March 13 – Everything Everywhere All at Once

Meet ONLINE from 7:00-10:00 PM Pacific Time on March 13th for an in-depth analysis and discussion of the Oscar-nominated screenplay EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE.

LOGLINE: During an IRS audit, a laundromat owner is confronted by a version of her husband from a parallel universe who tells her she is the only version of herself who can save the multiverse from an evil version of her daughter.

ABOUT THE WRITERS: DANIEL KWAN and DANIEL SCHEINERT, collectively knowns as the Daniels, met while studying film at Emmerson College in Boston. They began their career making music videos for the likes of Foster the People, The Shins, and Tenacious D. Their 2014 video for “Turn Down For What” by DJ Snake and Lil Jon went viral, reaching one billion views on YouTube by 2020. Their first feature film, Swiss Army Man, stars Paul Dano as a shipwrecked man on an island whose only companion is a dead body that washes ashore, played by Daniel Radcliffe. Everything Everywhere All at Once is their second feature film together, following Scheinert’s solo outing, The Death of Dick Long, starring himself in the title role.

UPDATE: The Daniels originally wrote the script for Jackie Chan to star as the hero, Waymond. When he wasn’t available, they rewrote the script with Waymond’s wife, Evelyn, played by Michelle Yeoh, as the protagonist. We will discuss BOTH drafts, as well as how the finished film turned out.

(registration deadline: Friday, March 10)

Registration in advance is required to attend the discussion, and includes a copy of the script sent to you in advance.

Single Meeting Fee: $45
SPECIAL OFFER – ONLY $150 FOR A 6-MONTH MEMBERSHIP OR RENEWAL!

Click the Register Now button for instructions.
(Email StoryBoardDG@gmail.com if you have any questions.)

Everything Everywhere All at Once premiered at last year’s South by Southwest film festival and became distributor A24’s first film to gross $100 million worldwide. Currently, it leads this year’s Academy Award nominations with 11, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, and four acting nominations. So far, the film has won two Golden Globes, four SAG awards, five Critics Choice Awards (including Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay) and the Producers Guild award for Best Picture.

Currently streaming on Showtime and available everywhere to rent or purchase digitally or on DVD and Blu-ray, Everything Everywhere All at Once stars Michelle Yeoh (Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, Avatar 3), Stephanie Hsu (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel), Ke Huy Quan (Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, The Goonies), James Hong (Blade Runner, Chinatown), and Jamie Lee Curtis (Halloween, A Fish Called Wanda). If you have not yet seen the movie, it is highly recommended that you first read the screenplay so your initial impression is from the writing on the page.

Rated R. 125 pages. 139 minutes. Sci-Fi. Action. Comedy.

STEVE KAPLAN will provide in-depth analysis and lead our discussion. The industry’s most sought-after expert on comedy, Steve has taught at UCLA, NYU, Yale, and other top universities, and created the HBO Workspace and the HBO New Writers Program. As co-founder and Artistic Director of Manhattan Punch Line Theatre he developed writers such as Peter Tolan (Analyze This), David Crane (Friends), Tracy Poust (Ugly Betty), Kenneth Lonergan (Manchester by the Sea), and Mark O’Donnel (Hairspray). Steve teaches a number of different workshops all over the globe, including The Comedy Intensive, a 2-day workshop that covers the fundamental principles of comedy. Look for his books The Hidden Tools of Comedy and The Comic Hero’s Journey, learn more about Steve and his workshops at kaplancomedy.com, and follow him on Twitter at @skcomedy where you can tweet quick comedy questions at him with the #AskKaplan hashtag.

August 8 – SAMARITAN

Meet ONLINE from 7:00-10:00 PM Pacific Time on August 8th for an in-depth analysis and discussion of the superhero screenplay SAMARITAN.

LOGLINE: A young boy suspects his reclusive neighbor is the vigilante superhero, Samaritan, who was believed to have perished decades ago in a fiery warehouse battle with his rival, Nemesis.

BRAGI SCHUT originally wrote Samaritan as a spec script before adapting it into a graphic novel that was published by Mythos Comics in 2014. The Nicholl Fellowship winner’s previous feature film writing credits include Season of the Witch, starring Nicolas Cage and Ron Perlman, and Escape Room, which made $155 million on a $10 million budget, making it one of the most profitable films of 2019. Schut also worked on video games for Game of Thrones and Walking Dead, created the CBS alien invasion series Threshold starring Carla Gugino and Peter Dinklage, and is currently the show runner for the popular Lego children’s show Ninjago.

(registration deadline: Friday, August 5)

Registration in advance is required to attend the discussion, and includes a copy of the script sent to you in advance.

Single Meeting Fee: $45
SPECIAL OFFER – ONLY $150 FOR A 6-MONTH MEMBERSHIP OR RENEWAL!

Click the Register Now button for instructions.
(Email StoryBoardDG@gmail.com if you have any questions.)

Originally put into development in 2016 by Bold Films (Nightcrawler, Whiplash), Samaritan was acquired by MGM in 2019 with Sylvester Stallone (Rocky, Rambo) set to star in the title role. The cast also includes Javon “Wanna” Walton (Euphoria, The Umbrella Academy), Pilou Asbæk (Game of Thrones), Dascha Polanco (Orange Is the New Black), and Moisés Arias (Hannah Montana). The film is scheduled for an August 26 release on Amazon Prime Video, which bought MGM Studios in March.

Rated PG-13. 121 pages. 99 minutes. Action. Drama. Fantasy.

PAMELA JAYE SMITH will provide in-depth analysis and lead our discussion. A mythologist and award-winning producer/director with over thirty years experience in features, TV, music videos, and more, Pamela is the author of five books, including The Power of the Dark Side: Creating Great Villains and Inner Drives: How to Write and Create Characters Using the Eight Classic Centers of Motivation. Her company, MYTHWORKS, offers consulting and coaching and, through her Pitch Proxy service, pitches writers’ projects at pitch festivals they cannot attend. Visit pamelajayesmith.com for more information.

May 9 – The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent

Meet ONLINE from 7:00-10:00 PM Pacific Time on May 9th for an in-depth analysis and discussion of the screenplay THE UNBEARABLE WEIGHT OF MASSIVE TALENT.

LOGLINE: Hollywood has-been Nick Cage finds himself tumbling down a rabbit hole of references to his past roles in a real-life action-adventure.

THE WRITERS: TV writer/producer KEVIN ETTON began his career as a writer for The Late Show with David Letterman. His credits include such notable shows as Scrubs, Reaper, Ghosted, and Desperate Housewives, for which he won a Golden Globe award for Best Television Series – Musical or Comedy. Unbearable is his first feature film screenplay credit, which he shares with the film’s director, TOM GORMICAN. In addition to working with Etton as a writer on Ghosted, Gormican co-produced the 2013 anthology comedy Movie 43 and made his directorial debut in 2014 with That Awkward Moment starring Zac Efron, Miles Teller, and Michael B. Jordan, from his spec script, Are We Officially Dating?, which landed on the 2010 Black List.

(registration deadline: Friday, May 6)

Registration in advance is required to attend the discussion, and includes a copy of the script sent to you in advance.

Single Meeting Fee: $45
SPECIAL OFFER – ONLY $150 FOR A 6-MONTH MEMBERSHIP OR RENEWAL!

Click the Register Now button for instructions.
(Email StoryBoardDG@gmail.com if you have any questions.)

The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent stars Academy Award winner NICOLAS CAGE (Leaving Las Vegas, Adaptation) as Nick Cage. The film also stars Pedro Pascal (The Mandalorian), Sharon Horgan (Catastrophe), Tiffany Haddish (Girls Trip), Ike Barinholtz (Suicide Squad), Alessandra Mastronardi (Master of None), DEMI MOORE (G.I. Jane) as Cage’s ex-wife, and Neil Patrick Harris (Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle).

Filmed in Croatia, The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent premiered in March at the South by Southwest film festival. The Lionsgate film was released on April 22 and spent its opening weekend in the top five at the box office.

If you have not yet seen the movie, it is highly recommended that you first read the screenplay so your initial impression is from the writing. After reading the screenplay, please make an effort to watch the movie as our meeting will include discussion of the writing as well as what is seen and heard while watching the movie.

Rated R. 117 pages. 107 minutes. Action. Comedy.

BILL TAUB will provide in-depth analysis and lead our discussion. Screenwriter, producer, author, creative troubleshooter, and teacher Bill Taub has written or co-written the pilots for Relic Hunter, Friday the 13th: The Series, Mission Genesis, The Odyssey, and Dark Shadows (1991), as well as two unproduced pilots for NBC, Blue Skies and Burger Palace. He was recently honored by the WGA for his work on Barney Miller and Hill Street Blues, and his spec pilot, Raffle Guy, won first place at Scriptapalooza. Bill has also recently taught Creating a Web Series at UCLA Extension Online. His book, Automatic Pilot: Writing a TV Pilot has never been so easy!, is available at Amazon. For more information, visit billtaub.com. or follow @BillyTaub on Twitter.

October 11 – DUNE (2021)

Meet ONLINE from 7:00-10:00 PM Pacific Time on October 11th for an in-depth analysis and discussion of the screenplay for the upcoming remake of DUNE.

LOGLINE: A duke oversees the spice mining operations on a dangerous, desert planet, battling the natives for the most valuable substance in the universe, a drug that extends human life.

THE WRITERS: Dune is based on the first half of the Nebula and Hugo award-winning 1965 novel by FRANK HERBERT and is expected to be followed by a sequel based on the second half of the book. Inspired partially by the author’s experiences with psychedelic mushrooms, Herbert wrote five sequels to Dune before his death in 1986. The novel was adapted by screenwriters ERIC ROTH and DENIS VILLENEUVE and JON SPAIHTS. Roth won an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for Forrest Gump and has been nominated four other times, most recently for the 2018 remake of A Star Is Born. He has also written the upcoming Martin Scorsese Western Killers of the Flower Moon. French Canadian Villeneuve, who also helmed this version of Dune, gained prominence as the director and co-writer of Incendies, which was nominated for an Oscar for Best Foreign Film. He has also made the acclaimed thrillers Prisoners and Sicario and sci-fi films Arrival and Blade Runner 2049. Spaihts started his career when his sci-fi spec script Passengers appeared on the 2007 Black List; it was produced in 2016, starring Chris Pratt and Jennifer Lawrence. Spaihts’s other screenwriting credits include Ridley Scott’s Alien prequel, Prometheus, and Marvel’s Doctor Strange.

(registration deadline: Friday, October 8)

Registration in advance is required to attend the discussion, and includes a copy of the script sent to you in advance.

SPECIAL OFFER – ONLY $150 FOR A NEW MEMBERSHIP OR RENEWAL!
Save $120 over the single meeting fees and get six consecutive online meetings!

Click the Register Now button for instructions.
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Dune: Part One stars Timothée Chalamet (Call Me by Your Name). Also featured in the epic film are Rebecca Ferguson (The Greatest Showman), Oscar Isaac (Star Wars episodes VII-IX), Josh Brolin (The Goonies), Stellan Skarsgård (Erik Selvig in the MCU movies), professional wrestler Dave Bautista (Drax the Destroyer in the MCU), Zendaya (MJ in the most recent Spider-Man movies), Charlotte Rampling (Basic Instinct 2), and Javier Bardem (No Country For Old Men). The film premiered September 3 at the Venice International Film Festival and will be released theatrically in the U.S. while simultaneously streaming on HBO Max beginning October 22.

Rated PG-13. 130 pages (9/24/18 draft). 155 minutes. Sci-Fi. Action/Adventure. Drama.

WENDELL WELLMAN will provide in-depth script analysis and lead our discussion. Screenwriter, actor, playwright, teacher, and author of A Writer’s Roadmap, Wendell has taught screenwriting at UCLA and UWV and has been a frequent guest moderator at StoryBoardDG.com’s Screenplay Development Group. As an actor, Wendell studied under Lee Strasberg and Peggy Feury at the Strasberg Institute and has appeared in episodic television, theater, and motion pictures, including prominent roles in the films The Klansman starring Lee Marvin and Richard Burton, Sudden Impact, Sommersby, and Street of Dreams. As a writer, he teamed up with Alex Lasker to adapt the novel Firefox for director Clint Eastwood. He also did additional work for Eastwood on the screenplay for Sudden Impact and wrote a final Dirty Harry project. Wendell also worked with the West End Theatre Group as co-founder and artistic director while continuing to alternate between acting and writing assignments. He is currently writing original feature scripts.

August 9 – Free Guy

Meet ONLINE from 7:00-10:00 PM Pacific Time on August 9th for an in-depth analysis and discussion of the comedy screenplay FREE GUY.

LOGLINE: A bank teller discovers that he’s actually an NPC (non-player character) inside a brutal, open world video game.

SCREENWRITERS: The first draft of Free Guy was a spec script by MATT LIEBERMAN that appeared on the 2016 Black List, an annual survey of the industry’s best unproduced screenplays. Lieberman’s screenwriting career began in the Disney Feature Writer’s Program, where he worked on various scripts based on IP like Monopoly and Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride that are still in development. His first spec sale, 12/24, a found-footage feature about two kids trying to catch Santa Claus on video, eventually became Netflix’s hit comedy The Christmas Chronicles. Lieberman also received story and writing credits on computer animated reboots of The Addams Family (2019) and Scooby Doo (Scoob!, 2020), and has several other projects in development, including reboots of The Jetsons and Rin Tin Tin, as well as the original screenplays Meet the Machines and Meebo and Me. Before going into production, Free Guy was re-written by ZAK PENN, whose other high-concept output includes Last Action Hero, The Incredible Hulk, The Avengers, and Ready Player One. [We will be reading and discussing Lieberman’s draft only.]

(registration deadline: Friday, August 6)

Registration in advance is required to attend the discussion, and includes a copy of the script sent to you in advance.

SPECIAL OFFER – ONLY $150 FOR A NEW MEMBERSHIP OR RENEWAL!
Save $120 over the single meeting fees and get six consecutive online meetings!

Click the Register Now button for instructions.
(Email StoryBoardDG@gmail.com if you have any questions.)

Directed by Shawn Levy (Night at the Museum), Free Guy stars Ryan Reynolds (Deadpool), Jodie Comer (Killing Eve), Lil Rel Howery (Get Out), rapper Utkarsh Ambudkar (The Mindy Project), Joe Keery (Stranger Things), and Academy Award winner Taika Waititi (Jojo Rabbit). The comedy will be released theatrically by Disney’s 20th Century Studios on Friday, August 13.

Rated PG-13. 115 minutes. 109 pages (Lieberman’s undated Black List draft). Sci-Fi Action Comedy.

STEVE KAPLAN will provide in-depth analysis and lead our discussion of the sci-fi action comedy Free Guy. The industry’s most sought-after expert on comedy, Steve has taught at UCLA, NYU, Yale, and other top universities, and created the HBO Workspace and the HBO New Writers Program. As co-founder and Artistic Director of Manhattan Punch Line Theatre he developed writers such as Peter Tolan (Analyze This), David Crane (Friends), Tracy Poust (Ugly Betty), Kenneth Lonergan (Manchester by the Sea), and Mark O’Donnel (Hairspray). Steve teaches a number of different workshops all over the globe, including The Comedy Intensive, a 2-day workshop that covers the fundamental principles of comedy. Look for his books The Hidden Tools of Comedy and The Comic Hero’s Journey, learn more about Steve and his workshops at kaplancomedy.com, and follow him on Twitter at @skcomedy where you can tweet quick comedy questions at him with the #AskKaplan hashtag.

September 14 – Greenland

Meet ONLINE on September 14th for an in-depth analysis and discussion of the screenplay GREENLAND.

LOGLINE: When comets smash into Earth causing an extinction-level event, a Philadelphia man races against time to get his family to safety in a bunker in Greenland.

Screenwriter CHRIS SPARLING‘s breakthrough came with 2010’s groundbreaking single-character contained thriller Buried, which starred Ryan Reynolds and was set entirely inside a coffin. This was followed by script work on a string of scary movies including ATM, about three friends trapped in an ATM by a psycho killer; The Atticus Institute, a horror film dealing with demonic possession; and an adaptation of the 1974 Gothic YA boarding school novel Down a Dark Hall, produced by Twilight author Stephenie Meyer. Variety named Sparling one of “10 Screenwriters to Watch” in its November 2014 issue. Originally writing the Greenland script for District 9 director Neill Blomkamp, Sparling told reporters he tried to make his screenplay more like the 2012 character-based tsunami drama The Impossible than the 1998 Michael Bay end-of-the-world popcorn hit Armageddon.

(registration deadline: Friday, September 11)

Registration in advance is required to attend the discussion, and includes a copy of the script sent to you in advance.

SPECIAL OFFER – ONLY $150 FOR A NEW MEMBERSHIP OR RENEWAL!
Save $120 over the single meeting fees and get six consecutive online meetings!

Click the Register Now button for instructions.
(Email StoryBoardDG@gmail.com if you have any questions.)

Directed by Rick Roman Waugh (Angel Has Fallen), a former stunt performer, Greenland stars action hero Gerard Butler (300, Law Abiding Citizen), Morena Baccarin (Firefly, Homeland, Deadpool), David Denman (The Office), Hope Davis (About Schmidt, Captain America: Civil War), Holt McCallany (Mindhunter), Scott Glenn (The Right Stuff, The Silence of the Lambs), and internet celebrity King Bach.

Currently scheduled to be released in the United States on September 25, the summer disaster flick has already earned more then $10 million dollars on a small number of screens internationally.

Rated PG-13. 119 minutes. 117 pages [1/25/17 draft]. Drama, Action, Thriller, Disaster.

WENDELL WELLMAN will provide in-depth script analysis and lead our discussion. Screenwriter, actor, playwright, teacher, and author of A Writer’s Roadmap, Wendell has taught screenwriting at UCLA and UWV and has been a frequent guest moderator at StoryBoardDG.com’s Screenplay Development Group. As an actor, Wendell studied under Lee Strasberg and Peggy Feury at the Strasberg Institute and has appeared in episodic television, theater, and motion pictures, including prominent roles in the films The Klansman starring Lee Marvin and Richard Burton, Sudden Impact, Sommersby, and Street of Dreams. As a writer, he teamed up with Alex Lasker to adapt the novel Firefox for director Clint Eastwood. He also did additional work for Eastwood on the screenplay for Sudden Impact and wrote a final Dirty Harry project. Wendell also worked with the West End Theatre Group as co-founder and artistic director while continuing to alternate between acting and writing assignments. He is currently writing original feature scripts.

August 10 – MULAN

Meet ONLINE on August 10th for an in-depth analysis and discussion of the screenplay MULAN.

LOGLINE: The daughter of an ailing warrior disguises herself as a man to take her father’s place in battle defending their country from a vengeful invader and a powerful witch.

THE WRITERS: The live-action epic is based on a 6th-century Chinese poem, which was the source for Disney’s 1998 animated feature. The update came about when unproduced screenwriters ELIZABETH MARTIN and LAUREN HYNEK heard BenderSpink producer Jake Weiner was looking for four-quadrant stories based on public domain IP. They got a meeting with him and pitched ten ideas; he picked Mulan. Sticking to the original Chinese story without referencing any Disney-owned elements, the duo turned in their spec script twelve weeks later, which Weiner sold to Disney in 24 hours. Disney then hired Rise of the Planet of the Apes scribes RICK JAFFA and AMANDA SILVER to rewrite the script, reincorporating some elements from the animated version. Jaffa & Silver also served as writers on Jurassic World and were involved in writing the two upcoming Avatar sequels for James Cameron.

(registration deadline: Friday, August 7)

Registration in advance is required to attend the discussion, and includes a copy of the script sent to you in advance.

Click the Register Now button for instructions.

Directed by New Zealander Niki Caro (Whale Rider), Mulan features an all-Asian cast including Liu Yifei (The Forbidden Kingdom) in the title role, Donnie Yen (Rogue One: A Star Wars Story), Jason Scott Lee (The Jungle Book), Yoson An (Dead Lucky), Gong Li (Memoirs of a Geisha), Jet Li (The Expendables), Rosalind Chao (The Joy Luck Club), and Tzi Ma (The Farewell) as Mulan’s father.

The film had its Hollywood premiere on March 9, ahead of planned March 27 release. That release was postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic. Mulan has been rescheduled to open in theaters on August 21.

Rated PG-13. 115 minutes. 100 pages. Drama, Action/Adventure.

MELODY JACKSON will provide in-depth analysis and lead our discussion. Melody completed her Ph.D. in Mythological Studies in 2003 with her dissertation on “The Mythic Impact of Film.” She has been praised by Creative Screenwriting on multiple occasions for her exceptional knowledge of traditional three-act structure and character development. Known for approaching plot and structure through examination of character motivation and relationships, Melody offers consulting and marketing services to screenwriters through Smart Girls, which she founded in 1992. Since then she has helped over 2,500 writers improve their screenplays to get them to 20th Century Fox, Warner Bros., Disney, Paramount, CAA, and countless medium-sized and smaller production companies. Visit SmartG.com or follow @smartgirlspr on Twitter.

October 14 – Gemini Man

Meet on the lot at Fox Studios on October 14th for an in-depth analysis and discussion of the screenplay GEMINI MAN.

LOGLINE: A retiring government assassin finds himself the target of another assassin who turns out to be a clone of his younger self.

THE SCREENWRITERS: Conceived by screenwriter DARREN LEMKE, his original spec sold to Disney way back in 1997, with the late Tony Scott (Top Gun) attached to direct. Lemke’s produced credits since then include the hit family films Shrek Forever After, Goosebumps, and this year’s Shazam! In 2007, writer/showrunner DAVID BENIOFF rewrote the script prior to co-creating the phenomenally popular HBO series Game of Thrones and shares a story credit with Lemke on Gemini Man. Benioff’s other feature writing credits include 25th Hour (adapted from his novel), Troy, and X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Other screenwriters who worked on the project during its lengthy development period include Andrew Niccol (Gattaca, The Truman Show), Brian Helgeland (L.A. Confidential, Mystic River), and Jonathan Hensleigh (Jumanji, Die Hard with a Vengeance, Armageddon), but the final screenwriting credit is shared by Lemke, Benioff, and BILLY RAY, whose other credits include The Hunger Games, Captain Phillips (for which he was nominated for an Academy Award), and the upcoming Terminator: Dark Fate. (Note: We will be discussing David Benioff’s “revised first draft” of Gemini Man dated October 29, 2007.)

(registration deadline: Noon, Wednesday, October 9)

Registration in advance is required to attend the discussion, and includes a copy of the script sent to you in advance as well as sandwiches, snacks, and beverages at the meeting. Click the Register Now button for instructions.

Harrison Ford, Mel Gibson, Clint Eastwood, Nicolas Cage, and Sean Connery were among the A-listers attached to the challenging dual lead role for directors Scott, Joe Carnahan, and the late Curtis Hanson before Skydance acquired the property from Disney for two-time Oscar winning director Ang Lee (Life of Pi). Will Smith (Independence Day, Aladdin) stars as the 50-year-old assassin and his younger clone, along with Mary Elizabeth Winstead (Scott Pilgrim vs. the World), Clive Owen (Children of Men), and Benedict Wong (The Martian).

Paramount Pictures is scheduled to release Gemini Man on October 11, three days before the meeting. If you plan to see the movie on opening weekend, reading the script before watching the film is advised.

Rated PG-13. 117 minutes. 115 pages (revised first draft, 10/29/07, Benioff). Sci-Fi, Action.

WENDELL WELLMAN will provide in-depth analysis and lead our discussion. A teacher, screenwriter, actor, playwright, and author of A Writer’s Roadmap, Wendell has taught screenwriting at UCLA and has been a frequent guest moderator at StoryBoardDG.com’s Screenplay Development Group. As an actor, Wendell studied under Lee Strasberg and Peggy Feury at the Strasberg Institute and has appeared in episodic television, theater, and motion pictures, including prominent roles in the films The Klansman starring Lee Marvin and Richard Burton, Sudden Impact, Sommersby, and Street of Dreams. As a writer, he teamed up with Alex Lasker to adapt the novel Firefox for director Clint Eastwood. He also did additional work for Eastwood on the screenplay for Sudden Impact and wrote a final Dirty Harry project. Wendell also worked with the West End Theatre Group as co-founder and artistic director while continuing to alternate between acting and writing assignments. He is currently writing original feature scripts as well as a screenplay adaptation of The River Journey by acclaimed novelist Robert Nathan.

July 8 – Stuber

Meet on the lot at Fox Studios on July 8th for an in-depth analysis and discussion of the screenplay STUBER.

LOGLINE: Unable to drive after a botched LASIK surgery, a tough cop must rely on his mild-mannered Uber driver to help him nab a dangerous criminal.

ABOUT THE WRITER: The buddy cop action comedy was written by TRIPPER CLANCY, whose first breaks came after winning the Script Pipeline screenplay competition in 2009 with his comedy, Henry the Second. From there, he participated in the Fox Writers Studio in 2011 and signed with manager Jake Wagner. After several of his subsequent spec scripts sold but never got made, Wagner pitched him the title Stuber, thinking it could become a comedy version of Collateral, and Clancy wrote a three-page treatment the next day. A few months later, he had a draft that sold to 20th Century Fox. Stuber marks the scribe’s English-language feature debut, his other produced feature writing credits being the German action comedies Four Against the Bank (directed by Wolfgang Petersen) and 2018’s Hot Dog.

Registration in advance is required to attend the discussion, and includes a copy of the script sent to you in advance as well as sandwiches, snacks, and beverages at the meeting. Click the Register Now button for instructions.

(registration deadline: Wednesday, July 3)

Stuber stars Academy Award nominated screenwriter Kumail Nanjani (The Big Sick) as Stu, the Uber driver, and former WWE star Dave Bautista (Spectre, Guardians of the Galaxy) as Vic, the cop. Iko Uwais (The Raid), Natalie Morales (Parks and Recreation), Betty Gilpin (A Dog’s Journey), and Oscar winner Mira Sorvino (Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion) also star. The film, which premiered at SXSW earlier this year, opens July 12, the Friday after our discussion, just in time to go see it and compare the finished film to what was on the page!

Rated R. 105 minutes. 109 pages (3/27/16 draft). Action Comedy, Buddy Comedy.

BRUCE LOGAN, A.S.C., writer-director-cinematographer-visual effects producer (2001: A Space Odyssey, TRON, Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope, Star Trek: The Motion Picture, Airplane!, Batman Forever) will lead our script analysis and screenwriting discussion. Lost Fare, Bruce’s debut as a feature writer-director, is about an 11 year old disabled girl, routinely pimped out by her prostitute mother, who is saved by a suicidal cab driver. Together they go on a journey of redemption that forever changes their lives. Learn more about Bruce’s work in film and music videos for such artists as Madonna, Prince, and Aerosmith at bruceloganfilm.com.

November 12 – DESTROYER

Meet on the lot at Fox Studios on November 12th for an in-depth analysis and discussion of the screenplay DESTROYER.

Destroyer follows the moral and existential odyssey of LAPD detective Erin Bell who, as a young cop, was placed undercover with a gang in the California desert with tragic results. When the leader of that gang re-emerges many years later, she must work her way back through the remaining members and into her own history with them to finally reckon with the demons that destroyed her past.

SCREENPLAY BY PHIL HAY & MATT MANFREDI, whose credits include Crazy/Beautiful, Aeon Flux, Clash of the Titans (2010), R.I.P.D., and Ride Along (1 & 2).

The film, directed by Karyn Kusama (Girlfight), stars Academy Award winner Nicole Kidman (Big Little Lies, Aquaman), Sebastian Stan (I, Tonya, Captain America/Avengers franchises), Bradley Whitford (Get Out), and Tatiana Maslany (Orphan Black).

Registration in advance is required to attend the discussion, and includes a copy of the script mailed to you in advance as well as sandwiches, snacks, and beverages at the meeting. Click the Register Now button for instructions.

(registration deadline: Thursday, November 8)

JEFF KITCHEN will provide in-depth script analysis and lead our discussion. Jeff Kitchen has been a screenwriting teacher and consultant for over twenty years. He has taught development for executives from all the major Hollywood studios and they have consistently said that Jeff teaches the most advanced development tools in the film industry. One of his students was recently nominated for Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay Oscars for the movie Hidden Figures. His book, Writing a Great Movie: Key Tools for Successful Screenwriting, is available at amazon.com. Visit Jeff’s website BuildYourScript.com.

Destroyer had its world premiere at the 2018 Telluride Film Festival on August 31 and was selected for the Toronto International Film Festival‘s Platform Programme, a juried competition that champions risk-taking, high artistic merit, and bold directorial visions.

The film is slated for a Christmas Day release in the U.S. by Annapurna.

Producers and Production Companies: Screenwriters Hay & Manfredi produced alongside Fred Berger (La La Land) for Automatik Entertainment and David Diliberto (No Country for Old Men).

Not yet rated. 123 minutes. 112 pages (draft dated 9/9/16). Action, Crime, Drama.

ALSO THIS MONTH

Using Digital & Social Media to Advance Your Projects and Your Career!

Monday, October 29, 2018

MASTER CLASS
with DIANA LESMEZ

Register by noon, Friday, October 26

(click here for details)