Joan Wai, the director of the Academy's Nicholl Fellowships sat down with us to answer questions and give advice about screenwriting, competitions, and breaking into the film industry.
Having a great idea or story is rarely enough in Hollywood. Let’s take a look at some of the effective ways to pitch your story ideas to investors, buyers, and producers.
From Hallmark to Netflix, let’s take a walk through the history of holiday flicks, its huge commercial appeal, and the psychology as to why we crave these stories time and again.
Filmmaking is expensive, but filmmakers have amazing tools at their disposal to tell stories of any shape or size, and their are few tools more powerful than single-location shooting.
Let’s examine how the concept of writing what you know can gain the attention of industry professionals and how you can sell it in the competitive market.
Creative burnout can be truly difficult to put a finger on so we've put together some tips on how to recognize its symptoms, and methods to reignite your creative spark when it does go out.
The study of film and its effect on human development has been a hotly debated and ever-growing field over the years, but it was Arthur P. Shimamra who coined the term "psychocinematics" to examine the way films affect our mental processes.
Let’s explore some of the elements and ways on how we can create and develop compelling characters that can become part of the collective consciousness and stand the test of time.
David Lynch is an absolute gem of a filmmaker, so much so that his name has developed into jargon in the world of filmmaking. His creativity and unique style effortlessly shine through every film or TV series he directs and produces, as well as evokes an extreme surrealism and otherworldliness that stand the test of time.
With their love-note to the classic Western, the Coen brothers examine who the Old West mentality fueled the American propensity toward violence.
In the years since 'Good Will Hunting' the two of them had never again gotten together to write a screenplay, that's about to change - with Ridley Scott directing.
Dominik's western uses the idea of the outlaw, specifically through analyzing Jesse James and Robert Ford's relationship, as an allegory for modern American celebrity obsession and the negative consequences of a culture that worships popular people as godlike figures.
This article is about those teachers that have stood out, that have challenged the norm, and made us question the basics and what we deem as fundamental. Highlighting what I think to be the most insightful tips on the craft of Screenwriting, I will list just a few, and hope that it will enlighten those who have reached a wall in their script or feel they need to make the hero/ heroine’s goal a little more challenging/relatable.
If there’s any highly anticipated annual occasion that's of the same caliber as the holiday season, it would undoubtedly be film festival season; celebrated not just by the media and entertainment industry but also by film fanatics across the globe.
We had a conversation with Disney's Writing Program 2022 Finalist and Netflix assistant to showrunner and producer, Amaris Gagnon, who gave us an insider look into the entertainment industry.
Development hell is an industry jargon commonly used by key players to depict the extensive process of shaping a material or script into its best possible form before it gets the coveted green light for production.
We're finally back and we have some deep discussions regarding the 'Roseanne' situation and whether it was handled correctly, reactions to 'Venom' and other critically panned movies that we love, and whether or not diversity in film is in danger of becoming a gimmick - amongst other things.
Juliet Landau, famous for her role as Drusilla in 'Buffy', took some time to chat with us about her feature length directorial debut, 'A Place Among the Dead', which seeks to deconstruct the nature of the narcissist through an acutely apt metaphor of vampire mythology.
Hollywood is a tough industry to break into but it is certainly not impossible. Let’s take an in-depth look into screenwriting contests and how they could help get one’s foot in the door.
Films have the ability to make you believe that they are in fact ‘real.’ But this is a fine skill that requires a lot of practice, and in most cases, years of experience. Here are a few things you should know to craft a plot worthy of the Odeon.
In praise of Tim Burton's storytelling, tear jerking masterpiece, which offered all of the emotion and none of the Johnny Depp.
We explore one of Hollywood's strangest reoccurring phenomena, "twin films." Exemplified in films like 'Capote' and 'Infamous' — with one striking Oscar gold with the other being relegated to irrelevancy.
Pixar has turned itself into a household name, racking up countless awards and universal praise. So what's the secret to their timeless storytelling?
The second we get a chance to escape from the hustle and bustle of our daily lives, we leap into a world of creative imagination where life and art intertwine, and as we relentlessly explore endless content in the media library, we're bound to find something that we'll invest our time in (mostly years), that hits all the right buttons of our psyche. There are many reasons as to why we get more emotionally involved in fiction than the lives we lead.
