The Absence of Eden takes place at the border between the United States and Mexico – a hellish landscape inhabited by coyotes, armed officers, desperate immigrants, and refugees. When Esmee (Saldaña), a young woman working as a private dancer in Mexico, is forced to commit a violent act of self-defense that results in the death of a cartel member, she flees her homeland for sanctuary in the United States. Guided by a ruthless Coyote and a group of undocumented immigrants, she befriends a young mother and her daughter along the way. Before crossing the border, the mother is taken from the group ..read more

Warner Bros. Studio Tour Hollywood And Turner Classic Movies Launch New TCM Classic Films Tour. Photo by Tommaso Boddi/Getty Images for Warner Bros. Studio Tour Hollywood Last year, Warner Bros. celebrated its centennial. Birthed on April 4, 1923 by brothers Harry, Samuel, Albert, and Jack, with Jack being the most colorful of the four, the studio has produced some of the world’s most beloved movie favorites. Their motto was “Educate, Enlighten, Entertain.” They went on to do this in spades with The Sea Hawk, Knute Rockne, All American, The Glass Menagerie, Ocean’s 11, Days ..read more

Welcome to “Ask the Coach.” As a writing coach, I answer questions from writers about making the work of writing happen, tackling craft, business, and personal questions along the way. (Have a question you’d like answered? Check the details at the end of the article about how to submit one.) Canva Today I’m responding to a question about procrastination. Dear Jenna, I struggle with procrastination and getting started writing. I want to write, but each day I wrestle with myself to get started. When I do finally get around to writing, I feel so much better. But I hate all the time I’m wasting ..read more

As The Wiz recently retook Broadway and is now on tour, we’re turning our attention to the female screenwriter who brought us the iconic 1939 adaptation of Frank L. Baum’s classic children’s story. While The Wizard of Oz (starring Judy Garland, Ray Bolger, Jack Haley, and Bert Lahr) remains her most famous script, Ryerson wrote or adapted over 59 stories for the screen. Her career built from the silent era with her first story credit, Harold, the Last of the Saxons (1919), through Talkies like Babes in Arms (1939) and into television as early as 1949 with episodes of Kraft Theatre. Unlike man ..read more

Canva We, the global film and TV audience are making it very clear what we want to watch, yet the people creating the content don’t seem to be listening. What’s going on? Tubi released a survey last month – it’s the ad-supported 'free’ streamer owned by FOX - that revealed interesting tidbits our content overlords seem to be entirely ignoring. 96% of people surveyed liked ‘nostalgia watching’ – movies and TV that are more than ten years old. And 67% of millennials and Gen Z’ers said they like it because…”the style and quality is good.” These same youngsters and not so youngsters also said whe ..read more

New to Los Angeles, a rideshare driver Clar (Maika Monroe) picks up Carl (Dane DeHaan) from a home deep in the Hollywood Hills. What begins as a routine ride turns into Clare's worst nightmare: a twelve-hour fight for survival through the city's seedy underbelly. Carl is not the passenger Clare thought he was, and Clare is not easy prey.  This is a particularly unique case that storyteller and filmmaker Veena Sud found herself in – full copyright ownership of her TV series, that would be produced and released. This said series, The Stranger, was a short format series, running at approxim ..read more

At age sixty, endurance swimmer Diana Nyad took the biggest plunge of her life. Thirty-two years earlier, in 1978, she had tried—and failed—to swim 110 miles from Cuba to Key West, Florida. Then in her twenties, she was in the shape of her life and a media magnet, swimming around Manhattan in record time and later from the Bahamas to Florida. The Cuba trek would be a crowning achievement. But strong winds and high waves pushed her off course, making headlines but not landfall. She traveled the world as a sports journalist and broadcaster afterward, but she never forgot about that foiled swim ..read more

Many of the problems we face as screenwriters are related to the reality of the craft: third act structure, navigating notes, character development, the pitch process, etc. At the same time, there are personal and emotional issues that influence the practical work: imposter syndrome, the inner critic, shame and anger, professional jealousy, etc. I have the screenwriting experience to address questions about the practical aspects of the work, and the therapy experience to explore the personal and emotional considerations that inform the work of screenwriting. My email address will be at the end ..read more

In this episode of the Selling Your Screenplay Podcast, our host Ashley Scott Meyers tells us his thoughts on how AI tools like ChatGPT and Sora from OpenAI might change writing and filmmaking. Ashley then interviews filmmaker William Eubank, who's credits include being the Writer/Director of Land Of Bad (2024), The Signal (2014), and directing Underwater (2020) starring Kristen Stewart. William Eubank tells us how he got his start by working for Panavision and building a large Sci-Fi set in his backyard to make his first movie Love (2011). You can listen to the audio portion of the podcast by ..read more

In Part One I proposed that this film about a giant reptile that destroys Tokyo should be a contender for Best Picture Oscar, or Best Foreign Film... and we looked at how every character in the film is defined by the horrors of war. Struggling with it. I don't think there is a character in this film who isn't deeply scarred by World War Two... including the big guy.  Related: 'Godzilla Minus One' - Part One: Concept, Character and The Boys On the Boat Our protagonist Kioshi failed his Kamikaze mission, then failed to shoot Godzilla when he attacked the airplane repair facility - killing e ..read more