Must Make Sense
*** SPOILER ALERT *** *** NOT SUITED FOR YOUNGER AUDIENCES *** Last night I saw a sneak preview of the independent film Compliance. It’s about a prank caller who pretends to be a police officer and...
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Writing to Music
Remember that scene from The Social Network when the college kids are “plugged in” and coding Facebook? No distractions. No knowledge of the outside world. Only the music blasting through their...
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Liberal Arts
On Tuesday, I saw a great indie film called Liberal Arts written and directed by Josh Radnor, who is best known for portraying Ted Mosby on CBS’s How I Met Your Mother. His sophomore feature, as well...
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Dreaming in Film Cuts
This statement is absolutely true and not hyperbolic in any way: I used to dream in film cuts. My dreams unfolded the way a film was edited, complete with montage, camera angles, and fades. This...
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Frankenweenie Q&A with John August
On Tuesday I attended an advance screening of the new Tim Burton film Frankenweenie, followed by a Q&A with screenwriter John August. This event at USC was a treat for me because 1) the film was...
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Courier Prime: A Classic Font Gets a Makeover
John August’s Quote-Unquote Apps has released a new typeface for screenwriters called Courier Prime: I wanted a font that could be substituted letter-for-letter with Courier Final Draft, but look...
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Oscar Tradition Changes for the Better
Image source: AMPAS The 85th Academy Awards made a classy change to their program: Film students, rather than models, were chosen to present the Oscar trophies on stage. The AP reported the inspiration...
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Outcome v. Process
One of the concepts related to my recent pursuit of getting back to basics is outcome versus process. A book or a script is the outcome, but the act of writing is the process. The final result occupies...
View ArticleHistory of the Aspect Ratio (and How it Relates to Publishing)
If you’ll excuse me a moment while I throw on my film buff hat — after all, I am the Hollywood Novelist — I’d like to share an awesome video I came across on the history of the aspect ratio. If you’ve...
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