On January 6, the latest reality TV show called 2020 – The Worst Year of Century premiered its second season, and it came back with a bang! Showrunners took us back to the US and let some Trump's fanatics take over Capitol, which happened for the first time in 200 years, and let me tell you – it was a clusterfuck of epic proportions, quite the shitshow.
We can't wait for what writers have in store for us for the rest of the season. It seems like it's gonna be a wild ride!
This Week's Bullets
- Cherry (by Russo brothers) might not shake up the Oscars race this year, but it definitely lays the groundwork for several rising stars, like Tom Holland.
- We talked about trends and future several times, but last week an article was published looking at the industry in France, getting 10 major players to share their reflections on 2020 and predictions for this year.
- And the winner for the most pirated TV Show of 2020 is... Mandalorian! Followed by The Boys, Westworld, Vikings and Star Trek: Picard.
- Unlike anything you've seen! Brilliant. Truly unique. Funny. Bold, original & inventive. And those are just some of the reviews you can find around the internet about WandaVision, the first MCU TV show on Disney+.
- For those of you who might like to gamble a bit – there is a new contender in the race for a new James Bond face, his name is Regé-Jean Page, and you might know him from the new Shonda Rhimes' show Bridgerton. But he still has Tom Hardy, James Norton and Idris Elba against him. But we have to say, his numbers went from 40/1 to 5/1 during the holiday break. Impressive.
This Week's Curated Articles
7 Screenwriting Lessons From THE QUEEN'S GAMBIT Creator Scott Frank
Have you heard about Scott Frank? His Netflix limited series, The Queen’s Gambit, reached 62 million households for the first 28 days of release, which made it Netflix’s most popular scripted limited series ever. He also created many more projects like Logan, Out of Sight or The Interpreter and he has been part of the Hollywood upper crust since the 1990s. So, let's admit he is kind of authorized to give you a lesson (or seven) about screenwriting, right.
Ken Miyamoto
Rewriting for the Big Screen: "Script Doctors" and the Art of Revision
Script doctors are talked about like they're an urban legend – they come in at night to take a look at a failing script, and by morning it's shining new piece of work worthy production. Nah, I know, it's not exactly like that, but it does sound cool.
So what do they do? They work the characters, alter the story, tighten up the writing and more. One of the famous ones were, for example, Princess Leia, the late Carrie Fischer. Nowadays we hear a lot about Aaron Sorkin.
Anyway, writing is about re-writing, that's where the great screenplays are made, so make sure you either do self-revisions, or you got somebody who can help you polish your work!
Jourdan Aldredge
Behind the Scenes: The Fascinating Making of 1917
I don't know what about you, but I am always fascinated to see how movies look from behind the camera. And when I'm watching something, I often catch myself not thinking about the story, but how this effect was done, where the hell they got this location and how expensive it must have been to create this costume. So yes, during the movie 1917 I had sooooo many questions. And here are the answers!
Emma Mackey: 'You'd have to be a sociopath to want to be a celebrity'
Emma Mackey, rising Hollywood star, who we first saw in Sex Education (by the way, the 3rd season is in production from September already, yay!) got her first blockbuster opportunity in another movie - Death on the Nile (the premiere is now officially moved to September 17, 2021).
This adaptation of a famous Agatha Christie's novel looks like something you want to see (especially with Armie Hammer in it, who I saw in Call Me by Your Name and loved him ever since).
Anyway, Emma looks like she has also quite something in common with Maeve from Sex Education – she just doesn't give a fuck about being a celebrity.
It is because I don’t believe in it. I don’t think anyone gives a shit about celebrities. Celebrityism, or whatever, is a byproduct of the job. I certainly didn’t get into acting to become a celebrity, because it’s terrifying. You’d have to be a complete sociopath to want to be a celebrity.
Rebecca Nicholson
Awards & Festivals Window
Oscars Predictions: Best Picture - 'Ma Rainey's Black Bottom' Climbs the Charts
So it begins. Oscar season is here, and it will last a little bit longer than usual – the 93rd Academy Awards Ceremony will take place on April 25. And we still don't know the nominees, which will be officially announced on March 15.
Clayton Davis
Long story short, here are some predictions how it may end with the Best Picture category where is, for example, Nomadland, The Trial of the Chicago 7 or One Night in Miami (you can read more about this one on the end of today's Spotlight).
Bill Desowitz
If you are curious about the Best Editing category, you can check the potential nominees here. If you're more a documentary fan, we have another good news for you – this year the submissions will break the record – approximately 240 documentaries are expected (for example, till now, the highest number was 170 submitted pieces from 2017).
Clayton Davis
Recommendation fo the Week
Alice in Borderland | Netflix
Japanese work at Netflix is quite something, I gotta admit. This show is an adaptation of Haro Aso's hit comic of the same name, and it made Top 10 in more than 40 countries across the globe in the first week of release.
The show itself is set in a dystopian universe where at one point almost everybody disappears from Tokyo. People who survived have to participate in a series of dangerous games in order to survive. And that's about all I am going to tell you.
But when you finish watching (and I do recommend so), take a look at an interview with their VFX supervisor where he talks about making an empty Tokyo.
PS: Fancy some BTS footage?
Trailer of the Week
One Night in Miami
The directorial debut of an Oscar- & Emmy-winning actress Regina King is making heat since its works premiere at Venice Film Festival.
Jude Dry
The film tells a story of 4 icons of the 1960s and their struggles within the civil rights movement. And even though the story happened more than 50 years ago, we need these conversations and these types of a film more than ever.
