my poor neglected forum
January 6, 2016
The forum is not, technically, all that neglected. There is a lot that goes on behind the scenes in private workshop and classroom forums. But the public forum is terribly neglected.
I blame this on the great forum explosion of 2010. There was so much mad scrambling to do damage control and retrieval for the workshop and classes during that melt down, the public forum just got completely left in the scrambled tatters and never picked up again.
But there is a public forum.
It is a bit tragic is is so under utilized.
It exists pretty much entirely in one forum:
You can check out some of the topics if you’re inclined:
BOOKS | PERIODICALS | WHAT’S IN PRINT
CONFERENCES | COMPETITIONS | EVENTS | FESTIVALS
scuba certified!
January 6, 2016
I cannot believe I could not find this Person of Interest clip on Youtube without foreign subtitles. What is wrong with Americans? This is the BEST DOG SCENE EVER!
babies kill tv
October 2, 2010
Maybe it is just me —
But I have never watched a series television show that did not tank after a baby showed up. Except for maybe the exception of the Helen Hunt romance show which somehow escaped that to survive a little longer after it turned into “we have a baby.” Hmm. But overall? Once a baby shows up, a TV show’s days are totally numbered. This dates all the way back to Murphy Brown. [And probably before but that is how long I have been paying attention.] Murphy Brown was barreling along, a real hot show. Then Murphy turned out to be an alcoholic who had to quit drinking [bummer, Murphy] and then — she had a baby.
Boom. Dead man walking.
I have a theory about how this all goes down. You have a bunch of struggling writers. They work and work, they are edgy, they are hungry, they work too hard, they drink too hard, they can’t get married OR have babies, they are broke struggling writer types. And then they pull off the big gold ring: They are a team on a hit show. Yay!
Flash forward a few years.
What do people who are fat and happy do the second they have a secure future they were never sure they would have? They marry the girl, they buy the house, they have —
The. Baby.
[I am talking about guys here too, not girls. The majority of TV show writers are guys and this is just how it goes down with them.]
Writers write what they know. A few years into the show they all have babies. Now that is what is on their minds. They are not thinking fun show stuff any more. They are thinking —
The wife stuff. The house stuff. The marriage stuff. The baby stuff. And, for a few of them? The quit drinking and partying stuff.
That is when the show dies. When the show team loses its edge. When the show writers are all fat, happy, married, not drinking, having babies — and writing about those damn babies.
That is my theory anyway.
Note to the Supernatural team: WTF? Marriage and Babies? Seriously? Is Bobby going to join AA next?
I give you one more season.
where the art work comes from :
that is salad bowl a by tennborn
high concept screenwriting
April 9, 2010
New Class Yay!
•NEW : High Concept Screenwriting | Begins Tuesday May 11, 2010
This is an online 6 week advanced course on high concept screenwriting taught by yours truly Max Adams.
This should be a real fun class. With high concept, the sky is not even a limit.
For more info visit :::in person:::
About your lovely instructor: Max Adams is the author of The Screenwriter’s Survival Guide: Or, Guerrilla Meeting Tactics and Other Acts of War [Warner Books], has worked with Hollywood Pictures, Touchstone Pictures, Universal, Tri-Star and Columbia Pictures, is the founder of two international online screenwriting workshops, Left Door and 5150, is a former AFI Alumni reader and WGA online mentor as well as a current Nicholl reader and judge, and is a 2010 recipient of the College of Fine Arts Distinguished Alumni Award from University of Utah.
*class size is limited.
*a writing sample may be requested prior to acceptance to this class
*a course deposit is required at sign up to hold your chair
*there is a may chair open in 5150 visit :::workshop::: for info
seemaxrun classes
January 2, 2010
So it is kind of my job to do this.
Promote my classes.
The SeeMaxRun classes are special to me because, well, doy, they are mine. And also the place I get to tell people the stuff nobody else ever tells anyone writing for film trying to break in just running off Syd Field and a prayer.
[Um. Good luck with that.]
Eight students means I have a solid class. Twelve students means I am not taking any more students for that class.
I can take two more students.
The class starts Jan 5.
we have a winner
October 24, 2009
I have been crushing on Matt Bomer the lead in White Collar just off previews and hoping and praying the show is good and it just premiered and it is good yay!
Go see. It is on USA Fridays. It is super fun. Yay!
5150 has open chair
October 21, 2009
There is a chair —
Open in the 5150 online screenwriting workshop founded and run by yours truly. Anyone interested should check the info at :::workshop::: read the entirety of the information and if still interested, email yours truly.
I look forward to hearing from you.
*ps yes i know exactly what 5150 means thank you for writing me en masse [ahhh!] what else do you call a person with a talent and a pen but a danger to self & others now go use your inky powers for good instead of evil
where the art work comes from :
that is from the scattered image
drop dead diva
July 14, 2009
This is a really fun show. I never even heard of it before but the pilot was playing late the other night and I thought the description was funny [a super model dies and is sent back as a size 16 — karmic retribution yay!]. It is now a Max series recording yay!
Also [you see this is coming right?] there are totally cute guys Ben Feldman and Jackson Hurst in it. Yay!
the other place
April 13, 2009
It is odd —
The things that hit and take while writing.
Not writing.
Thinking.
This story is in my head but it is amorphous, a cloud, thoughts, images. And I walk through the world not here. I mean. One moment I am here. Shoving quarters into a laundry machine. But. Another. I am there. In another place.
That has no edges.
I am seeking the edges, the concreteness of the other place.
where the art work comes from :
that is from bmw photography
looking for religion
March 22, 2009
I watch —
Way too many cop shows. They freak me out. And too many medical shows. I am totally freaked if I die some stranger will go through my financial records while another interviews old boyfriends while another is cutting my chest open and yet another is running tongue swabs or [worse!] vaginal swabs [fresh motherfucker!] —
I must find a religion that says you cannot put me on a slab naked anyone in crime division can get a gander at for fun sport or as a work requirement.
a list of my cop shows: law & order, ncis, bones, the closer, saving grace, without a trace….
celluloid blonde 