This is a devastating account of what it's really like to be a Hollywood screenwriter. You can be a Cambridge graduate, an award winner, and the creator of a TV series on Hulu - and still work as a caterer and depend on welfare to make ends meet....
'Why AI Is the Most Important Issue in the Writers' Strike'
AI isn't just central to the WGA strike either — it's the first battle in a much larger war that will affect all Americans.
I spoke with everyone from WGA Board members to Damon Lindelof about how the alarm bell about #AI was first run within the Guild and why it’s an existential threat to our industry (and countless American industries).
I'm watching a scene where the hero, who was recently injured, has checked himself out of hospital. He is clearly exhausted but he's pushing himself forward. The story presents this behaviour as heroic and admirable.
I'm over it.
Promoting reckless behavior regarding health, particularly in men, has always been harmful. In the pandemic, people need the message that rest when fatigued is the "heroic" thing to do.
Worker/artist owned cooperative — with distribution, to tell their own stories. Images below.
Workers, writers, and artists start a cooperative production company
They license/option existing stories to the company (which they own together!) and put stories on a website where audiences can access them
Stories can be scripts, treatments, readings, storyboards — it's great material in those formats, and people will dive into those stories just the same
Share the website (distribution!) with followings, along with a way to subscribe
You now have a worker/writer/artist owned cooperative, with distribution, stories, and an audience!
More details in the images below, made as a guide/resource to be helpful.
Thinking tonight about how many "constrained resource" stories of one genre or another I've crossed paths with in my life that strongly promoted the message that the old, the weak, the infirm and the infertile don't deserve to live.
What are some of your favourite stories (in any genre or medium) that counterprogram these kinds of pro-eugenics messages? Who is making them?
'Q&A with Matt Fraction: The Comic Book and TV Writer on What He's Learned from Letting Go As an Artist'
The 'MONARCH: LEGACY OF MONSTERS' co-creator discusses the virtue of crazy ideas, chasing right angles, and the boozy hotel bar debate that changed his life.
This is an essential read for any kind of artist, trust me.
When I was 20 I thought by the time I hit mid-40s, I'd be a world famous writer and filmmaker, but well, here I am, only mildly successful but getting a lot of praise for each story from the very few who find them. Uhm.... So, I turn to teaching, and mentoring. This is one of the classes I give, and it's online so you can sign up, if you ever want to get into #screenwriting
'60 Great Comedy Screenplays to Download and Study for Free'
I've curated a tour through six decades of comedy to help in your screenwriting education whether you're new to the craft, an emerging voice, or firmly established in the biz. From BLAZING SADDLES to THE HANGOVER, to SOME LIKE IT HOT to WHEN HARRY MET SALLY, they’re all here.
I’m an experienced screenwriter - and I’m also on welfare. My story highlights the importance of the writers’ strike (www.fastcompany.com)
This is a devastating account of what it's really like to be a Hollywood screenwriter. You can be a Cambridge graduate, an award winner, and the creator of a TV series on Hulu - and still work as a caterer and depend on welfare to make ends meet....