My Bumpy Road Through “Hollywood” — Starting Over. Again.

Since Middle School, I have been a writer, and was the editor of my school paper in Ninth Grade. I began in television in high school and became producer and writer for the New Year’s Eve variety program “CELEBRATION” which aired on network affiliate TV stations in Minneapolis for several years. I then helped build …

My Bumpy Road Through “Hollywood” — A VENOM IN THE BLOOD

Two decades ago, I bought a book. In producer-speak, that means I acquired the rights via option to make a movie from a book. I knew a TV news reporter, and she had made contact with a reclusive author who wrote a book she thought I might be interested in. Actually, “reclusive” is too weak …

My Bumpy Road Through “Hollywood” — CONSUMED BY A PASSION PROJECT

  How Is a Filmmaker Consumed by a Passion Project? The following is a guest post from Michael R. Barnard, who is in the final days of an Indiegogo campaign for his film, Everybody Says Goodbye: The Story of a Father and Son. For many years, I have been chasing a motion picture project that …

From the Ivey Business Review: “Arrested Economics — Assessing Netflix’s Original Content Business”

Story-makers, the shift in the independent film industry includes new opportunities in what is commonly called "television." The new creative opportunities are exciting. Here's the second of two discussions about these new opportunities. Arrested Development and House of Cards aren't designed to deliver the metrics Wall Street expects, and this means a lot about how …

From the Ivey Business Review: “Original TV Series — The Illusory ‘Silver Bullet'”

Story-makers, the shift in the independent film industry includes new opportunities in what is commonly called "television." The new creative opportunities are exciting. Here's the first of two discussions about these new opportunities. Streaming services such as Netflix and Amazon see original TV series as the path to success. It's not. But consumers win. Reposted …

THIS IS THE SECOND ‘GOLDEN AGE OF TELEVISION.’

When looking at what I've termed "The Blended Screens" -- the destruction of all the different ways that used to define what we were watching (it was a "movie" because it was shot on film and shown in a movie theater; it was a "TV Show" because it was shot on tape and broadcast by …

WRITER’S AGENTS IN LOS ANGELES & NEW YORK CITY

This is the start of a list that will, I hope, build based on input from writers and others with knowledge of the agencies. For now, I will try to update the list and keep it focused on Los Angeles and New York City area agencies. Please add names, contact information, the agency's preferences, and …

Coffee joints for Writers & Filmmakers in NYC & L.A.

This is just for writers and filmmakers! =} Writers and filmmakers are often hauling their laptops to coffee houses for writing and working. In New York and Los Angeles, there are many such places, but sometimes they are difficult to find. Let’s build a list of coffee joints where we like to work. Besides, we …

How to Start Writing a Screenplay

There are a lot of screenwriting gurus. That's because there are so many people who want to write screenplays and are scared to death about doing it wrong. It seems that, for every 100 people who are afraid of the number of brads that must be in a script (two), the typeface that must be …

My Bumpy Road Through “Hollywood” — THE MOVIE THAT NEEDS TO BE MADE

After working in television, radio, and video since high school, I eventually pushed myself into the indie film biz, which suited my creative and entrepreneurial nature. That involved me acquiring scripts and novels of other writers and trying to make them into movies. [UPDATED, see end of blog posting.] For instance, I acquired a New …