What’s so important about a silly little name?
admin | March 3, 2010 | 9:27 am | Uncategorized | No comments

What’s up with the “Arab” Gulf?

I checked my old geography books. Everything from the Twentieth Century tells me that:

  • the Indians have an Ocean,
  • the Arabians have a Sea,
  • and the Persians have a Gulf.

Somebody wanted to change that.   Why?

Read more »

How Do I Get a Screenplay?
admin | February 26, 2010 | 1:31 pm | screenplay | No comments

Like many other filmmakers, you want to make a feature film, but don’t have a screenplay.   Maybe writing it yourself isn’t an option right now.

A lot of the public domain material out there is terrible.   If you look, you may find a gem, but that takes almost as long as writing one yourself.

So you look to experienced screenwriters.

Q. How do you get an experienced screenwriter to write you a screenplay?

Read more »

An ode to the recruitment process
admin | February 19, 2010 | 11:22 am | adaptations, jokes | No comments

Three men were sentenced to death by firing squad: a retired sabre tooth hunter, a perpetual job seeker, and a head hunter. Read more »

When can writer’s block be a good thing?
admin | February 18, 2010 | 6:43 am | writing | No comments

Johnny is fed up with the day job. On the way home, he thinks of a ripping satire involving his boss and coworkers that he just “knows” will win awards.

Johnny starts planning his career. This one he’ll give for free: he’ll promote the script on websites like shooting people, talent circle, and scripts for sale. Then, when he wins an award, he’ll sell a concept written on a napkin for a record amount of money and retire. Read more »

What is your identity as an author?
admin | February 13, 2010 | 4:29 pm | writing | 1 Comment

“Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm” – Groucho Marx?

When speaking to a computer, all you have to do is use the correct syntax and the computer understands.

Huh?  For you kids out there, that means if you press the red button, Mario jumps, or the spaceship fires.  The computer knows what you mean.  And the computer knows that the red button always means the same thing no matter who presses it.

But people don’t know that (especially us grown ups).  We forget that.  We judge the message by the messenger (I think that’s the right cliché). Read more »

Alvin and the Chipmunks, the Squeakquel
admin | February 13, 2010 | 1:15 pm | review | No comments

The only thing worse than a movie based on a tv show is a sequel to a movie based on a tv show.    It’s doomed to have bad jokes, endless references… wait a minute, this one was actually fun to watch!

“My favourite part is when Alvin was on a mini motorbike when he was trying to save the Chippets from Ian. Alvin got the Chippets and Ian stole this Toy helicopter and a remote control to control it from a toy shop. Then Ian was controlling the toy and Alvin and the Chippets got onto the toy helicopter and the Chippets and Alvin threw their helmets on Ian and he let go of the remote control. One of the Chippets caught it and Ian was on the floor on his back and the motorbike that Alvin and the Chippets were on was still moving on its own and it was going to Ian and it hit his willy.”
-boy aged ten

“My favourite parts are when Alvin gives wedgies to the naughty boys, and when Alvin and Simon beat up the naughty boys.”
-boy aged eight

Nessie’s Holiday – Screenplay
admin | February 6, 2010 | 10:32 am | pitches | No comments

Title: Nessie’s Holiday
Genre: Documentary
Length: 5 minutes
Author: Vasco Phillip de Sousa

Logline:
The Loch Ness Monster takes her family on holiday to Wales

Short Synopsis:
When the Nessies have had enough of the local tourists, their cousin Draig (the Welsh Dragon) invites them to spend a nice, “quiet” holiday in Wales.

They enjoy themselves, wrecking havoc off the beaten path.

(pdf)