clarkblog

screenwriter & playwright in LA

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START YOUR SPECS!

Feb 11, 2010 1:27pm

A heads-up for anyone interested in the Warner Bros. TV Writers' Workshop. I've learned the Workshop may start accepting submissions for the next class as early as May 2010. In other words: starts your specs now. Last year, the Workshop......

AND ANOTHER THING

Jan 9, 2010 11:04am

Here's a bloody damned brilliant short story from SF writer Peter Watts. It's John Carpenter's 1982 classic horror movie The Thing told from the point-of-view of the shapeshifting alien: "I was so much more, before the crash. I was an......

RAW EUREKA

Jan 5, 2010 1:19pm

If you want a great behind-the-scenes look at creating a TV show, click on over to Eureka Unscripted, where the writing staff is hammering out the fourth season of SyFy's hit show. The new eps don't air until summer, but......

SOUL FOOD

Nov 17, 2009 4:16pm

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WORKSHOPPING

Oct 18, 2009 4:10pm

I've been accepted to the Warner Bros. TV Writers' Workshop. This intensive program is designed to prepare new writers for a career in television. It's one of the best such programs going in Hollywood and I'm thrilled and thankful beyond......

DOCTOR WHO WHAT WHEN WHERE WHY

Oct 5, 2009 8:26am

I've been reading Russell T. Davies The Writer's Tale, which is hands-down not only the best book on TV writing I've ever read, it's a great book on writing period. The Writer's Tale is mostly a series of emails Davies......

SWEET MADNESS

Sep 28, 2009 5:42pm

Explore the cultural and political influences that help shape TV's best show: The Footnotes of Mad Men....

OUTRAGEOUS

Sep 24, 2009 8:05am

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WORKING TITLES

Sep 18, 2009 10:59am

Often the best part of a movie is the trailer. Sometimes it's the title sequence. I've spent a lot of time reading the interviews and critiques at Art of the Title, which examines the creative process that goes into making......

MY INTERVIEW WITH JIM CARROLL

Sep 14, 2009 10:54pm

Here's an interview I did with Jim Carroll back in 1992 or 1993. It ran in Creative Loafing's Atlanta and Tampa editions. Wish I could find the photos I shot of him for this piece, but they're buried in storage......

EIGHT YEARS ON

Sep 11, 2009 10:08am

Eight years ago today, I was in a state of panic and fear and the sun hadn't even risen yet. I had just quit a safe and secure full-time job to return to graduate school. Less than two weeks into......

QUATERMASS & THE PIT

Sep 8, 2009 4:40pm

Nigel Kneale's gripping British TV serials about Professor Bernard Quatermass were the X-Files of their day. Writer Warren Ellis recalls that when these sci-fi mysteries originally aired -- live from BBC studios, and way before VCRs, DVRs or any other......

GLORIOUS BASTERDS

Sep 2, 2009 5:21pm

If someone were to show you almost any of the very separate, very accomplished sequences that make up Quentin Tarantino's Inglorious Basterds, you'd probably be fairly blown away. You'd think: Wow, that looks like one hell of a movie. But......

THE BEST ROBOT MOVIE YOU'VE NEVER SEEN

Aug 12, 2009 10:09am

This month marks the tenth anniversary of The Iron Giant, one of the best animated movies ever made. Directed by Brad Bird (The Incredibles, Ratatouille), it's the story of a towering robot that falls to Earth and the boy who......

SUMMER SIPPIN'

Aug 3, 2009 6:56pm

(500) Days of Summer Directed by Marc Webb Written by Scott Neustadter & Michael H. Weber I'm not the biggest fan of rom-coms but (500) Days of Summer won me over with sheer wit and charm. It's well-acted with a......

WARRIORS, COME OUT AND PLAY-EY-AY

Jul 21, 2009 9:01pm

Some pics from New Beverly Cinema's very fun and sold-out Walter Hill double feature last Sunday. There were lots of great anecdotes from the actors but I didn't take notes. If anybody else was there who did, please sound off......

PROMISE IN THE SKY

Jul 15, 2009 4:53pm

This week -- July 20th, 2009 to be exact -- marks the 40th anniversary of the first manned moon landing. There are many wonderful online resources to commemorate this historic event. Here's NASA's official site. And I'm fascinated with this......

OVERTURE

Jul 14, 2009 1:13pm

Here's the LA Times obit for Bob Mitchell, an organist who accompanied films at the Silent Movie Theater in West Hollywood. I had the pleasure of hearing Bob during the theater's Lon Chaney festival last year. Old and frail but......

BOW-CHICKA-WOW-WOW

Jul 9, 2009 4:25pm

Saw a porn shoot in the park during my lunch break. Sadly, it was just the boring intro part....

RECENT TAKES

Jul 9, 2009 8:10am

Theater: FARRAGUT NORTH Geffen Playhouse Beau Willimon's script is strictly West Wing lite, but Chris Pine (Star Trek's new Captain Kirk) commands with a solid stage presence. Girls (and hey, some guys) go for Pine's early underwear scene but stick......