Pitch Perfect: a ‘Sports Movie’ about A Cappella
Kay Cannon discusses her how her improv background helped her write screenplays, why Pitch Perfect is like Rocky, how to balance over two-dozen characters in an ensemble film, and the challenges of writing a television series.
By Chris McKittrick. Pitch Perfect debuted in 335 theaters in September 2012. In February 2015, a trailer for the sequel played during a commercial break for Super Bowl XLIX in front of the largest audience in American television history. How did a movie about college a cappella groups go from a limited release genre comedy […]
“I want to tell a story in a new way” – Linklater on Boyhood
"I think the whole thing was overthought. All I had was time to think about everything." Linklater discusses his latest film, Boyhood.
By Christopher McKittrick. As both a writer and a director, Richard Linklater has undertaken storytelling challenges his entire career. Whether it is the “day in the life” narratives of ordinary people in Slacker or Dazed and Confused, presenting a film in real-time in Tape, weaving real interviews within the narrative of Bernie, or viewing a […]
Night at the Museum: Writing for Ben Stiller and Robin Williams
David Guion and Michael Handelman on what can make screenwriting a "Helpless and terror-filled experience".
By Christopher McKittrick. It isn’t often that studios want a popular family film franchise to end, so the writers behind Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb were presented with the challenge of wrapping up the Ben Stiller comedy franchise in a meaningful way while making sure to keep the series’ all-ages humor intact. […]
Writing the Aftermath of a School Shooting
William H. Macy, co-writing, and finding the perfect twist in Rudderless.
By Christopher McKittrick. Casey Twenter and Jeff Robison have been writing partners for over a dozen years, and several years ago it appeared that the music-based drama Rudderless would be their first produced screenplay when the script began to attract interest from actors, musicians, and investors. But getting the project on a stable path to […]
Externalising Inner Turmoil in Wild
Nick Hornby on adapting Cheryl Strayed's memoir of her hike across America.
By Christopher McKittrick. In March 2012, American writer Cheryl Strayed published a memoir titled Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail about her experience hiking the west coast of the United States in 1995. Despite her lack of backpacking experience, Strayed embarked on the deeply personal journey as she came to terms […]
