Writing

Notes and essays on film, writing, AI, and more.

Jump to a specific topic:

Acting & Casting // AI // Art & Commerce // Books // Coding // Comedy // Culture & Ideas // Directing // Editing // Film Festivals // Humor & Satire // Marketing // Movies, Music, TV // Non-fiction // Places // Producing // Projects // Weird Hemingway // Work & Personal Development // Writing & Storytelling //

Most Recent

• Calculating fantasy baseball auction values with Jupyter Notebook February 18, 2020
• Cats (!!!…?) January 5, 2020
• Freedom and constraints December 1, 2019
• Marketing indie films: marketing starts with the product November 28, 2019
• Marketing indie films: how do people choose which films to watch? November 27, 2019

Filmmaking

Writing & Storytelling

• What is suspense? September 1, 2019
• Stories as maps July 21, 2019
• Marketing, Drama, and Tension June 28, 2019
• Drama / melodrama / comedy / farce June 23, 2019
• Bohm on creativity, order, art, and mediocrity June 10, 2019
• Sociological vs. Psychological Storytelling June 2, 2019
• A Review of Highland 2 (vs. Final Draft) December 30, 2018
• Screenwriting as a professional fascination November 17, 2018
• The crap +1 fallacy November 13, 2018
• Everyone is writing TV pilots November 8, 2018
• Two kinds of writing advice November 7, 2018
• Do screenwriting contests matter? November 2, 2018
• Skill vs talent (in screenwriting) November 1, 2018
• Steal a bit from a lot of different places July 17, 2018
• “Art is fire plus algebra” September 4, 2017
• “If I were wrong in the script, then that’d be as wrong as I could be” August 6, 2017
• “The purpose of being a serious writer is to keep people from despair”
• “If you haven’t anything to say…” July 28, 2017
• More daring and more sincere May 11, 2017
• The joy of breaking a story February 5, 2017
• In your head, on the page January 20, 2017
• Burglars November 10, 2016
• Connect more, collect less July 11, 2016
• The cardinal sin is dullness June 20, 2016
• Kubrick on originality in film January 13, 2016
• Kubrick on suspense vs. surprise
• Make your characters want something right away December 11, 2015
• Deliberate Practice for Screenwriting November 19, 2015
• Editing and Forwards November 7, 2015
• Kiarostami on curiosity and cinema November 1, 2015
• Timelessness in writing October 23, 2015
• Some very good tips on screenwriting September 24, 2015
• Creativity vs. imagination September 5, 2015
• Write what you feel bad about September 3, 2015
• Notes on Soliciting and Interpreting Feedback on Videos (or other creative work) August 12, 2015
• Some deep wound or hunger was imprinted on them early in life July 2, 2015
• How to create suspense in writing June 25, 2015
• A long-term project is like a palimpsest May 26, 2015
• A story created this way will always be full of life May 24, 2015
• They don’t go to the police because it’s dull February 22, 2015
• It doesn’t matter what the MacGuffin is February 21, 2015
• Screenplay feedback and accepting that something is broken February 16, 2015
• Hitchcock on plausibility and dullness February 13, 2015
• What I accomplished by writing an hour a day for most of a year January 5, 2015
• A writer’s life is a highly vulnerable, almost naked activity November 21, 2014
• But it is the thing that wants to live November 20, 2014
• Can data help you write a better screenplay? November 19, 2014
• Happy New Year. You’re running out of time. November 11, 2014
• Writing a screenplay (process) November 8, 2014
• Rewriting on paper vs. screen August 27, 2014
• Audience feedback and finding ideas August 10, 2014
• Pornographic Westerns? August 3, 2014
• One of my favorite quotes on creativity February 24, 2014
• Meisner Setups for Writing Short Plays December 23, 2013
• Anachronistic Profanity in Deadwood December 22, 2013

Directing

• Better ugly than dull July 7, 2018
• The worst sin a filmmaker can make June 6, 2018
• Back pocket notes June 4, 2018
• Making people move May 20, 2018
• What’s the most indirect, intriguing way to present it? April 8, 2018
• It was by thinking of Hitchcock that I could find solutions April 7, 2018
• The Level-up Method of Filmmaking April 2, 2018
• Physical comedy is hard July 22, 2017
• Christopher Nolan on starting out as a filmmaker January 11, 2017
• Tony Zhou on stealing from other (older) filmmakers November 28, 2016
• Kiarostami interview July 8, 2016
• Wide-angle close ups and the Coen brothers March 31, 2016
• Sidney Lumet on theme March 30, 2016
• A surprising number of earnest conversations March 28, 2016
• That’s a wrap March 27, 2016
• Truffaut on filmmaking March 22, 2016
• Directing kissing scenes March 21, 2016
• The day before production
• Mike Nichols on Directing March 20, 2016
• Breaking down a script as a director March 8, 2016
• “The frame is a playground. So play.” December 21, 2015
• Notes on Directing Improvised Scenes (on camera) August 5, 2015
• Note on Directing for the First Time
• Mike Nichols on how improvisation influence his directing style June 22, 2015
• The Kinski entrance June 19, 2015
• Watching with a detached gaze June 17, 2015
• No close-ups, unless we need to May 8, 2015

Comedy

• Physical comedy is hard July 22, 2017
• “The frame is a playground. So play.” December 21, 2015
• Ernst Lubitsch coined the term “meet cute” November 28, 2015
• The Art of the Gag November 21, 2015
• Notes on Directing Improvised Scenes (on camera) August 5, 2015
• Mike Nichols on how improvisation influence his directing style June 22, 2015
• It’s a great joke but it’s an expensive laugh May 23, 2015
• Existentialism, identity, and comedic characters February 26, 2014
• How to Make it as an Independent Improv Troupe in Baltimore December 7, 2008

Producing

• Writing grants November 10, 2018
• The SAG short film agreement is now the short project agreement August 3, 2018
• The weekend before production June 16, 2018
• The stress of the big 3 May 15, 2018
• Wisconsin bird magic May 14, 2018
• Breakfast, Windshield Wipers, Kinko’s May 13, 2018
• $10k Short Film Budget Template April 13, 2018
• How to make a microshort March 26, 2018
• Pre-production stress May 16, 2017
• How to Make a Short Film with SAG Actors (and not kill yourself) September 28, 2016
• Notes on Pre-production and Planning for a Web Series July 25, 2015
• Pre-production, resistance, and finding the antidote February 4, 2015

Acting & Casting

• The stress of the big 3 May 15, 2018
• Actor reels, web series, and casting April 12, 2018
• The Eternal Casting of the Director’s Mind: Fishing, Hunting, and Foraging April 3, 2018
• How to create your own work as an actor July 22, 2017

Editing

• Temp Music March 30, 2019
• The long dark winter of the edit March 13, 2019
• That first assembly September 29, 2018
• Sidney Lumet on Editing June 17, 2016
• Feedback in the editing process June 14, 2016
• Tony Zhou on editing May 14, 2016
• Speed up Adobe Premiere Pro with previews (how to get rid of those yellow and red lines) April 3, 2016
• Editing and Forwards November 7, 2015
• Exporting to ProRes from Adobe Premiere on PC August 17, 2015
• Notes on Editing Improvised Video Footage August 14, 2015
• Walter Murch’s hierarchy of editing priorities May 16, 2015
• My Adobe Premiere workflow for editing improvised scenes December 8, 2014

Film Festivals

• Marketing indie films: how do people choose which films to watch? November 27, 2019
• At the Sidewalk Film Festival in Birmingham September 1, 2018
• Back from the Middle Coast Film Festival September 4, 2017
• Film festivals, feedback, and re-cutting May 14, 2017

Marketing & Distribution

• Marketing indie films: marketing starts with the product November 28, 2019
• Marketing indie films: how do people choose which films to watch? November 27, 2019
• How much should indie films spend on marketing? November 26, 2019
• Marketing, Drama, and Tension June 28, 2019
• Add marketing to the list of things you need to know March 19, 2019

My Films

• Better ugly than dull July 7, 2018
• Wrapped on my first feature film July 6, 2018
• The weekend before production June 16, 2018
• The dinner party movie is almost ready to go June 10, 2018
• The stress of the big 3 May 15, 2018
• Breakfast, Windshield Wipers, Kinko’s May 13, 2018
• Making a feature March 29, 2018
• Writing again March 29, 2016
• A review of Words Fail Me + an interview with me August 5, 2015
• Why I made a web series and not… something else July 24, 2015
• Great Opening Night for Cut to The Chase January 11, 2014
• Neighbors July 6, 2011
• The Most Depressing New Year’s Ever December 31, 2008

Life, Work, Culture

Art & Commerce

• Reasons people watch movies June 23, 2019
• Sturgeon’s Law June 16, 2019
• For a city to have a thriving arts scene March 26, 2019
• You can have my movie-watching big data November 6, 2018
• Everything is a remix December 23, 2015
• Are there too many films being made? December 20, 2015
• The phrase “starving artist” is relatively new December 14, 2015

Work & Personal Development

• Freedom and constraints December 1, 2019
• Leaving Chicago August 4, 2019
• Travailler, toujours travailler. June 21, 2019
• Near misses and future success April 14, 2019
• Re-entry problems March 23, 2019
• Escaping the predicament of the self March 22, 2019
• The pushing sort of person March 18, 2019
• How to not be busy November 11, 2018
• Sure, follow your passion, you masochist November 9, 2018
• Stories get you through November 4, 2018
• Rules for work November 3, 2018
• Instead of planning your career… April 10, 2018
• Don’t keep a schedule April 9, 2018
• Survivorship bias March 29, 2018
• Knowledge and productivity are like compound interest August 7, 2017
• Dissatisfaction July 21, 2017
• Self-doubt vs. self-criticism May 7, 2017
• Between stimulus and response there is a space. February 9, 2017
• The identity gap June 19, 2016
• Listen to everything, but say no to almost everything March 17, 2016
• The task of the craftsman February 14, 2016
• Mark Duplass on career development for filmmakers December 24, 2015
• We are creative because everything isn’t okay (yet) December 14, 2015
• Two kinds of perfectionism November 22, 2015
• Identity and the other November 4, 2015
• Don’t surround yourself with smarter people October 30, 2015
• Multiple projects at once October 4, 2015
• All you need is one person to say “Get in” June 30, 2015
• There is actually no such thing as atheism May 28, 2015
• They will probably be hustlers, too May 20, 2015
• Taking notes by hand May 17, 2015
• Boredom is one of the most important things
• As far as creativity is concerned, isolation is required May 9, 2015
• Get a day job, but don’t get too good at it May 8, 2015
• Doing two important things at once improves the quality of procrastination February 12, 2015
• Sorry I killed everybody! I just really need my alone time. November 18, 2014

Ideas

• Transgressive behavior: when is it celebrated and when is it punished by power? November 26, 2019
• Despite your complete lack of distinguishing features, we have decided to hate you October 3, 2019
• Witch hunts October 2, 2019
• Two competing revolts July 21, 2019
• The phantom goodbye June 27, 2019
• Kafka’s best joke June 21, 2019

Movies, Music, TV

• Cats (!!!…?) January 5, 2020
• Deadwood returns March 24, 2019
• The Passage March 17, 2019
• The Party (2017) June 12, 2018
• How to choose which movies to watch February 1, 2017
• Tangerine November 29, 2016
• A reasonable request June 19, 2016
• I love this scene from A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting Existence December 20, 2015
• Steal Like an Artist, Tommy Wiseau Edition November 24, 2015
• Thoughts on Project Greenlight November 14, 2015
• Victoria (2015)
• Cronies October 26, 2015
• Computer Show October 14, 2015
• Roger Ebert on The Exterminating Angel July 1, 2015
• OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies June 1, 2015
• This scene from Wet Hot American Summer made me laugh so hard May 19, 2015
• Some people find the taste of pilgrim guts to be too strong May 17, 2015
• Wild Tales (Relatos Salvajes) March 11, 2015
• Headhunters (2011) February 12, 2015
• My review of Grown Ups 2 December 7, 2014
• The things fictional characters shout upon orgasm November 9, 2014
• After Hours (1985) October 12, 2014
• My favorite Deadwood quotes October 6, 2014
• Watching Westerns This Week August 9, 2014
• Thoughts on Snowpiercer July 20, 2014
• Thoughts on The Lego Movie

Books

• Shark Drunk June 21, 2019
• The days of small things
• Exhilaration comes from naming the unnamable and hearing it named
• The worst sin a filmmaker can make June 6, 2018
• “We are driven back to the ‘blood’, the thriller” July 24, 2017
• I started to wonder what I was doing there June 17, 2016
• Only people who don’t give a damn have style October 12, 2015
• Fiction is the truth, fool! June 17, 2015
• My days become dreamlike May 26, 2015
• Stephen King’s “On Writing” January 4, 2015
• So Good They Can’t Ignore You November 10, 2014

Coding

• Calculating fantasy baseball auction values with Jupyter Notebook February 18, 2020
• Collecting ActiveCampaign Subscriber Traffic Source Data January 28, 2018
• My first Ruby on Rails Project January 4, 2017
• Google Tag Manager and Turbolinks in Ruby on Rails January 1, 2017
• Extracting URL strings into Google Tag Manager July 6, 2016

Artificial Intelligence

• Do deepfakes ironically make blackmail harder? October 8, 2019
• Deepfake casting August 31, 2019
• Interviews with GPT-2: The golden age of television and The Wire July 15, 2019
• AI is really funny, and maybe, creative June 29, 2019
• Deepfakes June 14, 2019
• AI can mimic human voices

Places

• You get nothing but the wider world October 6, 2019
• Despite your complete lack of distinguishing features, we have decided to hate you October 3, 2019
• Witch hunts October 2, 2019
• Leaving Chicago August 4, 2019
• Notes on Berlin January 22, 2019
• At the Sidewalk Film Festival in Birmingham September 1, 2018
• Dining not alone July 11, 2018
• Isle of Skye July 10, 2018
• Travel notes from Edinburgh July 6, 2018
• Wisconsin bird magic May 14, 2018
• Paxton, IL May 12, 2018
• Chicago is an October sort of city even in spring May 21, 2015

Creative Writing

Humor & Satire

• An Email Chain Between 4 People Depicted in Billy Joel’s “Piano Man” November 2, 2016
• The Perfect First Date December 3, 2014
• Picking The Low-hanging Fruit: Case Studies for the Innovative Business Exec July 25, 2014
• A Yale Admissions Letter from a Desperate Girl July 6, 2014
• A Woman Wonders If She’s Spending Enough Time Plugged in to the Internet February 22, 2014
• A Letter to My 7th grade Science Teacher Regarding Black Holes February 13, 2014
• Humor: What We’re Reading This Summer: Staff Picks from Maypole Leaf Books in Halifax, Canada June 8, 2013
• Diary of an Unemployed Elitist April 29, 2009

Also, I made The Historical Wire, where famous people from history quote The Wire.

Weird Hemingway

Short weird stories by Ernest Hemingway. For a while these stories would just pop into my brain, fully formed, and I had to write them down.

• Bloomington March 25, 2018
• Antonio March 1, 2018
• Comedians January 2, 2018
• Chicago to Istanbul September 25, 2017
• Southwest August 25, 2017
• Maria July 14, 2017

True Stories

• The day the mouth harp guy came to town December 18, 2018
• The Saddest Retirement Party In Recent Memory June 13, 2013
• The Time My Friend Made a Really Bad Decision to Buy a House in West Baltimore at an Auction May 28, 2013
• Non-fiction: Did you hear those fireworks? May 25, 2013