Steven Hartman
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How a filmmaker used her low-budget skills to create a $50k union feature
What does “low budget” mean? It’s all based on context. One person’s $50,000 film might be low budget, but so would a $10 million dollar Ridley Scott studio picture.
When Santa Goes Dark: Using Familiar Characters in New Ways
When you see Santa waving from his red sleigh as it strolls down the Christmas parade route, is your first thought how can this guy take out well-trained terrorists, drink a lot and struggle to muster the joy of the holiday season? Not exactly.
7 ways to enhance your dialogue and find your voice
When you think of masterful movie dialogue the names Aaron Sorkin, Quentin Tarantino and Nora Ephron come to mind. It’s a specialty in screenwriting to craft the words that characters say that are both believable and yet like how no one else talks.
Take 5: ‘Glass Onion’ unravels another murder mystery
There is no such thing as a straight-forward ‘who dun it’ story. The point is to keep the audience guessing while dropping clues and sending the narrative on any number of constant twists and turns. In his latest film Glass Onion: A Knives Out Myster...
Take 5: Writing lessons from the Christmas Rom-Com 'Hotel for the Holidays'
Holiday romantic-comedies are a big business. These films appear on multiple cable channels and streaming services with each one trying to maintain originality while also having to play off similar tropes. Hotel for the Holidays is a new light-hearte...
Screenwriting lessons from Spielberg’s Origin Story: ‘The Fabelmans’
What was Steven Spielberg like before he became Steven Spielberg? In the new film The Fabelmans, Spielberg tells the true story of what drove one of the best filmmakers in the history of the industry to become the person he is today. This semi-autobi...
Take 5: ‘She Said’ shows how two reporters started a movement
What does it take to break a story? In the film She Said, two journalists at the New York Times take on the challenge of exposing systemic sexual assault in Hollywood by going after the notorious producer Harvey Weinstein. Based on the article by rep...
Take 5: ‘Devotion’ and the art of adapting a true story
Devotion takes place in 1950 at the beginning of the Korean conflict, also known as the ‘Forgotten War.’ In some ways this is true. Rare is the movie that highlights this tumultuous time in our history with the most recognizable example being M*A*S*H...
Take 5: Writing a Coming-of-Age Story in ‘Armageddon Time’
Armageddon Time is a coming-of-age story that follows Paul Graf (Banks Repeta), a sixth-grade boy, who struggles with finding his place in the world during the generational shift from the 1970s into the 1980s. Paul not only begins to learn that his a...