Film School

Not an accident. Not suicide. Murder.

Billy Wilder is in peak form on this classic black & white noir starring Barbara Stanwyk as the femme fatale and the smooth-talking Fred MacMurray as her mark, a run-of-the-mill insurance salesman with dreams of love and money. The crime itself in this one stands out as an all-timer, plus the framing device and the dramatic ending are too fun to pass up. We had a lot of fun with this one. Enjoy!

Routine is a haven for productivity, but it can turn into a rut. Curiosity can drive experimentation and growth, but it can lead to shiny-object syndrome...where's the balance in between? How can they feed each other?

War is hell. Based on the novella "Heart of Darkness," Francis Ford Coppola is the real star of this ambitious, disturbing, madness-inducing look into the horrors of the Vietnam War. Starring Martin Sheen and a veritable cavalcade of other recognizable actors, this film might just be the best representation ever made of how war feels. Like Sheen's Willard, it nearly cost Coppola his own sanity to make . . . and that might just be perfect. Let's head down the river, kids. Everything will (not) be fine.

Creative energy: a finite resource. Our ability to get good creative work done is undeniably limited to how much energy we have in any given day. How much energy we have varies from day to day. Project to project, even! So . . . with all the up and the downs, how do we maintain our drive to finish, or our ability to meet deadlines? How do we make sure we don't burn out and stay as consistent as possible?

The stuff dreams are made of! Our first dyed and true NOIR has finally arrived here on the AFI's list, and boy howdy is it a cracking good time. Femme fatales, druggings in drinks, secret shooters, an ancient treasure, stabs in the back, and fast-talking jive, baby, see? Bogart is peak Bogart, the script is snappy, the characters are all angry cynics . . . and someone killed Spade's partner. Better believe we gon' get to the bottom of it!

A strong "voice." We all want to be told that we have one in our writing. Every great writer has a "strong voice." Okay . . . so, what even IS a "voice" in our writing? And, how do we develop one? It's a very fuzzy, frustrating, and seemingly formless–and therefore helpless–aspect of storytelling. It feels like something you either have, or you don't. But . . . is that true? Or, is it something we can work on? Is it something we even need to WORRY about?

What do you think you are for christ's sake, crazy or something?! Jack Nicholson stars as the pedophile rapist McMurphy, and Louise Fletcher as his nemesis Nurse Ratched. He's been sent to the loony bin for, by all accounts, pretending to be crazy. But, then he finds himself ever more involved in the question of if anyone should be there. It's a touchstone of the counter-culture, an award darling of the time, and this week we examine how well it holds up.

How do you know when your story is DONE? When is it ready to share with the world? Or, even when it's ready to share with someone else for feedback? And HOW DO WE GET TO THAT POINT? If sharing our work is an act of letting go, how can we tell when we're holding onto it for too long, and when it genuinely still needs work and we have to sick it out until it's further along? It's one of the biggest struggles we face as writers. Objectivity. But fret not! There are some tried and true ways to answer the question: how do I get to 'done?' We share some of them!

Magic mirror on the wall! The movie that launched a studio (and two theme parks), and almost 100 years ago! Snow White is a landmark film, and just one glance at the quality of the artwork and that date--1937--is enough to make your head spin. One of the very first ever full feature-length animated films ever made, it was a sensation at the time of its release. It instantly cemented Walt Disney as one of the most influential filmmakers in cinema history. But, how well does it hold up? How's the music? The story? Does it still play today? We dive in this week on the podcast!

There are shortcuts to getting an audience to fall in love with a character, and best-selling author James Rollins has come up with a list of 7 of them. This week, we discuss them!