Heroic Hollywood: Charlie, the Kid and the Cop

Charlie, the Kid and the Cop
Best Lesson Ever in Hollywood Screenwriting

If you want to write for Hollywood, study this picture.

This faded lobby card from Charles Chaplin’s The Kid is the best lesson you’ll ever have in how to write for the movies. Despite its age, it illustrates many of the essential elements you’ll need to keep in mind today as your write your Hollywood screenplay. It’s a visual reminder of the kind of movie that producers, studios and – most importantly – audiences are looking for.

And that’s no accident. This lobby card had a specific purpose: to bring people into the theater. Chaplin chose this particular image because it effectively answers the first three questions that are always on the mind of the audience when the lights go down on a Hollywood movie. (more…)

Email this to a friend | Print | Share on Facebook | Tweet this |

Tags: character arc, Charlie Chaplin, ffolkes, Heroic Hollywood, Hollywood Formula
Posted Oct 3rd 2009 at 3:09 pm in Classic Hollywood, Culture | 23001844 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/rdvonch/2009/10/03/heroic-hollywood-charlie-the-kid-and-the-cop/Heroic+Hollywood%3A+Charlie%2C+the+Kid+and+the+Cop2009-10-03+22%3A09%3A20Russ+Dvonch

Heroic Hollywood: Thinking Inside the Box

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 “creative” types (that is, people who don’t actually have a job writing for Hollywood) will tell you that adhering to a formula is a bad thing because it stifles creativity. (more…)

Email this to a friend | Print | Share on Facebook | Tweet this |

Tags: Dirty Harry, formula, Goldfinger, Heroic Hollywood, hollywood
Posted Jul 6th 2009 at 4:11 pm in Entertainment | 17675837 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/rdvonch/2009/07/06/heroic-hollywood-thinking-inside-the-box/Heroic+Hollywood%3A+Thinking+Inside+the+Box2009-07-06+23%3A11%3A05Russ+Dvonch

Heroic Hollywood: The Moral of the Story

Jurassic Park – a family-friendly nature preserve featuring 7-ton prehistoric carnivores.
What could possibly go wrong?

If you’re a writer struggling to put together a screenplay, but it’s a big mess and you don’t know where to begin, this is the post for you. I’m going to explain the easiest way I know how to bring structure to your screenplay and solve the problems you’re having.

In my last post, I suggested that “doing the right thing is worth the struggle” is a common inspirational message found in many of the most stirring Hollywood movies. However, each individual film has it’s own particular moral theme that it wants to get across to the audience. And it’s this moral theme that will be your guide to figuring out how to solve the problems in your screenplay. (more…)

Email this to a friend | Print | Share on Facebook | Tweet this |

Tags: Heroic Hollywood, jurassic park, Michael Crichton, screenwriting
Posted Apr 7th 2009 at 4:24 pm in Entertainment, Politics | 9797036 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/rdvonch/2009/04/07/heroic-hollywood-the-moral-of-the-story/Heroic+Hollywood%3A+The+Moral+of+the+Story2009-04-07+23%3A24%3A56Russ+Dvonch

Hollywood is Burning, Part III: Gauntlet

Note: Links to previous chapters at end of this article.

“Attack, always attack.”

My friend, the heroic Israeli tank commander, told me that in the first few days of the 1973 Yom Kippur War, both fronts, The Sinai and The Golan, were so weakly defended that had the Egyptian or Syrian high command been strategically bolder, tactically smarter, and their soldiers braver, well, the Arab armies could have achieved massive breakthroughs, and Israel would have found herself facing genocide.

The torture of Reginald Denny

But small, actually tiny pockets, of brave, determined and very well trained Israeli troops, in some cases, just two or three tanks on the Golan, held their ground and attacked enemy forces sometimes a hundred times their strength.

(more…)

Email this to a friend | Print | Share on Facebook | Tweet this |

Tags: hollywood, IDF, Los Angeles riots, Reginald Denny, Rodney King
Posted Mar 24th 2009 at 5:03 am in Featured Story, Media Criticism, Military, Politics | 8373853 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/ravrech/2009/03/24/hollywood-is-burning-part-iii-gauntlet/Hollywood+is+Burning%2C+Part+III%3A+Gauntlet2009-03-24+12%3A03%3A34Robert+J.+Avrech

10,000 Violent Women and One Screenwriter, Final Chapter

Note: Links to previous chapters can be found at the end of the article.

“My ladies will probably try and slip you some letters, ask you to mail them on the outside. Do not do that. It is contraband, you hear me?”

“Yes.”

“One or two might try and hug you goodbye, in that hug, there might be an inappropriate touch. Resist the temptation.” (more…)

Email this to a friend | Print | Share on Facebook | Tweet this |

Tags: hollywood, prison, screenwriting, women in prison
Posted Mar 5th 2009 at 6:23 am in Entertainment | 7161429 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/ravrech/2009/03/05/10000-violent-women-and-one-screenwriter-part-vii/10%2C000+Violent+Women+and+One+Screenwriter%2C+Final+Chapter2009-03-05+14%3A23%3A32Robert+J.+Avrech

10,000 Violent Women and One Screenwriter, Part VI

Hope Emerson, “Caged” 1950

Note: Links to previous chapters can be found at the end of this post.

EXT. PRISON YARD – DAY

The Screenwriter and the Corrections Officer are chatting about the list of prison movies Robert has promised to compile. Screenwriter and C.O. share a companionable relationship that is occasionally rattled by Cindy’s insatiable curiosity about her visitor’s private life.

“Okay Cindy, you ready?”

“Lay it on me.”

“My Ten Favorite Prison Movies.” (more…)

Email this to a friend | Print | Share on Facebook | Tweet this |

Tags: hollywood, prison, prison movies, screenwriting, women in prison
Posted Feb 26th 2009 at 9:13 am in Entertainment | 6470242 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/ravrech/2009/02/26/10000-violent-women-and-one-screenwriter-part-vi/10%2C000+Violent+Women+and+One+Screenwriter%2C+Part+VI2009-02-26+17%3A13%3A05Robert+J.+Avrech

10,000 Violent Women and One Screenwriter, Part V

Note: Links to previous chapters are found at the end of this post.

EXT. PRISON – DAY
The Screenwriter, alternately known to the inmates as Mr. Hollywood, Mr. Screenplay Writer and Mr. Clueless, sits with Eden, an attractive prisoner who is: mother to three children, an admirer of Jane Austen, and a fine dog trainer. She also committed murder and has agreed to talk about it. One long take. Think Gregg Toland deep focus photography meets Anthony Mann’s elegant choreography within frame.

“The thing y’gotta know is I’m not the same person I was back when I did what I did. But I still take full responsibility for, uh, what happened.”

In prison I keep hearing three tedious words: It. Just. Happened. (more…)

Email this to a friend | Print | Share on Facebook | Tweet this |

Tags: hollywood, screenwriting, women in prison
Posted Feb 19th 2009 at 6:25 am in Entertainment | 4935821 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/ravrech/2009/02/19/10000-violent-women-and-one-screenwriter-part-v/10%2C000+Violent+Women+and+One+Screenwriter%2C+Part+V2009-02-19+14%3A25%3A40Robert+J.+Avrech

10,000 Violent Women and One Screenwriter, Part IV

Note: Links to previous chapters are found at the end of this post.

Establishing Shot: Gleaming barbed wire. Prison walls. Behind the walls, a vast yard teeming with hundreds of female prisoners. Our view narrows to a small SHACK at the far end of the prison. Outside the shack, a female Corrections Officer paces back and forth, casually leafing trough a National Enquirer. Over this we hear DOGS BARKING.

“Do you love me, do you love me, sure you do, sure you do.”

Eden is talking to a dog. (more…)

Email this to a friend | Print | Share on Facebook | Tweet this |

Tags: hollywood, screenwriting, women in prison
Posted Feb 10th 2009 at 6:25 am in Entertainment | 4133421 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/ravrech/2009/02/10/10000-violent-women-and-one-screenwriter-part-iv/10%2C000+Violent+Women+and+One+Screenwriter%2C+Part+IV2009-02-10+14%3A25%3A47Robert+J.+Avrech

The Usual Suspects: Hollywood in Ten Minutes

If you head high enough up the chain of command of any terrorist group or illicit drug organization you’ll find a US Government Employee running things. That is what film and TV tell us these days.

Here are some other wonderful facts according to Hollywood:

• Apple, Inc. supplies well over 98% of computers in the USA.
• All good cops are tormented creatures in one way or another.  90% plus are divorced but have amazing relationships with their kids, usually teenagers.

(more…)

Email this to a friend | Print | Share on Facebook | Tweet this |

Tags: Apple Inc., hollywood, screenwriting, Usual Suspects
Posted Feb 7th 2009 at 4:00 pm in Featured Story, Media Criticism, Political Humor | 4401861 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jromano/2009/02/07/white-republican-christian-crime-wave-attacks-america/The+Usual+Suspects%3A+Hollywood+in+Ten+Minutes2009-02-08+00%3A00%3A06John+Romano

10,000 Violent Women and one Screenwriter, Part III

Note: Links to the previous chapters are found at the bottom of this post.

In which we meet Eden, a pleasant and amiable mother, lover of classical American literature with a special affection for Jane Austen. Our fine lady is also an accomplished former drug addict, stripper, prostitute and for an extra added attraction, a cold-blooded murderess.

Eden groans in frustration as she awkwardly applies her make-up.

Her fingers shake as she pulls taut her eyelid, tries to draw the eye-liner in a reasonably straight line.

“I been home so long I’ve forgotten how to put on war paint. I should’ve done this before, but time got away from me.” (more…)

Email this to a friend | Print | Share on Facebook | Tweet this |

Tags: hollywood, screenwriting, women's prison
Posted Feb 4th 2009 at 7:45 am in Entertainment | 3990230 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/ravrech/2009/02/04/10000-violent-women-and-one-screenwriter-part-iii/10%2C000+Violent+Women+and+one+Screenwriter%2C+Part+III2009-02-04+15%3A45%3A08Robert+J.+Avrech

10,000 Violent Women and One Screenwriter, Part II

To read Part I of this series, please click here.

In Which We Meet Cindy the C.O., Who, In Spite of Her Status As a Guard In This Most Maximum of Female Prisons, Reminds Your Faithful Screenwriter/Correspondent/Memoirist of One Memorable Fictional Character, Daisy B.

I: Set-up

“Why should we trust you Hollywood guys?”

On the prison yard, I’m with Cindy, 26, a Corrections Officer, sitting at one of the picnic tables. While doing research in this woman’s maximum security prison for Within These Walls, I’m not allowed to go anywhere by myself. A C.O. has to be with me every minute of every day. Thus, Cindy is assigned as combination guide, baby sitter, and bodyguard. (more…)

Email this to a friend | Print | Share on Facebook | Tweet this |

Tags: hollywood, screenwriting, women's prison
Posted Jan 28th 2009 at 6:21 am in Entertainment | 3079839 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/ravrech/2009/01/28/10000-violent-women-and-one-screenwriter-part-ii/10%2C000+Violent+Women+and+One+Screenwriter%2C+Part+II2009-01-28+14%3A21%3A00Robert+J.+Avrech

10,000 Violent Women and One Screenwriter, Part I

“I killed him by mistake,” she says.

“Mistake, what kind of mistake?”

Josepha, serving a life sentence for murder one, is known to be one of the most violent and unpredictable women in a society of violent and unpredictable women. She stares at me with gray eyes that are surprisingly warm and endearing.

I have to be careful. I’ve been in this women’s prison for three days and I don’t understand the social rules that make this place go round. I’m terrified of saying something really dumb, and then seeing my insides, well, outside.

I have already witnessed one violent skirmish between snarling inmates, and the CO’s, the Correction Officers, whisked me away before I got hurt. (more…)

Email this to a friend | Print | Share on Facebook | Tweet this |

Tags: hollywood, screenwriting, women in prison
Posted Jan 23rd 2009 at 6:30 am in Entertainment, News | 2764543 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/ravrech/2009/01/23/10000-violent-women-and-one-screenwriter-part-i/10%2C000+Violent+Women+and+One+Screenwriter%2C+Part+I2009-01-23+14%3A30%3A02Robert+J.+Avrech