The ISA Podcast

This is a podcast recording of the ISA's Facebook Live broadcast of Wine Wednesdays. Please note that some promotions offered during the live broadcast are not offered to the participants listening to the recording. We can, however, assist you if you wish to find out more information regarding ISA events, contests, or consulting offers. Just reach out to [email protected] and we will be happy to help.

Join ISA staffers Max Timm and Felicity Wren for our regular Wine Wednesdays Facebook Live broadcast as they talk screenwriting and take your questions about the ISA and the art, craft, and business of writing screenplays, all while enjoying a nice glass (or two) of wine.

Subjects and themes change from week to week, so stay tuned for the live broadcasts that occur on most Wednesday evenings at 7:00pm Los Angeles time. For a specific schedule and set of announcements, "Like" the ISA Facebook page and keep up to date.

In this week's podcast:

Jacob Krueger breaks down the structure of Mother! and the three simple screenwriting concepts that make it both succeed and struggle to connect to its audience.

Page 2 Screen talks to two paranormal experts about what constitutes good horror.

If you’re a screenwriter interested in writing horror, you could learn a lot from two ghostbusters. This week’s guests are Scott Markus and Mike Huberty and they’re paranormal experts, as well as horror film aficionados. They talk about what scares them, what films pinned them to their movie seats in fear, and what they think makes a horror film a classic. From tropes to clichés, from Spielberg to Romero, from “Fright Night” to “The Thing”, the discussion will inspire you to write smarter horror, or at the very least, find some scary new titles to rent this Halloween.

Episode 182

Ritchie Greer talks about writing, directing, and producing his latest short film, Los and Found.

Episode 181 - Director / Actor Alexander Nevsky

Alexander Nevsky Talks about his latest action film, Black Rose

“Blade Runner 2049” is a fitting sequel to the cult classic from 1982.

Making a sequel to a classic film is an intimidating task, especially when your follow-up is 35 years after the original. Thus, “Blade Runner 2049” had its work cut out for it. Thankfully, this movie is smart, moody, and a visual feast just like the original “Blade Runner” from 1982. Ryan Gosling brings gravitas to this neo-noir, as does a returning Harrison Ford, but the film around them could use a little more energy. It’s easily 20 minutes too long, and much colder than its predecessor. Still, it has provocative things to say about humanity, just like the first one, and that’s welcome in any year.

EXCERPT FROM THE INTERVIEW:

"...Don’t write for anyone but yourself.  At the end of the day, write the movie that you know you would be super excited to sit down and watch. Don’t think because you read a Blacklist script and saw a certain style being executed in there that that is what people want, so therefore let me write it that way. Or, there is a certain movie that is in vogue right now and let me try to write my version of that. 

Everybody I know, really almost without exception, is a pretty good storyteller in the right circumstances. And so it is really finding the thing that you want to tell another person... I think you always need to be striving towards making something as good as it could be, and the definition of “good as it could be” should be the thing that you would be excited to see. Not what you think other people would be excited to see... make sure that when someone is reading it, they experience an enthusiasm that you had when you first came up with the idea..."

This is a podcast recording of the ISA's Facebook Live broadcast of Wine Wednesdays. Please note that some promotions offered during the live broadcast are not offered to the participants listening to the recording. We can, however, assist you if you wish to find out more information regarding ISA events, contests, or consulting offers. Just reach out to [email protected] and we will be happy to help.

Join ISA staffers Max Timm and Felicity Wren for our regular Wine Wednesdays Facebook Live broadcast sponsored by the Nickelodeon Writing Program. We'll talk screenwriting and take your questions about the ISA and the art, craft, and business of writing screenplays, all while enjoying a nice glass (or two) of wine.

Subjects and themes change from week to week, so stay tuned for the live broadcasts that occur on most Wednesday evening at 7:00pm Los Angeles time. For a specific schedule and set of announcements, "Like" the ISA Facebook page and keep up to date.

If you would like to learn more about Max's coaching and development service, The Story Farm, please email [email protected] to inquire and ask about options - we have plenty to offer.

“Marvel’s Inhumans” is a marvel of missed opportunities.

Marvel has had an incredible track record on both the big screen and small, but the new ABC-TV series “Marvel’s Inhumans” really misses the mark. Adapted from the 1965 comic by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, this mutant story feels all too familiar. Borrowing heavily from “X-Men”, “Game of Thrones”, and “Thor”, almost every character, superpower, and narrative detail in this show feels derivative. It also is surprisingly hokey, from its heavy-handed expositional dialogue to its skimpy special effects. The potential is there for a meaningful story about diversity, but so far, this show is anything but marvelous. 

This is a podcast recording of the ISA's Facebook Live broadcast of Wine Wednesdays. Please note that some promotions offered during the live broadcast are not offered to the participants listening to the recording. We can, however, assist you if you wish to find out more information regarding ISA events, contests, or consulting offers. Just reach out to [email protected] and we will be happy to help.

Join ISA staffers Max Timm and Felicity Wren for our regular Wine Wednesdays Facebook Live broadcast sponsored by the Nickelodeon Writing Program. We'll talk screenwriting and take your questions about the ISA and the art, craft, and business of writing screenplays, all while enjoying a nice glass (or two) of wine.

Subjects and themes change from week to week, so stay tuned for the live broadcasts that occur on most Wednesday evening at 7:00pm Los Angeles time. For a specific schedule and set of announcements, "Like" the ISA Facebook page and keep up to date.

If you would like to learn more about Max's coaching and development service, The Story Farm, please email [email protected] to inquire and ask about options - we have plenty to offer.