Dog Bowl, a short film that Gordy wrote and directed, also premiered at Sundance, where it was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize. Gordy has also taught writing at prominent film institutions around the country including USC and UCLA. His background as an accomplished working writer gives his BlueCat Screenplay Competition some credibility, as does BlueCat’s 20 year history of discovering and developing writers who gone on to find success in Hollywood.

Some of the things we discuss include

• Why good feedback is important but difficult to give and receive
• How the BlueCat Screenplay Competition can help writers develop
• What it was like working with Philip Seymour Hoffman to bring Love Liza, a script about a man addicted to sniffing gasoline, to life
• Gordy’s rant about one of Alamo Drafthouse’s policies
• Where Gordy looks for inspiration

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I had a number of takeaways from the conversation and things I wanted to expand upon, so I recorded my commentary as a separate track, which you can hear below or next in the podcast feed.

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If you’d like to hear another thoughtful conservation about screenwriting and story development, you might appreciate this interview with Golden Globe-winning producer Lindsay Doran, who helped develop icon films This Is Spinal Tap, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, and Ghost.

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• Facebook

The post Sundance-Winning Screenwriter & BlueCat Founder Gordy Hoffman appeared first on NICKSAV Film & Music SHOW.

Producer Lindsay Doran won a Golden Globe for Sense and Sensibility, a film that she spent years trying to develop. Lindsay has an extensive background as a studio executive where she has overseen development on projects like This Is Spinal Tap, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, and Ghost. She was also the producer of one of my favorite films from the 21st century, Stranger Than Fiction. When not developing her own projects, Lindsay works as a script whisperer, doing secret consultation work on some of Hollywood’s biggest films.

Lindsay came on the show to share her story insights and her approach to creative collaborations. We discuss some of the key collaborative relationships in Lindsay’s career, including her work with Rob Reiner and Emma Thompson. Then we talk about developing Sense and Sensibility and Stranger Than Fiction. Towards the end of our Stranger Than Fiction discussion, Lindsay shares a passionate defense of movies with happy endings, explaining why they matter and are worthy of artistic acclaim.

Films & TV Shows Mentioned

• Baby Driver
• Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
• Dead Again
• Dunkirk
• Ghost 
• Harry Potter series
• It’s a Wonderful Life
• Jacob’s Ladder
• The Lego Movie
• Love & Friendship
• Persuasion
• Pretty in Pink
• Schindler’s List 
• Sense and Sensibility
• Silence of the Lambs 
• Stand by Me
• Stranger Than Fiction
• This is Spinal Tap
• Thompson
• Wonder Woman
• The Zero Theorem 

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Books Mentioned

• The Body by Stephen King
• Learned Optimism by Martin Seligman
• Persuasion by Jane Austen
• Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen
• The Sense and Sensibility Screenplay & Diaries by Emma Thompson
• Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson

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The post Golden Globe-Winning Producer Lindsay Doran on Power of Happy Endings appeared first on NICKSAV Film & Music SHOW.

In the summer of 2016, Groundhog Day the musical premiered in  London’s Old Vic. It was written by Danny in collaboration with Tim Minchin, who wrote the music and the lyrics. That production would go on to win the 2017 Olivier Award for Best Musical. The musical is currently playing on Broadway, where it received several Tony nominations.

The film has meant a lot to me over the years, so I was thrilled that I got the chance to talk to Danny about it.

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Our Groundhog Day discussion includes

• Danny’s outline process that allowed him to write the rough draft in four days
• The way the film gets a lot of mileage out of its setups and payoffs.
• How the story was influenced by Anne Rice’s The Vampire Lestat and Frank Capra’s It’s a Wonderful Life
• What makes Groundhog Day‘s structure different from other films in the genre
• The collaboration process with Harold Ramis and Bill Murray
• What goes into developing a musical, and how is it different from film

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Sponsor for this Episode

nsavides productions – I make videos and tell stories. My new video portfolio is here!

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Let’s talk about what we can do together. Email: podcast@nsavides.com.

 

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Related Things

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Films Discussed

• Back to the Future
• Days of Future Past
• Doctor Strange
• Groundhog Day
• It’s a Wonderful Life
• Looper
• Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
• Wizard of Oz
• Wonder Woman

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Books Discussed

• A Christmas Carol 
• How to Write Groundhog Day
• The Odyssey
• The Vampire Lestat
• We Don’t Need Roads

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• Sign up for The nsavides Newsletter.
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• Say hello on Twitter:  @nsavidesPRO

Thank you for visiting!

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The post Groundhog Day Writer – Danny Rubin appeared first on NICKSAV Film & Music SHOW.

The 2nd edition of The Coffee Break Screenwriter just came out recently. Pilar Alessandra is the author and a script consultant who began her career as a script reader for Amblin Entertainment. She went on to provide story analysis for DreamWorks and Robert Zemeckis’s company ImageMovers.  Today she has her own screenwriting consulting company called On the Page. Her students have written for shows like The Walking Dead, Lost, and Grey’s Anatomy and have sold scripts to Disney, DreamWorks, and Warner Bros.

It might be perfectly well written, but it’s a movie character. It’s not your character.“ – Pilar Alessandra

Pilar came on The nsavides Podcast to discuss

• When it makes sense to use a script consultant
• Why writing elaborate backstories for characters can be a crutch
• The importance of setup and payoff and how it is used on Game of Thrones
• Some tired tropes in film and television shows that need to be retired
• A simple way to keep a writing habit going
• How filmmakers can give helpful feedback to writers
• How a small structural change could have made Star Wars into a different film

Listen to the Episode

Books, Films, and Shows Referenced

• Pilar’s book, The Coffee Break Screenwriter 2nd Edition
• Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World by Cal Newport
• Modern Man: The Life of Le Corbusier, Architect of Tomorrow by Anthony Flint
• Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
• Game of Thrones
• Little Miss Sunshine, which has a useful writing-specific commentary track
• Mad Dogs
• Stranger Things 
• Star Wars
• Up in the Air

The post Script Consultant Pilar Alessandra from On the Page on Structure, Star Wars, and Game of Thrones appeared first on NICKSAV Film & Music SHOW.

(Image updated to reflect David’s latest film. )

Bridge to Terabithia had such a successful opening weekend that the studio behind it wanted to announce a sequel within a few days. Even so, it still took David another 10 years to bring his upcoming film, The Great Gilly Hopkins, to theaters. The film stars Sophie Nélisse, the young actress from The Book Thief, and also features Kathy Bates, Glenn Close, Octavia Spencer, Julia Stiles, and Bill Cobbs.

“The fact is filmmaking is art by collaboration and you need to surround yourself with other good people.” – David Paterson

As he did with Bridge to Terabithia, David wrote the screenplay for The Great Gilly Hopkins but also came onboard as a producer to ensure that the film did justice to the book on which it is based.

David was also an associate producer of a documentary about a certain band. (Can you guess which one?!) So, you get a little bit of music history in this episode as well.

On this ep. we discuss

• How David’s success at Sundance launched his filmmaking career
• The difference between interpreting a book and adapting it and why one tends to be more successful than another
• Having faith in a project and keeping it alive for years, in spite of the obstacles that come along
• Fighting the studio system to preserve the story we’re trying to tell
• The impact of music in a film and whether music can be a force for good
• How to work with an A-list cast on an indie budget
• Plus, a special New York story

Listen to the Episode

The post Don’t Stop Believin’ in Your Story – Screenwriter & Producer of Disney’s Bridge to Terabithia, David Paterson appeared first on NICKSAV Film & Music SHOW.