Write That Shit Down

Ben and Dan talk about the second act scenes for their movie Hinterlands. They discuss the process of writing a screenplay like sculpting a block of marble. Having a large body of work and then refining things as they move forward. They briefly touch on ideas for act 3. Then they discuss the 2011 film Limitless starring Bradley Cooper and Robert De Niro.

WARNING: If you are not watching the movie or have never seen it, skip this!

Ben and Dan watch one of the worst movies of all time, The Core. This 2003 sci-fi action film stars Aaron Eckhart, Hilary Swank, Delroy Lindo, Stanely Tucci, and DJ Qualls. What would happen if the center of the Earth stopped rotating? A rag tag team of scientists, NASA astronauts, and a hacker all team up with unlimited funds to attempt to fix things. Do not mind all the long sighs and scoffs. Also the timing might be a bit borked in spots, enjoy.

In this episode Ben and Dan discuss the scenes they need for Act 1. During this discussion they come to terms with just making the best movie possible and not worrying about length and time. Then they take a closer look at the 1991 cult classic Point Break starring Keanu Reeves, Patrick Swayze and Gary Buse.

In this episode Ben and Dan discuss the major beats of the movie again. Each film has roughly 40 important scenes that anchor the narrative. They adjust things and establish an outline of the three acts. They also discuss the screen play writing software they are using, Writer Duet. Then they talk about the 1996 action film, The Rock starring Nicolas Cage, Sean Connery and Ed Harris.

WARNING: If you are not watching the movie or have never seen it, skip this!

Ben and Dan watch Starship Troopers, the 1997 action classic. This movie is set in a future where the human race is under attack from a alien bug army. Casper Van Dien leads troops into battle on planets far from home. Neil Patrick Harris and Denise Richards co star. This move still holds up and the CGI was ahead of its time. Join us.

In this episode Ben and Dan drill into the second half scenes. They talk high level on some key plot points and realize they have way more work in front of them. Then they discuss the 2006 Academy Award winning movie The Departed  starring Jack Nicholson, Matt Damon, Leonardo DiCaprio. 

Ben and Dan talk at a highlevel about scene structure. They start with the core beats of the movie and flush out more of the first and half of the second act. Then they discuss the 1985 hit movie Back To The Future starring Micheal J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd. 

In this episode Ben and Dan run through one final round of character development. Then they talk about the Cohen Brother's cult classic The Big Lebowski.

WARNING: If you are not watching the movie or have never seen it, skip this!

Something new for this episode. Ben and Dan invite you to watch The Prestige. This 2006 movie stars Hugh Jackman and Christian Bale. Simply start your movie when we do and you can listen to the blokes commentary. 

Ben and Dan discuss more characters from their movie Hinterlands. Characters are the most important aspects to any story. The more you know about your characters the better the story. You can connect scenes to their core desires as people. Spending time working on characters will hopefully make the writing process run smoother.After that they discuss the 1996 action movie, Mission Impossible. This movie still holds up and was cutting edge. It is very well written with subtle foreshadowing elements baked in. If you haven't seen this already, they will ruin it for you.