Category: Showbiz Stories
-
Dear Republicans: We The People Are Angrier At You Than You Realize
The Republicans are now all-in on their power grab. The soft coup d’etat they started in 2016 has reached it’s moment of truth. There’s no going back anymore. Either the Republican Party will finish what they started — and bust a cap in American democracy’s noggin — or they’ll balk. Because, really, creating a state…
-
Real Leaders LISTEN And Make Everyone Around Them Better; Donald Trump’s The Exact Opposite
What makes Barack Obama a superb leader (his approval rating’s 58%) — regardless of whether you liked or like his policies — is his limitless capacity to inspire those all around him to do better, be better. Not because Big Brother was compelling you to — for Big Brother’s benefit — but because being the…
-
If You Think Living During A Pandemic Is A Bitch, Try Storytelling In It
And we thought things for storytellers were bad because Donald Trump’s awfulness supersedes anything any writer could ever think up. And then the coronavirus walked in our door. Of all the gin joints in all the world… Trump’s story is so hard to tell that our news media hasn’t gotten within miles of even figuring…
-
John Lewis Was A Case Study In HOW We Could “Do Unto Others”
I once wrote an episode of The Outer Limits (the reboot on Showtime) about a cool future technology that’s used for dark, nefarious purposes. Yeah, that could be pretty much any sci-fi story. This tech asked a question — what if we could take the talents, skill sets or abilities from one person and “implant…
-
Will Covid-19 Be The End Of Feature Films & Movie Theaters?
I’ve been writing & producing feature films & TV shows for 35 years. Boy, has this business changed. And then changed again. In 1985, when I arrived in Los Angeles from the East Coast, the feature business and the TV business were strangers to each other. One did not cross over freely from one to…
-
Every White Person Has To Own Their White Privilege If They’re Ever Going To NOT Be Racist
First things first: racism, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder. It’s not up to the racist or the person who might be racist to decide whether or not they’re racist. They’re a little too close to the subject to judge. So — no white person can say “I’m not a racist”. It’s…
-
Screenwriting & Storytelling In The Age Of Coronavirus
The Age of Trump made fiction-writing redundant. No one could write characters or a story half as batshit bonkers as what we were living through before coronavirus and get away with it. Now, we’re just out in the stratosphere of “Whatever!” Twists might surprise us as they happen but nothing really surprises us any more.…
-
What If We Could Make Sports As Virtual As We’re Making Everything Else?
Back in the day, I was a Co-Executive Producer for two years on a Showtime sci-fi series called The Outer Limits (it was a re-boot of the sci-fi show that ran on ABC in the 1960’s). Thinking “sci-fi” comes naturally. Not being a hard core sci-fi guy though (like everyone else on the staff was),…
-
Here’s The First Great “Life In The Time Of Coronavirus” Horror Movie
I have to be honest. The idea wasn’t mine — it was my wife’s. But the moment she said the premise, the rest of it played out almost instantaneously in my head. That happens with me. I’ve written a few horror movies (“Children Of The Corn II”, “Tales From The Crypt Presents Bordello Of Blood”)…
-
Dear Dennis Miller: Just Shut The Hell Up!
Apparently, world wide pandemics cause all sorts of lowlifes and scum to come out & start yowling. Today, comedian & failed sports color commentary guy Dennis Miller went on Sean Hannity’s show with some fresh “comedy stylings” about life in the times of coronavirus. Dennis — being Dennis — he sees it all from the…