Category Archives: Screenwriting

‘It must be St. Nick’

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by G. ROBERT FRAZIER

FADE IN:

INT. HOUSE – NIGHT

Christmas Eve. Dark and quiet. Everyone’s asleep.

INT. MASTER BEDROOM – NIGHT

MAMA in her kerchief and PA in his cap had just settled down for a long winter’s nap.

INT. BEDROOM – NIGHT

A five-year-old girl, VIRGINIA, nestled all snug in her bed.

Visions of sugarplums dance in her head…

She smiles in her sleep…

When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter…

Virginia bolts upright in bed to see what was the matter.

VIRGINIA: “Daddy?”

Silence.

No, wait. There it is again.

Something on the roof?

The prancing and pawing of each little hoof…

Virginia’s eyes widen.

VIRGINIA: “Santa!”

Virginia throws back her bed sheets and blankets, jumps into her fuzzy slippers, struggles to pull on her robe. Slowly opens the door…just a crack. Peers through.

Nothing.

She draws in a breath, slips into the darkened

HALLWAY

Ahead, a dim glow from the living room…

Virginia edges closer.

Pauses at her parents’ door.

Still asleep. Should she wake them?

She shakes her head. Purses her lips. Pushes on down the hallway into

THE LIVING ROOM

Virginia gasps.

Dozens of colorfully wrapped presents lie beneath the twinkling Christmas tree.

She tip-toes forward, kneels. Begins looking at labels for gifts with her name. Finds one. Gently shakes it.

And hears something behind her! Coming from the fireplace?

Virginia sets the gift aside, crawls over to the fireplace.

Dust and grime fall from the chute above.

Virginia blinks, stifles a sneeze. Stares more intently…and sees a black rubber boot sitting atop the ashes from last night’s fire!

She moves closer, tentatively reaches for the boot…and jumps back in shock!

A man’s voice echoes down to her from within the chimney.

VOICE: “Don’t go anywhere with that. I’ll need it.”

Virginia smiles excitedly.

Virginia slides closer, leans her head into the fireplace, twists her neck, stares up into the flue.

It’s dark, she can’t see anything…not even the night sky above.

Wait. What’s that? A shadow. A shape.

She knew in a moment it must be St. Nick.

VIRGINIA: “Are you…stuck?”

THE MAN in the chimney laughs.

MAN: “Preposturous! Of course not, I’m — “

VIRGINIA: “You’re stuck! Oh my God! Santa’s in my chimney and he’s stuck! Oh my God! Mom! Dad! Santa’s in the chimney!”

MAN: “No, wait! Don’t — “

Virginia jumps to her feet, darts from the room.

VIRGINIA: “Mom! Dad! It’s Santa! He’s so fat he got stuck in the chimney!”

EXT. VIRGINIA’S HOUSE – A SHORT TIME LATER

The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow gives the lustre of mid-day to objects below.

A fire truck, lights flashing, stops in front of Virginia’s two-story house. A dozen police cars and other fire trucks already line the small street.

A crowd — including Ma and Pa and Virginia, all bundled up from the cold — gazes at the

ROOF

— at a miniature sleigh and eight tiny reindeer.

— at several firefighters chipping away at the chimney’s with crowbars and hammers.

— at the chimney coming apart, brick by brick.

— at Santa, chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf, looking on in spite of himself.

FIREFIGHTER: “Almost there. We’ll have him out in a jiff.”

Santa sighs, clearly relieved.

His eyes — how they twinkled! His dimples how merry!

FIREFIGHTER: “iif you don’t mind me asking…If you’re here, who’s in the chimney?”

Santa’s cheeks flush red like roses, his nose like a cherry.

SANTA (in a hoarse whisper): “My, uh, protege.”

FIREFIGHTER: “Your what?”

SANTA (louder): “My protege.”

The firefighter leans in to take a peek. Sees a man in a blue Santa suit staring up at them.The Blue Santa waves meekly.

Firefighter turns back to the real Santa, confused.

Santa shrugs.

SANTA: “Hard to find good help these days.”

BLUE SANTA’S POV

Stars twinkle in the night sky through the hole in the chimney. Santa’s cheery countenance leans in.

SANTA: “I told you, son, to put your finger aside your nose — not in it — and up the chimney you’ll go.”

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

FADE OUT

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Austin Film Festival offers plenty of insights, but lacks in drama

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by G. Robert Frazier

After listening to countless hours of interviews, panels, and presentations courtesy of my virtual pass to the 28th Annual Austin Film Festival last week, I was left wanting more.

By that, I mean I want more substance.

Don’t get me wrong. The various stories from incredibly talented writers, producers, showrunners, and directors were at times inspirational, awe-inducing, and chockful of valuable insights about breaking into and thriving in this singularly peculiar institution called screenwriting.

Austin Film Festival is regarded as having the best writers conference on the planet and for good reason. The staff do a phenomenal and, sometimes, thankless job coordinating dozens of speakers and panelists over four intense days every October for hundreds of writers. The best of the best screenwriters – everyone from David Self (Road to Perdition, Thirteen Days) to Jeff Nichols (Mud, Midnight Special, Loving), from Derek Kolstad (John Wick trilogy, Nobody) to Glen Mazzara (The Walking Dead, The Shield) — appear to unselfishly share their wisdom, timeless advice, and incredible stories about the business.

Earlier today, Austin sent out an email survey to attendees – real and virtual – to ask how they did. And while there was plenty of reason to give kudos, the truth is I was left longing for something more.

The parade of speakers touched on everything from persevering in your craft, telling the story only you can tell, the importance of making connections (hard to do in a virtual environment), and, of course, doing the work.

All valuable advice, but after a while, it all sounded the same.

I was left wondering, where was the drama?

Where were the impassioned debates over posting loglines on Twitter for all the world to see?

Where were the answers about whether to use FADE IN or bolding your sluglines?

Where were the conversations about screenwriters’ rights and pay rates in the face of changing mediums?

There’s plenty of “drama” on #screenwriting Twitter from week to week. All the AFF organizers must do is monitor it and ask their pool of panelists to expound on it. Wouldn’t it be impressive if next year AFF assembled a Screenwriting Tribunal of experts to hear arguments pro and con and then issue a decisive end-all ruling on the debates?

Of course, I jest. Everyone knows there are no rules in screenwriting.

But it would be fun, wouldn’t it? And it might help break up the monotony of the interviews a bit.

Speaking of fun, I would be remiss if I did not mention my favorite panelist/speaker for the week. Meg LeFauve, who wrote Inside Out and Captain Marvel, marveled her crowd with an informative and thoroughly entertaining discussion about writing character emotions.

Whatever you do, Austin, ask her back next year!

Until next time, keep writing!

#ScreenPit sends screenwriters, Twitter into a fabulous frenzy!

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by G. Robert Frazier

Regular readers of this blog will recall my earlier entry touting my love of #Screenwriting Twitter. Yesterday, there was an abundance of love – and a bit of drama — over on the platform: Hundreds of writers pushing their screenplays upon an unsuspecting world!

In case you missed it, it was an event called #ScreenPit.

The idea was simple: Post tweets containing the title and a one-sentence description of your screenplay with the hope that a director, producer, agent, or manager would see it and want to read the completed screenplay. Or even better, they might actually want to buy your script or hire you to write a script.

Each tweet would include a set of hashtags to help further identify the screenplay you were tweeting about, from its genre to the type of production itself (whether it was a for a full-length feature movie, a limited series, TV pilot, or short film).

The screenwriting world answered the challenge.

Throughout the twelve-hour challenge, tweet after tweet scrolled by advertising everything from action-adventures to horror to serious dramas and hilarious comedies. Whether it was a haunting story about witches or an emotionally moving story about aging parents, you could find a logline for that screenplay.

The ideas were virtually limitless.

Some of the ideas, admittedly, were not particularly original. Some of the loglines were a bit rough and failed to convey exactly what the story was about (hey, it’s hard to condense 100 pages of screenplay into one sentence!). But some were incredible in both their descriptions and originality.

In reading them, you couldn’t help but sit up and imagine the screenplay flashing across the silver screen as a movie someday.

All of them represented the boundless pool of talent across the world and stories begging to be told.

Taking the plunge

I was initially a bit hesitant about joining in.

In the first place, there was no guarantee that anybody in a position of filmmaking power would even see it. If you have ever been on Twitter, you know how quickly your Twitter feed flashes by. If you blink, you’ve missed it. Even a hashtag search resulted in an endless sea of scrolling tweets.

The organizers invited a slew of top agencies, managers, and other movers and shakers in the industry to participate, but there were no clear commitments.

Instead, many warned against the idea.

Hollywood, you see, is afraid to look at unsolicited loglines or ideas because they fear it could lead to lawsuits from those claiming their ideas were stolen. Since you cannot copyright an idea, doing so is akin to giving away your fantastic movie idea to anyone else who wants to use it.

So, the whole idea of posting loglines would possibly fall on deaf ears.

Despite all of that, hundreds of screenwriters posted their loglines anyway. One after another after another.

I jumped in and posted a few of my own.

Why not? I thought. There are few paths into Hollywood as it is.

You can write your scripts, enter them into contests and hope against all odds that a reader likes it enough to send it up the ladder to the next level; you can cold query managers, agents, and producers in hopes that someone might give in and say, “OK, send it to me and I’ll take a look;” or you can network back and forth at social events and through social media in search of that one elusive person that will even look at your script.

Or you can post your logline to Twitter and cross your fingers. Who’s to say one method is more effective than the other? And, believe it or not, there have been Twitter success stories.

Writing a screenplay is a risky venture regardless. You put hours and hours of your life, your blood, sweat, tears, and every emotion you have into the product. Why? Because you have a story to tell and a story that only you can tell.

It’s a passion. It’s a curse. It’s a fool’s game.

So, why not play it? Why not take a chance? Try a new thing. Try something different.

#ScreenPit was that thing, and hundreds of screenwriters agreed to take the leap.

I posted a tweet commending the screenwriters on their trove of ideas and imploring Hollywood to take a chance on something or someone new. With the constant parade of reboots, remakes, and rehashes flooding the screen (big and small), and with the plethora of streamers in need of content, it is clear Hollywood needs people, ideas, and scripts, and I am not the only one that feels that way. My tweet obviously resonated, drawing more than 350 “likes” and nearly retweets over the next 24 hours!

The drama begins

By mid-afternoon, the naysayers in the screenwriting world began to grow more vocal. They began lashing out at those posting their loglines as foolish and amateurs.

The drama had begun.

Organizers of the event point out that authors have a similar Twitter day four times a year called #PitMad, in which they post the premise to their novels or books in hopes of attracting publishers or agents.

Proponents counter that book publishing and screenwriting are two distinct things, two vastly different industries. What works for one won’t necessarily work for the other.

Organizers say the event presents an even playing field for those who may not have the money or resources to enter the countless screenwriting contests or paid pitch events out there.

Proponents counter that contests, in the least, help sort through the riffraff and highlight the standout scripts and writers without having to wade through an endless slush pile.

As @TheZeusJuice put it in his Twitter HOT TAKE: “If all these execs were SO willing to read our stuff, we wouldn’t NEED to #ScreenPit anything.” His thread includes a few more choice statements worth reading if you want to check it out.

Jessica Kane @jesskane31 also has an interesting take on the controversy.

For better or worse

Now that the dust has settled, we are left to wonder if it was all worth it. I picked up dozens of new Twitter followers and followed dozens of others. That’s all part of that old networking thing, right?

Did #ScriptPit get anyone interest from the powers that be? The organizers are trying to audit its success now, as well as consider ways to improve on future events.

At the very least, I got a few “likes” on a couple of my loglines and a bunch of new followers. No one’s been knocking down the door to option my scripts or sign me as a writer. Not yet, anyway.

But my tweets are out there. My scripts are out there. I’m putting myself out there.

Maybe that counts for something, I don’t know.

Nashville Film Fest a fun, great learning experience

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By G. Robert Frazier

The Nashville Film Festival concluded its most recent run Saturday after 10 days of movies, informational panels about the film industry, and parties celebrating the creative minds behind the films and scripts entered in the event. As a script reader for the screenwriting competition, I earned a gold laminate that provided free access to as many of the events I could stand.

IMG_20160423_130115061

By all accounts, the fest was a roaring success both in numbers of entries in the film and script categories and in attendance. There were more than 3,500 film entries and 1,500 script entries across numerous categories, from shorts to features, from dramas to science fiction.

The event was the culmination of my third year as a script reader and, coincidentally, NaFF’s third year to hold a screenwriting competition. I began reading as a way to learn more about the screenwriting process, while also helping out a good cause. I can honestly say that I learn some new technique or become aware of something to avoid with each script I read. That knowledge can only help me as I continue to write my own scripts and send them out into the world.

IMG_20160417_211650283The fest also provided a key opportunity to study the mystique of the short film. As I am co-writing a short screenplay with a friend and fellow member of the Tennessee Screenwriters Association, taking in as many short features on the big screen was an invaluable learning experience.

I have a new respect for the filmmakers who put so many hours and so much work into their projects. Hopefully, we will be able to put this knowledge to good use and produce our short on film as well.

One downside this year was the decision to allow ScreenCraft to sponsor the writer’s conference portion of the festival. Not that I have anything against ScreenCraft. They certainly brought in a stacked and talented roster of industry professionals to share their knowledge over two days with festival-goers. But it was the added $300 admission price that was a put-off for me.

NaFF 2016 PostersIn the previous years of the festival, my script reads were enough to gain free admission to a few writing panels held at the fest. This year, however, because the event was held by ScreenCraft, my reads got me free film access but no access to the writer’s conference. That was more than a bit disappointing to someone who would like to learn more about the craft of writing and is reading specifically with that in mind.

I sincerely hope that the NaFF organizers rethink or renegotiate the deal next year to better benefit their readers.

Still, I’m happy for the experience of reading scripts and for helping determine the winning scripts in the competition. I read 140 entries in the competition. Of those, 13 went on to attain semifinal status and four reached the finals. Two of those four were winners in their categories and the other two were runners-up in their categories!

Below are links to the winning films and winning scripts in the competition:

2016 NaFF Shorts Awards Recipients

2016 NaFF Feature Awards Winners

2016 NaFF Screenwriting Competition Awards

 

 

Decision made: Killer Nashville this year, Austin next year

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A few weeks ago I had something of a dilemma: Attend the Austin Film Festival or the Killer Nashville writer’s conference. Both are coming up this weekend.

The big difference between the two is that Austin’s writer’s panels focus on screenwriting while Nashville’s is a novel writer’s conference. I’m more than interested in both avenues of writing. I’m working on a mystery-thriller novel and I am writing a couple of screenplays. In other words, I desperately want to attend both conferences.

Austin Film Festival logoMany of my friends suggested Austin as the better of the two, and I certainly was leaning that way as well. It’s been around a lot longer and it’s a much more prestigious conference. I also had earned a conference badge to attend all four days of panels and events at Austin for my work as a reader in its script competition over the summer. You can’t beat free admission, right?

Well, as it turns out, I guess you can.

Unfortunately, I hadn’t planned on attending Austin’s fest this year. I only got the gig reading for the fest thanks to a surprise recommendation from the folks at the Nashville Film Festival, for whom I also am a script reader. I was initially asked to read just twenty scripts in exchange for a one-day conference pass, but I wound up reading over fifty scripts in a two-month period. The folks at Austin upped my reward to a full four-day pass. It was an unexpected privilege and an incredible opportunity, and there began my dilemma.

Killer Nashville logoUntil then I had my sights set on attending the Killer Nashville conference. In fact, I nearly bought my Killer Nashville registration back in the spring (if I had, the whole debate would already have been settled). I held off, partly because I wasn’t sure what my plans would be by the end of October and I didn’t want to make a commitment I wouldn’t be able to keep. And partly because of the cost of admission in the first place. Writer’s conferences aren’t cheap, as you may well know.

Well, as noted above, the decision ultimately boiled down to affordability. Even though admission to Austin was free, I’d still have to find cheap air fare and an inexpensive hotel. But if I stayed too far off the beaten path from downtown, I was afraid I would miss out on a key part of the Austin experience.

The Nashville gig, on the other hand, is right in my backyard. No hotel, no air fare to worry about on short notice. What’s more, there are plenty of panels, a bookcon, agent/editor roundtables, and parties to attend.

I suppose I could have made Austin work with some thrifty shopping, scrimping and saving. Fortunately, AFF competition manager Matt Dy has already extended an invitation for me to read again next year. With that in mind, I feel a bit better about skipping Austin this year. I can plan ahead and make certain I get to Austin next fall.

So, decision made, and one that I am comfortable with. Killer Nashville, here I come.

 

 

WIP Update: Webisode, spec script see progress; NaNoWriMo on tap

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by G. Robert Frazier

It’s Saturday, and it’s late, but I just realized I did not post an update on my works in progress Wednesday. It’s an idea borrowed (nay, stolen) from another blogger. The purpose being to help hold myself accountable for how I spend my time and as inspiration to actually get something written.

The good news is I did actually get some writing done. Not as much as I would like, mind you, but progress nonetheless. For starters, I churned out a one-page intro to a web series I’m writing. The intro piece, or title sequence, will precede all of the webisodes. I followed that up by writing a seven-page first draft script for the first episode. I can’t tell you what the webisode will be about at this point, other than to say that it will be fun. I can also probably share the title of the first webisode: “Pizza and the Pomeranian.”

It is a first draft at this point. Might be a bit too long for a webisode at seven pages, or roughly seven minutes if one page equals one minute of screen time. So there may be some trimming in order before all is said and done. But it is a start. As the webisodes will all be fairly short, I hope to churn out a couple more of these this week.

Speaking of scripts, I plan to spend the day Sunday tweaking and making some minor revisions to the feature spec script I wrote with my brother. We’ve made a number of notes since finishing the initial draft of the script and now it’s time to incorporate those notes into the script as needed. I’ll then print the script out again in full to read more intently. Then, it will be back to the computer to make additional changes. Ah, the joys of rewriting!

I’ve also got another script in its infant stage. I have an idea and a broad outline, which I shared with my fellow writers at a recent Tennessee Screenwriters Association meeting. They noted a few holes and areas in which to concentrate to make it a more viable script. But perhaps most encouraging was our fearless leader’s words that my idea was timely and has loads of potential! This past week I did some additional research for it by, get this, watching and re-watching an episode of Nancy Grace. Now tell me that doesn’t pique your curiosity.

As if that’s not enough to keep me busy, I also had another idea brainstorm for a possible spec TV pilot/series. I did some preliminary online research. And, I reached out to someone I know from my previous journalism career. He supplied me with some initial information on my subject and expressed a willingness to talk further on the subject. He also gave me the name of another possible resource. So, I am extremely excited for this series as well.

Next month is another matter, as I plan to finish my novel as part of National Novel Writing Month. I’ve already vomited out the first 30,000 words or so and hope to finish the novel by the end of November. One thing I may do this week is reread and tweak the first couple of pages. I have an opportunity to present those pages to an agent/editor roundtable at the Killer Nashville writers conference next week, so I want to make them shine.

I also have my sights set on submitting items to a couple of short story contests in the next couple of weeks. But more on that another time.

Obviously I have a full plate. But after several weeks of stagnation and a lack of motivation, I couldn’t be happier. Stay tuned for more Adventures in Writing…

WIP Wednesday: NaNoWriMo perfect time to finish crime-thriller novel

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by G. Robert Frazier

I’m following in the footsteps of another blogger who posts updates on their works in progress every Wednesday. I think it’s a great way to let you know what I’m working on, how I’m going about it, and maybe hold myself accountable to getting something done each week so I’ll have something fresh to write about. So, without further needless introductory verbiage, here goes:

I’ve been working on a crime-thriller novel – River’s End — for a couple years now. The novel writing has been through many surges and stalls, but my goal is to have the first draft done by the end of November. I’m probably 30 percent toward that goal, but I’ve outlined and/or written numerous partial scenes to come that should flow pretty quickly once I set my mind to it.

National Novel Writing Month also happens to be in November, so I’m going to use it as the catalyst to completing my novel. NaNoWriMo, as it’s affectionately called, encourages writers to hammer out a novel (or at least a solid start to a novel of 50,000 words) in a month’s time. As I’m already out of the gate, I’m setting my sights on finishing the final 60,000 words of River’s End.

I’ve already introduced all of the main characters – my protagonist, the antagonist, supporting characters, and the like. I’ve got a grisly murder, a teenager who has plunged off a cliff into a river after being attacked by police dogs, a huge stash of hidden drugs, and missing confidential informant for my protagonist to contend with. My Beta readers – which consist of my various writing groups and my brothers – all seem to like the intrigue and building suspense, so that’s encouraging.

I’ve allowed a few other projects to interrupt the actual writing of this novel, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. At least I’ve been writing. Specifically, I’ve spent a vast amount of time of late on a screenplay I’m writing along with one of my brothers. We’ve finished the first draft and are now in the process of revising/rewriting to strengthen the story and erase any plot holes. We’re happy with how it’s going and eager to get to the finish line. Of course, we say that, but we know that we must also be patient. Great writing can’t be rushed and we’re taking our time to get it right.

I’m also always working on a short story or two. I’ve got a drawer full of them that I go back to from time to time to finesse and rework. My goal is to get at least one short story per month into shape so that it can be entered in a contest or submitted to various markets for publication. Last month I sent one off to the Writer’s Digest Popular Fiction Contest, so we’ll see how that goes.

Until next week, happy writing!

Theater of the Absurd: LA creatives may be penalized for tax they don’t owe

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Just when you think you’ve heard everything, there’s this: In Los Angeles, if you are freelance writer or creative trying to eke out a meager living, you could be penalized for a tax you don’t owe. The penalty applies if you fail to register for an exemption from the tax by a certain date each year.

This has got to be one of the most ridiculous excuses for a city government to stick it to the masses I’ve ever read.

The full article is here.

What do you think? Should freelancers and creatives have to acquire a license to work and be penalized if they don’t? 

Review: Ant-Man’s silly fun works for fan boys, kids only

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I’m apparently not the comic book fan boy geek I used to be.

Antman movie posterOtherwise, I should have loved Ant-Man, the latest Marvel super-hero opus gracing your local Cineplex. But, for all of its efforts, I was bored, annoyed, and just plain uninspired by the film.

Oddly, it’s getting pretty decent reviews from most of the entertainment media and critics. Not the incredible rave reviews that Guardians of the Galaxy fetched last summer, but plenty of kudos nonetheless. A number of critics have stated the film is fun and features a terrific third act.

After watching the first two acts, it desperately needed something to save it. I can’t speak to whether the third act did the trick or not, though, because after 90 minutes of the dreck that is Ant-Man I walked out. Mind you, I don’t normally walk out on movies, so that says a lot right there.

For starters, Ant-Man is already a hero you can’t take seriously. Even Saturday Night Live once lampooned the character in a skit featuring Garrett Morris as the diminutive hero at a gathering of heroes. When asked about his power, he replies: “I shrink myself down to the size of an ant while retaining my full human strength.” To which The Flash (Dan Ackroyd) replies: “Oooh, that’s really impressive. Size of an ant with human strength. You must be able to clean house on those other ants, huh? Hey, Hulk, check this guy out. .. He’s got the strength of a human!”

IMG_20150724_153513431 (950x1280)So, to be fair, I didn’t give the movie much of a chance right out of the gate. The previews had left me less than excited and Ant-Man was never one of my favorite comic book heroes. How could he be when there are heroes like Captain America, Iron Man, and Thor around?

Maybe I shouldn’t have gone to the movie in the mood I was in. Did I mention it was my birthday and I was feeling old? But, I was bored at home alone and I wanted to do something to mark my special day. And, it wasn’t like there were a lot of alternatives at the theater to see. Well, there was Minions 2…

In any case, you’re probably wondering, what’s wrong with Ant-Man? Why didn’t you like it?

I think, in part it has to do with the mood or tone of the movie. I couldn’t tell if it wanted its audience to take it, and its little hero, seriously, or yuck it up for laughs. I mean, who is the target audience of this film? If it’s comic book fan boys, OK, parts of the movie should have satisfied them. References to the Wasp, the fight (if you can call it that) with the Falcon, and its continuity within the Marvel world of movies were all points to savor. But, on the other hand, it was chockfull of silliness you’d expect from a Disney film. (Oh, wait, Disney owns Marvel now, right?). Paul Rudd, as one critic put it, is “laughably unheroic” in the role.

The film also plays all the right notes when considering its story structure, following the hero’s journey/character arc from reluctant no-good conman to redeemable superman by the end. There are parallels of father-daughter subplots between Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) and his daughter and between Scott Lang (Rudd) and his daughter. There’s the slighted pupil turned evil bad guy against his mentor (Pym).

But for all of that, the film seemed flat and boring. All the plot points seemed to come about more by rote (as in, story structure says such and such an event must happen next) than through the organic growth of the characters and plot. The result was a very dry, predictable romp for the first 90 minutes of the movie. I kept waiting for the movie to surprise me, and it just didn’t do that.

Favorite quote:

Paul Rudd as Scott Lang (Ant-Man): My days of breaking in places and stealing stuff are over. What do you want me to do?

Michael Douglas as Hank Pym: I want you to break into a place and steal some stuff.

What other critics are saying:

Update (Aug. 12): I just came across this trailer from Werner Herzog on his interpretation of Ant-Man, in which Scott Lang is trapped in the insect world and experiences the grim brutality of nature. This could have been a cool take on the Ant-Man movie. No silly super-villains. Man against nature. Much more interesting.

So, have you seen Ant-Man? What did you think? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.

Reading and Writing for the Web 7/22

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Every day I scour the web for articles on reading and writing to further my education about my craft and try to share the best of those articles with you here. Today, I thought I’d focus on reading.

One of the most common, reiterated pieces of advice for writers of any sort — be it novelists, memoirists, poets, or screenwriters — is to read. But don’t just read for entertainment — although that works too – you need to read with a critical eye toward learning. Reading is one of the best, if not the best, ways to study your craft in action, to see what works on the page, how it moves you, and how emulating another author’s style of writing can elevate your own writing. Read widely, read voraciously, read with a critical eye.

One way to do just that is to write book reviews. I came across Blogging for Books some time last year and have been reading and reviewing books for their website and this blog ever since. I’m averaging about one book per month. I also started reading books this month for Killer Nashville, an organization dedicated to the mystery/thriller genre. My first review (of Chris Knopf’s Cop Job) is slated to appear on their website on Sept. 1. One of the neat things about both sites: free books! And, as an added bonus, exposure to new authors whom I otherwise would not have picked up. Both sites are looking for additional readers, so check them out.

I’m also a first-round reader for entries in this year’s Austin Film Festival Screenwriting Competition. The gig came about thanks to a referral from the fine folks at the Nashville Film Festival, for whom I’ve read scripts for the past two years. If you are interested in screenwriting, reading screenplays is one of the best ways to learn the ins and outs of the craft.

Speaking of reading, I came across a cool online sweepstakes where you can enter and possibly win a collection of 80 Penguin and Penguin Classic titles. I’ve already got or have read a few of them, but there are a lot more on the list of books you could win that I don’t have. (Not that I will ever have time to read them all, but, hey, if it’s free…).

Finally for today, let’s all bid a fond farewell to an influential author, E.L. Doctorow, who passed away Tuesday. Doctorow was the man who brought us the critically acclaimed, award-winning novels Ragtime (which inspired the hit Broadway musical), Billy Bathgate (which became a hit movie starring Dustin Hoffman), and The March, to name just a few.

Remember, if you come across any interesting articles on reading or writing, you can post them in the comments section.