#interview with screenwriter

[berokind]

主持人：如果还有机会修改的话，你会修改哪一场戏，为什么？

兰晓龙：我也许会让伍六一进老A。

——观众鼓掌

兰晓龙：我觉得最强悍的两个男人能够在一起转一下，因为这个时候他转的结果是不由编剧左右的，他会是一个——我对他们俩都很、非常尊敬。我非常希望这两种我非常尊敬的东西碰在一起，能碰出一种能让我受益匪浅的东西。所以说我说的这个希望是完全为我。我非常自私的认为我自己考虑，就是说希望我的人生经验或者说编剧经验里面能多家这么一这么一条。

主持人：能够碰撞更加强烈的火花。

兰晓龙：对。

主持人：啊，当然，你的这个假设显然是得到了我们观众的普遍认可，是吧？要不然有那么经久不息的掌声。

兰晓龙：我没想到这么经久不息。

——观众鼓掌

主持人：所以说啊，这又是一条经验。你看看，虽然没有改，但是这个经验已经给你了。如果这么去改的话，大家一定喜欢。

Host: If you had the chance to make changes, which scene would you modify, and why? Lan Xiaolong: I might have Wu Liuyi join Old A. —Audience applauds— Lan Xiaolong: I think it would be interesting to see these two men—the strongest of the bunch—come together. At that point, the outcome wouldn’t be something the writer could control. I have immense respect for both of them. I really hope that these two qualities I deeply admire could collide and create something that would benefit me greatly. So, this hope of mine is entirely selfish—it’s for my own sake. I’m thinking purely from my own perspective, hoping to add another layer to my life experience or my experience as a screenwriter. Host: It would create even more intense sparks, right? Lan Xiaolong: Right. Host: Well, of course, your idea has clearly won the audience’s approval, hasn’t it? Otherwise, there wouldn’t be such long-lasting applause. Lan Xiaolong: I didn’t expect the applause to be so overwhelming. —Audience applauds— Host: So, this is another lesson. Look, even though you haven’t actually made the change, the idea has already been planted. If you were to make this change, everyone would definitely love it.

FOR THE FULL INTERVIEW CLICK HERE.

3 YEARS LATER: 《MY CHIEF AND MY REGIMENT》

THE LONG AWAITED COLLISION OF WU LIUYI AND YUAN LANG FINALLY THERE, IN THE FORM OF YU XIAOQING AND LONG WENZHANG:

sparks✨....

[duriens]

ok amc now answer me these two questions:

1. why would Armand want Louis dead (if the answer is that he had to choose between him and the coven and he chose coven the answer is WEAK. and also wrong)

2. why would Lestat agree to cross that ocean etc etc to participate in a trial he didn't approve of, since he didn't want to kill Claudia or Louis to begin with (we didn't see any evidence he was dragged there/lured there/starved/hypnotized/lobotomized with an ice pick)

also, bonus question!

3. why couldn't Lestat, blood of Magnus, strong of the blood of Akasha, vampire extraordinaire who couldn't be killed by the joint forces of Louis+Armand, prevent Claudia's death (same question that was asked of Armand one week ago, to be precise - since Lestat is more powerful than even Armand himself, because reasons)

[nnoceurr]

Do you want 12 months of writing prompts?

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Interviews with authors and creators:

Karina Kupp on building Chill Subs, advice for submitting writing work and more

Rachel Chak on being a DJ, her creative projects and making money as a creative

Remy Bazerque on his directing and writing career, culture shocks and more

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[rosesocietyy]

Christopher Rice is still sulking because he couldn't use the delectable power of nepotism to his advantage, that's what we call a skill issue cupcakes

[friedaaaaaaargh]

Currently doing a late night rewatch of some Holby City S20 ft the whole Jac/Frieda shenanigans that persisted over that series. And to think that now, that's me - I get to work with real life Jacs and Friedas everyday. And even though I'm the annoying person in the lab at the back of the hospital hidden from view, it's still surreal. So yeah, thanx to a silly show for being a small part in my career choices.

[archduchessofnowhere]

We can say many things about the latest Sisi adaptations but to be honest I'm glad (most of them) were so open about how inaccurate they were from the very beginning. No one tried to convince us they were super serious biopics.

[filmcourage]

Entertainment Business School - Kaia Alexander [FULL INTERVIEW]

Watch the video interview on Youtube here.

[aidenwaites]

Uh oh

[sisterdivinium]

That Sylvia didn't know from the beginning of shooting the show about Mother Superion having been a halo bearer before is absolutely wild based on her performance. Talk about intuition...

[fearsmagazine]

Screenwriter Dennis Paoli talks about his screenplay SUITABLE FLESH, based on “The Thing On The Doorstep” by H. P. Lovecraft.

Producer and actress Barbara Crampton placed screenwriter Dennis Paolis screenplay SUITABLE FLESH, based on “The Thing On The Doorstep” by H. P. Lovecraft, in the hands of director of Joe Lynch and the trio delivered a cinematic experience similar to 1985’s “Re-Animator.” With a few updates to Lovecraft’s tale we meet psychiatrist Elizabeth Derby who is confronted by Asa, a young man who recounts a strange tale of abuse by his father. Derby's interest is peaked and she becomes obsessed with helping her new young patient, who she feels is suffering an extreme personality disorder. Investigating his bizarre case leads her into a world of necromancy, placing her and her loved ones in danger. Her life spirals out of control as she tries to escape a horrific fate.

Screenwriter, television writer, playwright, college professor and friend and collaborator with the late director Stuart Gordon, Dennis Paoli has made a career of adapting the fiction of H.P. Lovecraft, and Edgar Allen Poe, taking the horror genre by storm with his 1985 film “Re-Animator” - based on “Herbert West–Reanimator" by H. P. Lovecraft, an instant cult classic that made fan favorites of director Stuart Gordon and actors Jeffrey Combs and Barbara Crampton. He has written or co-written five of Gordon's films and collaborated with Gordon on the stage productions of Bleacher Bums, Re-Animator: The Musical, and Nevermore: An Evening with Edgar Allan Poe, and on two episodes of the Showtime horror television series Masters of Horror.

SUITABLE FLESH will be available in Select Theaters and Rental October 27th, 2023.

The music heard in the background during this segment is by composer Steve Moore, who scored SUTIBLE FLESH.

Read our Review of SUITABLE FLESH - HERE

[ohihopeicanchangethislater]

Writer's Block Character Interview

One of my favorite things about writing is getting to know my characters, letting them reveal themselves to me. I love when it happens naturally as the story unfolds, growing more rounded and complete over time.

But sometimes my story doesn't unfold, and sometimes my character is shy. Sometimes you just need to sit your character down and ask her who she is and what she likes. I'm sure has been dome before, but I needed to do it for myself.

The rules are simple:

Imagine yourself sitting across from your character. Ask the questions as yourself, but answer them from your character's perspective. Really listen to her. If she only gives monosyllabic responses, that's fine. I would, too, if I was getting interviewed. If she's really talkative, let her talk; don't stop her because "that's all the time we have for today." If you have to stop her, at least wait until she's done with your question. Don't cut her off.

I hope this will help me get to know my characters better. If you try it and it helps you, please reblog and add any questions you find useful (I'd love to get to know your characters, too).

Who are you? (just your name is fine, we aren't getting too deep... yet)

What do you like to do in your free time?

What is your favorite book/movie/show/play/story/song etc.?

Do you consider yourself more introverted or extroverted? Maybe ambiverted?

Are you a cat person or a dog person? Neither? Both?

Which character from [Barbie, The Office, Supernatural, Spider-Man etc.] would you say you are most like?

Do you have many friends? A best friend?

Which character from [Barbie, The Office, etc.] would your friends say you are most like?

What was your life like before I met you? Can you walk me through a normal day?

How do you feel now that [inciting incident/other important event] has happened?

Do you feel you've changed at all since I met you?

If so, how would you describe yourself now as opposed to before?

Do you think you will change more before we have to say goodbye?

Who do you think you will be at the end of this story?

Thank you for taking the time to speak with me. I can't wait to see what you do next.

[haute-lifestyle-com]

Janet Walker, the publisher of Haute-Lifestyle.com, and a successful crime thriller screenwriter was recently interviewed for Paris' leading entertainment and award-winning magazine, Parisfilmawards.net. The interview is reprinted below. Janet Walker, Publisher and Screenwriter Interviewed for Paris Film Awards #janetwalker #hautelifestylecom #theentertainmentzonecom #screenwriter #moviemagic #paris #movies 

[pablolf]

The best thing that I've learned over the years when you're writing it and shooting it and editing it, it just keeps changing each time, and what I always do - and it drives everybody nuts, but it's true- It's I'll sit down and say, Okay, we just saw the latest episode of Barry, you go to a bar, and you're sitting with your friend and your friend goes, "Oh, you just watched the latest episode of Barry", "Yes", and they go, "What's it about?" What do you say? You know what I mean, and it's like, "Well, it's about a guy..." and like that order of the information is how we should probably lay the story out. And it'll be interesting is they'll tell the story and it's going smoothly and then you go that's great but you've never once mentioned Fuchs, so we gotta go back and make it so you can't talk about it without mentioning him. Or you'll talk about the whole thing, like that's great but you never once mentioned Barry, which happened season two. We had a whole episode that I wasn't there.

Bill Hader on his writing process

[ajepyx]

UNFINISHED BUSINESS INTERVIEW - Daniel Pyne Part 1

UNFINISHED BUSINESS INTERVIEW - Daniel Pyne Part 1

We are very excited here at Unfinished Business TELEVISION to have critically-acclaimed screenwriter and novelist Daniel Pyne for part 1 of this special 2-part interview! Daniel got his start on TV’s MIAMI VICE and has since written such major Hollywood movies as PACIFIC HEIGHTS with Michael Keaton, THE HARD WAY with Michael J. Fox, WHITE SANDS with Willem Dafoe, ANY GIVEN SUNDAY with Al Pacino,…

[pynkhues]

I love Sarah Snook so much, but Run Rabbit Run is one of the worst movies I’ve seen in a minute.

[bycelestetsang]

Remy Bazerque on his directing and writing career, culture shocks and more

I want to share the interview series I have been doing for some time. It has kept me motivated on my creative writing journey. The following interview was originally posted here. If you want to get these interviews in the future, subscribe to my newsletter.

Remy Bazerque is an award-winning French writer and director in film, animation and commercials.

[His] work has been screened at international festivals like Flickerfest, Raindance, and the London Film Festival. I've been supported by institutions like the BFI, Film London, and Creative England, and I've earned a Vimeo Staff Pick and a win at the Firefox Flicks competition during the 65th Cannes Film Festival.

Being in the exposure of three cultures has given him its advantages and disadvantages. We talked about how his background affects his work when it is in English, the influences that his directing work has on his novel and vice versa, and so much more.

What are you working on right now?

On the film front, I wrote a pilot for a comedy, and I am going through the kind of querying that you often see in the publishing industry. So I am applying to things, waiting for responses, etc.

I have a script for a feature film that I am working on and off, something personal. As a director, I am also attached to an animation series for adults, something similar to South Park, but it is at the pilot stage now.

As for the novel, it has been about two years since I started working on it. I wrote two full manuscripts, only to realise that I was not happy with both of them. So I started over. This will be my third time right now.

That is a lot of work! Have you ever procrastinated on a project because of hitting roadblocks, as in when you had to start over? How do you usually deal with these roadblocks?

I need to write every day, for a range of reasons. So usually when I hit a roadblock I tend to obsess over it rather than procrastinate. Although it usually doesn't wield much better results. One of the reasons I have a bunch of projects is to precisely have a means of switching to another if one gets blocked, or if one needs a pause. I have my newsletter too.

That is reasonable. I have used the same method to choose if I write my newsletter or novel. It has been quite useful for my creative process too. Where can we find your work online and offline?

You can find my stuff both on my website at www.remybazerque.net or on my Substack. I don't think the offline applies as much here because it is all film stuff essentially and there is always a trace online. When my films are screening in film festivals, you can see them there. But that is not a daily occurrence.

How has being French affects the way you write stories in English? What is the most difficult part of it all?

I think for the novel, it has been more of a psychological block.

When I write for film, I always have the actors in a way as a last proof. They often rephrase the lines anyway to an extent. So when I set myself to write a novel, I simply wasn't sure whether I could do it. In that sense, Substack has been great, it really has helped me a lot to feel more relaxed about this.

On the process itself, I write in English, but it happens here and there that I need to translate a word from French into English to get the exact meaning.

I would think it probably makes the process slower, and there is probably more to edit as well. I wouldn't say it's the most difficult part. I love English and I often think in English. It was more of a psychological wall to get through.

I see. Sometimes I would have to put in a weak verb before I can find a better one. I have a bunch of brackets with my notes in the manuscript. I am procrastinating to find the right words, to say the least. I need to flash out the full manuscript before it takes fives years to finish one.

Does having a Russian wife ever affect how you write or think about stories and directing films, as she brings her cultural influences into your relationship?

I suppose indirectly it does, since she is always one of the first people to read something from me. Subconsciously, her upbringing would bring that influence.

As for world-building, I am already sufficiently culturally confused. I don't need another culture on top of it.

Do you think that the way you direct films influences the way you write scripts and/or novels?

Most certainly, I am a visual storyteller first and foremost. I spent a large portion of my life thinking images.

When I write, I definitely need to visualise things a lot. I have to see how it plays out concretely and I am keen for this visual aspect to present on the page.

I like the idea of a mood, of a visual mood board for a book to make sure to give everything a certain palette, like when we do in film. But I find it a lot less instinctive, I am learning every day when it comes to writing prose.

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How do you usually make it easy for you to visualise things? I have written pages and pages of back story and development as I write. I have also have a little mood board for mine too. The most difficult part is figuring out the timeline and outline.

Images come naturally in my head. But for instance when I make character sheets, there is always some sort of mood board. Sometimes when I am uninspired with a description, I toy around with AI 'art' generation. I play around with images, try different references until I find something usually unexpected that gets my creative juice going.

I find outlining very hard, the feeling of having fun quickly recedes when I spend too much time on that.

Finding the balance between outlining and being spontaneous with the story has proved to be one of the hardest things. Too much time on the outline, I lose my spark. But not spending enough time outlining always lead to problems that pops up later in the manuscript.

In terms of structure, I use my own soup of structure. They are often a mix of different methods. I try not to stick to the same structure, to avoid predictability.

Which one is easier, writing your newsletter, screenplay or novel?

The newsletter. I voluntarily stay away from writing fiction on Substack. The newsletter is more like a column. It relieves the pressure to stay creative a little.

For screenplays, I have these moments of real flow where I am on a roll and I can feel it. It gets easy and smooth. Prose is still quite new to me, so it is definitely the most difficult one to work on.

Which structure do you like the most? Do you ever find yourself leaning towards using your favourite structure?

My basic knowledge in structure is what I learned in La Dramaturgie by Yves Lavandier. I quite like elements from The Seven Basic Plots, at least in the understanding of how our subconscious functions. Bestsellers like Save the Cat, I only find it useful for working on ACT II. I think it is a good one on how to approach a second act, which is quite tricky. So I pick elements from here and there. Sometimes I do something specifically against the logic of the structure to create an element of surprise.

About Save the Cat, it literally only teaches you how to write a Redemption type of storyline. Even though there are plenty of other story structures.

I think at the end of the day, some extremely well structured films/books succeed, some fail. Some completely unstructured books/films succeed. There is no recipe with structure. Sometimes it all comes together and sometimes it doesn't.

Which work of yours do you like the most, among different mediums?

That would probably be my latest short film Leave to Remain. I think the tone is very much my style and it manages to talk about quite a tricky subject (immigration) in a tongue-in-cheek tone, which is sort of the essence of what I am doing in films. I like the idea of laughing about the tricky subjects.

I can definitely see the tongue-in-cheek style in your newsletter. Very easy and fun to read!

Is there anything, culture-wise, that is shocking to you when you come across three cultures, French, English and Russian regularly?

I am always shocked at the profound difference between a Brit on weekdays and weekends. The most uptight ones turn into hurricanes on Friday and Saturday night with enough booze. And then on Monday morning, they are back to being so polite with each other. I worked in a pub for years before university, so I served a lot of alcohol and saw my fair share of binge drinking. It is quite frightening.

As for Russians, it always seem that they are yelling into each other's faces. I am always worried that my wife is arguing with her parents, but in fact they are often just talking about the weather. French is a pretty quiet language. Italians yell at each other a lot as well, actually.

As for French, I am appalled sometimes at the snootiness of my fellow Frenchmen sometimes. The most snooty people that I have ever met in film were always French. It made me slightly uncomfortable in some instances.

Can you give writers advice on writing their first movie script?

When you find something you care for deeply, something you want to talk about. Make sure to identify it, nurture it and protect it. Because if you are lucky and your script gets made, you will be inundated by a deluge of contradictory feedback, and you must have a strong anchor in you to know what you are fighting for, and what your story is about. If you can't find that strong anchor, move on to the next idea.

Interesting. I guess it can apply to novels too. Contradictory feedback would often be there when writers start querying.

Totally, or even from beta readers.

Can you give my readers a creative challenge?

Why not try and be proud for once? Stick to your guns, don't listen to everyone. Act like Dali would.

If you find this useful, subscribe to my newsletter for more <3