Mystery Man on Film

Hey guys,I’m back for one last post – links to 101 of my best articles!Who needs film school?-MM-----------------------------------------------Cinematic StorytellingI read Cinematic Storytelling, which was written by the great Jennifer Van Sijll, and I just LOVED IT. This should be in the library of every aspiring screenwriter on the planet and...

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Hey guys,I’ve moved! You can find me athttp://www.mysteryman.org/ About the new site:- I was finding that most of the things I used to blog about ("news," "around blogosphere," "check out this article" type posts) I now tweet, which doesn't take up as much time. This new site will be premium...

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Hey guys,I think it’s time for a new website, don’t you? Nothing terribly ground-breaking, just a little more organized, a little flashier. So we are devoting all of our energies to the as yet unnamed site, which I will announce here in due time. Until then, you can catch me...

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Hey guys,Yesterday was Alfred Hitchcock’s 110th birthday. He was born on the east of London at Leytonstone on August 13, 1899.To celebrate, MTV posted Faith No More's video of "Last Cup of Sorrow,” a comical yet faithful homage to the master’s canon of great films. Lindsay Goldwert and Emily Christensen...

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BALLS OUTA Truly Somewhat AWESOME Original ScreenplaybyTHE ROBOTARD 8000I can’t tell you how many e-mails I’ve received about this script. Over a hundred, I’ll bet, all asking (sometimes begging) me to do a script review. I added this to my to-do list. And God help me, the moment has arrived....

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Hey guys,I’ve decided to give up the old Screenwriting News posts and Tweet Daily any and all screenwriter-worthy links as soon as I see them. I’ve also added the “Tweeted Screenwriting News” feed to my sidebar, and yes, you can follow me without joining.If you appreciate the news but...

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Hey guys,In light of the recent news on the passing of John Hughes, I thought I’d post a collection of his available screenplays.There’s a continuously updated round-up of links at Auteurs. Will Harris offers snippets of great John Hughes dialogue. /Film found a 47-minute interview with Hughes from 1985, and...

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Do I ever love the video essays of Matt Zoller Seitz, which can be found over at Moving Image Source. In fact, I shared another video essay of his last June on The Follow Shot.Here, Seitz gives us a sensational five-part series that he titled “Zen Pulp” on the TV...

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To this day, I still get e-mails about Kurosawa’s Ikiru and I never tire of talking about that film. It’s been nearly 10 months since I’ve seen that movie and yet the emotions, the imagery, and Kurosawa’s impeccable craftsmanship haunts me still. This is a film so powerful that Ebert...

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Ahh, yes, the lovely Jenny Lumet who can be seen in Vogue’s latest Age Issue. God, I love screenwriters.Now that my schedule has cleared up and I finally have the opportunity to get reconnected with all the goings-on around the World Wide Web, I thought we’d resume the News Links....

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After my last project, I needed to renew my mind and soul. So I’m reading Harold Bloom’s Shakespeare: The Invention of The Human. I’m now 300 pages into this 700-page book, and my cup already runneth over. It’s deep analysis of characters, some of the greatest in all of literature,...

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* MINOR SPOILERS *Mel Gibson, at this very moment, may be standing in front of a mirror with a puppet in his hand desperately trying to make the concept of The Beaver work. Mel Gibson. Mad Max. In front of a mirror. With a puppet. Trying to make it work....

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The photo above is from Ran. Isn’t that a fabulous image?Of all the directors in the history of cinema, I’d rank Akira Kurosawa somewhere at the top of my list. One could argue persuasively that no filmmaker has created more masterpieces than Kurosawa.Patrick Garson wrote, “Analysing any film by Akira...

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Hey guys,I’m in the new July/August issue of Script magazine with an article called “How to Show Don’t Tell,” a favorite subject of mine. It’s hard to condense the topic down to 3,000 words, but I covered trusting the face, actions defining characters, locations, Jennifer van Sijll’s Cinematic Storytelling, and...

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Not long ago, I read through the July, 2009, issue of Esquire. In it, there is a new short story called “Morality” by Stephen King, which is available in its entirety here. This story evoked a few thoughts about exposition and adverbs. Plus, this gives me the chance to post...

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This will be quite the strange post, I’m sure, but here’s a collection of fabulous quotes about characters I’ve read recently in other articles.First, The Hurt Locker, which has been on my radar for some time.I loved A.O. Scott’s review of the film and in particular, his character descriptions. That...

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Hey guys,Below are links to my somewhat recent reviews of Frank Darabont’s latest screenplays. I must say, Fahrenheit 451 was such a fabulous experience, probably the best read of the year so far for me, that the other scripts didn't quite measure up.This brings to mind an interesting topic, something...

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I knew what I wanted to say about Law Abiding Citizen long before I ever finished the story, probably in the mid-60-page region.First, the script. I’m looking at a September, 2008, shooting draft by Frank Darabont (previous revision by Kurt Wimmer). This script was also in the hands of Sheldon...

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Hey guys,I was so exhilarated by Darabont’s Fahrenheit 451 that I thought I’d read some of his other scripts I have lying around here beginning with his February, 2008, adaptation of Mine. This story is based upon the book of the same name by Mr. Robert McCammon, who claims on...

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To my loyal readers,Thanks so much for your patience with my rather infrequent blog posts of late and kind words of encouragement in e-mail, as I try to finish this film project that took up WAY more time than expected.But on to the subject at hand! To this day, I...

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Hey guys,I love the video below. Longtime friend of this blogger and former film critic for The New York Times, Matt Zoller Seitz, put together a montage called “Following” for The L Magazine that celebrates the Follow Shot, which I also love dearly. He wrote:"Following" is a montage of clips...

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Hey guys,32 years ago today a little film called Star Wars was released in only 32 theaters. To celebrate, I thought I’d repost a favorite article from a couple of years ago for Ed Copeland’s Star Wars Blog-A-Thon.Two great lessons about SW that I hold dear to this day:* The...

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Hey guys,Today, I’m breaking one of my own rules and I’m posting my two-part series on Sex in Screenwriting, as a shameless plug for my beloved Script Magazine. This kind of no-holds-barred-blazing-new-ground analysis is what you’re missing by not having a subscription! And I will not post my magazine articles...

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Hello, Script readers.Let’s skip the introductions and go straight to the sex, shall we?Because I have a few questions for all you virgin screenwriters out there. As we look forward to 2009 and beyond, how should we view sex in our specs? Can sex be crucial to a story?It seems...

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“Hey, don’t knock masturbation! It’s sex with someone I love.”- Woody Allen in Annie Hall.I recently read screenwriter David Freeman’s great book, The Last Days of Alfred Hitchcock. David worked with Hitch on what would’ve been his final film, called The Short Night. It was an adaptation of a book...

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