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The surprising/unsurprising success of "It Ends with Us" has made pundits and YouTubers wonder if the benighted "chick flick" may be making a comeback. Comeback? It should never have gone away. In this episode, we review some facts about audience flow and the importance of emotionally, character, and story-driven "A" pictures compared to more male-skewing "tentpoles." In the process, we not only examine Hollywood today, but look at the importance, from a business standpoint, of the transgressive talents of the past including Mary Pickford, Gloria Swanson, Joan Crawford, Bette Davis, Mae West, Marilyn Monroe, Elizabeth Taylor, and many more.

There have been many examples of great dialogue written for feature films over the years. We go over some of the best examples of memorable exchanges that YOU may find useful for your next script. Witness how writers cleverly found their way around restrictions during the Production Code (1934-1966) era... How does reversal of expectation lead to memorable outcomes? What is a prime example of overlapping dialogue making a scene feel more action packed? How are both strengths and vulnerabilities revealed within one scene? When does what appears to be a negative character trait turn out to be a strong virtue? Why do surprise endings sometimes create problems... and what can you do about it? How we can convey an outsider being suspicious of our lead? Find out more!

The 2nd quarter results for 2024 have come in (it is Disney's third quarter). Not surprisingly Netflix is the big winner, but is there another bright spot amidst all the oceans of red ink and recriminations? In this video, we go over the state of the industry, according to the 2nd quarter results from many of the studios. Global economic conditions have definitely been a factor in the lowered expectations, but karmic catch-up for profligate spending also rears its ugly head. Could Disney's parks finally show signs of trouble? Is the success of Deadpool and Inside Out 2 enough to turn their fortunes? Is Warner Bros Discovery truly finished? Why didn't another company buy them? Are there problems with the upcoming buyout of Paramount? Why has NBCUniversal seemed so impervious to the challenges? Is Amazon Prime turning a corner? If not, why bring back United Artists? So many questions and unemployment continues to rise. Is there a silver lining?

This is not the first time the American film and television industries have faced stiff competition from foreign filmmakers, but this time many programs of the "New Foreign Invasion" are showing remarkable staying power. Is this like the follow up to the 1998 strike, when European formats like Millionaire, Big Brother, and American Idol [Pop Idol] changed the network television landscape?

The Writers Guild of America, after a protected strike and an awarding of its negotiators with a special award for their efforts (it is to laugh), has finally revealed what the actual job picture is for its constituents. Let's talk about the results of the strike, as well as the results of other strikes in the past.

The question comes up again... why is Netflix, a comparative "new kid on the block," constantly winning over far more established studios? For one thing, Netflix is willing to quickly pivot when it senses it has made a mistake. For another, the big studios have become moribund in their thinking and strategy, relying more on what is said at cocktail parties rather than by looking at the numbers. Still, what does the departure of Pete Naylor, who was in charge of Netflix' ad sales mean? What happened at this year's Upfronts, the annual event where advertisers make their primary purchases of ad inventory for the year. Why did Disney, after the massive success of Inside Out, find itself with one board member leaving? Why is NBC being so coy about saying what their overall upfront revenues were? And, finally, what is Warner Bros going to be doing next?

It seems like an 11th hour rescue... Skydance and Shari Redstone appear to have come to terms with a merger that involves a 48% rise for Class B shareholders with a 25%+ for Class A, largely removing the threat of investor lawsuits. Additionally, $1.5BN will be available for continuing operations/ new films. What else is in this new deal, and where does it differ from the previous one?

Robert Towne (1934-2024) was long-acknowledged as one of Hollywood's top writers of all time. He is responsible for some of the greatest classics of all time, including Chinatown, Shampoo, and Mission Impossible. He also wrote key scenes for Bonnie & Clyde and The Godfather. His early career was dotted with movies such as the Roger Corman' produced and directed adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe's The Tomb of Liegia -- which provides an Ur text for many of his following films. The reason Towne was such a great writer is that all of his characters had deeply thought-through back stories, which resulted in complicated ovations that could explain their sometimes bizarre actions. For those looking to write, produce, direct, or act in a feature film or television series, Towne's attention to detail is something to aspire to.

What are some of the features a great character must have? In this first of several explorations of legendary we characters, we examine the controversial Scarlett O'Hara. While the movie continues to be the subject of controversy, the main character is one of the most iconographic of film heroines. She is also one of the most unlikely to have engendered such passionate identification with multiple generations of audiences worldwide. What are some of her secrets that many feel to be missing in today's leads?

With the success of Inside Out 2, new developments at the theme parks, new packaging of Disney+ with Max, one would think Disney's stock would be flying high. Instead, it is tanking, falling from $120/share to $97 since the last investor's meeting, when Nelson Peltz and Trian seemed to have been beaten back from their attempt to force a seat on the board. What happened? The answer is Disney management, which has been reactive rather than proactive, and has gone for Twitter likes instead of shareholder value. Plus, with shifts in the cultural context, forcing of intersectional politics is no longer a viable business plan... for any industry.

When writing your script, it is important to remember that one way to get past challenging moments is to ask yourself what are some of the conflicts that are facing your characters not only in your script as a whole, but in an individual scene. Let's say there is a conversation between your lead, a detective. Their WANT is to find out a clue from a suspect or potential witness. Their NEED may be to find empathy with that person in their situation. In a romantic comedy, someone may WANT to find a quick hook up, but their NEED could be a reason to settle down. These terms can be interchanged with PLOT GOAL vs. THEME GOAL (the way I learned them) or OBJECTIVE vs. INTENT.

Characters are defined by their conflicts. Here, we go over some of the basic types of conflicts you will encounter as you are writing your projects. This includes conflicts with location, conflicts with other people, and internal conflicts. We include some discussion of classics such as The Lost Weekend, I Love Lucy, and the Mary Tyler Moore Show; movies such as Barbie, Star Wars, and Oppenheimer, and award winners such as Leaving Las Vegas.

Given the collapse of both merger deals that were pending for Paramount, it looks like the studio is likely to be broken up and sold for parts. Whether it will cease existence or become a mini-major is still up in the air. But, it seems unlikely that any new way forward will return Paramount to its former prominence.

"Character is destiny," "story is character," and "character is conflict" are things many say about the importance of having compelling characters being the center of any and all successful movies and TV series. In this first overview of characters, we look at some of the things that help determine the elements needed to create memorable personalities for audiences to love (or at least find fascinating).

Donald Sutherland was a unique performer who combined the strengths of being a solid performer with a willingness to allow other performers to shine, seemingly without ego or guile. We examine two of his most transparant performances: John Klute in Klute (1971) directed by Alan J. Pakula and also starring Jane Fonda; and Calvin Jarret in Ordinary People (1980), directed by Robert Redford and also starring Mary Tyler Moore and Timothy Hutton.

Michael Giordino, SVP of 20th Century Television (a part of Disney) SVP of Business Affairs, was caught by Investigative Journalist James O'Keefe admitting Disney openly and notoriously discriminates against Caucasian males, and puts it in WRITING. But this is part of a trend Hollywood has followed countless times -- to promote diversity, and then retrench immediately after. Whenever a massive turnaround like this happens, there is opportunity. Whether you are a Caucasian male or a non-Caucasian artist afraid the industry will return back to the old ways, there is opportunity for you that will reveal itself sooner rather than later.

Act 3 should be the home stretch of your screeplay -- but it is important that your movie end with something that ties everything up, makes the audience wish there was more, and often leaves them with questions that make them want to see it again. Casablanca is a movie that has one of the greatest endings in all of Hollywood's history, effecively tying up the story and making us feel, eighty years out, the need to fight evil forces. On the other hand, there are some movies which, likely because of bad tests, now are saddled with endings that do not seem appropriate. Finally, we cover the case of Fatal Attraction, where a seemingly bad ending was just what the audience wanted... and got! To the tune of one of the biggest hits of the year. As William Goldman says, "nobody knows anything." But we try...

Inside Out 2 is a hit that has, once again, shown that a good movie brings in audiences. Is Hollywood going to follow that message, or keep quintupling down on the disaster that says ONLY sequels and remakes work? TIME magazine had an article that posited what the success could mean. We debate that article on its points -- which are not necessarily wrong from a Hollywood perspective, but still are not quite right either.

Act II is always a challenging part of writing a screenplay. We go over some methods of lessening the roadblocks, how to play around with the elements of a scene to make it stronger, and explore some of the changes that have happened over time in motion picture script construction. Once again, we view the writing process from the perspective of getting your draft done. I also share writing suggestions from my first bosses in the industry, Paul Monette (National Book Award, Becoming a Man) and Alfred Sole (Alice, Sweet Alice director).

Stay tuned for our next chapter of Backward Engineering Your Script, coming soon! In today's episode... Hollywood has always been a town of feast or famine. Brought out of nothing by largely Jewish entrepreneurs who created a world of wealth out of the orange groves of California and a handful of Vaudevillains. Throughout its history, Hollywood has had its share of flush times and lean times, with each downturn leading to the next Renaissance. Zanuck, Fox, Disney, Laemmele, Cohn, Warner, Zukor, Selznick, and Goldwyn were pioneers who used technology and careful control of budgets to create an industry of dreams. Today, we see Wall Street shorting entertainment, but is the field down and out, drowned by TikTok and Instagram, or is it just waiting for the Next Big Thing. Don't ever underestimate Hollywood's ability to stage a comeback.

What are some of the important writing strategies a first-timer should know? How does the state of the entertainment industry impact newbie writers? What are the types of projects I should be looking to write? Is three-part dramatic structure universal? For these answers and more... join us for a former VP of Development's take on how to backward engineer your projects based on your strengths and do the best presentation possible.

Market research is always a touchy subject in Hollywood. Many creatives view it as an outright attack on their artistry, while the C-Suite often uses it as a bludgeon against recalcitrant "talent" that insists on spending a fortune to deliver sh*t. The truth is that market research can be a valuable tool, especially if one wants logevity in their careers. Here are some of the very basic basics as well as a description of how Baywatch was saved by it... and the Acolyte is turning in to a big loss because they ignored it.

The rapid changes in the entertainment industry, brought about largely by being TOO successful, are now causing a different reckoning. For those who know their history of the industry, this is a recurrent phenomenon that almost always leads to the NEXT Renaissance in movies, TV, and, now independent media. Rather than being a time to fear (long term -- short term is challenging) it is instead a time to get over the sense that creativity has hard boundaries that may not be breached. This is a time for transgresive writers, producers, directors, actors, cinematographers, sound people, editors, animators, art directors, and even old school style execs who were focused on humanism. Yes, budgets may be lower, but that is a challenge, not a curse.

Since the 1920's, Hollywood has always had a solid balance between two types of movies (and later, TV shows/specials): "A Pictures," which had more emotionally based, character change oriented stories -- which made up approximately 2/3s of their output. The other 1/3 was "tent-poles," which tended toward spectacle and a more male-oriented, scene oriented perspective. For the past 15-25 years, this balance has been upset, with everything increasingly being tent-poles -- with disastrous results. We look at what this means as well as where this could be an opportunity for the next run of creatives.

Netflix is much more a prime example of entrepreneurship in action rather than Big Tech or current-day Hollywood. Born as a solution to a problem with Blockbuster -- which was so fat and sassy that when they had the opportunity to buy Netflix, they turned it down. It not only solved a problem with the Blockbuster model, and came up with an entirely new way of tracking data. Seeing an opportunity to expand into the online space of streaming video when even YouTube was young, it captured the imagination of those on the cutting edge of technology and proved an effective transition from physical media, which was starting to lose steam in the US. Then, they took the bold step of creating their own content, and began right at the top, creating a new mode for viewing. At that moment, other studios started feeling they could do the same thing... and everything went to hell. But that wasn't the end of the story...