The ISA's Max Timm talks with the newest member of the ISA Development Program, Ted Campbell.

Originally from Boston, Mass, Ted is a screenwriter and director whose neo-noir, thriller "Blue Motel" won the Grand Prize in ScriptShark's Insider Screenplay contest. Most recently, he was invited to officially join ISA’s Development Program with his crime thriller “Underground”. An eighteen year veteran of the film industry, Ted has worked as a First Assistant Director on over fifty independent feature films including Paul Liberstien’s feature debut “Song of Back and Neck’, Miranda July's "The Future" and the Sundance award-winner “Quinceañera."

Both former D1 student-athletes, writers Maddy Curley and Brooke Buffington definitely followed the "write what you know" rule with their new pilot, Division One. It's a 1-hour dramedy that pulls back the curtain on the high stakes world of college athletics, followed through the life of a rare female athletic director. Before Division One, Maddy and Brooke placed as finalists and/or quarterfinalists in many of the major writing competitions, such as Nicholl, Script Pipeline, Fresh Voices, Blue Cat, Fellini and Scriptapalooza. They also wrote and produced their own independent feature film, Chalk It Up, which was licensed to Netflix and can be found on both their domestic and international platforms. They're excited to continue to hone their craft through the ISA Development program.

Listen in on Max Timm's interview with Brooke and Maddy!

In association with the International Screenwriter's Association, we are proud to support Jacob Krueger Studio and WriteYourScreenplay.com. Jacob's studio is now presenting live and online seminars completely free. Please don't forget to register for free as a member with the ISA at www.networkisa.org.

To sign up for Jacob's free seminars, click here: http://www.writeyourscreenplay.com/fixyourpitch/

Excerpt from this podcast:

"This is perhaps the most dangerous screenwriting lecture you will ever hear.

That’s because today I’m going to be talking about one of the most dangerous concepts for screenwriters: the concept of pitch.

The reason that pitch is so dangerous for screenwriters is that when all we’re thinking about is “can I sell it, can I sell it, can I sell it?”  it takes us away from the kind of writing that we can actually sell.

Similarly, when all we’re thinking about is “what do they want, what do they want, what do they want,” it cuts us off from our own voices.

If you’ve listened to this podcast you know that without your voice you don’t have a shot. That in fact, your voice is the only thing that a producer can buy.

So how can you use that knowledge as you develop the pitch for your screenplay..."

“Going in Style” is a crowd-pleasing comedy that wisely showcases its seniors.

When you have leads like Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman and Alan Arkin, your movie is going to be chock full of good humor and charm. Director Zach Braff wisely lets them dominate his film and their sophisticated appeal keeps us vested in every minute of it, even if Theodore Melfi’s script about put-upon seniors robbing a bank sometimes aims lower. This remake of Martin Brest’s melancholy character study from 1979 has been turned into more of a caper comedy, but the shift makes sense given that our national economy is still smarting from the 2008 crash. Some of the jokes, as well as many of Braff’s comedic instincts, are too broad. Still, his lovable stars more than make up for the film’s faults.

“Smurfs: The Lost Village” looks great but lacks an equally great story.

Hollywood has given the Smurfs the proverbial reboot and every penny of its reported $60mill budget is up there on the screen with its vivid production design. If only the storytelling was given as much attention. While the Smurf characters have their charms, and the vocals of stars Mandy Patinkin, Demi Lovato and Jack McBrayer are strong, the film’s narrative gets bogged down by kid movie clichés, hoary blue word play, and exhaustingly frenetic action. If only the show stopped to breathe occasionally. Worse yet, the treatment of its lead Smurfette skirts too close to sexism. It’s enough to make even a Smurf turn red from embarrassment.

Having just seen Get Out! which I'll be discussing in an upcoming podcast - and which deals pretty brilliantly with the themes of race within a big genre movie, but pretty poorly with the concept of hypnosis-- I wanted to look at a movie that looks at hypnosis in a truly profound way. And in fact builds its structure around hypnotic concepts. 

All movies are hypnotic, and the best screenplays actually hypnotize their readers on the page, allowing them to forget that they're reading (just like you do when you read a great book) and actually start to see, hear and feel every moment in the script on that little movie screen in their heads. 

This means that all screenwriters are actually hypnotists-- some are just a heck of a lot better at it than others. 

Which means that if you want to succeed as a writer, you're really going to benefit from understanding some basic hypnotic concepts. Because your job is to help your readers-- many of whom are not naturally creative people, and who quite frankly are bored to tears reading scripts-- to slip into a creative state, and be able to effortlessly and viscerally experience your movie as if it were real, without having to supply any of that creativity themselves.

If you've taken our Write Your Screenplay classes at Jacob Krueger Studio, you know this is the real purpose of formatting. Not laying out your script in a "grammatically correct" way, but laying it out in a way that induces that hypnotic trance for your reader, lowering the barrier between fantasy and reality, so that they can experience your story as if it were real. 

And if you've taken our Write Your Screenplay Level 2 classes or Protrack, you also know that structure is actually a hypnotic concept. A way of building fictional moments in a way that takes the character, and the audience, on a real, transformative journey.

One of the truly interesting things about Inception is that its structure is actually based upon the principles of hypnosis. In fact, the organizing principles of the dream within a dream within a dream structure of the film almost perfectly mirror the classical hypnosis training you'd receive during a basic hypnosis certification class.

Why is this important to you as a writer? Because as writers we all need organizing principles around which to structure our character's journey...

"So often as writers, we feel out of breath, chasing these trends, and always feeling like we're just a few steps behind, a few moments too late to have the career we actually dream of.

But the truth is, what kind of script are you going to write under that much pressure? Most likely a crappy one. And you're not going to have much fun writing it either. Because instead of writing the thing you are desperate to write, you're going to be writing the thing you think you should write. Instead of going on an unforgettable journey with yourself and your characters, you're going to be retreading the same ground other writers have tread. And since that journey didn't evolve naturally from you, it's likely it's going to be filled with clichés..."

The legendary Shirley MacLaine stars in a charming but flawed "The Last Word".

It's great to see Shirley MacLaine still scoring lead roles at 82, but "The Last Word" could have been an even better vehicle for her than it is. The story of a cranky senior citizen worried about her legacy and working with the local newspaper's obituary writer (Amanda Seyfried) to improve it has many charms, but the script misses the potential to be so much more unique. Her character's sterling ad career isn't explored deeply enough, considering that is where most of her legacy would be, nor is her estranged relationship with an adult daughter given its due. Instead the story settles for clichéd road trips, hip old granny jokes, and questionable "white savior" themes. Surely, the words of this script could've done more for such a legendary actress.

SYS Episode #165 

Writer/Director Chris von Hoffman. Chris talks about his new post-apocalyptic thriller, Drifter.

SYS Episode # 164 

Writer/Director/Producer/Comedian/Actor Joey Medina Joey talks about his first feature film and his new TV pilot.

Gary Goldstein is an award winning writer for film, TV and the stage. He has written numerous films for Hallmark Channel and its sister network, Hallmark Movies & Mysteries, including the comedies "The Wish List," "Hitched for the Holidays," "This Magic Moment" and "My Boyfriends' Dogs," and the first two films in the "Flower Shop Mystery" series: "Mum's the Word" and "Snipped in the Bud," starring Brooke Shields.

Gary's feature film "Politics of Love," a romantic comedy set during the 2008 U.S. Presidential election, was released in theaters August 2011. He also wrote the feature romantic comedy, "If You Only Knew," which starred Johnathon Schaech, Alison Eastwood and James LeGros.

In addition, Gary has sold or optioned a number of original screenplays, has a string of episodic TV credits and has sold half-hour comedy pilots to both NBC and Warner Bros Television.

On the L.A. stage, Gary has been represented with the comedies "Just Men," "Parental Discretion" and "Three Grooms and a Bride." His family drama "Curtain Call" premiered in late 2008 at Carmel, CA's Pacific Repertory Theatre. His newest play, the three-sisters dramedy "April, May & June," will have its World Premiere in March 2017 at Theatre 40 in Beverly Hills, as part of its 2016-17 subscription season.

Gary is also a freelance film reviewer and feature writer for the Los Angeles Times. 

"Table 19" is an uneasy mix of indie comedy and maudlin narrative.

The new comedy "Table 19" comes with a sterling cast of comedic actors (Anna Kendrick, Craig Robinson and Lisa Kudrow among them), an indie pedigree (the story is from the Duplass brothers), and an institution like weddings ripe for the takedown. So why isn't writer/director Jeff Blitz's film funnier? For starters, it wants to eat its wedding cake and have it too. The movie tries hard to make the audience laugh, but it also wants us to shed a lot of maudlin tears for their characters' backstories. In fact, the story barely seems interested in the wedding they've all RSVP'd for, and spends way too much time, literally and figuratively, wandering in the nearby woods. The potential was there with all this talent, but this party stops being fun well before its final dance.

"Logan" cuts to the bone as Hugh Jackman ends his iconic role.

Hugh Jackman has appeared as Wolverine onscreen nine times, but never to such a dramatic effect as in this one, his swan song. "Logan" is a much darker, sadder and meaner X-Men movie than any done before. In fact, the story here is more reminiscent of moody westerns like "Shane" and "Unforgiven."

It's hard to watch Logan in decline, and watching Professor Charles Xavier (a very moving Patrick Stewart) battle dementia is no picnic either. But watching the denouement of these two iconic characters pushes superhero movies into bold, new ground, even if the corresponding story is filled with too many narrative retreads such as mutant children in peril and nefarious corporations for Wolverine to battle. Still, all in all "Logan" is a fitting finale that cuts deep with its affecting emotion and vivid characterizations.

John Zaozirny, principal at Bellevue Productions, takes time out of his busy schedule to talk with us about selling scripts, scripts that top the Black List and what it means when a script is "set up".

In our first ever double episode, we talk with Allison Schroeder and Ted Melfi about Hidden Figures and how subverting expectations can lead to complicated, layered characters and compelling storytelling.

Former Big Break Contest finalist and currently on the 2016 Black List, Joe Greenberg tells us how he gets to the bare bones of his stories.

To write "Gold", duo Patrick Massett & John Zinman drew from their background in acting to develop practical scenes. They also looked to "Amadeus" for inspiration on "peeling back layers" and "turning over the final card".

Writer, actor, director Taika Waititi tells us about creating a new comedy scene in New Zealand and how to keep people feeling like they're a part of your story. He also let slip the inspirations for his "What We Do in the Shadows" character Viago: His mother combined with C-3PO.

SYS Episode 163 

Writer/Producer/Actor Christina Moore

Christina Talks About Her New Film, Running Wild Starring Sharon Stone

SYS Episode 162

Writer/Director/Producer Erin R. Dooley

Erin Talks About Producing Short Films and Her Recent Documentary

SYS Episode 161

Screenwriter Jack Sekowski

Jack Talks About His Recent Writing Assignment For The Hallmark Channel

"Get Out" is a horror movie that couldn't be more timely or terrific.

Sometimes movies are so of the moment, they seem prescient. Such is the case with "Get Out", a new horror film from writer/director Jordan Peele of "Key & Peele" fame. It's a story about racism, rights, and caste systems in theaters at a time when such issues are at the top of our politic discourse. But as timely as Peele's themes are, it's his film's clever choices that counter the worst clichés of the genre that make this so right, right now.

Peele turns one egregious horror cliché after another on its ear. He doesn't rush his scares, his characters are three-dimensional, and the sense of slow-building dread is more palpable than any big set pieces you'd find in most modern frighteners. It's shrewd entertainment, imbued with empathy, intelligence and plenty of dark comedy. It's only March, but 2017 already has one of the year's best films in "Get Out."

In this podcast interview, Max Timm jumps on the line with Noah Griffith and Daniel Stewart to discuss organizing your approach to the writing process, the Inside the Writers Room Workshop, which everyone needs to check out (one of the more creative and progressive TV writing workshops in town - www.insidetheroomworkshops.com) and in general, all things inspirational for up and coming writers.

Here's a little more about the guests:

Both natives of Minnesota, Noah, a former composer, and Daniel, a former mathematician, met at film school at Columbia College Chicago. Once in Los Angeles, they partnered up to write a feature project and have been writing together ever since.

In 2016, they wrote for Stephen King's "The Mist" for the Weinstein Company and Spike. Additionally, their fantasy epic "Rise Atlantis" was selected to Tracking Board's The Hit List. They have developed projects with Scott Free, Automatik, Skybound, and Atomic Monster. Most recently, they have completed "A Dark Matter", an hour-long pilot which David Goyer is attached to executive produce through his Phantom Four shingle.

Max Timm of the ISA had the fun opportunity to interview author, screenwriter, and director, Betsy Franco. It's rare to bring on a novelist to the Curious About Screenwriting podcast, but because of Betsy's connection to the industry as a screenwriter and director, it was a perfect fit. And yes, her last name does ring a bell due to her talented sons James, Dave, and Tom. Below is a breakdown of just how talented and prolific Betsy is, but take a listen to her podcast. It was a blast diving in to process and the overall creative approach to bringing a project to life.

Betsy Franco has over eighty published titles to her credit, including her YA novel, Metamorphosis, Junior Year (Candlewick) which was the basis for a sold-out play. Betsy is also the author of Parenting Magazine Book Pick Birdsongs; the Children's Book of the Month Club selection Mathematickles!; and You Hear Me? poems and writings by teenage boys, an ALA Best Book for Young Adults. She has received starred reviews from Publishers Weekly and School Library Journal. Her latest novel Naked, a YA crossover, has been optioned by Todd Traina Productions/Red Rover Films.