I made a very short film — under three minutes. THE CHASE stars my niece and nephew, who have both grown much bigger now than when this was shot. I wanted to learn a particular editing program, but my computer wasn’t robust enough for the task, and then other work moved to the front burner, … Read more
This Is Us Research… I have always loved to watch TV, and read books. Yet both of these activities tend to be tinged with guilt. Probably because, for most of my childhood, whenever I was doing these things, I was avoiding other things I was supposed to be doing, practicing piano, doing my homework, sleeping. As time … Read more
My brain is lazy. When it comes to screenwriting, there are those who say you don’t need guys in front of classrooms to teach you to tell a story. “Just read scripts,” they say, “and you will learn all you need to learn.” What they mean by that (I hope, at least), is not really … Read more
It’s brilliant. In other news, Paul had to leave the room halfway through the first episode because the main characters make him too upset. Related: The TIME recap. Note the choice quotes. Also, Full episodes for free on YouTube, and an article from Slate about that.
Today, in between watching several episodes of Arrested Development, we did laundry and cleaned the house, which feels really good. For some reason, when I clean out of a depression, I often think of a scene from Men Don’t Leave, a movie which I don’t remember much as a whole, but there is a scene … Read more
So tonight one of the works I am translating is called Deor. This title alone could mean “bold” or “dear” or “animal.” My book calls this work a “poem of consolation.” Each verse recounts a miserable experience, followed by a little refrain that loosely translates as “That passed, so too shall this.” The first verse … Read more
So my sitcom class has gotten very mixed reviews in terms of format and teaching style. The kids who are graduating and moving to Los Angeles in two weeks find the seven hour classes burdensome as they try to transition their lives. What takes place during those seven hours? Well let’s just call say we … Read more
So for the first day of my TV/comedy writing class, we were asked to prepare a list of the top ten favorite items on our i-pods (or equivalent), and to identify the top ten people, movies, TV shows that influenced our comic sensibilities. It is a task for which I am singularly unqualified, but I … Read more