Writing

Character | DC | Director's Chair | Filmmaking | Marvel | Star Wars | Writing
Power of Myth: Watch Joseph Campbell’s Six-Part Interview With Bill Moyers (1988)
ByDaniel Rennie August 26, 2022August 26, 2022
The Hero’s Journey is the backbone of most myth-based stories in Hollywood. Mythic storylines, according to Chris Vogler, author of The Writer’s Journey, are the most sought-after screenplays in Hollywood. Vogler wrote a memo about this journey that went viral at Disney and revolutionized how the Mouse House made movies. But where did Vogler get his ideas…
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Character | Franchises | Indiana Jones | Writing
Philip Kaufman: The Filmmaker Behind Indy’s Pursuit of the Lost Ark
ByDaniel Rennie October 29, 2021April 27, 2022
The official story behind Indiana Jones’s first big-screen adventure, Raiders of the Lost Ark, has mythic status. George Lucas famously recounted his idea for an intrepid archaeologist-adventurer to Steven Spielberg on a Hawaiian beach in 1977. Spielberg, who always wanted to make a globe-trotting adventure in the tradition of James Bond, accepted the offer to…
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Character | Character | DC | Home | Puppetry and Make-up
Joker Origins: The Two Characters in ‘The Man Who Laughs’ Who Influenced The Clown Prince of Crime
ByDaniel Rennie July 26, 2021April 26, 2022
Court jesters, carnival sideshow freaks, circus clowns — the creepy, malevolent, clown has an uncomfortable history associated with entertainment and cruelty. Stephen King’s Pennywise recently terrorized in big-screen adaptations IT and IT Part 2, but, nonetheless, the most famous creepy clown is the Joker, Batman’s arch-nemesis, and Gotham’s gleeful Clown Prince of Crime. The Joker’s…
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Character | Franchises | Home | Indiana Jones | Screenwriting | Writing
Brainstorming Indy: Inside the 1978 ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark’ Story Conference
ByDaniel Rennie February 19, 2021February 21, 2023
Would you like to see genius at work? Would you like to see how one of cinema’s greatest heroes emerged from a blank sheet of paper? Very rarely do we get a glimpse behind closed doors at a real, unedited creative discussion during pre-production. It’s so rare, that the only one I can think of…
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Character | Director's Chair | Filmmaking | Franchises | Marvel | Writing
How Marvel Kills Off A Superhero
ByDaniel Rennie February 17, 2021
Superhero movies are fun, but there are rarely any high stakes for the characters. Avengers: Endgame changed that. After watching the 20-plus film series, a marvel-ous interconnected cinematic universe rich with some of Marvel Comics’ biggest marquee superheroes brought to life, we all became pretty attached to the likes of Captain America, Black Widow, Spider-Man, Gamorra,…
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Home | Screenwriting | Writing
‘Star Wars’ Borrowed More From ‘Dune’ Than You Realize
ByDaniel Rennie August 12, 2020March 5, 2023
Search your bookcase, you know it to be true In 1977, Star Wars hit the big screen. George Lucas’ space opera brought scope to science fiction. A sweeping tale of good over evil. Much has been made of Lucas’ incorporation of Joseph Campbell’s Hero’s Journey. Lucas, himself, admits that a variety of sources influenced his saga….
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Home | Screenwriting | Writing
What Is A MacGuffin? An Explanation of Film’s Most Mysterious Plot Device
ByDaniel Rennie March 25, 2020December 5, 2024
What is a MacGuffin? It’s perhaps the most mysterious plot device in film. The MacGuffin (sometimes spelled McGuffin) is often misunderstood, and can be a lazy way to push the plot forward. But in the hands of a master, it can be used to create a clever and intricate narrative. Alfred Hitchcock, the Master of…
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Franchises | Home | Novel Tie-Ins | Star Wars | Writing
‘Star Wars: The High Republic’ Trailer Takes Us Inside The Writer’s Room At Skywalker Ranch
ByDaniel Rennie February 25, 2020April 22, 2020
The ‘Skywalker Saga’ has come to an end, and an exciting new direction is being charted for a galaxy far, far away. In fact, the world building for Star Wars is expanding in every direction across all platforms. One of those directions is Star Wars: The High Republic–which for years has been developed under the…
Read More ‘Star Wars: The High Republic’ Trailer Takes Us Inside The Writer’s Room At Skywalker Ranch
Character | Franchises | Home | Star Wars | Writing
Boba Fett Origins: How the Bounty Hunter Spawned Multiple Characters Including Darth Vader AND Han Solo
ByDaniel Rennie January 5, 2020August 5, 2020
The Mandalorian is the legacy of one of Star Wars’ most popular characters: bounty hunter Boba Fett. While the bounty hunter only ever had a few lines in the saga, and met a rather idiotic death, he has had more influence on Star Wars than most realize. Shades of Fett’s bounty hunter exist in characters–good and…
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Writing
[Watch] Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely Discuss Writing A Marvel Screenplay
ByDaniel Rennie September 18, 2019July 31, 2020
What does it take to write a Marvel screenplay? You couldn’t ask for better guides into the process than screenwriters Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely. The screenwriting duo is responsible for crafting five of the very best Marvel screenplays including Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame. In the following interview with Vanity Fair, Christopher Markus and…
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