It’s Terrific!, Citizen Kane’s tagline insisted in every poster. For many years considered the best film ever (still now by many), paradoxically, if you were in the American film industry in 1940 most possibly you would think that Citizen Kane…
Continue reading Best “Making Of” Books: The Making of CITIZEN KANE
Darren Aronofsky is a prestigious American film writer and director with a very personal style of filmmaking. His career shows widely different movies, some highly distinguished ones, such as π, Requiem for a Dream, The Wrestler and Black Swan. Below,…
Continue reading The 5 Best Books on Making Movies, by Darren Aronofsky
The Art, Craft, and Business of Film and Television Writing. In a time when “how-to” screenplay books look very similar despite the fact that they all see themselves as very different and unique, Richard Walter‘s Essentials of Screenwriting is a…
Continue reading Best Screenwriting Books: ESSENTIALS OF SCREENWRITING
From the book Which Lie Did I Tell?: More Adventures in the Screen Trade, the basic rules of pitching. In case you are not familiar with William Goldman (1931-2018), he’s been one of the best screenwriters Hollywood has seen. He was…
Continue reading William Goldman’s Ten Commandments of Pitching
And How the Classic Western High Noon Became a Response to the Wave of Extreme Anti-Communism which Swarmed the American Film Industry. What we Mean by Red Scare? National Geographic summarises it very well here and below: The Red Scare…
Continue reading Witch Hunt in 50s Hollywood: The Second Red Scare
Tony Curtis (born Bernard Schwartz) was a big film star in Hollywood during the 50s and the beginning of the 60s. He made great films like Sweet Smell of Success, got an Oscar nomination for The Defiant Ones and, at…
Continue reading How Billy Wilder’s SOME LIKE IT HOT Was Written
During the first key 10-15 minutes of any movie, the audience takes a fundamental decision: they make their minds about going with the film or just disengaging. 10-15 minutes is the amount of time that filmmakers, in general, have to…
Continue reading Video-Analysis: The First Ten Minutes of BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID
During the first key 10-15 minutes of any movie, the audience takes a fundamental decision: they make their minds about going with the film or just disengaging. 10-15 minutes is the amount of time that filmmakers, in general, have to…
Continue reading Video-Analysis: The First Ten Minutes of THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS
If you don’t know who Billy Wilder is and you are a film lover, you are a walking contradiction. Anyone who loves movies ought to know and admire a guy like Billy Wilder, may he rest in peace, whose career…
Continue reading For Screenwriters: 10 (Attributed) Pieces of Advice from the Great Billy Wilder
How a Few Eccentric Outsiders Gave Us Nightmares, Conquered Hollywood, and Invented Modern Horror. Jason Zinoman‘s Shock Value is a seminal book on modern horror films if ever there was one. In the same way that I would recommend you…
Continue reading SHOCK VALUE, the Essential Book about America’s 70s New Horror Films
