My Life as a Screenwriter You've Never Heard Of
* and my life as an assistant who was talking to this guy’s agent about being the writers asst if this show was picked up.
May 15th, 2013
May 7th, 2013
Beyond The Black Rainbow
… watching this at work for work reasons.
May 2nd, 2013
Childhood’s End - 7/52
First Listen: 'The Great Gatsby' Soundtrack in Full | NPR
The soundtrack to The Great Gatsby, Baz Luhrmann’s latest high-end refurbishing of a lived-in classic, doesn’t try to re-imagine Jazz Age tunes in a modern context. Instead, it attempts to transplant the sensibility of the 1920s to the hip-hop era, with genre-busting collaborations overseen by Jay-Z.
(Source: popculturebrain)
April 25th, 2013
April 23rd, 2013
How Netflix came back from the dead and beat HBO
With 2 million new subscribers, Netflix now boasts a bigger following than HBO. What happened? Carmel Lobello investigates:
Many attribute Netflix’s ferocious turnaround to its foray into original programming, particularly the high-profile political drama House of Cards, which debuted in February to great reviews. More original shows have followed. Hemlock Grove, a horror show by Eli Roth, debuted last Friday, and a new season of the cultishly awaited comedy series Arrested Development will launch next month. Netflix suddenly has plenty of content that you simply cannot get without subscribing, and as they say, content is king.
“Oblivion,” the big-budget sci-fi movie portraying a bleak future that sees Earth ravaged by machines, has us asking two questions: No. 1: Does Tom Cruise age? And No. 2: Why does the food of the future look so … gross?
In “Oblivion,” it’s all wan-looking soups, water sipped from plastic baggies reminiscent of the kind you’d see hanging by a hospital bedside, and entrees that look like they’re made from slabs of seaweed.
‘Oblivion’ has us asking: Why is futuristic food so bleak? - latimes.com
Food for thought on a Tuesday. — tanya b.
(via npr)
(via npr)
April 16th, 2013
Helix.
April 12th, 2013
How much good TV is too much?
In 2002 — the year “The Shield” debuted on FX — there were actually 28 original scripted dramas on premium and basic cable (some of it famous stuff like “The Wire” and “Monk,” some of it long-forgotten like “Falcon Beach” and “Breaking News”) and 6 original comedies. In 2007, there were 42 original dramas and 17 comedies. By last year, that number had ballooned to 77 original dramas and 48 comedies. And in the first four months of 2013 alone, there have been 34 dramas and 19 comedies. And that’s on top of everything that ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC and the CW are doing. That pace will slow down somewhat as we shift into summer, but I’d still expect 2013 to top the 2012 numbers, and to keep rising. Netflix is making its own original shows now, and releasing all the episodes at once. Amazon has pilots in development. The amount of television expanding, but so is our definition of what counts as “television.”
April 11th, 2013
The Future Of ‘Happy Endings’ & The Scary State Of Network Comedy
By Maureen Ryan
What’s odd about “Happy Endings’” current situation is that it’s never been a cult-ish, niche object of adoration. It’s a bright, cheery show aimed squarely at the mainstream, and at first glance, it would seem to fit ABC’s brand, which is all about inclusive, upbeat worlds and the middle-class people who inhabit them. Sure, “Happy Endings” can be a dense, pop-culture-heavy experience, but that’s the speed at which many people live their social media-saturated lives these days.
Had it debuted only a few years ago, and had it enjoyed consistent network support over time, it might well have blossomed into the next “How I Met Your Mother,” which has grown into one of CBS’ most successful sitcoms. But is that kind of trajectory even possible any more? “HIMYM” debuted in 2005, well before online viewing and time-shifting became so prevalent.
But the deck may now be stacked against shows that cater to the very audiences that consume television in alternative ways. Also disturbing: The people most likely to give interesting comedies a chance appear to be the viewers who are least likely to be counted. If that’s the case, what hope is there for smart, non-family-oriented half-hour comedies on the broadcast networks?
April 10th, 2013
April 9th, 2013
bright lights. bigger city.
April 8th, 2013
Sword Fighting Manual
- Dated: circa 1500
Pages from a book from the State Library of Berlin.
Source: Retronaut
Welcome to 'Jurassic Park': An Oral History
As a child, Steven Spielberg was captivated by dinosaurs. He collected cast-iron figurines of them and preferred them in starring roles on the big screen. “I was more interested in the dinosaurs in King Kong than I was in King Kong himself,” remembers the Academy Award-winning director. “I thought the T. rex was one of the most awesome dinosaurs of the fossil record! But I never knew how to parlay all my love for paleontology into a story until Michael Crichton came along and wrote his book.”
That book was Jurassic Park, which Spielberg adapted in 1993 into an exhilarating adventure and one of the highest-grossing movies of all time—not to mention a groundbreaking technological achievement. “It changed special effects forever,” the director says, “and for better or for worse, it really did introduce the digital era.”
required reading of the day — NBC’s illustrated version of Bryan Fuller’s HANNIBAL pilot script.
