TV Film Critic Central

Chicagoans: Great Event on Saturday, May 10

One of my friends from Chicago sent me this today, and wanted to pass it on.

“How to Live and Thrive in LA : ABC’'s Desperate Housewives writer/producer Bob Daily talks about the Biz”

Time: 1:00 -– 3:00 pm
Date: Saturday May 10, 2008
Place: Columbia College Chicago
Ferguson Lecture Hall, 1st Floor
600 S. Michigan Ave.
Chicago, IL 60605

Free and open to the public. Lecture and Q & A.

Bob’'s presentation will cover his career path, career advice, the workings of Hollywood, and the work itself. Sample questions include:
The Biz
- Is it possible to be a Hollywood writer living in Chicago, or do you have to make the move?
- Any advice on how to get started in LA
- Does DH accept spec scripts? Blind submissions? Must they go through an agent? What format?
- What do they look for in outside writers?
- Easier to get TV or Film spec scripts looked at?

The Work
- What is your weekly writing process on DH?
- What is the difference between writing a ½ comedy vs. 1 hr dramedy? In terms of number of writers/sex/age?
- How many writers are there and what is their average years of experience?
- How do you judge what a good idea is or not?
- What is necessary for a good log line/beat sheet/plot point?
- How do you keep the characters fresh?
- How do you write for bad actors?

May 2, 2008 11:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | Add Comment

Hollywood's Big Night

The Oscars® were really a free for all, tonight … with a few exceptions.

Best Picture and Best Director went to No Country for Old Men (Joel and Ethan Coen), as did the award for Adapted Screenplay. Best Supporting Actor went to Javier Bardem for the film. No shock there. Ditto for Best Actor winner Daniel Day-Lewis, There Will Be Blood; the film also won Best Cinematography.

Best Actress went to Marion Cotillard for La Vie En Rose (which also won for Best Makeup) and Best Supporting Actress was Tilda Swinton for Michael Clayton (the film’s only major award).

Best Original Screenplay went to Juno’s Diablo Cody, who won Best First Screenplay at Film Independent’s Spirit Awards. Cody, who was cool and excited on Saturday, looked totally blown away by her Sunday win.

Once beat out three songs from Enchanted and one from August Rush, winning the Oscar for Best Original Song: "Falling Slowly," music and lyrics by the film’s stars Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova. (Once took home the Spirit Award for Best Foreign Film the day before.)

Austria’s The Counterfeiters won the Academy Award® for Best Foreign Film, and Taxi to the Dark Side took home Best Documentary. Ratatouille won Best Animated Film and Atonement took the award for Best Score. Sweeney Todd The Demon Barber of Fleet Street won for Best Art Direction, The Golden Compass won for Visual Effects, and the award for Costume Design went to Elizabeth: The Golden Age.

The Bourne Ultimatum was full of surprises: it won Best Editing (which usually goes to Best Picture), as well as awards for Sound Editing and Sound Mixing.

For a complete list of Academy Award winners, go to Oscar.com. For a complete list of Spirit Award Winners, go to Spirit Awards.com.

February 24, 2008 11:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (3) | Add Comment

Turn on Friday Night Lights

NBC’s Friday Night Lights was one of the best new shows last season. And tonight marks the last pre-strike episode of the show, perhaps the last ep of the season, and possible the series finale. Since the ratings were not that great—even with brand new episodes airing against less than stellar strike-fare—season three seems unlikely. (I am still hopeful, as those rose-colored glasses block out a lot of drudge.)

If you haven’t caught this prime-time football drama that’s more about the people affected by the game in small-town Dillon, Texas, than football itself, you are missing out. Friday Night Lights, filmed in TX, is shot more like a feature film than a TV program. The acting is superb—if the plot lines tend to be a bit melodramatic. And even the most fanatical, annoying character at the beginning of the show’s run (Buddy Garrity, I’m talking about you) has become endearing. Meanwhile, the most stable—Matt Saracen—has totally lost it after being tested one too many times. Lucky for Matt, Coach is watching out for him.

Check out FNL before the lights go out for good.

February 8, 2008 10:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | Add Comment

Christmas in January?

You have to hand it to House (Tuesdays on FOX). Who else could pull off doing a Christmas episode nearly a month into the new year? With House scoring the primo post-Super Bowl spot this Sunday, it was only natural the network would pull the fresh ep from the end of last year and put it in a position to promote Feb 3rd's Super Stunt-casted ep with Mira Sorvino (the original proposed Super Ep was postponed, as it apparently still needed rewrites, and therefore was not ready to film, at the time the writers went on strike). Holiday disorientation aside, I'll take a good new episode of House any time of year, no matter how badly the episode is timed in relation to real life. It is, after all, just television. Right?

January 30, 2008 5:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | Add Comment

Decisions, Decisisons

The Oscar® nominations just came out last week, and I have already seen three of the Best Picture nominees: Atonement, Juno, and There Will Be Blood. Usually I find myself playing catch-up after the announcements. Given my good foresight, I wonder if I should rush to go see one of the other must-see films--Michael Clayton and No Country for Old Men. Or, since I am so far ahead of schedule, if I should say the heck with it, and go see Cloverfield, which is getting excellent reviews, though the likelihood of it making next year's ballot is somewhere between slim and none. (Come on. I am not being harsh. No one releases a movie in January that they think will be the next Great American Movie.) Will let you know what I think of Cloverfield.

January 27, 2008 1:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | Add Comment