Screenwriting from Iowa & Other Unlikely Places

01/26/2025

Austin Filmmaker's 18-Month Journey from Script to Screen. (With a side story of Ohio State football & Cornelius Greene.)

Filmmaker Mark Freiburger's first draft for "Between Borders" was written in just four weeks (while he had a full time job and a new born baby. Just 18 month...

01/13/2025

Working on getting just 1% better…

The second Friday in January is known as as national Quitters when people given up on their new year's resolutions. Meaning people give up on their well inte...

12/25/2024

”I learned how to do comedy from Jean Shepherd.“
—Jerry Seinfeld on the writer of A Christmas Story
https://youtu.be/BLzl0bbwZ4s

As I post this on Christmas Day it's during TNT's 24 Hour marathon broadcast of "A Christmas Story." The 1983 movie that sputtered at the box office when originally released, but has continues to gain popularity 40+ years later. In this interview I cover the source material by the man who helped shape Jerry Seinfeld's comic sensibilities.

”I learned how to do comedy from Jean Shepherd.“—Jerry Seinfeld on the writer of "A Christmas Story"In this conversation, Scott W. Smith interviews Quentin S...

08/31/2024

A little 1 minute video I did yesterday for Jimmy Buffett Day here in Florida. One of my all time favorite storytellers.

08/28/2024

SF Bay area shoutout…

The next several videos (long and shorts) I'll explore the pros and cons of going to to film school these days. Please like and describe as it helps this cha...

08/27/2024

Another perspective...

The next several videos (long and shorts) I'll explore the pros and cons of going to to film school these days.

08/27/2024

One perspective...

The next several videos (long and shorts) I'll explore the pros and cons of going to to film school these days.

08/21/2024

“Take delight if one person gets value from your content today.”
—Gary Vaynerchuck

“Don’t despise small beginnings.”
—Sean Cannell

“Take delight if one person gets value from your content today.”—Gary Vaynerchuck (Pretty sure the blog title today was also from a Gary Vee talk) On January 1 of this year, I finally made due on l…

08/14/2024

What's at the heart of all storytelling?

I didn't learn this most important dramatic concept until I was in film school. Now here it is for free with just a two and a half minute time investment. T...

08/06/2024

Made a little 16 second video on one of my favorite quotes from the book”Your Screenplay Sucks!” by William M. Akers.

Because conflict is at the center of drama—writing good bad guys and gals is essential in screenwriting and playwriting. (Even if that good or bad gal is a s...

08/03/2024

Well, I failed to do two videos a month on my YouTube channel I started in January. But I’ll catch up in a few days since I pivoted by doing YouTube shorts. This one is only 8-seconds long.

Are there any screenwriting rules? There's a mini-debate in screenwriting circles about that question. Call it a concept, a dramatic truism. a principle—call...

07/05/2024

Robert Towne (1934-2024): From Commercial Fisherman to Oscar Winning Screenwriter—What a country!

I went up and told [Jack Nicolson], ‘Jocko, you‘re going to be a movie star—and I’m going to write for you.‘ Of course, 12 years later we were broke and unemployed.”

06/01/2024

If you’re a fan of “Toy Story 3,” here’s a 10-minute video I did on how the movie was written and why it has a perfect ending.

03/15/2024

Here's number 5 on my quest to do 100 of these YouTube videos.

"Can Screenwriting Be Taught?" has been an ongoing discussion for probably as long as there's been people trying to write good screenplays. I finally solve t...

01/25/2024

A little 3 1/2 minute video where I kinda got to punch Tom Cruise at the end...

This week I reveal why I've chosen to use brass knuckles as the chief metaphor for talking about screenwriting and filmmaking. There's been a long connection...

01/11/2024

Yeah, I made another YouTube video...

Thanks to the 23 people who subscribed in the first ten days of the "Filmmaking With Brass Knuckles" YouTube launch. Here's the latest video. Still searching...

01/02/2024

Well, my goal was to launch a YouTube channel on January 1, 2024. Just got that checked off a few minutes ago. The great thing about having zero views and zero subscribers is I'm hoping I have nowhere to go but up.
(I'd like to say it was a little something something I did on my winter break. But it truth this took more time than I'd like to admit.)

After 15 years of writing the blog “Screenwriting from Iowa...and Other Unlikely Places,” I decided that I wanted to launch a YouTube channel on January 1, 2...

03/24/2023

Elephant Dreams (and Dinosaurs Nightmares) with Scott Beck and Bryan Woods

“For the longest time growing up in Iowa, it felt like it was impossible to figure out. ‘How do you get into the career of your dreams?’ It took a lot of failure and stumbling.”
—Screenwriter Scott Beck (going from a small film festival in Iowa in 2007 to having two big Hollywood films released in 2023)
https://wp.me/paP6U-kvD