The first act in a #screenplay sometimes needs to be brief. If your movie is called Lawrence of Arabia, then you need to get to Arabia as soon as you can.
The first act of Le Samouraï is ~22 minutes long, and might be one of the great first acts in movies. #screenwriting
Here's what it does:
The first act of Le Samouraï is ~22 minutes long, and might be one of the great first acts in movies. #screenwriting
Here's what it does:
January 3, 2026 at 8:03 PM
The first act in a #screenplay sometimes needs to be brief. If your movie is called Lawrence of Arabia, then you need to get to Arabia as soon as you can.
The first act of Le Samouraï is ~22 minutes long, and might be one of the great first acts in movies. #screenwriting
Here's what it does:
The first act of Le Samouraï is ~22 minutes long, and might be one of the great first acts in movies. #screenwriting
Here's what it does:
Show me a picture on your phone that has your energy that isn’t a selfie
May 3, 2025 at 7:23 PM
Show me a picture on your phone that has your energy that isn’t a selfie
Tired (but true): Die Hard is a Christmas Movie
Inspired: Die Hard demonstrates key principles about combat from Che Guevara's Guerilla Warfare
Inspired: Die Hard demonstrates key principles about combat from Che Guevara's Guerilla Warfare
May 1, 2025 at 8:03 PM
Tired (but true): Die Hard is a Christmas Movie
Inspired: Die Hard demonstrates key principles about combat from Che Guevara's Guerilla Warfare
Inspired: Die Hard demonstrates key principles about combat from Che Guevara's Guerilla Warfare
I am reeling that Dave McKean's cover work for Sandman can effectively be classified as - get this - Frasurbane.
Frasurbane Gothic, essentially. But Frasurbane.
cari.institute/aesthetics/f...
Frasurbane Gothic, essentially. But Frasurbane.
cari.institute/aesthetics/f...
CARI | Aesthetic | Frasurbane
cari.institute
April 13, 2025 at 10:38 PM
I am reeling that Dave McKean's cover work for Sandman can effectively be classified as - get this - Frasurbane.
Frasurbane Gothic, essentially. But Frasurbane.
cari.institute/aesthetics/f...
Frasurbane Gothic, essentially. But Frasurbane.
cari.institute/aesthetics/f...
David Lynch was a model of determination. Eraserhead took 4 years to make. Blue Velvet exists because of a contract stipulation from Dune. Executives rejected Mulholland Drive and he finished it as a feature. Twin Peaks' 3rd season came 26 years after the 2nd.
January 16, 2025 at 9:43 PM
David Lynch was a model of determination. Eraserhead took 4 years to make. Blue Velvet exists because of a contract stipulation from Dune. Executives rejected Mulholland Drive and he finished it as a feature. Twin Peaks' 3rd season came 26 years after the 2nd.
The Manchurian Candidate, adapted from the eponymous novel by George Axelrod, is the cornerstone work of the conspiracy thriller subgenre.
Appropriately for such a seminal work, it has an incredible standard - a standard that subsequent indebted works don't always maintain. 🧵 #Screenwriting
Appropriately for such a seminal work, it has an incredible standard - a standard that subsequent indebted works don't always maintain. 🧵 #Screenwriting
November 30, 2024 at 2:35 PM
The Manchurian Candidate, adapted from the eponymous novel by George Axelrod, is the cornerstone work of the conspiracy thriller subgenre.
Appropriately for such a seminal work, it has an incredible standard - a standard that subsequent indebted works don't always maintain. 🧵 #Screenwriting
Appropriately for such a seminal work, it has an incredible standard - a standard that subsequent indebted works don't always maintain. 🧵 #Screenwriting
In its third season, Aeon Flux left behind its berth in animation variety show Liquid Television and became a half-hour program.
The first episode in this new format, "Utopia or Deuteranopia?", is one of the greatest political thrillers of the past 30 years. #Screenwriting 🧵
The first episode in this new format, "Utopia or Deuteranopia?", is one of the greatest political thrillers of the past 30 years. #Screenwriting 🧵
November 24, 2024 at 8:21 PM
In its third season, Aeon Flux left behind its berth in animation variety show Liquid Television and became a half-hour program.
The first episode in this new format, "Utopia or Deuteranopia?", is one of the greatest political thrillers of the past 30 years. #Screenwriting 🧵
The first episode in this new format, "Utopia or Deuteranopia?", is one of the greatest political thrillers of the past 30 years. #Screenwriting 🧵
John Huston adapted and directed two of the great treasure hunting movies: The Maltese Falcon, and The Treasure of the Sierra Madre.
In both of them, Huston could not have cared less about the stories' respective treasure to a heroic degree. #Screenwriting 🧵
In both of them, Huston could not have cared less about the stories' respective treasure to a heroic degree. #Screenwriting 🧵
November 10, 2024 at 7:52 PM
John Huston adapted and directed two of the great treasure hunting movies: The Maltese Falcon, and The Treasure of the Sierra Madre.
In both of them, Huston could not have cared less about the stories' respective treasure to a heroic degree. #Screenwriting 🧵
In both of them, Huston could not have cared less about the stories' respective treasure to a heroic degree. #Screenwriting 🧵
You might not guess it, with Dr. Jack Shephard running around applying tourniquets and delegating prenatal care and generally playing hero ball at an elite level, but Part 1 of Lost’s pilot is a Kate Austen story. #Screenwriting 🧵
November 10, 2024 at 2:06 AM
You might not guess it, with Dr. Jack Shephard running around applying tourniquets and delegating prenatal care and generally playing hero ball at an elite level, but Part 1 of Lost’s pilot is a Kate Austen story. #Screenwriting 🧵
Shoutout to @sepinwall.bsky.social, the high priest of making episodic television on the terms of episodic television (rather than the “8/10/12-hour movie”): David Chase spells out his ideal vision of how scripted series should work.
November 9, 2024 at 3:54 PM
Shoutout to @sepinwall.bsky.social, the high priest of making episodic television on the terms of episodic television (rather than the “8/10/12-hour movie”): David Chase spells out his ideal vision of how scripted series should work.
I have watched three documentaries about Hayao Miyazaki; every single one was riveting.
October 27, 2024 at 7:48 PM
I have watched three documentaries about Hayao Miyazaki; every single one was riveting.
The 1st act of Seven Samurai has to move us, the audience, from the shadow of horse-riding bandits, thundering with violent impunity, to a place where those bandits might be stopped from starving everyday people to death.
Here's the path that Kurosawa and his co-writers followed. #Screenwriting
Here's the path that Kurosawa and his co-writers followed. #Screenwriting
August 4, 2024 at 8:50 PM
The 1st act of Seven Samurai has to move us, the audience, from the shadow of horse-riding bandits, thundering with violent impunity, to a place where those bandits might be stopped from starving everyday people to death.
Here's the path that Kurosawa and his co-writers followed. #Screenwriting
Here's the path that Kurosawa and his co-writers followed. #Screenwriting
One compelling factor that sets Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo apart: it's a story about a vicious, elaborate criminal scheme that might be falling apart far sooner than anyone knows, and in that sense the conspirators and we the audience are in the same boat.
May 18, 2024 at 4:46 PM
One compelling factor that sets Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo apart: it's a story about a vicious, elaborate criminal scheme that might be falling apart far sooner than anyone knows, and in that sense the conspirators and we the audience are in the same boat.
“He looked as though daylight would have killed him.”
James Baldwin, slinging heat.
James Baldwin, slinging heat.
March 7, 2024 at 12:03 AM
“He looked as though daylight would have killed him.”
James Baldwin, slinging heat.
James Baldwin, slinging heat.
This sentence plays like a crab shot from a Billy Wilder movie. Detective at the wheel ⬅️ detective in the passenger seat ➡️ prosecutor out of his element and uncomfortable about it.
From Bonfire of the Vanities.
From Bonfire of the Vanities.
March 3, 2024 at 10:45 PM
This sentence plays like a crab shot from a Billy Wilder movie. Detective at the wheel ⬅️ detective in the passenger seat ➡️ prosecutor out of his element and uncomfortable about it.
From Bonfire of the Vanities.
From Bonfire of the Vanities.
1995 was a great year for crime film and neo-noir. Carl Franklin's Devil in a Blue Dress is in the elite of that class, alongside with Casino and Heat. Its first act is a showcase of control, efficiency, and design.
Let's take a look at how it works. 🧵
Let's take a look at how it works. 🧵
January 30, 2024 at 12:36 AM
1995 was a great year for crime film and neo-noir. Carl Franklin's Devil in a Blue Dress is in the elite of that class, alongside with Casino and Heat. Its first act is a showcase of control, efficiency, and design.
Let's take a look at how it works. 🧵
Let's take a look at how it works. 🧵
BTW, The Grifters? Excellent movie. It's the first of the 90s noir revival, and it is here to do business.
January 6, 2024 at 9:09 PM
BTW, The Grifters? Excellent movie. It's the first of the 90s noir revival, and it is here to do business.
Much like the scams perpetrated by its characters, the first act of The Grifters (screenplay by Donald E. Westlake) takes a while to unfold, but when it finishes its work, the result is tremendous and sets up an unforgettable story.
January 6, 2024 at 8:44 PM
Much like the scams perpetrated by its characters, the first act of The Grifters (screenplay by Donald E. Westlake) takes a while to unfold, but when it finishes its work, the result is tremendous and sets up an unforgettable story.
Oliver Stone's JFK is a vital early chapter in 1990s Noir Revival. If film #noir is the study of lawbreakers accompanied by a sinking sense of doom, JFK presents that masterfully.
Here's a look how it combines innovative editing and #screenwriting to propel us into the second act.
Here's a look how it combines innovative editing and #screenwriting to propel us into the second act.
December 25, 2023 at 2:24 AM
Oliver Stone's JFK is a vital early chapter in 1990s Noir Revival. If film #noir is the study of lawbreakers accompanied by a sinking sense of doom, JFK presents that masterfully.
Here's a look how it combines innovative editing and #screenwriting to propel us into the second act.
Here's a look how it combines innovative editing and #screenwriting to propel us into the second act.
I thought that I had heard references to the Bronze Age collapse more often in the past 5 years than even before. I checked the publishing history of the term to see if my perception lined up with reality, and it astoundingly did.
Was there some kind of breakthrough on this topic? #History
Was there some kind of breakthrough on this topic? #History
December 20, 2023 at 12:59 AM
I thought that I had heard references to the Bronze Age collapse more often in the past 5 years than even before. I checked the publishing history of the term to see if my perception lined up with reality, and it astoundingly did.
Was there some kind of breakthrough on this topic? #History
Was there some kind of breakthrough on this topic? #History
The 1990s were a golden age for neo-noir films. It raises the question: why did filmmakers stop making these movies?
Well, a lot of them were either not big hits intially, or made people really, really angry, or both. #Filmmaking
Well, a lot of them were either not big hits intially, or made people really, really angry, or both. #Filmmaking
December 17, 2023 at 1:45 AM
The 1990s were a golden age for neo-noir films. It raises the question: why did filmmakers stop making these movies?
Well, a lot of them were either not big hits intially, or made people really, really angry, or both. #Filmmaking
Well, a lot of them were either not big hits intially, or made people really, really angry, or both. #Filmmaking
Back in the Old (Twitter) Country, Brian Koppelman used to hold court. It was nothing less than glorious. #Writing is the foundation of his empire, and I want to look at the first act of Rounders, which he co-wrote with David Levien, because it is stupefyingly good. #Screenwriting
December 16, 2023 at 6:50 PM
Back in the Old (Twitter) Country, Brian Koppelman used to hold court. It was nothing less than glorious. #Writing is the foundation of his empire, and I want to look at the first act of Rounders, which he co-wrote with David Levien, because it is stupefyingly good. #Screenwriting
Oh wow - the Chronicles of Prydain had a bunch of knuckleball names. Gwydion? Fflewddur Fflam? Gwystyl? Dwyvach?
Bottom line: you as the reader can never be put off by how a word is supposed to sound. Get into the pages and figure the rest out later.
Bottom line: you as the reader can never be put off by how a word is supposed to sound. Get into the pages and figure the rest out later.
...until I just now looked it up.
As to names, I managed to pronounce "Valkyrie" (from the Defenders) as "Val-REE-kee." And I no longer remember how I pronounced "Eilonwy," just that it was dramatically wrong.
I also managed to read "Leialoha" as "Lei-a-HOL-a." I don't know how.
As to names, I managed to pronounce "Valkyrie" (from the Defenders) as "Val-REE-kee." And I no longer remember how I pronounced "Eilonwy," just that it was dramatically wrong.
I also managed to read "Leialoha" as "Lei-a-HOL-a." I don't know how.
December 10, 2023 at 2:32 PM
Oh wow - the Chronicles of Prydain had a bunch of knuckleball names. Gwydion? Fflewddur Fflam? Gwystyl? Dwyvach?
Bottom line: you as the reader can never be put off by how a word is supposed to sound. Get into the pages and figure the rest out later.
Bottom line: you as the reader can never be put off by how a word is supposed to sound. Get into the pages and figure the rest out later.
Editing is the technique that makes cinema distinct. You can find acting, writing, music, and photography in other disciplines, but editing belongs to the moving picture.
In The Parallax View, we see how #screenwriting can make use of the cut as a literary tool. 🧵
In The Parallax View, we see how #screenwriting can make use of the cut as a literary tool. 🧵
December 9, 2023 at 4:32 PM
Editing is the technique that makes cinema distinct. You can find acting, writing, music, and photography in other disciplines, but editing belongs to the moving picture.
In The Parallax View, we see how #screenwriting can make use of the cut as a literary tool. 🧵
In The Parallax View, we see how #screenwriting can make use of the cut as a literary tool. 🧵