Spotlight #23

The first month of 2021 is behind us and we're looking ahead to February – the month when everybody will be making predictions about Oscar's nominations (which will be revealed on March 15, 2021). If you ever think about getting into the race, you should definitely check out the rules. They're pretty extensive!

This Week's Bullets

• If you like to read (and learn), then we got good news – there are new screenplays to download from the roster of the best movies of 2020. What are you waiting for?
• The Academy is revealing the lists of submitted movies for this year's Oscars!
• Ever wondered if you should go with Final Cut Pro or Adobe Premiere? PremiumBeat got you and compared those two.
• Warner Bros revealed some juicy footage from this year's anticipated premieres, promoting their "Same Day" policy – meaning the theatrical and VOD release would occur simultaneously. We've informed about that a lot over the course of the last few weeks, remember?

This Week's Curated Articles

'Spencer' First Look: Kristen Stewart's Princess Diana Movie Gets New Image, Synopsis, and More

Do you like historical dramas? Pablo Larraín, with his successful creative dream team, has already started to work on “Spencer”, a new movie about Princess Diana. The date of release is planned to fall 2021, just ahead of the 25th anniversary of Diana’s death. And who will rise to the occasion play the character of Diana? It’s Kristen Stewart, which Larraín describes as “one of the great actors around today”.

He also adds: “To do this well, you need something very important in the film, which is a mystery. Kristen can be many things, and she can be very mysterious and very fragile an ultimately very strong as well, which is what we need. I think she’s going to do something stunning and intriguing at the same time. She is this force of nature.”

The drama about Diana’s life is quite a big bite, especially considering The Crown's portrayal that stirred a heated conversation. Anyway, let’s hope he will make an interesting and worth-watching film about so much discussed, beloved and famous Princess of Wales.

'Harry Potter' Live-Action TV Series in Early Development at HBO Max

We would bet there is not a single person who wouldn’t know Harry Potter here (and we bet you also don’t know anyone). And if you are a Potterhead, I think this would make your heart beat faster – The Boy Who Lived might get turned into a TV series. That is thrilling and terrifying at the same time because even though it’s grand that we might get little more from this amazing world, our expectations are quite high already.

Anyway, turning a movie into TV series seems like a good marketing step (at least) which was made by many successful movies before. For example, Planet of the Apes, Serpico or Tales from the Neverending story made this decision and it worked out for them pretty well. Let's see how it will end up for Harry.

Is Your Script "Based On" or "Inspired By" a True Story? What's the Difference?

Ever wondered what's the difference between Based on and Inspired by stories? People at Screencraft dived into it and gave us a quick run-down of the facts (without the legal obligations that come with it, unfortunately). These are the main take-aways:

Based on True Story/Event have the majority of the scenes based on actual occurrences. On the other hand, this is where you can enjoy your creativity:

• dialogues
• based on story: merging people, sequence or exclusion of events
• based on event: create fictional characters, using historical characters the legitimacy of the story

Examples of this approach are the following: Schindler’s List, 127 Hours, Titanic.

Inspired by a True Story/Event approach offers screenwriters more leeway with the facts, allowing them the ability to take the real story and mould it into whatever feels like the best cinematic experience. You can let your creativity go wild on these items:

• fictional characters representing variations or compilations of actual people and what they said or did
• accentuate the truth and create additional events
• cherry-pick what works for your vision and toss the rest

Examples of this approach are the following: any police procedural drama, Top Gun.

If you want more tips on this topic, definitely check the full article!

Awards & Festivals Window

Golden Globes 2021 Film Predictions: Why 'Borat' Could Score

The 90 members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association were (like the rest of the planet Earth) challenged by the obstacles of the pandemic. Now is the question, how will this influence also their decision. What we do know is, that Netflix will dominate nominations and we are used to Globes leaning slightly more mainstream-ish, they are also more influential than predictive, but they can add momentum to an Oscar frontrunner like Nomadland.

Anyway, check Indiewire's predictions, check the films you didn't see and let's keep fingers crossed and enjoy the game.

We will update you on Wednesday on our Instagram who got on shortlist!

This Week's Recommendation

The 9 Best Short Films Playing This Year's Sundance Film Festival

The fact that the Sundance Film Festival will be held online was more than expected. And you all know that show up with a movie on such a festival can be a great step for your career. Well, who wouldn’t want to have a film there, right?

For example, Dee Rees (Mudbound) or Andrea Arnold (Fish Tank) both showed their first films at Sundance, and it was a short film! And we now serve you a choice of the nine best short films playing this year’s virtual Sundance Film Festival. Enjoy!

Trailer of the Week

Crisis (2021)

We've heard about Armie Hammer in past three weeks more than we'd like, and almost none of it was pleasant. This is the first time he appeared on screen since his Instagram scandal, and without judging whatever goes or doesn't in his personal life, he looks like a badass in this trailer!

Set against the backdrop of the opioid epidemic, “Crisis” features three interwoven stories that highlight the greed, violence and tragedy of the drug war. Expect to see an epic performance not only from Hammer but also Gary Oldman and Evangeline Lily.

Additional cast members include Greg Kinnear, Michelle Rodriguez, Luke Evans, Lily-Rose Depp or Kid Cudi. The film is Nicholas Jarecki's follow-up to a successful thriller Arbitrage. VOD release is planned for March 5, 2021.