Film School

Off with their head! Sometimes, a character has to die. But, when are those times? When is it right for the audience or the reader to kill a character? Are there rules, or at least guidelines, around when to bump somebody off for the best effect on your story? We brainstorm from our own experience, and we use a wonderful write-up from onestopforwriters.com on the subject to answer those questions....

Go or don't go, it's all the same. I thought you loved me... Hitchcock teams up with legend of the silent era Marlene Dietrich as a stage actress who's murdered her husband and enlisted her lover's help to try and cover it up. We're also back in the UK! After a couple flops, it certainly feels like Hitch is trying very hard to make a hit. Does it work? We watch and discuss!

What makes a great anti-hero?

In seventeen-hundred and seventy, Captain Cook discovered Australia... Hitchcock tries his hand at the high-brow romantic drama of a young man falling in love with a once-glorious woman now living in exile and the bottle. Certainly not what one thinks of when they're imagining a Hitch joint. Does it work? We watch and discuss!

Bestseller. Top of the Box Office. Hit TV show. Oscar. Millions...success will fix everything, right? I mean, it's literally what we're chasing so hard, the tippy top of our dreams, how could it possibly NOT fix us, right? RIGHT? Hmmm. So, what if it doesn't? What if success were only to make our personal issues WORSE? Oh, god. Perhaps the work on ourselves is actually something else entirely, and...

Murder can be an art, too... So, Hitchcock is doing some THINGS. He's out on his own away from Selznick for the first time in Hollywood, and he's come out with a big swing: can we shoot a movie with no cuts? All one take? Or, at least the illusion of that? And how would such a real-time filming method influence the drama that unfolds? Kinda blew our mind that--apparently--Hitch was the first direc...

You've probably heard this before: there is no ONE WAY to be a writer. Or a filmmaker. Or an actor, or a painter, or a dancer, or a sculptor...the possibilities, personalities, and pathways are endless. Why is that? And if its true, how can I find my own way? We discuss and answer! Also, Josh recommends  The Terror Season 1 (again!), and Ira recommends Scavenger's Reign which is currently on Netfl...

I loved Andre Latour, and you murdered him... It's the last rodeo for Alfred Hitchcock and David O. Selznick, the last time the two work together. And this time, it's  written by the producer himself. We have ourselves a murder, a mysterious, beautiful woman accused, and a dashing young lawyer who's convinced she didn't do it. So, how does it all shake out? Do Hitch and Selznick find one last bit...

What's the best way to work: burst energy, get it out as hard and fast as you possibly can go go go don't stop...or slow and steady, this is a marathon not a sprint, and you can't just drop everything when life never stops, so drip drip it away, one brick at a time until you're finally done? Spoiler: it's not an either/or. It's BOTH. We talk about how we've applied both concepts to our own creativ...

Say it again, it keeps me awake. ...I love you... Ingrid Bergman and Hitchcock go back to back! This time its Cary Grant she teams up with, in a tale of international espionage, manipulation, uranium, and...love. All things Hitch has covered before, but not quite like this. Grant and Bergman heat up the silver screen. We watch and discuss!

On this podcast, we've talked before about BAD habits and how to break them. But what about GOOD habits? What about that stuff that we know we SHOULD be doing, but it's hard to get going? Josh and Ira talk about how it works for them. Also, Josh recommends  The Terror Season 1 (again), and Ira recommends Welcome to Wrexham , which is on Hulu.

Amnesia: the trick of the mind for remaining sane... You see "Dream Sequence by Salvador Dali" in the credits and you get excited! Hitch is  doing some things with this one. We're going super psychological with it. Like SUPER psychological. Gregory Peck doesn't remember who he is, but he's convinced he's a murderer. Ingrid Bergman is convinced that he isn't...and that he's sane. How does it all sh...

It's so, sooooo hard when you're starting out. We all look forward to the day where it gets easier. The thought of the work just pumping out of us, amazing and free, kinda keeps us going in those early, dark, hard days. But...DOES it get any easier? We ask each other and discuss. Also, Josh recommends  The Terror Season 1 , and Ira recommends Eurotrip , and  The Three Amigos, the latter of which i...

Dying together's even more personal than living together... Hitchcock plays with setting this time around, confining his ENTIRE FILM to a single lifeboat. And it doesn't pull any punches. Dead babies, murder, suicide, paranoia, love, hate, desperation, and brutal violence...it all takes place on that tiny boat. This film really goes for it. We watch and discuss!

So you want to be a writer. You're interested in a life of storytelling. Long term. What do you need to know? Or, as someone who's already dedicated themselves to a lifetime of spinning tales, what would you say to someone who was interested in doing the same? As a pair that fall into the latter, Josh and Ira discuss! Also, Josh recommends  The Angry Video Game Nerd  (originally  The Angry Nintend...

The cities are full of women... Alfred transports us to small-town America this time, a land of unlocked doors, everyone knows everyone, and the world is full of innocence. But then Uncle Charlie comes home, and all that idealism starts to unravel. Uncle Charlie is hiding something. He might not be who young "Charlie" (Charlotte) thought he was. Hitchcock is on record as saying this is his persona...

An ass-kicking never feels good! It hurts every time. And yet, especially in the creative sense, we all need to be told when we're doing something wrong; we all need to be humbled. So...how can getting your ass kicked be a good thing? If the pain is the same either way, how can you tell constructive criticism from just a plain whoopin'? We discuss! Also, Josh recommends  Rifftrax on Pluto TV, and...

Must I remind you that *you* are the fugitive from justice and not I? It's  The 39 Steps: Part 2 ! Hitchcock returns to what is clearly a favorite premise: an innocent man on the run from a criminal conspiracy with the fate of the country at stake. This time, we're in American, and there's a real-world war going on. So...how does it shake out? Does Alfred raise the bar from his first go-round? Wha...

400 episodes! Wild. This week, we're tackling the question of bad vs good vs great from the angle of seeking out new books, TV, and Film. It can be a hard road! Most stuff out there isn't great...so, how does one keep going, keep up the enthusiasm? We discuss what's worked for us. Also, Josh recommends  Robodoc , which is currently on Tubi, and Ira recommends  The Terror on AMC+ (and Blu-Ray/DVD).

There was something strange about Johnny Asgarth... We're back to the realm of suspense, paranoia, and murder. Or...is it? That's the question Joan Fontaine must answer when she marries the charming but mysterious Cary Grant: IS he trying to kill her? A return to form, perhaps, after Hitchcock's last jaunt through screwball comedy, and it's the first hook up between Hitch and Grant, doubly interes...

Can you fall in love, deeply in love love, with somebody you know isn't as smart as you are? We're not talking about pets, or kids, inanimate objects, or even sexual attraction. We're talking about grown-up, head over heels, enduring, inspiring LOVE. Can you? Interesting, huh? You can't, can you? Stories are the same way. All the best stories open our minds, expand our worlds, and  command our int...

If you had it all to do over again, would you have married me? Hitch takes on married life in its screwball form! These comedies were very popular at the time (see: Grant and Hepburn in  Bringing Up Baby ), so it's not surprising that our British Director, fresh in Hollywood, would take on such a project. Given his hit and (mostly) miss track record with comedy, how does this effort shake out? We...

How do you know when you've gone in the wrong direction? What are the signs? And when you realize that you have, what do you do? Josh and Ira share their own personal insights on this question, covering the spectrum of a chronic over-planner to leaping-before-looking impulsiveness. Also, Josh recommends South Park currently available on Prime, and Ira recommends Constellation on Apple TV+.

There's a crime hatching on that bedeviled continent... World War II is in full swing when this movie releases. Or, at least it is in Europe. London is being bombed, and Hitchcock can't help but feel, well, helpless. And guilty for not being there. This film, more than any he's made to this point, truly reflects the time in which it was made: an American reporter is sent overseas to report on the...

What makes a good movie? What are the things that stand out? We all have our own personal versions of the answer to this question. Josh and Ira each answer for themselves without getting into the weeds as much as possible. Also, Josh recommends Somebody Feed Phil on Netflix, and Ira recommends Tarkovsky's Stalker on Max.