TwitterFacebookGoogle

Category Archives: film

Stuff about movies. Writing, producing, watching, complaining.

Documentary Chronicles Efforts to Bring World War II Vets to DC Memorials

Posted on by

honor flight brings world war two vets to DC memorialsHonor Flight documents the effort to fly as many WWII Veterans to visit Washington DC Memorials as possible – and breaks a world record in the process.

Honor Flight is an uplifting, feature-length documentary about an American community joining together to honor World War II veterans one last time. The film follows a devoted team of volunteers as they race against the clock to send every WWII veteran on an Honor Flight to see the war memorials in Washington, DC. The more they do, the more their cause takes on a life of its own.

Throughout the day, these WWII veterans share their wisdom and war stories — sometimes for the first time ever. After the trip, the veterans often say it was one of the greatest days of their lives. For many veterans, Honor Flight represents their first visit to Washington, DC, and the last trip of their remarkable lives. Continue reading →

Amazon Studios’ New (Old) Screenplay Option Model Part 2

Posted on by

If you’ve been following my previous post on Amazon Studios’ option model and consider list, you know I’ve chosen not to accept their offer to post my screenplay to their shortlist. The post was featured on John August’s website, and mentioned on Bleeding Cool.

But I still hold out hope that Amazon can straighten out all the confusion among screenwriters, and find some way for the writers to take advantage of the offer without compromising rights to their own screenplays.

I did get a follow up email from Amazon Studios that promised to clarify things. It didn’t. Continue reading →

Amazon Studios New (Old) Deal for Screenplay Options

Posted on by

faeries feature horror movie screenplayFollow me on Twitter.

NEW: Follow up post here

Amazon (yes, that Amazon) is launching a movie studio, and they just gave our horror screenplay Faeries a “consider”. What’s that mean? Not a lot, as near as we can tell.

First, here’s a brief primer on the history of the Amazon Studios deal. (I’m confident in my understanding of this history, but if I’m wrong about any of the details, point me at a source, and I’ll make a correction.)

How it all started

About a year ago, Amazon announced that they were going to become a movie studio, and produce their own content. Continue reading →

Writer Producer Virland S. Harris Dies at 61

Posted on by

virland stan harrisVirland Stan Harris passed away this past Friday May 4 in a motorcycle accident near Rose Valley, California.

I worked with Stan on Fat Rose and Squeaky, a small indie film he wrote and produced in San Jose. The film is a touching portrait of two elderly women and their struggle for dignity and independence.

That was the kind of story Stan loved to tell: small human tales of hope and decency, family fare with cross-generational appeal.

He went on to focus on writing and producing more positively valued family films over the past few years: Continue reading →

Hunger Games shaky camera inspires Lenbrook “ShudderStik” tripod head

Posted on by

lenbrookInspired by the success of shaky hand-held cinematography like that in the recent Lion’s Gate release The Hunger Games, tripod accessory manufacturer Lenbrook LLC of Havordshire, North Carolina has announced the pending release of the “Shudderstik” fluid head tripod attachment.

“From Blair Witch to Cloverfield, Project X to The Hunger Games, shaky-cam technique has become fundamental to the vocabulary of the modern cinematographer,” says Brent Staunam, CEO of Lenbrook. “We’re thrilled to be able to offer these artists the tools to effectively and consistently find their kinetic voice in this new style of visual storytelling.” Continue reading →

CyberChimps