Artists Who Have Most Influenced My Writing

First a word from our sponsor:

Check out my Script Consultation Services at http://ow.ly/HPxKE. I offer several types of service. Testimonials can be found at the blog entry.

Ever wonder what a reader for a contest or agency thinks when he reads your screenplay?  Check out the second edition of my screenwriting book, More Rantings and Ravings of a Screenplay Reader published on Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07GD1XP9Y

Finally, I have published a collection of three of my plays, 3 Plays, https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08478DBXF as well as two collections of short stories, The Starving Artists and other stories, https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07FS91CKJ and The Five Corporations and the One True Church and other stories, https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07KY5Z3CF.

 

For my next blog entry, I thought I would list and discuss those writers and artists that have influenced my writing. The influences have changed over the years. Some of the authors that influenced my writing when I was younger, in high school and college, say, have been replaced as I grew older and as I encountered other artists who more reflected how my view of the world had changed over the years.

 

I still tend to explore the same themes and issues as I did when I was just starting out. I was always asking the same questions: What is the point to everything? Is there a point? Why are we here? Why do we exist? Is there a God? How we do live life in a world that is both inherently logical and makes sense as well as inherently illogical and absurd and chaotic?

FIRST EPISODE OF POP ART: RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK and THE TREASURE OF THE SIERRA MADRE, now on podomatic and YouTube

Is Indiana Jones a real hero in Raiders of the Lost Ark? Who or what is a Denhom Elliot? How did Humphrey Bogart die in The Treasure of Sierra Madre? Why did Bogart become an A-lister and Tim Holt become a B-western star? And what does Geoffrey Chaucer and The Canterbury Tales have to do with it all? These and other questions are answered in my first podcast for my new show POP ART.

You can find it at https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/hcasner65579 or at YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZjXu5x1xYI. The idea behind Pop Art is for my guest to choose a movie from popular culture and then I will choose one with some sort of connection to it from the more artistic side of cinema. My first guest, Donald McKinney, chose the exciting blockbuster Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. In turn I chose the John Huston/Humphrey Bogart masterpiece, The Trasure of the Sierra Madre, both stories about the search for treasure. Have a listen, tell me what you think, feedback is welcome. The first episode is a bit glitchy editing wise, my first effort, but I shall get better.

 

And now a word from our sponsor:

Check out my Script Consultation Services at http://ow.ly/HPxKE. I offer several types of service. Testimonials can be found at the blog entry.

Ever wonder what a reader for a contest or agency thinks when he reads your screenplay?  Check out the second edition of my screenwriting book, More Rantings and Ravings of a Screenplay Reader published on Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07GD1XP9Y

Finally, I have published a collection of three of my plays, 3 Plays, https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08478DBXF as well as two collections of short stories, The Starving Artists and other stories, https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07FS91CKJ and The Five Corporations and the One True Church and other stories, https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07KY5Z3CF.

FOR THOSE INTO SCI-FI, HORROR AND FANTASY, CHECK OUT MY TWO BOOKS ON AMAZON

For those of you into sci-fi, horror and fantasy, I have two books of short stories on Amazon I’d love for you to check out (and leave a review). The Starving Artists and Other Stories at https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07FS91CKJ and The Five Corporations and the One True Church at https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07KY5Z3CF. The Starving Artists is called “Darkly comedic, exquisitely twisted, and wickedly juicy,” “Each story is creepily unsettling,” and “a terrific collection of imaginative fiction.”

For those who like the weird, the odd, the out there, here are nine stories with supernatural and sci-fi themes, from a DJ who might or might not be the last person on earth, to a visit from aliens about our nuclear capability, to a young boy whose life changes when “he” came out of the desert. Expect the unexpected.

My new podcast POP ART, EPISODE ONE: Raiders of the Lost Ark and Treasure of the Sierra Madre

First a word from our sponsor:

Check out my Script Consultation Services at http://ow.ly/HPxKE. I offer several types of service. Testimonials can be found at the blog entry.

Ever wonder what a reader for a contest or agency thinks when he reads your screenplay?  Check out the second edition of my screenwriting book, More Rantings and Ravings of a Screenplay Reader published on Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07GD1XP9Y

Finally, I have published a collection of three of my plays, 3 Plays, https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08478DBXF as well as two collections of short stories, The Starving Artists and other stories, https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07FS91CKJ and The Five Corporations and the One True Church and other stories, https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07KY5Z3CF.

 

I have now uploaded my first podcast for my new show POP ART. You can find it at https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/hcasner65579. The idea behind Pop Art is for my guest to choose a movie from popular culture and then I will choose one with some sort of connection to it from the more artistic side of cinema. My first guest, Donald McKinney, chose the exciting blockbuster Raiders of the Lost Ark. In turn I chose the John Huston/Humphrey Bogart masterpiece, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, both stories about the search for treasure. Have a listen, tell me what you think, feedback is welcome. The first episode is a bit glitchy editing wise, my first effort, but I shall get better.

What Do Screenwriting Contests Want? A Reconsideration.

 

First a word from our sponsor:

Check out my Script Consultation Services at http://ow.ly/HPxKE. I offer several types of service. Testimonials can be found at the blog entry.

Ever wonder what a reader for a contest or agency thinks when he reads your screenplay?  Check out the second edition of my screenwriting book, More Rantings and Ravings of a Screenplay Reader published on Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07GD1XP9Y

Finally, I have published a collection of three of my plays, 3 Plays, https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08478DBXF as well as two collections of short stories, The Starving Artists and other stories, https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07FS91CKJ and The Five Corporations and the One True Church and other stories, https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07KY5Z3CF.

 

 

I wrote a blog entry sometime back called Everything You Wanted to Know About Screenplay Contests* But Weren’t Afraid to Ask. For those intrigued, the link is here: https://howardcasner.wordpress.com/2015/01/24/the-future-is-now-a-pretentious-essay-for-screenwriters/

 

Since then I have been doing some rethinking about contests. Most of what I’ve said above, if not all of it, still applies. But there is one area that I did want to address based on my own experience and based on some facebook posts I have come across.

 

What sort of screenplays do contests look for?

Rules of the Formatting Game

First a word from our sponsor:

Check out my Script Consultation Services at http://ow.ly/HPxKE. I offer several types of service. Testimonials can be found at the blog entry.

Ever wonder what a reader for a contest or agency thinks when he reads your screenplay?  Check out the second edition of my screenwriting book, More Rantings and Ravings of a Screenplay Reader published on Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07GD1XP9Y

Finally, I have published a collection of three of my plays, 3 Plays, https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08478DBXF as well as two collections of short stories, The Starving Artists and other stories, https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07FS91CKJ and The Five Corporations and the One True Church and other stories, https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07KY5Z3CF.

 

The next in my blog entries on screenwriting and film will be about common formatting mistakes I still see people make. I am surprised at some of these, that they are still committed on such a regular basis. But it still happens.

 

Probably most of you already know these rules. But it never hurts to have a refresher course.

Happy Valentine’s Day–A Look at Rom Coms

First a word from our sponsor:

Check out my Script Consultation Services at http://ow.ly/HPxKE. I offer several types of service. Testimonials can be found at the blog entry.

Ever wonder what a reader for a contest or agency thinks when he reads your screenplay?  Check out the second edition of my screenwriting book, More Rantings and Ravings of a Screenplay Reader published on Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07GD1XP9Y

Finally, I have published a collection of three of my plays, 3 Plays, https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08478DBXF as well as two collections of short stories, The Starving Artists and other stories, https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07FS91CKJ and The Five Corporations and the One True Church and other stories, https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07KY5Z3CF.

 

Since today is Valentine’s Day, I thought I would share an essay that I wrote for my blog and that is included in my screenwriting book More Rantings and Ravings of a Screenplay Reader. The subject is romantic comedies (or rom coms as they are called in the industry) and my take on the genre as a whole; a history of it and some difficulties I find in reading them for screenplays contests, production company, etc.

 

I first published it some time ago, but I think it still has something to say. And it is, in many ways, a personal take on the genre.

 

At any rate, enjoy.

 

I have heard, over and over again (and then over and over again, and then over and, well, anyway) three observations about Rom Coms the last few years.

 

The First is that they are very hard to write.  The Second is that they make a lot of money.  The Third is that everyone is looking for one to produce because they make a lot of money.