The Writing Wire for 5/1 - Teaming Up, More More Moranis, Why Videodrome?

- FilmLinc has an exclusive interview with the filmmakers behind Sugar focusing on the power of creative collaboration. You can read DOA's review of the film over here.

- Miramax has drafted Rachel Getting Married writer Jenny Lumet to write for a project titled This Strange Thing Called Prom. Haven't read Rachel, yet? The screenplay is still available for download here.

- FSR asks the question that's been on my mind: Why the hell is someone remaking Videodrome?

- George Romero's ...of the Dead series could become novels.

- Is Rick Moranis coming out of retirement for Ghostbusters III?

- The Hobbit's going to be broken into two films.

Any links you wanna send our way?

What, When, Where this Weekend - The Limits of Control, Revanche, The Merry Gentleman

What, When, Where is a weekly guide to select screenings, discussions and events in the NYC-area of interest to screenwriters. Have an event you'd like to see listed here? Give us a heads-up at info@screenwritersleague.com.

- Tribeca wraps this weekend! Check out what's still screening here.

Opening this week...

THE LIMITS OF CONTROL, written and directed by Jim Jarmusch


PREMISE: The story of a mysterious loner who exists outside the law and is in the process of completing his current job.

PLAYING: Angelika

It's Jim Jarmusch, so it feels like a no-brainer for me. And with a soundtrack by metal acts Earth and SunnO)))? All over it.

REVANCHE, written and directed by Götz Spielmann


PREMISE: Ex-con Alex dreams about starting a new life with the Ukrainian prostitute Tamara. To do so, he wants to rob a bank erasing debts and making the flight towards the South possible. But Tamara is unintentionally shot on the escape by the coincidentally present policeman, Robert. Alex flees to the farm of his father and learns that Robert lives close by...thoughts of revenge start to arise.

PLAYING: IFC Center

This Austrian film (translated title: "Revenge") got the Academy Award nod last year for foreign picture. You can check out the trailer here.

THE MERRY GENTLEMAN, written by Ron Lazzeretti, dir. by Michael Keaton


PREMISE: Fleeing her abusive husband, Kate Frazier travels to Chicago to start a new life. But upon fatefully disrupting remorseful hitman Frank Logan's suicide, she becomes intertwined in the lonely killer's life and that of the sullen detective attempting to track him down.

PLAYING: Landmark Sunshine

What are you doing/seeing this weekend?

The Writing Week (Vol. 2) part 69 - Too Many Characters

I like to write action movies. Action means big explosions. Big shootouts. Big chases. Big ensembles. In order for the bodies to stack up, I have to litter the script with C-characters, people who can get offed in the most awesome ways, while the protagonists run onward to victory. The trick, though, is making these people recognizable to the audience, while not cluttering the script with too many speaking role bit characters.

I’ve been reworking my Roman army spec recently. The first draft had a lot of speaking roles. To give you an idea of how many characters – the script opens with two opposing armies at war which, over the course of the script, come together to battle an even greater force. Yes, many, MANY characters. ‘Backer took the lead in letting me know that too many of the characters sound the same and do not distinguish themselves from one another. I just realized how this came to be.

In dealing with ensembles, I feel compelled to make sure that most if not everyone who I drop onto the page has some sort of a speaking role. Onyx and I are both guilty of this. We put a lot of people into our scripts – more people than we need – and we try to distinguish them all. What this leads to is too many characters speaking, too many descriptions of people we aren’t supposed to remember, and too many deaths of characters we haven’t begun to care about. There’s a prime example of “too many characters speaking” in the first draft of my Roman army project; during one scene, two characters are having a debate. However, each of them also has two cronies who are always at their side. In order to justify the cronies’ presence, I gave everyone lines. What was a discussion between two people became a discussion between two people but through six people. Everyone sounded the same, because I had just swapped names in throughout the dialogue. ‘Backer was right – no character (except the main two) had a unique voice.

It’s hard juggling multiple characters, especially when many of them speak. The key, though, is balance. Who needs to be there, and who doesn’t? Who has to speak, and who doesn’t? Who is just there to die onscreen, and who has a greater, story serving purpose? Onyx and I are on the lookout for one another, letting one another know when the character count is getting too high. He suggested that I’ll probably have to cut a number of characters, and he’s probably right. At the very least, I’ll have to cut their dialogue.

True Love: Now Available with Guarantee

I went to see TiMer on Sunday night. I'm not typically a romantic comedy enthusiast, but the premise caught my eye immediately. Tribeca Film Festival's website said the line for rush tickets form an hour before the movie, so I strolled over after a nice taco dinner, 50 minutes before showtime, and was met with a daunting line. There were a good 75 people before me. Many of us went to the front to ask how many rush tickets were there (A: she didn't know, but thought there was a good chances everyone will be able to get in.) Rumor down the line was that there were about 400 seats so people were nervously optimistic. It was a pleasant spring-summer night, and most people were sharing their previous Tribeca experience cheerfully. When I got in the theater, most of the seats were taken. While I stood there staring at the full house, my boyfriend valiantly charged off to the distance (leaving me behind) and secured 2 seats on the fourth row to the side. For being so far in the front, my neck was suprisingly not soar by the end of the movie.


The film was very worth the wait. Set in an alternative LA, "TiMER" is a wrist implant that counts down to when the wearer will meet the eyes of their soul mate. While this breakthrough technology has taken the doubt and worry away from many, it has not helped Oona (Emma Caulfield), who is reaching 30 and her TiMER hasn't even started counting down (which means her soul mate is probably a bumpkin or a rebel who has not gotten a TiMER himself). While employing Leave No Rock Unturned tactic dragging every "virgin wrist" boyfriend to get a TiMER, Oona sees no point in dating someone who's already counting down, since the relationship is doomed from the start. That is, until she meets Mickey (John Patrick Amedori), a young attractive drummer who only has four months until he meets his "one". I think what makes the movie so enjoyable is that, while it brings up many interesting questions such as "would you know to know?" "what is worse, a blank timer or one that tells you you won't meet the one until you're old and withered", it never loses sight that it's a romantic comedy. The writing was funny, smooth and crisp. The side characters aren't just hanging out being talking heads either, but has their own interesting problems (my favorite is the 13-years-old brother, who reluctantly gets the implant only to see that he has merely 3 days before he meets the girl he's supposed to spend the rest of his life with.) It was easy to relate to all the characters problems and dilemmas. Tribeca described the film as "smart and delightful", and it was exactly that. My boyfriend enjoyed the movie as much as I did.

There're still 3 showings left in Tribeca!

Mon, Apr 27th 4:00pm
Thr, Apr 30th 7:45pm
Sun, May 3rd 3:30pm

Find where they're playing and watch the trailer here: http://www.tribecafilm.com/filmguide/TiMER.html

Trailer Trash XLIV: Mother's Day (1980)

"When you know how to celebrate, every day is Mother's Day!"

In honor of Mother's Day coming up, I'm (not so) proud to present, well, Mother's Day.

Before we get started, it's not THAT Charlie Kaufman. (If you were wondering.)

The movie is pretty vile, and the trailer is pretty NSFW, so consider yourself warned:



In the most bizarre twist of all, Brett Ratner is apparently attached to a remake of this? (Whyyyy???)


"You've made your mother proud!"

Trailer Trash is a weekly tribute to oddball, cheesy and often just plain terrible movie trailers. Writers: Even these guys got their movie made... so can you! You can read through our archive by clicking here.

What, When, Where this Weekend - The Informers, Il Divo, Treeless Mountain

What, When, Where is a weekly guide to select screenings, discussions and events in the NYC-area of interest to screenwriters. Have an event you'd like to see listed here? Give us a heads-up at info@screenwritersleague.com.

- The Tribeca Film Festival has started! Our post about it is here.

Opening this week...

THE INFORMERS, written by Bret Easton Ellis and Nicholas Jarecki, dir. by Gregor Jordan


Premise: A multi-strand narrative set in early 1980's Los Angeles, centered on an array of characters who represent both the top of the heap (a Hollywood dream merchant, a dissolute rock star, an aging newscaster) and the bottom (a voyeuristic doorman, an amoral ex-con). Connecting the intertwining strands are a group of beautiful, blonde young men and women who sleep all day and party all night, doing drugs -- and one another -- with abandon, never realizing that they are dancing on the edge of a volcano.

Playing: BAM, Angelika, Chelsea Clearview, AMC Empire 25

Love it or hate it, American Psycho sticks with you. I'll give this adaptation of Ellis's novel a shot.

IL DIVO, written and directed by Paolo Sorrentino


Premise: The story of Italian Prime Minister Giulio Andreotti, who has been elected to Parliament seven times since is was established in 1946.

Playing: Landmark Sunshine, Lincoln Plaza Cinemas

This film's been cleaning up the house at festivals, and the star, Toni Servillo, is garnering particular acclaim for his portrayal of the notorious senator.

TREELESS MOUNTAIN, written and directed by So Yong Kim


Premise: In Seoul, Korea, two sisters must look after one another when their mother leaves them to search for their estranged father.

Playing: Film Forum

Free on Friday night? The director will be present to introduce the screening that evening.

What are you doing/seeing this weekend?

Tribeca Film Festival Begins Today!

That's right! One of New York's best and most widely known film festivals - the Tribeca Film Festival - opened today. you can check out information on all screenings, filmmakers, venues, and anything else festival related here.


I personally really enjoy the Tribeca Festival. i was first really introduced to it about four years ago when I was an intern at a studio here in NYC. I think I saw something like 13 movies in eight days for work over the course of the festival. While the festival has, in recent years, expanded to include screenings virtually all over Manhattan, my favorite part of the week plus long festival is trekking down to sunny Tribeca. It's a part of the City that I don't often get down to, but I always find it beautiful and refreshing when I'm down there. If you're in NYC and love film, I really recommend trying to make it out to a few screenings (especially if they're down in grassy Tribeca).


Anyway, we're gearing up here to try and catch a handful of the films. Enough about us, though, what are you seeing and, more importantly, what do you think of what you watched? Email us at info@screenwritersleague.com to let us know, and we'll convey your thoughts.