Today on Scriptnotes they talked about the issue of conflict in movies. They state that while conflict is bad in real life it is essential for movies. This makes sense, just about every film needs a villain or hero. I saw Rob Zombie once say while inducting Alice Cooper into the rock and roll hall of fame ask what good would James Bond be without Goldfinger or Dr No. He said that then “he would just be some swab boring guy in a tux with a nit picky drink order who likes to say his name a lot.” And he’s right without a villain to fight James Bond would be nothing. So therefore that’s what the hosts of Scriptnotes are talking about here. It’s essential that conflict be a part of movies or otherwise it won’t be exciting or enjoyable to the viewer. They use the movie Whiplash as an example for the conflict between the boy and his instructor. I think this is a very brutal but good example of what conflict is like. The chemistry between those two characters is what you would expect tense conflict to be like in a movie. So I think this episode does a great job talking about conflict.

This edition of Hollywood Reporter talks about how television is now getting back into the swing of things. However it is also trying to be informative at the same time. Yes I know that celebrities aren’t the best people to listen too for advice (yes I’m talking about that stupid “I take responsibility video” no offense to anybody) but hear me out here. In the article several TV stars give some advice on how to stay healthy in these times. The most important advice they give you is WEAR FACE PROTECTION! Of course yes I say either a mask or face shield is something to wear during challenging times like these. I have seen people still not wearing masks even when cases are high (even when those cases are do to higher testing). It don’t matter though because we still need to cover our face even if you don’t like doing it. Hopefully we still have some good stuff to hold on to and I pray we don’t have to wait much longer for a vaccine. Until then however we should use our brains and protect ourselves by the usual statements: socially distance, wash hands, and wear masks. In this case actually do what celebrities tell you to do.

This issue of the Hollywood Reporter talks about the effect that the COVID 19 pandemic has had on the film industry this summer. It’s not good according to a recent report. In fact the title says that the industry has actually been cut in half. That’s not good because movies are such an important part of American life so the lack of this is terrible. The report claims that filming declined very dramatically during the pandemic. This makes since due to social distancing issues. However it will be hard to recover from this decline. The good news however is that in September the filming schedules seemed to come back a little bit. Just like Dana White said at the RNC this year “try finding a way to reopen sports during a pandemic it’s not easy but we did it.” I think that same principle applies to movies and filming as well. I also agreed with white when he said that we still have a long way to go and nobody could have seen this pandemic coming. But I also agree that things are starting to come back again. And I hope that things can come back to regular filming as well.

In this episode titled “The Lackeys know what they’re doing” the hosts talk about the sidekicks to the villains in the movies. Just about every villain has a sidekick or right hand man. They often play very critical roles in the villains plans. In action movies they are usually the ones defeated before the main villain. The episode talks about how to write these sidekicks or lackeys more believably. I think that this is a good thing to talk about. Because movies such as “Die Hard” or “Raiders of the Lost Ark” have lackeys that play a big role in the villains plans and are featured prominently throughout the film. Other films aren’t so fortunate and in those cases the lackeys are just there to die and are cardboard cutouts. I believe that it is very important to make sure the lackeys play an important role in the story and are very much on the same level as the main villain. The hosts seem to agree with me there as well. They also did some other stuff such as answering questions from listeners and discussing future plans for films. This is a nice little change in tone to tell us what to expect next.

There were so many articles in Hollywood Reporter right now. There’s trump being diagnosed with Covid and Biden bashing him for it. But I’m a trump supporter (don’t hate me!) so I decided to look at something else. So I found an article saying that AMC theatres is actually not planning to close any of its theatres. They have entered an premium VOD deal with universal to help them stay open. I think that this is a good thing. Because theatres are an important part of life. They give us entertainment and joy. So not having them is terrible. My local theatre stayed open while taking precautions by showing old classic films. I think AMC can get back in business to if they give hand sanitizer, require masks, and so many other things they can do to take precautions. The deal they made with universal also will help them to stay open during COVID. It will ensure they keep showing movies during these tough times. It doesn’t look like this will last much longer but hopefully things will get back to normal soon. After months of COVID, protests, riots and so many other things I’m sure we can’t wait for this year to be over.

This episode of Scriptnotes talks about the various words people use in scripts to refer to a certain group of people. I think this is an important thing to talk about because there are many different names for groups of people and you want to make sure you use the correct ones. This is especially to make sure you don’t offend anybody with your words. Especially when it comes to groups like Jews, Christians, African Americans, and Mexicans. They also talked about something called “single use characters” which I’m guessing are characters that are only used for one single use in the story or only appear in one scene. They are basically similar to background characters. Then there is the question they ask of “if screenwriting standards are so high, then why are so many bad movies made?” I think the answer to that is simply that so many people do scriptwriting incorrectly or just have no talent whatsoever to do it. I don’t that as an insult but as a learning lesson to do screenwriting the right way. And that I think is the best way to do things. That way we don’t have so many Uwe Boll’s or Ed woods.

On this issue of The Hollywood Reporter, they discussed a recent controversy that could cost Netflix its streaming growth. This is because a member of Wells Fargo has just cut his subscribing by 25 percent. He did this in response to controversy from the movie “Cuties” which has been pretty controversial for Netflix this year. The movie is about young girls, aged 12, who work as pole dancers. I haven’t seen the film, and frankly I don’t plan to, but I have heard it contains some pretty sexually explicit imagery. The Wells Fargo member predicted that Netflix may end up losing some of its streaming because of this controversy. I can see why. Now some have defended this film saying that it’s intended to denounce child sexualization. I believe however that even if the film had good intentions, those intentions likely get undermined by the sexual imagery of the film which involves minors. I personally don’t know why someone thought this type of film would be OK. It pretty much deserves the controversy it got in my opinion and no this is not a “conservative conspiracy theory” its real concern over this type of stuff. Now don’t get me wrong their have been films, I won’t name names, that have gotten flack like this before. But in this case I agree with the Wells Fargo member that this film controversy may negatively affect Netflix streaming, (or not).

Today on Scriptnotes they talked about the new eligibility requirements that the oscars have made for best picture. They link this to their topic of the day which was “what should you pitch about your film?” This seems to be a good correlation for me. Just like how the academy awards has criteria on what meets their idea of a great movie, the people someone pitches an idea to have their own criteria on what makes an acceptable film. One requirement they talk about is if the film idea respects certain groups of people, such as minority groups. That certainly sounds like a requirement to me because obviously most of the time they don’t want to offend Anybody or group. However they also point out that these requirements can also sometimes intimidate people who want to pitch ideas. I agree with this because if you put out rules saying: it can/can’t be this or it must be that, that can intimidate or discourage people. However I would argue that people shouldn’t be afraid to try. This isn’t easy as the hosts point out, they say that the hardest part isn’t finding the people for the job, it’s getting them to try to be the person for the job. I say people shouldn’t be afraid to try and meet criteria and maybe even do their own thing.

In today’s episode of Scriptnotes they started out talking about the classic film “The Princess Bride” and how much they like it. They mentioned the first time they saw it and how it was unlike anything they had ever seen before. I agree with them there. The film was funny, full of action, romance, had a big name cast, and was dramatic and is arguably, next to “This is Spinal Tap,” “Stand By Me,” and “A few Good Men,” Rob Reiners greatest film. But for the most part the hosts talked about realism in movies. I suppose that this means the challenge of making movies seem realistic. Not in terms of “can this actually happen” but in terms of making it seem like you are actually there experiencing this. I think this is a critical part of movie making. If the audience feels like they are there the more emotional it is. Another piece of advice they give is to not rush. I think that this is an important piece of advice. If you rush through things you’ll get movies such as “Manos the Hands of Fate.” I know yuck right? So the goal is to not rush things and instead take your time and make sure you get things right.

In today’s article of the Hollywood Reporter it was discussing on how Hollywood can get back to work following the COVID 19 pandemic. It said in its title that studios and their unions have reached an agreement on how they can get back to regular shooting. They even released a report to list a number of ways to do this. It includes using managers, testing, and other ways. I think that these types of agreements and plans are very important because it helps the movie industry get back to work. Obviously we can’t stay on lockdown forever. So we need a plan to get things back to normal. The world is really crazy now thanks to what the Coronavirus has done, and let’s be honest no one could have seen this coming. But that doesn’t mean things can’t go back to normal. Like UFC president Dana White said at the RNC, we have a long way to go but already entertainment is already coming back. This includes the movie industry as well I believe. So I think it’s good that we are getting back to work in Hollywood and that we have a plan on how to do it. Hopefully they’ll be able to stay healthy and make movies again!