Interviews

  Writer/director Richard LaGravenese is somewhat of an expert when it comes to adaptations. With titles like Water for Elephants, P.S. I Love You, The Horse Whisperer and The Bridges of Madison County under his belt, taking on the newest in the teen-novel-turned-movie-phenomenon – Beautiful Creatures – seemed like an obvious choice. “This one, at

John Lasseter is now the head of Disney Animation Studios, but he’s best known for molding the Northern California based animation studio, Pixar, into a household name that is synonymous with a kids’ brand of movies that adults can enjoy, too. Screenwriter Phil Johnston, one of two writers on the newest animation out of the

“I got sober when I was 25,” screenwriter John Gatins tells ScreenwritingU in a very personal one-on-one interview about his new drama, Flight, the story of a pilot who saves the lives of everyone on his plane only to be questioned about his own state of sobriety while flying. Gatins uses his experiences with addition to mold the

THE AVENGERS is directed by Joss Whedon. In this interview, Zak talks about:  How to adapt a comic into a screenplay.  Making a story emotional and getting us connected to the main character.  Surviving competing interests — the comic, the fans, and the studio!  How deals like X2, The Incredible Hulk, and The Avengers came together

Screenwriter Chris Terrio got lucky, he says. That’s the only way he can explain how a first time writer like himself got the opportunity of a lifetime – to write a move directed by Ben Affleck. The new political thriller,Argo, received a standing ovation at Toronto Film Festival and is fast becoming the most talked

“I wrote a three page script, the very basic premise of the script,” writer/director Rian Johnson says of the first time he came up with the idea to write the new action, sci-fi movie Looper. This film started as a short that was never produced and now stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Bruce Willis. Dreams can happen

If you hate the F-word, you don’t want to see Bachelorette. And you know what? The film’s writer and director doesn’t care. She wants to show you how women really talk when no one else is around. That’s the kind of artistic bravado that brought playwright Leslye Headland out of the theater and into Hollywood to

Screenwriter Chris Butler got his start in Hollywood by drawing storyboards. Wait a second that means no dialog, right? How does a storyboard artist get good at writing if he never has to spew out dialog? He concentrates on character and not all the chatter, says Butler about the process. Although, the writer/director for the

ScreenwritingU sat down with screenwriter Vanessa Taylor to get her take on the clichés of romantic comedies, working with Meryl Streep and being on the famed Hollywood Black List. Hope Springs is the story of a married couple looking to put the spark back in their love life. These two are sleeping in separate bedrooms, barely talking

“There’s a lot of movie talk,” screenwriter Dan Gilroy says of his film family. Gilroy’s not only the writer on The Bourne Legacy that he co-wrote with his brother, Tony Gilroy – who also wrote the first three films in the series and directed this one — but he’s the husband of actress Rene Russo and son