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Unscripted 7.30.20: This Week in Screenwriting News

July 30, 2020

Screenwriting career consultant Lee Jessup discusses this week's success stories, industry news, online events, and more.

The Current Occupant' Poses Thought-Provoking Questions, But Offers No Answers

July 29, 2020

The Current Occupant has a huge hook: it’s a movie about a man in an insane asylum who believes he’s President of the United States. It plays on internet conspiracy theories right and left, not to mention the merits of the 25th amendment—and what wou...

Filmmaker Benjamin Cavell on his modern retelling of Stephen King's 'The Stand'

July 28, 2020

Benjamin Cavell and the team behind the CBS All Access limited series The Stand got to shelter in place for the pandemic by the skin of their teeth. They wrapped in Vancouver, British Columbia on March 11, 2020 — mere hours before much of North Ameri...

Tayarisha Poe On Writing, ‘Selah and The Spades’

July 28, 2020

Selah and The Spades is a culmination of ideas that writer-director Tayarisha Poe pieced together into her ambitious first feature film. The film gives us an inside glimpse into the life and complex relationships of a seventeen-year-old Black girl on...

Nate Myers' Script 'American Terrorist: Jesse James' Challenges "Outlaw Heroes"

July 28, 2020

In light of the recent Capitol Riot in Washington, DC this past January, Nate Myer’s script “American Terrorist: Jesse James” holds a mirror up to people thinking they’re above the law à la Jesse James. The story asks white America to reexamine its s...

The Weekend Movie Takeaway: ‘Tenet’ Gets Re-Schedule Indefinitely While ‘Bill & Ted’ Go Straight To Streaming

July 28, 2020

The COVID-19 pandemic has seen one of America's favorite national pastimes—going to the movies—upended to an extent not seen since World War II.

Co-Creators of The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance on Writing a Show for Everyone

July 28, 2020

How about this for a dream job: You get to bring The Dark Crystal to a whole new generation and make previous fans happy. For Will Matthews and Jeffrey Addiss, this is reality. Here, they tell me all about it and what’s next on deck for them. Warning...

Write On with Heroes & Villains Ent. Literary Management Chris Coggins

July 28, 2020

Heroes & Villains Entertainment Literary Manager Chris Coggins discusses her move from development executive to manager, the kind of work ethic she looks for in a client, and what she means by "screenwriters should swing for the fences" when drea...

#BeTheChange - Write On with Champion for Change Thuc Nguyen

July 28, 2020

Screenwriter and founder of The Bitch List Thuc Nguyen discusses how she started the list, unconscious biases and micro-aggressions, buzz words that are past their due date and her projects with women of color protagonists currently in development. T...