Learn from the Best of the Disney Renaissance — What would the world be like without animation? What would it be without the adventure, excitement, humor, and fantasy of it all? From Blue Skies Animation to Pixar to Disney Animation, this genre is wildly popular with plenty of opportunity for aspiring and established writers. How do you plot a…

A Story of Covid-19, Persistence, and Love — My Facebook post from last week (October 29, 2020) had over 130 shares. It involved Allan Scott and The Queen’s Gambit recently released by Netflix to wonderful reviews (with a 100% Rotten Tomatoes- as of this publishing date.) Facebook and other platforms have been dumped on a lot lately, and…

Interview with Directors, Amy Ferris and Debra Engle — On October 26, Story Summit Writer’s School Directors, Amy Ferris and Debra Engle, announced their new live, online school with a compelling curriculum for the 4th quarter of 2020. Both Amy and Debra are celebrated authors in their own right and have a passion, as teachers and coaches, to unlock…

Forget the other three wives, Tom married Tom — Trigger alert: Aggressive Language Ned Tanen, the president of Paramount Pictures movie group, was screaming again. In 1985, most of the execs who worked with him and adored him called those days, “the green-vomit days” in honor of the possessed girl in the hit movie, The Exorcist. “Congratulations,” he shouted…

He got the Navy to fly jets . . . — Watching the red, white, and blue aerobatics over the Cannes Film Festival last week would have delighted John Horton. In 1984, John visioned something that no one else truly saw: Top Gun had the potential to become a massive recruiting tool for the Navy. Easy-going, charming, never without his suit…

The visionary director of the original Top Gun — Trigger alert: Aggressive language Tony Scott (the director of the original Top Gun) was to have directed Maverick Top Gun. Tony had a signed contract with Paramount and was developing the screenplay. But, ten years ago this August, Tony jumped off a San Pedro bridge to his death. I…

Kelly McGillis chose parenthood over stardom — Kelly McGillis was much too tall for Tom Cruise. She was 5'11". He was 5'7". Besides, she was 27 and he was 24 and the difference was palpable. After I saw them together for a “chemistry meeting” on the Paramount lot, I walked away conclusively uttering, “She looks like his…

Elizabeth Taylor and James Dean re-enact the crucifixion on the set of “Giant” — Isn’t it time to re-examine the human experiment for ourselves as individuals, outside the system-constructs of religion, government, and technology? Absent the restraints of “civilization”, who are we as humans? What do we hold dear? For years, I looked at this famous production-still of Elizabeth Taylor and James Dean on…

Looking back on a screen test for Children of a Lesser God — SCREEN TESTS! When I saw this photo of Marlee Maitlin at the PGA Awards for starring in the ensemble cast of CODA, (Photo by my friend, director Randal Kleiser) I thought of the first time I happened upon Marlee. It was in Paramount’s screening room looking at screen tests for the movie…