Barbara P. Shaidnagle: Screenwriter in Houston, Texas.

Yeah, I'm sure Sony was also worried about additional hack releases. "Trade secrets" can cost a company a lot of money in future contract negotiations, and in Sony's case, might even make it more difficult to cast movies with desired stars. At the end of the day, there was a lot of financial risk, and a probably-small-but-hard-to-quantify risk to human life, for not a lot of projected benefit. I do NOT think this means studios or any other businesses will start caving to blackmail demands all over the place, and I also find it the worst form of political punditry to attack Sony publicly as a cowardly company letting the bad guys win. As for North Korea, young Kim probably has the world's most public case of borderline personality disorder, on top of narcissistic personality disorder, on top of being raised in a bubble. I am free to say that because I'm not under a death threat--nor are all those people slamming Sony on the Internet under a death threat. If you haven't walked a mile in Sony's shoes, I don't understand how people can get all high and mighty about condemning Sony's decision. People with nothing personally or financially at stake who bray online about free speech and censorship don't prove a lot. When the stakes are high, defending principles gets a lot tougher. And by braying, I'm not referring to anybody in this thread! I'm referring to things I've seen on Twitter and elsewhere.

Okay, what do we have on Sony repertoire today? The nightmare goes on for Sony and shows no sign of slowing down. I'm imagining a future where I myself and young lady Lisa Scott (photo available above) standing in front of the door which leads right into Sony Colosseum. Let's dissolve to 3 or 4 years into past. 1. A reality talk-show host or someone in that category makes $50.000 an hour, all signed and approved by Sony. The same person who wrote all that was probably asked to give it away for free or in exchange for bus fare. It could be someone you know or you, I don't write stuff like that. 2. Then, we have an actress who demands things, most of which haven't even been invented yet. How Sony will provide her with these gadgets, that's their problem. 3. This is from today, listen to this. "Sean Penn, in an email to Mother Jones, said: “This week, the distributors who wouldn’t show ‘The Interview’ and Sony have sent ISIS a commanding invitation. I believe ISIS will accept the invitation. Pandora’s box is officially open.” I used slightly different term yesterday " A prankster with the burner phone, but both statements leads in the same direction. 4. This one is from yesterday's headlines. "Sony Producer Says Black Actors Shouldn't Have Lead Roles Because International Audiences Are Racist". What gives him the right to say that about one of the best actors in Hollywood. At the same time, Lisa glances at me, slightly smiles and says: Let's go get them! I reply: Why not? And we are about to be lectured, directed, questioned by the same people, this unnamed producer, Michael Lynton and bunch of other racist pricks, how we must follow the certain rules and standards, how actors and actresses should be represented equally when it comes to race. The perfect definition of irony. Is this how things are in Hollywood at the moment. For the end, here's a thought. Why don't we all start writing a script about "Current Affairs". I even have a title, ONCE UPON A TIME IN SONY.

If you are working in the dysfunctional Hollywood realm, yes.

the one I wrote (then rewrote) was buildup for the present, as someone was supposed to be a ghost. But I got rid of that concept and it seems to have worked out better...

Just saw the last ep of Walking Dead, funny, but they actually used flashbacks in no specific order, and it still made complete sense! So, i don't think there IS a rule! Good luck!

Hey Brian-- Assuming that you've gone through the rigimore-roll of pros and cons for flashbacks, what can help with smoothing out the narrative is transitions. Consider ways to link or connect the last (present day) scene with the flashback (or flashforward-- open your mind) scene. Be creative -- a window pane reflected in one's eye can transition into a 'pull out to reveal' we are in the flashback looking through another window in another time. Some transitions are obvious-- opening a door on one side of the scene, closing a door in the next. But good transitions can reflect contrasts, too. Use sound, going from light to dark, wide shot to close up shot... just to name a few. Also, don't forget sound or dialogue PRE-LAPS, they work well, too. I carefully craft the beginning and ending of every scene to take advantage of a transition that draws you forward into the next scene smoothly. Flashbacks, when done well, are an amazing tool-- I use them. They exist in many of our favorite movies. But remember that sometimes the subtext in action and dialogue in the present can be equally compelling. Just keep in mind that even very good, well earned flashback,s have a feeling of stalling/stopping the forward drive of the story for the time we are in flashback-- that doesn't mean you shouldn't do it, just that your goal is to make it so compelling that you can't have the movie without it. Apologies for the verbosity =) Cheers, and good luck. Lisa

There is no creative control for the writer because you are selling a part of a movie, and that part has to fit whatever the movie becomes (which may not be anything at all like the screenplay). If you want to make movies (ie: find the funding or self fund and write/produce/direct) then you do get control... but at some point your screenplay will still have to look like a screenplay. We live in a time when many people are just self financing their own features and making them. I know many people who do this, and I self financed a feature back in the day when that cost a bunch of money. Good luck.

William: they do look like screenplays. My point is that there are details that critique and commentary has taught me to keep out. However, it's sometimes hard to avoid micromanaging, which brought me to the epiphany that I do this not because I want to sell the screenplay or make money, but because I want to create and ultimately watch the film itself.

I use THE SCREENWRITERS BIBLE by David Trottier, find it extremely helpful. That and FINAL DRAFT got me through a rewrite of a screenplay. I am looking for a critique of it.

with final draft, I just use the basic outline of whatever I am writing; they have templates for "graphic novels" (far cry from the comic books of my yesteryear as well as the spin on the word 'graphic'), television and even Broadway plays. What i need is an easy template for a novel...to turn a screenplay into a novel...

If you think about it, every studio/production company takes the temperature of every property, that's the nature of the business. There's just too much material and not enough reason to invest the time and money. The difference is, not every studio/production company accepts submissions from un-established writers. An email just came across my box today on 2 writers stories from Amazon. http://hollywonk.com/post/101971321478 http://hollywonk.com/post/101881026948

t's very true for the public submission aspect of the site, the private submissions do get read by contracted industry readers and they pay them better than most.

this is all in England, UK?

325,000+ creatives from every country on earth.

this is all in England, U.K. ?

I've been using Celtix and except for a few minor issues, it works quite well. It's also free.

I have a pretty cool Celtx workflow from cards to script, even location shots. I use the apps on iPad as well as the website. Very happy with it.

Movie Magic Screenwriter is my weapon of choice.

The simple thing is this: Your antagonist is somebody who has goals that oppose the protagonist. They are the character your audience roots against. In MOST stories they're a villain - that is, the protagonist is "good" and the antagonist "evil," possibly with some shading. They don't have to be. Where you should start is "What is your villain's goal and how does it intercept your protagonist's goal." Your villain wants something. Simplistically, this could be power or wealth. It could be attention (most serial killers). In some stories the GOAL of the villain may be good, but the way they get there is bad. (We'll fix global warming by killing a ton of people, for example). Some protagonist/antagonist pairs even have the SAME goal - Professor X and Magneto being a classic example of this. So one approach is to give the villain a goal with which people sympathize, such as "Protect my people." Twist that a little bit and you get Magneto - "Protect mutants at all costs". Twist it even further...and you get Adolf Hitler actively protecting "his people" through genocide.

One of my most favorite villains is Colonel Saito (Sessue Hayakawa) from Bridge on the River Kwai and I think it's because he saw himself as anything but a villain. From his perspective, Colonel Nicholson (Alec Guinness) was the villain.

I remember Tolstoy saying something like the best stories aren't good versus evil but good versus good.

@Erik I think you are exactly right. Even down to the observations about Hitler.

This brings a question in my mind; It seems like the what you're getting at is a lack of introspection on the part of the villain about what they are doing. Or at the very least, just not caring about the harm.

I'm sure Hitler knew he was harming six million Jews and 22 million Russians. I don't think he was ignorant of that. But, he felt there was some perverse "greater good" that he was in provenance of (which you mention) that made those facts "less important" in his mind than what he was doing. I don't think this was "ignorance" - I think it was calculated and purposeful.

Movie villains these days don't seem to have the weight of that kind of horribleness. The example I gave was of Fletcher in Whiplash - he wouldn't even be a fly in Hitler's fruit salad compared to Hitler himself.