Michael Lee Simpson

How Quentin Tarantino Has Influenced Cinema (Part 1)

How Quentin Tarantino Has Influenced Cinema (Part 1)
This entry is part 1 of 3 in the series Quentin Tarantino

In the mid-1980s, a video rental store in Manhattan Beach, California blended in with the traffic on North Sepulveda Blvd. It was called Video Archives, owned by film fanatics Lance Lawson and Rick Humbert. VHS and Betamax tapes lined the shelves, the aisles stacked with Westerns like Shane and The Searchers, classics from the Golden […]

 Michael Lee Simpson

From Law To Laughs. Screenwriter David H. Steinberg Talks ‘American Pie’, ‘No Good Nick’ & ‘The Simpsons’

From Law To Laughs. Screenwriter David H. Steinberg Talks ‘American Pie’, ‘No Good Nick’ & ‘The Simpsons’

The life and career of screenwriter David H. Steinberg has been a movie in and of itself. After entering Yale at sixteen, he earned a law degree at Duke University and practiced entertainment law for four years until attending USC’s Peter Stark Producing Program. It was there he wrote Slackers as a spec script. Once […]

 Michael Lee Simpson

Diana Ossana, Oscar-Winning Screenwriter, Reflects On “Brokeback Mountain”

Diana Ossana, Oscar-Winning Screenwriter, Reflects On “Brokeback Mountain”

Oscar-winning screenwriter Diana Ossana discusses writing Brokeback Mountain, adapting the story, and crafting the acclaimed LGBTQ+ drama with depth.

 Michael Lee Simpson

Writing A Biopic Your Audience Will Love

Writing A Biopic Your Audience Will Love

Biopic Screenwriting Guide: Key considerations for writing true stories. Learn character development, historical accuracy, and adaptation screenwriting tips

 Michael Lee Simpson

Why We Need Film Festivals

Why We Need Film Festivals

In the summer of 1932, Rouben Mamoulian’s Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde played for an audience from nine countries on the terrace of the Excelsior Palace Hotel in Venice. The occasion: The first screening at the first film festival in history, the Venice International Film Festival. In the last eighty-eight years, over three thousand others […]