Screenwriting from Iowa & Other Unlikely Places

08/31/2025

10 photos from a five day road trip driving from Florida to Iowa, a quick train to Chicago, and less than 24 hours in The Windy City before flying home. And some movie memories along the way.

”Life movies pretty fast. You don’t stop and look around once in a while— you could miss it.”—Ferriss Bueller At the end of this month I helped a friend drive a car from Florida to Iowa and i…

08/02/2025

A YouTube video I finished this week that explore how screenwriter and filmmakers use ticking clocks to create a sense of urgency.

“As you explore some of the great classics of stage and screen, you will see that most have a ‘bomb under the table.‘”Director Alexander Mackendrick (“Sweet ...

08/02/2025

Always good to tap into screenwriter David Mamet for some great screenwriting quotes.

If there's one thing I've been doing on my blog "Screenwriting from Iowa: And Other Unlikely Places" is curate some of the best screenwriting advice out ther...

08/02/2025

Here's a video I did on what what one of the co-creators called the 9 rules of the classic cartoon featuring Wile E. Coyote and the Roadrunner.

I'm not sure if the Acme products that Wile E. Coyote used to chase the Roadrunner in the timeless cartoons were defective or just being misused. This video ...

05/29/2025

The Perfect Script...and Perfect Ex*****on of Script Into a Movie (according to "Blackish" creator Kenya Barris)

Blackish creator Kenya Barris and The Tipping Point author Malcolm Gladwell have started a new podcast called The Unusual Suspects with Kenya Barris and Malcolm Gladwell. This is part of an exchang…

05/29/2025

He only stood 5’2" but he was a giant in the early Hollywood. A German immigrant who came to America at 17 with just $50 on his way to founding Universal Studios. (Not even entering the film business until he was 40 years old. It's an EPIC story.

Today the Universal Epic Universe theme park officially opens. I was able to go on one of the preview days earlier this month and this video was inspired fro...

04/18/2025

My little quest to upload a video a day for the month of April continues on this 18th day of the month. Hard to believe that it took me years (no exaggeration) to get up the courage to post my first video. The mantra that I’ve heard over and over again in starting a YouTube channel is "You have to start before you’re ready.” I think that’s pretty good advice for most creative endeavors. You figure it out as you go along.

My little quest to upload a video a day for the month of April continues on this 18th day of the month. Hard to believe that it took me years (no exaggeration) to get up the courage to post my firs…

04/09/2025

A basic screenwriting concept that both Aaron Sorkin and David Mamet happen to use the exact same illustration to explain.

04/02/2025

My 2-minute video you didn't know you needed today connecting filmmaker David Lynch, Bob‘s Big Boy in Burbank, and The Silicorn Valley in Iowa.

Earlier this month I produced a 23-minute video remembering filmmaker and artist David Lynch's work and life. This is two minutes pulled from that video conn...

04/02/2025

My 2-minute video you didn't know you needed today connecting filmmaker David Lynch, Bob's Big Boy in Burbank, and The Silicorn Valley in Iowa.

Earlier this month I produced a 23-minute video remembering filmmaker and artist David Lynch's work and life. This is two minutes pulled from that video conn...

03/21/2025

When filmmaker David Lynch died in January I started working on what I thought would be a quick video reflecting on his career—two months later I finally finished the now 23-minute video. Hope it inspires your creativity.

My David Lynch 10-Point Film School

When filmmaker/artist David Lynch died in January I thought I could quickly do a video based on his career and the time I once heard him speak. I was wrong. ...

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...