Is that true? I write that way anyway…

@markharris.bsky.social So true! As someone who has their scripts parsed endlessly - "every scene has to matter! It has to be crucial!" People like to get to know characters. This has been mentioned in "Hail Mary"- with the "sign of the times" song and Gosling's moving funerals for his co-workers.

Mark, your book was so good, I rec it far and wide.

Seems very regressive and “Carrie Nation”! And by the way, the younger generations are not drinking that much, is it that much of an issue that warrants all these finger wagging articles?

But come on! One drink is not gonna kill you! And how many times have I seen that headline over the last 10 years or so? Calm down!

Mark, this is one reason I love reading your take on these things. There is such a conservative bent over everything now. Completely off-topic, but if I have to read one more article about how one drink will kill you? Alcohol does affect your body, some people do have problems with it, obviously!

He got up, tucked the newspaper under his arm and walked out, and the entire restaurant exploded. We were just giddy, the entire staff, and all 15 of us who were there eating breakfast. And by the way, as I’ve told my husband repeatedly! Words cannot express how handsome this man was.

OK, here’s my story, out here in Los Angeles. I was at a business breakfast at the Bel-Air Hotel, which is very small and out of the way, and it was not crowded at all and there he was in the corner eating breakfast by himself.

I read “valley of the dolls” when I was 12,13. I checked it out of the public library, upon which the little old librarians gave me a hard time- but they didn’t stop me from taking it home. My mother found it in my room, and she gave me a hard time too- but she didn’t take it away and I read it.

Ha!

Bananas are the worst- texture, smell. GAH.

Agreed. Don’t play into their wet dreams.

Honestly- I told a friend so worried about backlash about Charlie Kirk's death- 17 million people watched Kirk's televised funeral. Jimmy Kimmel's first night back? 126 million. Headlines are exciting- but usually not true.

Timothy Dalton!

Too many to count- but ran into James Bond at the Pink Dot on Sunset. Points for which James Bond...

Chan 2!! Not Ch. 3

Not a great sign. Was/is the newsroom so understaffed from layoffs and people quitting that they just simply cannot do it? Report basic news? This wasn't even "editorial" news. Pretty sad and telling.

As time went on- every other outlet, website, magazine- started reporting that it was sadly Rob Reiner and his wife who were dead. The CBS reporter was standing in front of their house, stumbling, listening to her earpiece saying "we still don't have any information about the victims."

Not appropo of this 60 Minutes situation- but here's something very telling. In Los Angeles, when word started to spread about Rob Reiner's murder, we turned on local news to find out - anything. Suffice to say Chan 3/CBS in LA was so woefully behind the news-

I mean- some of the numbers that emerge that some stars have pulled in for movies that a)weren't received well, are eye-popping, and b) some of these said movies never made it to theatrical, instead emerged on streaming, never to be seen or heard of again. Back to the 70s perhaps?

- can this system make a comeback? To get the "stars" that supposedly audiences want to see, and to get good projects going? I'm a writer and former agent and I totally get the desire on both parties to get as much as you can from a capricious system, but is this floated around now?

What a complete mess. Mark (longtime fan, reader, long live M Nichols!) have you heard anything about stars, etc taking less money to get things going? E.g. in history we heard of Beatty taking backend for Bonnie and Clyde, Cameron taking backend for Titanic

You are exactly right. "Coy" is the right word, also teasing, tantalizing, fey. I doubt this will sell at all- because unlike her, none of us is interested in, attracted to, or willling to tolerate anything he says anymore.

No, here in LA, I've only heard good things from people who've already seen it. Can't wait.

OMG! Well, spot on.

I am still haunted by The Collector. I saw it too young.

OMG!!!! The most perfect sentence ever.

Wonderful piece about a movie I adore. I'd always wanted to know more about its screenwriter, Nancy Dowd, who deserved a better career. What a talent.

Thank you! This is great, I will use- but I think the original also had an example, every line crammed in with lines/scenes? But thank you!

Hi there, looking for a detailed- very detailed grid of script structure (act 1, 2a&b, etc) that someone posted a week to 2 weeks ago. It was an excel doc and had some good tidbits but I missed it and forgot who posted it - TIA! #scriptsky
#scriptsky+