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Taxi Driver screenwriter to guest at new city festival

Chris — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 18:00:46 +0000

THE man who wrote the script for Martin Scorsese’s classic films Taxi Driver and Raging Bull, will be the star guest at a brand new annual festival in Nottingham.

Paul Schrader, who also wrote the screenplays for The Last Temptation Of Christ, City Hall and American Gigolo - which he also directed — will be attending Screenlit at the Broadway Cinema, June 29 to July 5 along with David Morrissey and Jimmy McGovern.

The week-long event is designed to celebrate the art of writing for film and TV.

It will include the screening of new films, including the UK premiere of Anne Fontaine’s Coco Before Chanel and the award-winning Unmade Beds by UK-based Argentinean filmmaker Alexis Dos Santos.

This first year also sees the launch of ScreenLit’s Lifetime Achievement Award in Screenwriting which will be given to Paul Schrader, who will present a Screenwriting Masterclass.

Harold Ramis Ghostbusters 3 Update

Chris — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 17:59:41 +0000

ComingSoon.net just got off the phone with filmmaker Harold Ramis, always a wonderful and charming interview subject for sure. We talked a little about his new movie Year One, starring Jack Black and Michael Cera, which hits theaters next week, plus he’s also being honored with a Screenwriting Tribute and taking part in an All-Star Comedy panel at this year’s Nantucket Film Festival. (Oh, and we should mention that panel includes Ben Stiller, Peter Farrelly and John Hamburg, too!)

There’s been a lot of talk lately about the planned Ghostbusters 3, as the original movie celebrates its 25th Anniversary and having been twenty years since the last installment. Ramis has been developing the three-quel along with his Year One writers Gene Stupnitsky and Lee Eisenberg, best known as part of the writing staff on “The Office,” so we asked him for a brief update.

Short Circuit Remake Gets A Screenwriter

Chris — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 17:58:24 +0000

Rumors of a remake of the eighties robot comedy Short Circuit have been circulating for over a year, but yesterday the project just got a lot more serious with the announcement of an experienced comedy screenwriter.

Screenwriter Dan Milano comes to the project with the kind of comedy background that gives me some hope for this project. He co-created and voiced the title character on the cult classic Greg The Bunny, and he’s currently writing for the geeky awesomeness that is Robot Chicken.

John August answers questions…

Chris — Mon, 25 May 2009 23:20:59 +0000

…that we were not able to get to on the show.

Unanswered Questions from John August on Vimeo.

American Screenwriter’s Association Done!?

Chris — Thu, 14 May 2009 13:39:00 +0000

O.K. I have not been able to access the ASA website for days, are they done? Did they go belly-up? Anyone know…. anyone care?

-XC

Charlie Kaufman has a case as the most original screenwriter in America?

Chris — Wed, 13 May 2009 22:37:55 +0000

According to The Guardian he is:

Synecdoche, New York opened in America last October, and it has already appeared at several UK film festivals, so you may judge the hopes for its commercial success that it is only just opening commercially next week. That may prove a generous use of the word “commercially”. Still, you may love the film and be changed by it. Sometimes the wistful voice of a website posting says it all, like this letter addressed to Charlie Kaufman, the man who wrote and directed Synecdoche:

“Charlie i hope you read this and only posted it in the hopes that you would. i live in birmingham, alabama and had to drive to atlanta, georgia to see your movie in theatres. i want to say this is the greatest film experience I have had all year. your film touched me in the deeps depths of my heart in the most wonderful way. i love your films and want you to keep making them and despite all the dumb ass critics I think that synecdoche new york is a masterpiece of cinema that humanity doesn’t deserve.”

To which I would add this: a few critics raved about the picture; several others welcomed it. I’m urging you to see it - if only to discover what the writer of Being John Malkovich and Adaptation can do as a director. Plus the film cost $21m and has so far grossed $3m in its home country. All I want to know is how Charlie Kaufman, with this story and his hangdog shyness raised even $21, let alone millions.