Free Republic

One hears a great deal these days about the universal nature of story. It's a gratifying conceit that deep down we all share the same fundamental narrative. But what about the more factional, political nature of story? I don't mean the depiction of torture in Zero Dark Thirty or corporate cunning in Promised Land. I mean the intrinsically political nature of how character is portrayed and plot structured. Stories stage conflict. And the strongest conflict always dictates inseparable, irreconcilable opposites. If Henry Adams was right, that politics in practice is always "the systematic organization of hatreds," then what better place...

If you’ve gone to the movies recently, you may have felt a strangely familiar feeling: You’ve seen this movie before. Not this exact movie, but some of these exact story beats: the hero dressed down by his mentor in the first 15 minutes (Star Trek Into Darkness, Battleship); the villain who gets caught on purpose (The Dark Knight, The Avengers, Skyfall, Star Trek Into Darkness); the moment of hopelessness and disarray a half-hour before the movie ends (Olympus Has Fallen, Oblivion, 21 Jump Street, Fast & Furious 6).

Heroic Hollywood: Thinking Inside the Box by Russ Dvonch In this post, I want to give some advice to beginning screenwriters who are having difficulty finishing — or even starting — their first screenplay. I’ve been mulling over what to say for several weeks now, trying to come up with some inspirational words of advice to motivate you into achieving your goal. After much thought and deep-dish contemplation, I’ve boiled my advice down to this: If you want to write for Hollywood, think like a hack writer and stick to the Hollywood Formula. How’s that for inspiring rhetoric? Now, most...

I have a new website and blog and that I think readers of FreeRepublic might be interested in. It’s called GlobalVillageIdiot.org.For more than a decade I made my living as a Hollywood screenwriter, until I wrote a politically incorrect screenplay called Global Village Idiot -- a pro-American, anti-environmentalist comedy feature film -- that got me kicked out of Hollywood. After I spent many years in exile away from the movie business, the script won first prize in a contest that was looking for scripts that celebrated traditional American values. Now I’ve created a website to sell the screenplay. You can...

Here's a speech we would like to hear from an Academy Award winner: I thank you for this wonderful award. Receiving an Academy Award gives the recipient an almost unique opportunity to speak to hundreds of millions people around the world, so I would like take this once-in-a-lifetime moment to say this:

Let’s assume for the moment that the latest audiotape of Bin laden is not, as many have opined, simply an attempt to make himself relevant as he sees the methodical dismantling of his Al-Qaeda terrorist network. Instead, let’s assume for the moment that there is something to his bravado. That he isn’t just bluffing. But that the long-feared worst-case scenario has been achieved by his cohorts: that Al-Qaeda now has in its possession a dirty bomb. And more importantly, that this bomb is now in the targeted geographical location awaiting simply the designated hour for its detonation. Is that an...

THE TOOKIE WILLIAMS STORY (Screenplay Proposal) Opening scene: Tookie (portrayed by someone with “edge” – Samuel L. Jackson is my suggestion, Sid) lies strapped to a gurney .He is helpless,and all kinds meshuggina tubing is hooked up to him. Cut to clock: It’s almost midnight. You can see second hand creeping aound….slowly-slowly-slow-ly . Racist Redneck-looking Prison Guard : “You gonna git the JUICE,boy ! You gonna feel the LOVE !” Tookie: (Sadly)” I pity you, my good man ! “( Turns head away.) Cut to Spectators: (They are a multi-ethnic mix,except,maybe you might want to leave Orientals out this time,...

I just finished reading another amazing novel by Dean Koontz, "Cold Fire". The afterword ... is hilarious: "Then, as is often the case when life is good, someone said, 'Hey, let's make a movie!' and life got strange, dark, and scary. "By this I do not mean to imply - although I can't stop you from inferring - that a lot of movie-industry executives are as brainless, voracious, and destructive as the flesh-eating bacteria ... I've met smart, fair, creative executives over the years...although I've noticed their kind either eventually get fired," (NOTE TO SELF: KELLY GOODE!!!) ... He goes...

...I wanted to address the Lifetime series of "The Dirty Girls Social Club" again. First, I should let you all know I haven't heard a peep from anyone at the network since I last posted. I have talked to my co-executive producer, Nely Galan, who talked to an exec at the network who, I am told, told her that they have no problem with me at the repitch meeting. Rather, they just want to meet with everyone but me in order to "bond". Okay. ... Basically, there's a thing that happens in Hollywood. Moneylust. They all want to make money,...

It’s now out in the open: The new TV drama “Commander in Chief” was aired to pre-test and pre-market the candidacy of Hillary Clinton for President in 2008. Secondary goals may have been : getting on Hillary’s “good side” early on, suggesting what her agenda should be , getting some juicy staff appointments lined up in advance ,getting an inside track for the campaign advertising dollars – the possibilities are endless. With this in mind, here are my screenplay notes for an ALL (!) NEW (!)EPISODE (!) of TV’s up-and-coming drama : (Please note: In keeping with my usual practice,...

Well, Oscar Night is upon us again. And if Chris Rock is nearly right, I might be the only straight white man who watches the Oscars for both the pretty women almost dressed plus the primetime fun of making rude comments as the awards are handed out. I think I seen about every Academy Awards when I've been able to since my folks got a television set in 1955. It was always in the back of my mind to one night walk up and accept one of those small golden guys. I tried the acting route, even obtaining a SAG...

The folks at CBS apparently hate Ronald Reagan so much that they're willing to go to any length to trash his legacy - even if it means fabricating events, making up quotes and imagining conduct that Reagan administration insiders say never took place. Too bad for the Tiffany network that decision-makers there are so agenda driven that they'd pass over a far more juicy story; where CBS writers wouldn't have to fabricate a single scene. Never mind Ron and Nancy. How about a movie depicting the real-life goings on behind the scenes at Bill and Hillary's White House - based...

High Plains Writers: The Conservative Arts Renaissance We're a possee of lone ranger writers planning a book tour across the fruited plains. We've taken our fate in our own hands and become a literary agency, a publisher, a news portal devoted to the rising renaissance, and enforcers of higher literary aesthetics. Whether you're a writer, agent, editor, screenwriter, or artist interested in furthering the new classicism, there're lots of ways to ride with us. And all ye who join should know that I, Ranger West, don't mind the bullets of postmodern cynicism from snarky snipers, as I'm a ghost. So...

Phillip Anschutz's Crusader Entertainment has acquired film rights to Ayn Rand's bestselling novel "Atlas Shrugged" and tapped James V. Hart to write the screenplay. The story, first published in 1957, revovles around an economic collapse in the near-future United States as its top innovators and industrialists inexplicably disappear amid the growing power of politicians. The novel is also widely recognized for espousing Rand's philosphy of Objectivism, which advocates laissez-faire capitalism and self-sufficiency. "We are so thrilled to have gotten the rights to such a tremendous work -- it is a great story that has equal parts mystery and romance and...

I'm a professional writer (longtime lurker, first-time poster) living in Hollywood and I’ve written a screenplay called "Eco-America," which is a satire about the Environmentalist movement.Yep, an actual Hollywood  movie that pokes fun at the people and politics of environmentalism. You can imagine the problem I'm facing.  A very series problem. Not only series, but hugh, too.I lost my agent (of five years) after I showed him this screenplay. I’ve since gotten a new agent, but this is the one script that she absolutely refuses to show to anyone. Long-time Hollywood friends...liberals all...lambasted the script, also refusing to have anything...