Back from Venice

While I am back in Vienna, I am still thinking about the great time I had at the International Film Festival in Venice, where THE FIFTH SEASON did not win any Lions, but two other prices. Meanwhile you can watch a few impressions from the red carpet. The prices are Arca CinemaGiovani Award for Best Film (Young Jury Award) and …

THE FIFTH SEASON at Venice

The world premiere of THE FIFTH SEASON (Script/Directors: Peter Brosens, Jessica Woodworth) will be held on September 6 2012 at 10 p.m. in Salla Grande at Lido/Venice in the main competition of the International Film Festival of Venice. I am going to be there from September 5 to 9. If you want to meet me for a coffee, call me …

The Moment.

This has nothing to do with screenwriting, I just think that this photo is freaking fantastic: Ingmar Bergman on the set of JAWS. Here you can read a bit about the backstory of the photo.

Hooray, Recipies!

“Formula movies” is a term for films that always use the same structure and plot devices. here you have a beautiful visualization for the most common movie genres. (If you click on the image it will lead you to an article with a bigger version of the illustration). I tried to find the source of the illustration which I found …

On Pitching, Part II

Shortly after I wrote my last post on pitching a story, I stumbled upon this great article on Blake Snyder’s Save The Cat blog, called “The Most Common Pitch Meeting Mistake“. Pitch consultant Stephanie Palmer writes that you should not tell the decision-makers in a pitch meeting how they should feel about your story. And I totally agree. Saying something …

On Pitching

From time to time I am giving lectures on pitching a story. I think I can stop that now, because most of the things you need to know are being said in this video. Writer and director Tony Gilroy hears a few loglines and gives his opinion on the storylines. Footnote: Please let us not forget that making a movie …

Breaking News

I am very happy to announce that my latest collaboration with Belgian filmmakers Peter Brosens and Jessica Woodworth THE FIFTH SEASON will have its world premiere in the Official Competition of the 69th Venice International Film Festival. As soon as I know the screening dates you will read about it here so we can meet on the red carpet.

Watchlist: Web Series

There are lots of web series on the internet these days, and how you get them financed is still a mystery in most cases. But what was I going to tell you? Oh, yes! Flavorwire is presenting 10 web series to watch. Some videos don’t work here in Austria, but there is one I did not know before and I …

Video: Weekend At The Beach

I know you always wanted to see Jean-Luc Godard in swimming trunks, Wim Wenders fully clothed (including suspenders) and Heiner Müller reading a book at a beach in California. Here you go: Personally I think the video is rather mediocre until the film cuts away from the adults at 6:57 mins and shows the kids… :-) Oh, and whoever is …

Watchlist: DOBERMANN

Last night my screenwriter friend Susanne Freund told me that she had been member of the jury of Max Ophüls Festival in Saarbrücken many years ago. There she saw a short film called DOBERMANN. Many years later she saw the movie THE LIVES OF OTHERS, and the name of the director sounded familiar to her. It was Florian Henckel von …