★ Columns
Gimme Sex and Violence
November 10, 2010
Over time, many well-meaning people and institutions have reasonably argued, for the betterment of society and mankind, that the Bible…
Campus Television, Redefined
November 4, 2010
Motion pictures show us amazing places and events. Film, TV, digital video, time-based media—whatever we call it is unimportant. It’s…
Locus of Evil
October 20, 2010
It’s that time of year for spooks, monsters, witches, and gore: the mid-term elections. But in the meantime, we can…
Goody Two-Shoes and Chicken Feet
October 13, 2010
She was only a teenager. They called her Goody Two-shoes. But the pretty over-achiever snapped, and stabbed her neighbor to…
Their Vampires Are Hotter than Our Vampires
October 6, 2010
American movies seem to have lost their edge in originality, deviant sex, and general weirdness. The conglomeratization of Hollywood, with…
Genius Squared
September 29, 2010
Incidentally, to me, David Simon (Homicide, The Wire, Generation Kill, Treme) chose the film and hosted the screening. He did…
Dramaticus Excessivus Pt. 2
September 23, 2010
Screenwriting Expo 2010 is coming up in Los Angels, October 7-10. The hundreds of attendees will spend a lot of…
Dramaticus Excessivus
September 16, 2010
Part 1 of 2 Once the esoteric domain of autodidacts and a handful of film schools, enhanced by ancient dramaturgical…
The WTF Effect
September 9, 2010
Whether you edit in a primitive cave or in a technological cloud, the results are magic. Filmmakers figured this…
The Other Secret
September 1, 2010
If you’re a writer, or shooting some kind of film, or employed, you probably don’t have time to tend your…
Thirty-Six Dead in Catonsville
August 26, 2010
The body count is high, but still an estimate, because it’s only the first week of shooting. The final count…
Lucky13
August 18, 2010
Any weekend you spend out in a remote cornfield in the pouring rain with a baker’s dozen of crazy people…
Murphy’s Second Law of Serendipity
August 11, 2010
The victim was found in a deep, unfilled grave in a cornfield about twenty miles northeast of Baltimore. But she…
Fall in the House of Usher
August 4, 2010
You’ve had that dream where you’re wandering through a familiar house and discover a room you never realized existed. You…
Rapacious Sex
July 21, 2010
How are we going to handle the sex? Movies can never be the same as the books they are based…
Mobtown Microshow Featuring Yukon
July 15, 2010
Welcome to Mat Leffler-Schulman's world. This is the view from the console at Mobtown Studios, though it's not unusual to…
Get a Grip on Yourself
July 15, 2010
Q: How do you make a really, really independent (and scary) movie that is audience-worthy and marketable? A: Create…
The Lost City
July 7, 2010
We turn off a twisting highway onto an unmarked road narrowed by the encroaching jungle. My guide is a teenage…
The Frumious Bandersnatch
June 30, 2010
At precisely ten a.m., the first five subjects enter the dark, featureless, space. They sit in chairs backed against a…
The Chopper in the Rye
June 23, 2010
A madman moves through a cornfield at dusk. Lightning flashes every five or ten seconds. The six-inch high corn bends…
