SYD FIELD, screenwriting guru passes away.

I’m sad to hear about the passing of Syd Field (pictured left) who died yesterday Sunday, November 17th.

Field was one of my first entrees into REAL screenwriting. I was writing “scripts” before, but none lacked the proper screenwriting format.

I first heard about Field while studying screenwriting at Morgan State University. Field wrote eight best selling books on screenwriting and SEVERAL of his books were required text in several of my screenwriting classes.

In fact when anyone asks me about screenwriting I tell them get his book Screenplay, considered the bible of screenwriting.

3rd Edition of Screenplay

Many people think they know how to write a screenplay (for short or feature films) or a teleplay (for television series), but they don’t. It’s kind of a regimented format that should be mastered BEFORE trying to alter it with new storytelling techniques.

Syd Field broke down what it took to make a successful screenplay (in format at least, if not content) and for that I and millions of other screenwriters Thank Him. May he Rest in Peace.

                          DISSOLVE TO:

RELATED

You can read more about Syd Field's life in The Hollywood Reporter here

November 20, 2013
I took this picture of my bookshelf in honor of Syd Field. You can see my copy of Screenplay amongst my other screenwriting texts.

R.I.P. Roger Ebert

I don't write many remembrances for this blog, but in this instance I had to for Roger Ebert was my favorite film critic.

I don't read reviews before I see a film, but afterwards I do and what Roger said more often than not mirrored my own thoughts and those that know me know that I am discerning.

On the rare occasions, when I'm on the fence about a film, I would go straight to Roger's review to be the decider.

I enjoyed his TV show with both his regular co-host Gene Siskel and then Richard Roper and was sad that he had to leave the air due to his health problems.

I became such a fan I even read several of his books and still plan on reading more I enjoyed his writing so much.

Apart from enjoying his reviews I just enjoyed his writing. Roger was an accomplished journalist who could tell a story without getting pedantic.

Having majored in film and minored in journalism in college I guess I appreciated every facet of Roger's talents.

Due to his health problems Roger lost his audio voice years ago, but in later years I still appreciated his written voice and his voice will be missed.

Read all of our posts about Roger by clicking his photo below

RELATED
Excellent profile about the life of Roger Ebert at The Hollywood Reporter

At the blog Reel Talk Chaz Ebert Issues a Statement on the Death of Her Husband Roger

Tony Scott (1944 – 2012)

Listen, I’m not going to go and say that Tony Scott (pictured above) was one of my favorite directors because he has passed away. I can say that I had tremendous respect for his body of work and I can call him an auteur…something I don’t say about many directors.

Because I’m a Denzel Washington fan, I have seen every Denzel Washington/Tony Scott directed film and enjoyed every one of them. That’s FIVE films I can say I enjoyed by ONE director and I also can’t say that about many.

Those five films are Crimson Tide (1995), Man on Fire (2004), Déjà Vu (2006), The Taking of Pelham 123 (2009) and Unstoppable (2010). I also enjoyed the Tony Scott films The Last Boy Scout (1991) and Enemy of the State (1998).

My favorite Tony Scott film though is absolutely Man on Fire.

Picture I took of my Man on Fire BluRay and posted online after I read about his death. 

Man on Fire is also one of my favorite Denzel Washington films. Aided by a great screenplay by Brian Helgeland who wrote the screenplays for L.A. Confidential and Mystic River, I think Man on Fire is a magnificent piece of work and Tony Scott’s magnum opus.

I thought Tony Scott imbued Man on Fire brilliantly with Mexican culture through the gritty realism of the setting and its use of Spanish music. According to sources cited at Wikipedia, "20th Century Fox wanted the film to be set in Italy. An early draft of the film script was set in Naples. Scott argued that if the setting would be Italy, then the film would have to be a period piece, since by the 2000s kidnappings became a rare occurrence in Italy. Mexico City became the setting of the 2004 film because Mexico City had a high kidnapping rate."

At first I didn’t get the “tremor effect” in the film, but I grew to not only accept it, but love it! I thought it was the perfect aesthetic for such a film.

The true driving force of Man on Fire though was the chemistry between its two leads Denzel Washington and Dakota Fanning. Without their chemistry you would never believe the whole plot of the movie which was the revenge factor. Even though he was personally on a downward spiral, you felt that his love of the little girl gave him something to live for and when she was taken—something to kill for. If you didn’t believe their love it would have just been another empty “shoot em up” picture.

I was looking forward to more films from Mr. Anthony David Scott, but at least we have his visual body of work to watch for years to come. May he rest in peace.

More Man on Fire Trivia  Denzel Washington was cast in this film because of a trip to a doctor. He ran into director Tony Scott in the waiting room of a medical office and the two men started chatting. Scott had not seen Washington in person since they worked together on "Crimson Tide". Scott happened to see Dakota Fanning in "I Am Sam" the night before and seeing Washington made Scott think using of the two actors together. A. J. Quinnell (writer of the source book) had a favorable reception to this adaptation, mainly because the film used many of the book's lines. Quinnell said that usually screenwriters "like to leave their mark on the product." Quinnell added that even though he usually dislikes film adaptations of books, the writers "did a good job with Man On Fire and I loved the chemistry between Creasy and the girl" and "When I first heard Denzel was playing the part of Creasy I missed a couple of heartbeats but he played the part brilliantly. The film is violent and if the anger is not portrayed properly, the result can be awful." In A.J. Quinnell's novel Dakota Fanning's character in Italy was named Pinta. After director Tony Scott's changed the film's setting to Mexico and discovered that "Pinta" is Mexican slang for "whore", he had the name changed to "Pita" and made her full name Lupita. The kitchen scene between Creasy and Pita where she asked him about concubines were mostly ad-libbed by both actors. It started when they "accused" each other of smiling. -Trivia from IMDb and Wikipedia

At Wikipedia Tony Scott

At The Hollywood Reporter

PHOTOS: Tony Scott's Films

From 'Top Gun' to 'Unstoppable' a look at his work. VIEW GALLERY

R.I.P. Dwayne McDuffie

Dwayne McDuffie’s death shocks comics industry
Feb. 22, 2011 | 3:08 p.m.

Sad and shocking news from the comics world today as word spread about the untimely death of Dwayne McDuffie on the same day that “All Star Superman” – which he wrote the screenplay for — arrived on home video.

Dwayne McDuffie (pictured above left), who wrote scores of comic books for Marvel and DC and founded his own publishing company before crossing over to television and animation, has died. He was 49.

DC Comics says the Detroit native died Monday, a day after his birthday. His cause and place of death weren’t immediately known.

McDuffie wrote comics for the New York-based DC and Marvel, including runs on “Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight,” “Fantastic Four” and the “Justice League of America.” He also penned several animated features, including the just-released “All Star Superman” as well as “Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths” and the animated TV series “Static Shock” and “Ben 10: Alien Force.”

News of McDuffie’s death was first reported Tuesday by the website Comic Book Resources. As recently as last week, McDuffie attended the premieres of the new “All Star Superman” film in Los Angeles and New York, and was scheduled to appear at an event this week at Golden Apple Comics in Los Angeles.

McDuffie tweeted last week that he was “Taking a break from a script I owe to attend the LA premiere of ‘All Star Superman.’”

McDuffie’s work for Marvel included “Damage Control,” which took a serious but fictional look at a company whose job it was to clean up the damage — both physical and legal — resulting from battles between superheroes and supervillains. In 1992, however, he formed the comic book company Milestone Media, which gave him the freedom and leeway to create his own characters, many of whom were of differing ethnic backgrounds.

Milestone Media focused on multicultural superheroes including Hardware, Icon, Blood Syndicate, Xombi and Static, which was turned into the popular children’s cartoon “Static Shock,” on which he served as a story editor. McDuffie also wrote for other titles and characters, including Black Panther and Deathlok.

Milestone comics

Besides comics, McDuffie was a producer and story editor on Cartoon Network’s “Justice League Unlimited,” and wrote and produced episodes of other cartoons, including “What’s New, Scooby Doo?,” “Ben 10: Ultimate Alien” and “Teen Titans.”

McDuffie was nominated for two Emmy Awards for “Static Shock,” a Writers Guild award for “Justice League” and three Eisner awards for his work in comic books, his website said.

McDuffie’s death took his colleagues and friends by surprise.

Dan DiDio, co-publisher of DC Entertainment, said the writer “left a lasting legacy on the world of comics that many writers can only aspire to. He will not only be remembered as an extremely gifted writer whose scripts have been realized as comic books, in television shows and on the silver screen, but as the creator or co-create of so many of the much-loved Milestone characters, including Static Shock.”

Added DiDio: “The industry has lost a true talent.”

Tom Brevoort, Marvel’s senior vice president for publishing, said McDuffie was a force behind bringing more diversity into comics.

“He was very interested in creating a wider range of multiculturalism in comics, having been profoundly affected by the example of the Black Panther when he was growing up, and wanting to give that same opportunity to others of all races, creeds and religions, which is one of the reasons he left Marvel and co-founded Milestone,” Brevoort told The Associated Press. “And he eventually came back to write both Beyond! and Fantastic Four for me.”

– Associated Press

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I’ve been a fan of Mr. McDuffie’s for a while. I was one of the people who bought the early issues of Milestone comics. I was still reading comics and I was excited about this new company by black people and featuring black characters. I even did a paper/presentation in college on the company.

When I saw that one of the comics Static was being produced as a cartoon Static Shock, I watched it. As I spoke about in my Verb piece  I always enjoyed seeing cartoon characters that looked like me. I didn’t have brown palms like they did, but I wasn’t picky. Ever since I started studying film I also started reading the credits for television/film. Credit reading, I noticed Mr. McDuffie’s name as have written a lot of great episodes of not only Static Shock, but another great show that I watched Justice League. He was also the writer of the BEST animated action movies I’ve ever seen Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths (2010) and that was mostly because of the great story. (I named it one of the best films of 2010 in my Entertainment Review here  )

His stories weren’t about race or favoring a particular character they were just good stories. He explains himself in one of the clips below about how that is a misperception among black writers and he says it better than I ever could.

As the title of the article above says, his death shocked the industry, but it also shocked this fan. His talent will be missed. Rest in Peace bro.

-Dankwa Brooks

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Below are two excerpts from the documentary Shaft or Sidney Poiteir: Black Masculinity in Comic Books featuring Dwayne McDuffie.

About the film-
Through interviews with prominent artists, scholars and cultural critics along with images from the comic books themselves, this film examines the degree to which early Black superheroes generally adhered to common stereotypes about Black men. From the humorous, to the offensive, early Black superheroes are critically considered.






A cool tribute featuring footage of McDuffie and many of the characters he help give "voice" to.



Related links-

Shaft or Sidney Poiteir: Black Masculinity in Comic Books
http://blacksuperherodoc.com/

2011 article about Milestone Comics

Celebrating Milestone Comics  

Milestone Media's Wikipedia page
Wikipedia - Milestone Media

A cool site devoted to every issue put out by Milestone Comics
Milestone Rave

Dwayne McDuffie's official website
http://dwaynemcduffie.com/

Ocober 19, 2011
The site Shadow & Act posted Website Of Emmy Award-Winning Writer Dwayne McDuffie (1962 - 2011) To See Changes read it here

R.I.P. Mark Baltimore

Today Mark moved to another plane, a better plane. This is what I wrote about Mark in my blog entry Hip Hop Rules

I shot all this footage with the rapper and had to edit it down to I think 10 minutes or less. When I started editing I was like wow this stuff with Mark is good. Turns out after all the hours and days I shot with the rapper Mark’s stuff was the best. Every time I showed my piece (and it wasn’t many times) people would like what Mark had to say best. Truthfully even I did and one of Mark’s sound bites closed the piece because I thought it was so strong.

Mark was evertyhing a filmmaker would want in a subject. You can't manufacture that kind of charisma and personality. They say Baltimore is small and it's just "four corners" and that turns out to be very true. Mark is the cousin of a childhood friend of mine and we talked about him just yesterday. I only had a chance to work with Mark that one time, but as you can see he was memorable and that's what you will always be bro memorable.


Facebookers you can show love to Mark's page right here

The Baltimore Sun did an article on Mark at the link below
Party promoter Mark Baltimore dies at 36 - baltimoresun.com

You can see the one chance we had to work together, my 1999 student film featuring him below. First a WARNING, the video contains explicit language. Having said that...ladies and gentlemen Mark Baltimore