PawPrints Productions

Category: Uncategorized

  • Three movies of note

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    hopemcp
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    I watched three films over the past several weeks that have stuck with me as I work on my own projects. Each one gave me a master class in screenwriting. Here’s the gist, with no spoilers: NOBODY (2021) Written by Derek Kolstad, who also wrote JOHN WICK, this movie dished up one reveal after another…

  • THE BOYS IN THE BOAT: The script

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    hopemcp
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    On this National Screenwriters Day, I want to talk about my most recent movie-watching experience and what it showed me about “getting it right.” Last weekend, I sat in the theatre waiting for the opening frames of THE BOYS IN THE BOAT, worried. I love the book, and translating from book to screen is about…

  • Go, Team!

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    hopemcp
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    I recently mentioned to a producer that I like the collaborative side of screenwriting — my words on the page take on new life once others weigh in and shape what I began. “All the inspired words of God are gone,” I said. “I’m not going to write any of them.” I meant it. So…

  • Learning from Steve Kaplan

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    hopemcp
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    I’ve been rereading one of my favorite books, Hidden Tools of Comedy, by Steven Kaplan, and discovered Kaplan was the May 17 guest on the Bulletproof Screenwriting Podcast. Remember: “The art of comedy is the art of telling the truth about what it’s like to be human.” — Steven Kaplan What makes a script funny…

  • Confessions of a comedy writer

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    hopemcp
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    I’ve been keeping this under wraps for years, but, well, I don’t like most of today’s comedy flicks. Case in point, last night I finally started streaming a popular 2018 comedy, but I switched to Tom Hanks’ distinctly non-comedic SULLY less than 30 minutes into it. Sigh. And, here I am focusing on writing comedy…

  • Truth, Reality TV, and the End

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    hopemcp
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    America is getting exactly what it deserves in the 2016 presidential race: a reality show dressed up as a sideshow.

  • Goats, a llama, and me

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    hopemcp
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    I’d never owned goats or a llama. Time now.

  • Talking to Strangers

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    hopemcp
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    An 8-year-old walks home alone for the first time and, after losing his way, asks the help of a 35-year-old man. That man turns out to be the very wrong person, and the boy is found dead. What parental nightmare tops this? Yet nearly every parent hears repeated pleas from their tween and pre-tween kids to allow them a chance…

  • Where Did the Time Go?

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    hopemcp
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    I’ve been thinking about Time lately. We have so many ways to talk about Time: “no time like the present,” “don’t waste time,” “time is of the essence,” “time is precious.”  You get the idea. But what in the world is Time?   For centuries, philosophers and scientists have asked that question. They still don’t agree on an answer. Sir Isaac Newton…

  • Callahan

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    hopemcp
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    Recently, two of my favorite interview subjects have passed away. Author Dick Francis in February, and on Saturday, July 24, politically incorrect cartoonist John Callahan.  I interviewed Callahan years ago for Northwest Health magazine, and while excited to get the assignment, I was terrified to meet him. I was sure he’d be gruff as the…