fabiochiu/medium-articles huggingface dataset:
Weeknotes
By: Annie Heath
Tags: Local Government, Digital Transformation, Weeknotes, Imposter Syndrome, Croydon Digital Service

Series 1 : Episode 1

It’s bizarre that this is series 1 episode 1, as I have been in local government for 10 years. If I had started when I got my first job in the customer focused digital transformation world 7 years ago, this would be Series 4. If I had started series 4 when I first got the new AWESOME job , this would be approximately episode 34.

Why now?

Well I have often pondered joining the weeknotes gang and honestly the main problems were fear of commitment and the usual human self doubt stuff- will people read it, have I got anything worth saying, will they want me in the gang, what if I don’t keep it up? I hate failing. Not failing is a huge motivator for me. It can also be a reason to not start something at all.

What’s changed? Two main things I think.

1- I am sat in my lovely flat in Brighton on a sunny Saturday morning and it is too easy to just piss the day away scrolling through Twitter. This is better. This is worth a try.

I’m not gonna tell anyone yet though (that’s the fear of failing bit) so if you know about this post then you must be Matt and Simon who follow me!

2- The fears don’t matter so much as I have identified that I will in fact get something from it anyway even if no-one reads or likes it. I’ve never been a lists girl or kept a diary, I’m not a content designer by trade so I wasn’t sure if it would be useful to me. But I now wish that I had been doing weeknotes when I went to meet Janet and Simon and could look back at the notes. Work life is fantastically busy and plans and schemes ebb and flow a bit more now. If I had made weeknotes along the way it would be easier to pick up ideas that got waylaid by, for example, weeks of being focused on recruitment.

And a supplementary third thing…

3. I have been noticing other people talking about what they get from weeknoting — Stamanfar on how there seems to be a correlation with keeping our annoying friend imposter syndrome in the box for example. I’m wondering what as-yet-unknown benefits there might be for me. My husband writes for a living and my team is full of great content designers, and I work for frankly the best wordsmith I’ve ever met so this could send my own imposter syndrome either way!

So.

Hello, I’m Annie. I work at Croydon Digital Service as the Digital Design Manager. I work for NeillyNeil! How cool is that? I work with Dave Briggs and a load of other brilliant people! There will be some use of smiley faces and exclamation marks. I am that kind of person, deal with it :) I’m a big fan of open working and networking. I have recently been delighted to receive the accolade of being called a massive spanner by Laura Jones. I am all about the people. It’s all about the people.
Large gatherings are banned in Kent, effective immediately
By: The Portager
Tags: Kent, Local Government, Covid 19

Large gatherings are banned in Kent, effective immediately

Kent City Council moved up the start date for a ban on gatherings of 10 or more people. The ban has many exemptions. The Portager Follow Oct 22, 2020 · 2 min read

By Madison MacArthur

News Lab

Kent’s ban on large gatherings, which was to take effect Nov. 7, is now effective immediately after City Council approved an emergency measure at Wednesday night’s meeting.

On Oct. 7, Kent City Council expanded the health commissioner’s ability to levy fines up to $500 against people and businesses breaking the large gathering ban through ordinance 2020–97, as Portage County cases continued to rise.

The ordinance prohibits gatherings of more than 10 non-household members within the city, but it also carves out a number of exceptions, including office buildings, retail centers, libraries and restaurants. It also exempts First Amendment protected functions and members of the media.

The decision to rush the ordinance into effect stemmed from public comments in which a Kent State graduate student explained that residents in her apartment complex do not wear masks in public areas, such as elevators.

The student, Samantha Wyler, said she was worried for her own health and asked the council to consider civil fines for adults who refused to wear masks in public.

Tracy Wallach, representing Ward 6, moved to discuss civil penalties for not following the mask mandate following Wyler’s comment during the new business portion of the meeting. There are currently two mask mandates from Governor Mike DeWine and from the City of Kent — though no penalties are tied to not wearing masks.

That motion failed, but Mayor Jerry Fiala raised the possibility of passing the gathering ban with emergency, meaning it would take effect immediately.

It passed with six in favor; two opposed (Garret Ferrara and John Kuhar).

Other council notes:

Kent Police Chief Nick Shearer gave police report statistics for June 2020, noting a decrease in calls by 15 percent, traffic citations by 49 percent, vehicle accidents by 12 percent and serious crimes dropped from 4 cases to 0.

Main Street Kent shared its quarterly report, which revealed the deep financial toll of the pandemic. While MSK pulled $112,260.41 in gross income, the total expenses for the quarters were $147,487.06, leaving a net income of $-35,226.25. Main Street Kent hosts Kent’s Rainbow Weekend, Kent Ocktoberfest and Wizardly World of Kent, but many of their events were cancelled or modified this year.

This article was produced through a reporting partnership with the Collaborative News Lab @ Kent State University.
S2ep6 what didn’t as go well?
By: Cate Mclaurin
Tags: Leadership, Digital Transformation, Local Government, Weeknotes

Californian poppies in the sunshine

This week I had a slightly up and down week — some great stuff, and some things that didn’t go so well*, so here goes with some thoughts about

5 things that happened, some good, some not so good

A new liberating structures exercise that I tried

This week I tried something new, a new liberating structures exercise. It went ‘ok’, and the team were really open to letting me experiment with them (thank you). But I don’t think I introduced well enough, and it didn’t work as well as I was hoping it would. I didn’t manage to get some things ‘done’ that were important to me, despite really planning my focus for each day. That was frustrating, and meant that the week felt, well, unresolved. I’m writing this in WordPress first, to see if that’s easier/better. I know that doing this will help me learn how to use WordPress better but at the moment it’s just annoyingly not feeling as good as Medium. Although it is already much better for accessibility as I can add alt text to images more easily.

Some great things happened as well and some highlights were:

3. Matthew organised a Dragon’s Den style afternoon for teams to present pitches to a group of venture capitalists. It was really interesting to hear the questions coming from the ‘Dragons**’ and to see the team pitch passionately for the things they’re working on.

4. We had a great management team meeting where we tracked progress against the things we said we’d focus on last month, and agreed what we’ll focus on next. I really like the way it’s enabling us to prioritise what we want to achieve, and where we want to put our energy as a leadership team.

4. I had several really good conversations with colleagues that a) contained great advice and feedback b) inspired me and c) helped me think through my approach to things.

5. I went to the API Factory show and tell — and saw a team of excited, inspired people, who’ve learnt loads over the past few weeks. That was awesome. This team does video week notes: https://youtu.be/nOweYg3KNvQ.

6. Despite the endless rain***, I went for a swim at the Lido.

What I read this week:

Nour wrote a wonderful, thoughtful and open blog post in the run up to OneTeamGov’s well being camp:

This was an interesting piece about teams, and governance:
April 2021 (1) — when the weather mirrors your mood
By: Cate Mclaurin
Tags: Leadership, Digital Transformation, Local Government, Change

This has been an even shorter week as I’ve taken Friday off to finalise the remaining coursework for my masters. Once I’ve done that, it’s ‘just’ a 10,000 word thesis to go. . . It’s been a busy short week of ups and downs — positive and brilliant stuff from across lots of different teams, and some frustrations/set backs — sort of like the sunshine and snow, and my mood has shifted up and down with it.

So what 5 things happened this week?

We ran an all hands on how we’re going to have informal conversations about the shape we’d like to be in going forwards. We’ve got 5 workshops coming up which people are signing themselves up for, to look at different questions that we’re asking ourselves. It feels really good to be thinking ahead and designing how we want to be in the future, but there’s a responsibility to do this well, and in a way that enables everyone to engage which also felt heavy this week.

I listened in to the great Tenants and leaseholders show and tell along with over 70 other people. It’s so good to get engagement from across a wide set of teams and the team working on this strand had lots to show as well. The whole Modern Tools for Housing programme is really motoring now and the steering group we had last week reflected that.

The core data theft team held a retro this week — we’ve been making really good progress and working well together across a multidisciplinary team. And this is hard work — it’s complex, and emerging, and we’re adding new team members as we move into a new phase. The feedback in the retro reflected that, and I found it hard not to go into a spin of self criticism* of what I could have done differently.

I met Lewis and Silvia, both of whom have joined our delivery management team — it was great to learn a bit more about them, hear their positive experiences of onboarding virtually (thanks to Philippa’s focus and to Darren for a great onboarding trello board), and to talk about the wider picture at Hackney – our culture, our focus on learning as well as pace, and what we want to do next.

There’s been Sunshine — I don’t do winter well. So although it’s been cold, practising yoga in sunlight in the early mornings, swimming in a lake in the evening and lunch* this week in Highgate with Nick (IRL!) in the sunshine have all lifted my mood a lot.

What did I read this week?

This interesting piece from Amelia Pape about trust and network mindsets:

This great blog post about operating in new spaces from Nour Sidawi:

And this about octopus shaped*** organisations:
Buckinghamshire Council Website: Weeknote #15
By: Tom Harrison
Tags: Fixtheplumbing, Local Government, Localgovdigital, Buckinghamshire

w/c 3rd February

This week we:

Held our seventh show and tell. We covered work being done on the evolving home page design, Libraries service pages and our new “find and apply for a job” service. We also had a guest appearance from Tom Dyson at Torchbox who demo’d the work they’ve been doing recently to make their CMS, Wagtail, and the sites built on it more accessible.

Shared our digital design guidelines with the various third party providers of Buckinghamshire websites. We’re using Zero Height for this which is proving to be pretty neat.

Did some A/B testing of our new homepage design with our user testing panel. We’re trying to make it less cluttered as some earlier feedback told us it was a bit overwhelming. We previously tried hiding some of it under a “show more” button, but then found that users often missed the button, so our new design makes it more obvious. In testing, we found that although more people tended to use the search box when the button was present it didn’t have any impact on how well organised they found the homepage.

Continued rewriting Libraries service content. This should be published in the next sprint and will represent the first service we’ve rewritten content for. We’re only aiming for MVP levels of completion at this point as we need to migrate all services before we can start digging into things in more depth, but the work done on Libraries will help us shape the process we use for further services.

An image comparing the existing and new content for renewing a library loan, that shows the reduction in text

Pulled together the work done on “find and apply for a job” into a first pass, it’s still very much a work in progress (e.g. you can apply filtering to the jobs lists by manipulating the URL but there’s no UI element for it yet), but it does indeed resemble a jobs site.

What we’re thinking about:

How to display long form content like policies, the constitution in an accessible way. The new council comes into being in about 50 days so we’re getting to the sharp end of getting all of our statutory info up. Unfortunately this is typically presented as 30 page long .pdf’s, but Brighton have done a great job of showing a better way of doing things that we can learn from.

Next week:
Update: 2019 Award Season Screenplay Downloads — 2 New Scripts, 14 Total
By: Scott Myers
Tags: Writing, Hollywood, Movies, Screenwriting, Screenplay

It’s that time of year again when studios and production companies make available PDFs of movie scripts for award season.

As in years past, I will be tracking the year’s movie scripts as links become available.

Current total of 2019 scripts for download: 14. Newly added scripts: (2) Booksmart, Rocketman.

After The Wedding (Sony Pictures Classics)

Booksmart (United Artists)

Downton Abbey (Focus Features)

The Farewell (A24)

Frankie (Sony Pictures Classics)

Harriet (Focus Features)

A Hidden Life (Fox Searchlight)

Hustlers (STX Films)

The Lighthouse (A24)

Pain and Glory (Sony Pictures Classics)

Rocketman (Paramount)

The Song of Names (Sony Pictures Classics)

Uncut Gems (A24) — link removed temporarily

Us (Universal Pictures)

Waves (A24)

You should download the scripts ASAP because these links have a way of disappearing.

To access 100+ movie scripts made available by studios and production companies since 2009, go here.

Reading movie screenplays is absolutely critical to your development as a screenwriter. Along with watching movies and writing pages, it is a fundamental practice you should put into place. Make it a goal to read at least one movie script per week.

Where can you go to get access to many of the top movie scripts from 2019? Right here!

THESE SCRIPTS ARE FOR EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY!

NOTE: Our annual Go Into The Story Script Read and Analysis series will begin in January 2020. If a 2019 movie script becomes available and you would like to read it and provide a scene-by-scene breakdown, let me know. This is a great tradition and provides a major benefit to the online screenwriting community.

Go Into The Story Script Reading & Analysis Series

Movie Script Scene-By-Scene Breakdowns

Priya Gopal has volunteered to do a scene-by-scene breakdown for the movie script Hustlers. Savanah Mears has volunteered to handle Waves.

Thanks, Priya and Savanah!

UPDATE: Andrew Semancik has volunteered to do Booksmart and Nikhil Kamkolkar has volunteered to do After the Wedding.

Thanks, Andrew and Nikhil!
Daily Dialogue — November 21, 2019
By: Scott Myers
Tags: Movies, Film, Screenwriting, Dialogue, Screenplay

Carmine Falcone: [feigning insanity] Yeah, Doctor Crane, I can’t take it anymore. It’s all too much. “The walls are closing in.” Blah, blah, blah. Couple more days of this food, it’ll be true.

Dr. Jonathan Crane: What do you want?

Carmine Falcone: I want to know how you’re gonna convince me to keep my mouth shut.

Dr. Jonathan Crane: About what? You don’t know anything.

Carmine Falcone: I know you don’t want the police to take a closer look at the drugs they seized. And I know about your experiments with the inmates of your nuthouse. See, I don’t go into business with a guy without finding out his dirty secrets. And those goons you used — I own the muscle in this town. Now, I’ve been bringing your stuff in for months, so whatever he’s planning, it’s big, and I want in.

Dr. Jonathan Crane: Well, I already know what he’ll say: that we should kill you.

Carmine Falcone: No, even he can’t get me in here. Not in my town.

Dr. Jonathan Crane: [sighs] Would you like to see my mask? I use it in my experiments. [takes out the Scarecrow mask] Now, probably not very frightening to a guy like you, but these crazies, they can’t stand it.

Crane puts on the mask.

Carmine Falcone: So when did the nut take over the nuthouse?

Crane sprays fear gas into Falcone’s face. Falcone begins to scream in terror as the gas takes effect.

Through Falcone’s eyes: tiny LIZARD TONGUES FLICK out of the

holes in Crane’s mask.

The Scarecrow: They scream, and they cry. Much as you’re doing now.

— Batman Begins (2005), screenplay by Christopher Nolan and David S. Goyer, story by David S. Goyer, characters created by Bob Krane

The Daily Dialogue theme for the week: Doctor. Today’s suggestion by Paul DeCesare.

Trivia: During the writing process, Christopher Nolan and David S. Goyer sometimes took walks near the site of the original Batcave from Batman (1966).

Dialogue On Dialogue: A moment with Dr. Crane a k a Scarecrow.
Daily Dialogue theme next week: Zombie
By: Scott Myers
Tags: Movies, Film, Screenwriting, Dialogue, Screenplay

Join the Daily Dialogue crew: 4,139 consecutive days and counting.

The Daily Dialogue theme for next week: Zombie.

‘Night of the Living Dead’ (1968)

Movie scenes involving zombies. That’s our focus this week. If you have any suggestions with scenes featuring memorable dialogue, click Write a response and post your recommendations there.

What to do:

Copy/paste dialogue from IMDb Quotes or some other transcript source.

Copy/paste the URL of an accompanying video from YouTube or some other video source.

Any trivia about the movie which you think would be of interest to readers, we always welcome that.

I’d also ask you to think about why the dialogue is notable. Is there anything about the dialogue which provides some takeaway related to the craft of writing? If so, feel free to share your Dialogue On Dialogue.

Consecutive days of Daily Dialogue posts: 4,139.

Be a part of the proud Daily Dialogue tradition, post a suggestion in a RESPONSE, and have your name emblazoned on a blog post which will forever hold a hallowed spot in the Go Into The Story archives!

Upcoming schedule of themes:

September 23-September 29: Farm

September 30-October 6: Cooking

October 7-October 13: Golf

If you have any suggestions for Daily Dialogue themes, please post them in a RESPONSE and I’ll be happy to consider them for the series.

Be sure to post your ideas for this week’s theme: Zombie.

Continued thanks to all of you Daily Dialogue devotees, and your suggested dialogue and dialogue themes. Grateful for your ongoing support!
Daily Dialogue — September 14, 2019
By: Scott Myers
Tags: Movies, Film, Screenwriting, Dialogue, Screenplay

“I should hang; I’m a hypocrite. I ask for sincerity and I lie. I denounce the system as I embrace it. I want money and power and prestige: I want ratings and success. And I don’t give a damn about you, or the world. That’s the truth: for that I could say I’m sorry, but I won’t. Why should I? I mean who the hell are you anyways you… audience! You’re on me every night like a pack of wolves because you can’t stand facing what you are and what you’ve made! Yes, the world is a terrible place. Yes, cancer and garbage disposals will get you. Yes, a war is coming. Yes, the world is shot to hell and you’re all goners. Everything’s screwed up and you like it that way don’t you? You’re fascinated by the gory details. You’re mesmerized by your own fear. You revel in floods and car accidents, unstoppable diseases. You’re happiest when others are in pain. That’s where I come in, isn’t it? I’m here to lead you by the hands through the dark forest of your own hatred and anger and humiliation. I’m providing a public service. You’re so scared. You’re like a little child under the covers. You’re afraid of the boogeyman but you can’t live without him. Your fear; your own lives have become your entertainment. Next month, millions of people are going to be listening to this show and you’ll have nothing to talk about! Marvelous technology is at our disposal, and instead of reaching up to new heights, we’re gonna see how far down we can go! How deep into the muck we can immerse ourselves! What do you wanna talk about, hm? Baseball scores? Your pet? Orgasms? You’re pathetic. I despise each and every one of you. You’ve got nothing, absolutely nothing. No brains, no power, no future, no hope, no God. The only thing you believe in is me. What are you if you don’t have me. I’m not afraid see. I come in here every night, I make my case, I make my point, I say what I believe in. I tell you what you are, I have to, I have no choice! You frighten me! I come in here every night, I tear into you, I abuse you, I insult you, you just keep coming back for more. What’s wrong with you, why do you keep calling? I don’t wanna hear anymore, stop talking! Go away! Bunch of yellow-bellied, spineless, bigoted, quivering, drunken, insomnia-tic, paranoid, disgusting, perverted, voyeuristic, little obscene phone callers, that’s what you are. Well, to Hell with you. I don’t need your inferior stupidity, you don’t get it. It’s wasted on you. Pearls before swine. If one person out there had any idea what I’m talking about… I… [answers caller]… friend you’re on night talk.”

— Talk Radio (1988), screenplay by Eric Bogosian & Oliver Stone, play by Eric Bogosian & Tad Savinar

The Daily Dialogue theme for the week: Radio.

Trivia: Eric Bogosian’s play “Talk Radio”, on which this film is based, was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize.

Dialogue On Dialogue: This monologue is as relevant today as it was in 1988.
Daily Dialogue — March 3, 2020. A LIBRARIAN delivers a book to Andrew.
By: Scott Myers
Tags: Movies, Film, Screenwriting, Dialogue, Screenplay

A LIBRARIAN delivers a book to Andrew.

LIBRARIAN: This is the supplement. You’re right, there is a section on…

(lowers her voice)… HIV related discrimination.

ANDREW: Thank you.

Andrew takes the book from her — but she remains.

LIBRARIAN: We have a private research room available.

ANDREW: I’m fine, thanks.

Andrew blows his nose. Now other PATRONS are watching.

LIBRARIAN: Wouldn’t you be more comfortable in a research room?

ANDREW: (pleasantly) No. But would it make you more comfortable?

LIBRARIAN: Whatever, sir.

The LIBRARIAN turns away, shrugging to a PATRON, indicating she’s done all she can do.

As Joe continues to watch: one of Andrew’s NEIGHBORS picks up his books and moves away.

Joe rises, gliding down an aisle of books, keeping one eye on Andrew, who concentrates on his work.

Joe approaches, nonchalantly, as if he just happens to be sauntering by. Suddenly he “notices” Andrew.

JOE: Oh, Beckett. How’s it goin’?

ANDREW: Fine.

Andrew goes back to his work.

JOE: Who’d you get?

ANDREW: What?

JOE: Find a lawyer?

ANDREW: I’m a lawyer.

— Philadelphia (1993), written by Ron Nyswaner

The Daily Dialogue theme for the week: Library. Today’s selection by Lois Bernard.

Trivia: The film’s journey from script to screen was an extraordinarily rocky one. The script underwent over 25 major revisions, the film’s rights were embroiled in bankruptcy proceedings, and the subject matter sparked some major protests.

Dialogue On Dialogue: Lois’ observations: “Watching the film clip I noticed much more time between actor’s lines. Director’s choice? I don’t know but effective, yes.”
The Coen Brothers and the Craft of Storytelling
By: Scott Myers
Tags: Writing, Screenwriting, Creative Writing, Screenplay, Education

My one-week online class begins Monday, May 13th.

I have two favorite contemporary filmmakers. In terms of mainstream commercial films, there is Pixar. For independent movies, there are the Coen brothers. Both are hugely successful in what they do, commercially and critically.

That’s why I’m thrilled to follow up the popular Pixar class I teach with a companion course: Coen Brothers and the Craft of Storytelling.

Ethan Coen and Joel Coen

In this 1-week online course, we will analyze all of the movies the Coen brothers have written and directed including such memorable films as Blood Simple, Raising Arizona, Fargo, The Big Lebowski, O Brother, Where Art Thou, No Country for Old Men, and True Grit.

Through extensive analysis and discussion, we will dig into six narrative dynamics that appear throughout Coen brothers movies, and enable you to use them to workshop your own original story.

Let’s face it: The Coen brothers have created some of the most distinctive, entertaining movies in the last two decades. They return to certain themes, tropes, memes and talismans like this one: The Howling Fat Man.

We will look at that minutia because… well, it’s just fun. However our focus will be on larger principles that are more applicable to our own writing.

Here is the lecture schedule [all written by me]:

Lecture 1: The Coen Brothers’ Narrative Legacy

Lecture 2: Ordinary Character / Extraordinary Circumstance

Lecture 3: The Long Shadow of Authority Figures

Lecture 4: The Shiny Hope of Grand Schemes

Lecture 5: The Dynamism of Violence

Lecture 6: Morally Complicated Universe

Lecture 7: Unresolved Endings

Plus I will share 6 practical storytelling tips gleaned from Coen brothers movies.

The class includes:

Seven lectures written by Scott Myers

Six Coen brothers inspired storytelling tips

Daily forum Q&As

Workshop writing exercises with feedback

A 75-minute live teleconference between instructor and class members

Movies written by Joel and Ethan Coen have been nominated for 14 Academy Awards, winning 4 times, and nominated for the Cannes Film Festival Palm D’Or 7 times, winning once.

Like Pixar, the Coen brothers have carved their own path and have proven themselves to be master storytellers.

I am excited to share storytelling insights I have learned from studying Coen brothers movies in this exciting 1-week online class providing insights you can use to elevate your own writing.

Consider joining me beginning Monday, May 13th for Coen Brothers and the Craft of Storytelling, a great way to learn principles, dynamics and techniques apparent in the movies of these fine filmmakers to upgrade your own story-crafting abilities.

As the Dude might say, “That’s fuckin’ ingenious, if I understand it correctly. It’s a Swiss fuckin’ watch.”

Sign up now here.
Daily Dialogue — May 6, 2019. Eli Sunday: We have a sinner with us…
By: Scott Myers
Tags: Movies, Film, Screenwriting, Dialogue, Screenplay

Eli Sunday: We have a sinner with us here who wishes for salvation. Daniel, are you a sinner?

Plainview: Yes.

Eli Sunday: Oh, the Lord can’t hear you, Daniel. Say it to him. Go ahead and speak to him. It’s all right.

Plainview: Yes.

Eli Sunday: Down on your knees and to him. Look up to the sky and say it.

Plainview gets down on his knees.

Plainview: What do you want me to say?

Eli Sunday: Oh, Daniel, you’ve come here and you’ve brought good and wealth, but you have also brought your bad habits as a backslider. You’ve lusted after women, and you have abandoned your child — your child that you raised. You have abandoned all because he was sick and you have sinned. So say it now — “I am a sinner.”

Plainview: I am a sinner.

Eli Sunday: Say it louder — “ I am a sinner! “

Plainview: I’m a sinner.

Eli Sunday: Louder, Daniel. I am a sinner!

Plainview: I am a sinner.

Eli Sunday: I am sorry, Lord!

Plainview: I am sorry , Lord.

Eli Sunday: I want the blood!

Plainview: I want the blood.

Eli Sunday: You have abandoned your child!

Plainview: I’ve abandoned my child.

Eli Sunday: I will never backslide!

Plainview: I will never backslide.

Eli Sunday: I was lost, but now I am found!

Plainview: I was lost but now I’m found.

Eli Sunday: I have abandoned my child!

Plainview glares at him.

Eli Sunday: Say it… say it!

— There Will Be Blood (2007), screenplay by Paul Thomas Anderson, novel by Upton Sinclair

The Daily Dialogue theme for the week: Baptism.

Trivia: While on location in Marfa, Texas, No Country for Old Men (2007) was the neighboring film production. One day, Paul Thomas Anderson and his crew tested the pyrotechnical effects of the oil derrick fire, causing an enormous billowing of smoke, intruding the shot that Joel Coen and Ethan Coen were shooting. This caused them to delay filming until the next day when the smoke dissipated. Both this film and No Country for Old Men (2007) would eventually become the leading contenders at the Academy Awards a year and a half later.

Dialogue On Dialogue: It’s instructive to watch this scene, then the “I will drink your milkshake” ending scene. The power dynamic is completely reversed and in some ways, this scene sets up the psychological interplay between the two characters in the dramatic final scene.
What if you have no motivation to write?
By: Hudson Phillips
Tags: Writing, Screenwriting, Filmmaking, Scriptblast, Screenplay

Photo by Nick Fewings on Unsplash

I’ve seen people bring this up as a struggle a few times: “I’m just not motivated to write.” And I’ve been there too. You found this thing you love doing, so why aren’t you doing it all the time?

I’ve got two thoughts on this:

I have no motivation to work out. I mean, I hate working out. But I’m also 40+ and my metabolism isn’t doing the heavy lifting it used to do, so I need to work out. So here’s what I did: I started small and I created a daily habit. Alexa has a “7-minute workout” program that I started doing just 3 days a week. Now, I know that sounds like it would make zero difference, and maybe I’m not gonna lose any weight from that, but what I am doing is establishing a habit. You start small and build up. And here’s what I’ve found: the more I do it, the more I enjoy it, the more motivated I am to do it. I even have an app that tracks my habits so I can go back and see my progress and that also gives me more motivation. So set yourself a small goal, keep track of it, and see if that doesn’t increase your motivation over time. If you start dating someone and you find yourself with no motivation to hang out with them, it’s probably time to start dating someone else. For a writer, that might mean that the story you are working on is not the story you need to be writing right now. You should be so thrilled to sit down and knock out that story every time you sit down to write. It should be a love affair. If you’re not “feeling it” it’s okay to break up with that story and move on to one you are passionate about.

I will say that these two things (habits and passion) get easier the more you do it. These writing habits start to become less of a chore as you go and just like dating, you start to recognize what you like or don’t like in a story the more you “write around.”

So it’s gonna be hard at first. It’s gonna be a lot of false starts and a lot of giving up and coming back. But that’s okay. It’s all part of the process as you discover yourself as a writer.

What about you guys? Got any tips for increasing your motivation to write?
Daily Dialogue — February 7, 2020
By: Scott Myers
Tags: Movies, Film, Screenwriting, Dialogue, Screenplay

Joe has just found out that Mike was sleeping with his wife.

Mike Mathews: It just happened, Joe. It…

Joe Hallenbeck: Sure, sure, I know… it just happened. Coulda happened to anybody. It was an accident, right? You tripped, slipped on the floor and accidentally stuck your dick in my wife. ‘Whoops! I’m so sorry, Mrs. H. I guess this just isn’t my week.’”

— The Last Boy Scout (1991), written by Shane Black

The Daily Dialogue theme for the week: Private Eye.

Trivia: With this film, Shane Black became the first writer to sell a spec script for one million dollars. According to Time magazine, he was originally offered 2.25 million dollars by Carolco Pictures, but decided to go with Warner Brothers for the lower (but record-setting) bid of 1.75 million dollars, so that he could work with Joel Silver, who had also produced his script for Lethal Weapon (1987). This record stood for 67 days until Carolco purchased a screenplay by Joe Eszterhas, which became Basic Instinct (1992), for three million dollars.

Dialogue On Dialogue: Another Shane Black take on a private eye, this time using his professional skills to determine his wife has been cheating on him.
Spec Script Deals Analysis 2019: Top Sales
By: Scott Myers
Tags: Writing, Hollywood, Movies, Screenwriting, Screenplay

Continuing our week long analysis of spec script deals from 2019, today we look at the biggest payoffs (at least as reported by various news outlets).

Horton Foote

Assisted Living —Paramount Pictures

Kay Oyegun — High-six against seven figures (bidding war)

Don’t Go in the Water — Universal Pictures

Peter Gaffney — Mid to high-six figure deal

Distant — Amblin Partners

Spenser Cohen — Mid-six figures (preemptive purchase)

Widow: The Way Of The Raven — Perfect Village Entertainment

Joanne Reay — Mid-six figures

I Heart Murder — Sony Pictures

Thomas O’Donnell — Six-figures

There were some other big deals which didn’t reveal a sales price:

Reparations — Screen Gems

Jeff Howard — Preemptive purchase

The Traveler — MGM

Austin Everett — Preemptive purchase

Shut In — New Line Cinema

Melanie Toast — Deal was part of an auction

Don’t Worry Darling — New Line Cinema

Shane Van Dyke, Carey Van Dyke — 18 bidders

Part 1: Spec Script Deal List

Part 2: Genres

Part 3: Buyers

Part 4: Managers & Agents
Script Analysis: “Parasite” — Part 5: Dialogue
By: Scott Myers
Tags: Movies, Film, Filmmaking, Screenwriting, Screenplay

Read the script for the award-winning foreign film and analyze all week.

Reading scripts. Absolutely critical to learn the craft of screenwriting. The focus of this bi-weekly series is a deep structural and thematic analysis of each script we read. Our daily schedule:

Monday: Scene-By-Scene Breakdown

Tuesday: Plot

Wednesday: Characters

Thursday: Themes

Friday: Dialogue

Saturday: Takeaways

Today: Dialogue.

Screenplay by Bong Joon Ho and Jin Won Han, story by Bong Joon Ho.

Plot Summary: All unemployed, Ki-taek and his family take peculiar interest in the wealthy and glamorous Parks, as they ingratiate themselves into their lives and get entangled in an unexpected incident.

Head to RESPONSES and let me know what dialogue in the script made the most impact on you.

Major kudos to Olivia Ramirez for doing this week’s scene-by-scene breakdown.

To download a PDF of the breakdown for Parasite, go here.

For Part 1, to read the Scene-By-Scene Breakdown discussion, go here.

For Part 2, to read the Plot discussion, go here.

For Part 3, to read the Character discussion, go here.

For Part 4, to read the Themes discussion go here.

To access over 70 analyses of previous movie scripts we have read and discussed at Go Into The Story, go here.

I hope to see you in the RESPONSE section about this week’s script: Parasite.
SIMPLE STEPS TO FINANCIAL FREEDOM
By: Casafina Media
Tags: Saving, Investment, Money, Wealth Creation, Financial Freedom

Financial Freedom

Financial freedom is when the return on your investment is enough to for you to afford the lifestyle you want. It means, you can retire at any point or pursue the career you want without being driven by the need to earn active monthly or annual income. Financial freedom is living the life we dreamed about.

Below are simple and practicable steps that can put you on the road to financial freedom forever.

You need a source of income. Be grateful about the current source of income that you have, it is your primary tool to financial freedom. Your current source of income, no matter how small, is supposed to fund a part of your big dream. Don’t wait till the time you start earning six zeros or when you set out on your own before you begin your journey to financial freedom.

Seek knowledge for yourself. Do not outsource your investment and financial knowledge to third parties. Be interested in your path to financial freedom. Do not just hand over your money to an expert, who you think will multiply it after a certain period. Find out the investments that suit you, where you would like your money to go and grow. Take responsibility for your financial knowledge. You can do this by reading money/investment articles, watch related videos on YouTube, attend financial master classes, etc.

You need a dream and a plan. A lot of people have big dreams of things they want to do but have no plan whatsoever on how to achieve them. You cannot get to a destination you are not prepared for. You have got to know what you need to get to where you want to go.

You need to stay disciplined. Know that you are not saving to spend but you are saving to invest and investing to build a solid financial portfolio. Spending to Consume (STC) is very close to STD, make sure you don’t get it. As always said, consistency is very key.

You must have a desire to be financially free. A desire to build a portfolio that can sustain you and your family for the longest time must be burning in your heart. That is the beginning of the journey, for where there is no zeal, there is no way.

Let us together see the power of consistency using a compound interest calculator https://www.casafina.com.ng/calculator-compound-interest.html

Base Amount — 100,000

Monthly Contribution — 20,000

Tenure — 15years

Estimated Return /annum — 15%

Future Balance — 12,233,004

Magic right? This is just at the barest minimum, because over time, you would be able to increase your monthly contribution and even invest in instruments that would pay better returns. Slowly and steadily, you are building sustainable wealth for yourself and those after you.

For more of educative and empowering information, subscribe to our YouTube channel via https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYTX52Cq3vjl9YvA3WqbUkg
How can we achieve financial freedom?
By: Mehul Yadav
Tags: Financial Planning, Freedom, Source Of Income, Free, Financial Freedom

Financial Freedom is a stage when you do not rely on your salary to pay your bills.

You achieve Financial Freedom when you replace your monthly salary with multiple income streams.

For most of us, the current income streams look like this. Fully or mostly dependent on our monthly salary to pay our expenses.

If you can replace your salary with assets that generate income for you, you can be Financially Free.

You can achieve Financial Freedom by generating passive or semi-passive income from assets, such as:

INVESTING YOUR SALARY IN INCOME GENERATING ASSETS SUCH AS:

Investing in apartments that give you monthly rent

Investing in Mutual Funds, stock to get dividends and returns

Invest in Fixed income instruments such as EPF, FD, NSC to get income

2. USING YOUR SKILL TO BUILD A BUSINESS THAT DOES NOT REQUIRE YOUR DAY TO DAY INVOLVEMENT

3. USING YOUR SKILL TO CREATE A PRODUCT THAT GENERATES INCOME WITH LITTLE TO NO MAINTENANCE. FOR, E.g. :

A book

A digital product such as a blog, app, etc..

The key to Financial Freedom is to generate enough income through your assets to pay your monthly assets.

Assume you need 1 lakh rupee a month to pay all your expenses.

This is one example of how one can replace salary from multiple income streams:

One crore investment in a portfolio mix of debt and equity, withdrawn at 3% every year can give you 46 K per month.

I crore apartment can give you around 25 K per month rent.

You can generate another 30 k or more a month from digital products or any business.

So 46 K + 25 K +30K from different assets are enough money to cover your bills, and you are free. An important thing to note here is that you will need to keep evolving your portfolio with changing times and needs.

How long will it take you to achieve Financial Freedom?

Financial Freedom is not a sprint, and it is a marathon.

But it is not all or nothing either. For instance, there are different degrees of financial freedom that require a different level of money and effort.

Primary level- you have just enough income from assets to cover your necessary living expenses Comfortable level- You have enough to cover your basics + some of your wants. For, eg one holiday a year, car upgrade very ten years, etc.. Dream level- You do not have to think about money.

Start with a basic level and then move up. How fast can you do it? Depends on how much you want to work towards your goal.

We target to reach Financial Freedom by age 45.

In most cases, it can take anywhere from 10–20 years to achieve Financial Freedom basic & comfortable level. Dream level is a different ball game altogether.
How To Make Money Fast With Profitable Thumbnails
By: Syed Ibrahim
Tags: Make Money Fast, Thumbnail, Financial Freedom

Hello guys, let me share with you my little secret about something exciting through my experience. It is about me creating thumbnails for my YouTube videos. You know something. This program I purchased amazed me for real. When I created thumbnails for my videos. I had many viewers watching my videos. Those thumbnails I designed were VERY colorful and attractive. Somehow, I knew many people will click my videos and love it. However, let me share the BEST TIPS to produce profitable thumbnails for your videos.

Tips To Make A Good Thumbnail

If you feature in the video, do a couple of poses or interesting facial expressions near the end of it. Point your finger to somewhere off-camera. Screenshot these moments and pick the most interesting one for your thumbnail. You can cut out that part of the video before uploading it. Boost the saturation of your thumbnail about 10–20% and lower the blurriness by 10–20%. This will make the colors pop out more and help mobile users notice the thumbnail. As you can see right here, there are plenty of nice thumbnail templates inside of the program.

There is a very large collection of templates ranging from all sorts of niches. Putting contrasting colors together makes them more noticeable. You can use W3Schools’ Color Picker to figure out the exact shade that suits your thumbnail. Play around with angles of elements in your thumbnails. Not everything needs to be lined up perfectly and it actually helps attract attention if the symmetry is a bit off. Be aware of how the website you’re uploading to shows thumbnails and if it hides a part of it. For example, Youtube shows the “Watch Later” button in the top right corner of the thumbnail, so try not to put anything critical there.

So how? Do you like it? Now let me show you the program that helps me invent those thumbnails on my own.

I want to create thumbnails to make money straight away
How To Make Profitable Thumbnails Fast
By: Syed Ibrahim
Tags: Thumbnail, Make Money Online, Financial Freedom

Hello guys, let me share with you my little secret about something exciting through my experience. It is about me creating thumbnails for my YouTube videos. You know something. This program I purchased amazed me for real. When I created thumbnails for my videos. I had many viewers watching my videos. Those thumbnails I designed were VERY colorful and attractive. Somehow, I knew many people will click my videos and love it. However, let me share the BEST TIPS to produce profitable thumbnails for your videos.

Tips To Make A Good Thumbnail

If you feature in the video, do a couple of poses or interesting facial expressions near the end of it. Point your finger to somewhere off-camera. Screenshot these moments and pick the most interesting one for your thumbnail. You can cut out that part of the video before uploading it. Boost the saturation of your thumbnail about 10–20% and lower the blurriness by 10–20%. This will make the colors pop out more and help mobile users notice the thumbnail. As you can see right here, there are plenty of nice thumbnail templates inside of the program.

There is a very large collection of templates ranging from all sorts of niches. Putting contrasting colors together makes them more noticeable. You can use W3Schools’ Color Picker to figure out the exact shade that suits your thumbnail. Play around with angles of elements in your thumbnails. Not everything needs to be lined up perfectly and it actually helps attract attention if the symmetry is a bit off. Be aware of how the website you’re uploading to shows thumbnails and if it hides a part of it. For example, Youtube shows the “Watch Later” button in the top right corner of the thumbnail, so try not to put anything critical there.

So how? Do you like it? Now let me show you the program that helps me invent those thumbnails on my own.

I want to create thumbnails to make money straight away
How To Make $1K Per day Fast With This Special System
By: Syed Ibrahim
Tags: Quick Money Making Ideas, Make Money Online, Financial Freedom

Hello guys, welcome to my blog. Just like my previous blogs, I want to assure you that it will as concise as I can about my feedback about the program I want to share with you. I am not a professional blogger. Today, I want to write to you a little bit about my view about this program I am about to show you. It is a very good and well-developed program that helps people to make money online well like anyone can do. It should be to your real advantage over the people who do not do it. It can be fast and easy if you do it the right way. Let me show you how the program is constructed.

How does the program work?

This program works on the Email marketing principle and methods. You need to build a targeted list of email subscribers and offer products and services that they are likely to purchase. You need to send emails to the targeted audience.

There are a few steps that you should need to follow to get the exact benefit;

1: Find out what people are already buying.

2: Find out how they are selling the product.

3: Write down a striking headline that works.

4: Turn the headline into a curious question.

5: Use the creator’s list building poll template to bring in email addresses with ease.

6: This is where you need to capture an email address using your new poll page.

7: Instantly offer your new subscriber, the product they are interested in.

8: Earn Instant Commission at the same time you build your list.

Ok now, it is time for you to know the benefits and drawbacks of the program.

Pros

I’ll be blunt here. If you are serious about earning serious money online then this is the course for you. Here’s why:

There are no negatives that I can see yet

In my opinion the best method I’ve seen in 16 years

It should work for everyone from beginners on up

Little chance of saturation using the traffic sources recommended

The price of $997 is far too low in my opinion and is bound to go up (don’t wait)

Cons

Some course modules were originally delayed — not a problem for new members

$997 is a lot of money. Don’t purchase this unless you will take action

Alright, I know by now you cannot wait to see the program. Ladies and gentlemen, let me present the most exciting program ever in money-making online history. Here we go!!!

I want to make money fast TODAY!!!!!