“Minted” Director Nicholas Bruckman on Spending Two Years Following Digital Artists Through NFT Heaven & Hell
Nicholas Bruckman has built a distinctive career that bridges documentary filmmaking with commercial storytelling, following his instincts and his passions on projects big and small. The New York-based director has participated in prestigious labs, including the Rotterdam Producers Lab and the IFP Cannes Producers Fellowship, and the Sloan Foundation, Cinereach, and other notable organizations support his work. Through his company People’s Television, he regularly produces branded films for major clients including Airbnb,
“Eddington” Writer/Director Ari Aster on Bringing His Pandemic-Era Neo-Western Thriller Home to New Mexico
Writer/director Ari Aster broke new ground with Eddington in that it’s the first of his films to be shot where it was intended to be set. Both happen to be in his native state of New Mexico, where production created over 300 jobs.
Set in 2020 at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the neo-Western satirical black comedy reunites him with his Beau Is Afraid lead,
“The Diplomat” Creator Debora Cahn on Refusing to Write Easy Villains in a World of Hard Choices
For Deborah Cahn, the journey from The West Wing to Netflix’s The Diplomat began with a simple encounter that revealed the extraordinary lives hidden within the foreign service. The former West Wing writer spent years cultivating relationships with real diplomats, ambassadors, and State Department officials, learning first-hand how complex the world of international politics was, and how much it demanded of the individuals who dedicated their lives to it.
“Part Debate Club and Part Therapy”: Inside “The Pitt” Writers’ Room With Cynthia Adarkwa & Valerie Chu
HBO’s The Pitt emerged as one of television’s most gripping medical dramas in years by doing something deceptively simple yet extraordinarily difficult: following a single, brutal 15-hour shift in a Pittsburgh emergency room in real time. What made the series so compelling wasn’t just its relentless intensity or unflinching medical realism (the “floating face” fracture in episode 2 will haunt my dreams), but how writers like Valerie Chu and Cynthia Adarkwa managed to weave deeply human character arcs through the chaos of trauma bays and life-or-death decisions.
From Maya Files to Magic: How Hollywood Creatives Help Build Epic Universe’s Immersive Worlds
Almost a decade in the making, Epic Universe at Universal Orlando Resort in Florida is a groundbreaking theme park that highlights the shared DNA between filmmaking, attractions, and immersive real-world experiences, taking audiences and guests on a cinematic journey.
Three of the five worlds that make up Epic Universe are born out of IPs that have graced both the big and small screens, namely The Wizarding World of Harry Potter – Ministry of Magic,
“Materialists” Writer/Director Celine Song on Why Love Can’t Be Commodified
Celine Song loves love.
And not in the way that middle schoolers doodle in their notebooks about dreamy-eyed crushes, or in the way that newlyweds share song lyrics on Instagram. Celine Song has made it her career to analyze the very foundation of love.
Her latest film, Materialists (in theaters June 13), explores the complexities of navigating love in a society that increasingly values material wealth over all else.
Inside Writer/Director Dean DeBlois’ Secret Formula for Creating His Live-Action “How to Train Your Dragon”
When filmmaker Dean DeBlois found out a live-action reimaging of his award-winning animated hit How to Train Your Dragon was on the cards, he volunteered to write and direct it.
The adaptation, which lands in movie theaters on Friday, June 13, 2025, largely mirrors the storyline of the 2010 original. At the heart of the film is the friendship between a young Viking called Hiccup,
Peak Performance: “Succession” Creator Jesse Armstrong on Trading Media Empires for Tech Titans in “Mountainhead”
Jesse Armstrong takes his exploration of the rich and powerful to new heights—both literally and figuratively—in Mountainhead. In his feature directing debut, the writer/producer who created HBO’s Emmy-winning, zeitgeist-capturing Succession about the family turmoil of the media mogul Roy family, turns his satirical eye on the titans of tech. And it all takes place at the top of a snow-covered Utah summit in a breathtaking,
Behind Netflix’s “The Four Seasons”: How “30 Rock” Veterans Lang Fisher & Tracey Wigfield Reimagined a Classic With Tina Fey
Adapted from the classic romantic comedy of the same name, Tina Fey, Lang Fisher, and Tracey Wigfield‘s The Four Seasons is a contemporary take on a tale as middle-aged as time: the highs and lows of evolving friendships and relationships between friends who have reached the middle innings of life.
The original film was written and directed by Alan Alda and co-starred Alda and Carol Burnett, and it was one of 1981’s biggest box office hits.
“Connecticut’s Cinema Secret: How Dillon Bentlage’s “Watching Mr. Pearson” Found Its Perfect Location
Dementia was part of writer-director Dillon Bentlage’s family, his grandmother struggling with its early stages before passing away from cancer. Watching Mr. Pearson is a love letter to those living with symptoms and the people around them wanting to give them their best life. The feature stars Hugo Armstrong as Robert Pearson, a former Hollywood legend battling mental decline. When one of his caregivers, Caroline (Dominika Zawada), finds out that performing scenes from his film work gives him new life,
Inside “The Residence”: Creator Paul William Davies on Crafting a White House Whodunit
The Residence, produced by Shondaland for Netflix, is the much-anticipated whodunnit that is Shonda Rhimes’ second show set in the White House. The first, of course, was another beloved, Kerry Washington-led Scandal, which dealt in the shadowy world of Washington’s Olivia Pope, the queen of fixers. Now Rhimes and her collaborator Paul William Davies return to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue to follow Uzo Aduba’s Cordelia Cupp, a world-famous detective and obsessive birder,
No More Games: “September 5’s” Oscar-Nominated Writers on the Day Terror Took Center Stage
The thriller September 5, directed and co-written by Tim Fehlbaum, revisits the day the Palestinian militant group Black September took nine Israeli athletes hostage during the 1972 Munich Olympics. Nominated for an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay, the script, which Fehlbaum wrote with Moritz Binder, is a tightly-paced journalism procedural centered on the ABC Sports studio’s broadcast of the attack as it happened.
Peter Sarsgaard stars as Roone Arledge,
“Conclave” Oscar Nominee Peter Straughan on Scripting a Devilishly Good Vatican Thriller
Conclave is great, gripping entertainment from the first shot to the last. It’s a drama, both honest and escapist, deftly shot, performed, and staged by artists at the top of their respective games. In the hands of Academy Award-nominated screenwriter Peter Straughan, Edward Berger’s contemplative film moves briskly within the Vatican walls. A movie that takes us into one of the most secretive rituals on Earth – about the search for a new pope – is remarkably light on its holy feet.
“Nickel Boys” Writer/Director RaMell Ross on Camera as Consciousness in His Oscar-Nominated Film
An introspective, promising teenager hitchhiking to college gets a ride in a car that turns out to be stolen. The driver is Black, and so is the boy. Deemed an accomplice despite his innocence, Elwood (Ethan Herisse) is remanded to Nickel Academy, a segregated Florida reform school. Nickel Boys, the Oscar-nominated film based on Colson Whitehead’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Nickel Boys, follows the harrowing path Elwood is placed on by the Jim Crow South.
“Presence” Screenwriter David Koepp on Writing a Ghost Story Told by the Ghost
One of the unwritten rules of screenwriting is you don’t put camera direction in the script. It’s about the worst possible move for a writer, a serious no-no in Hollywood, and the number one way to guarantee your work never gets produced. But in the case of Presence, a new, propulsively effective haunted-house movie with a twist, it was possible for the screenwriter David Koepp to put such objections aside and embrace the visual possibilities because the camera,
Best of 2024: Richard Linklater on the Killer Chemistry in his Romantic Comedy “Hit Man”
In Richard Linklater‘s latest film, an irresistibly sexy romantic comedy that’s also a bit of a noir, a giddy satire on the hitman genre, and a screwball quasi-whodunit, the one constant is a vibe that is decidedly and effusively all Linklater. Glen Powell, a rising star who has been Linklater’s longtime collaborator through a string of roles dating back to 2006’s Fast Food Nation, plays Gary Johnson, a professor of psychology and philosophy at the University of New Orleans who is as passionate about Nietzsche as he is dispassionate about the affairs of his own life.
Best of 2024: “Challengers” Screenwriter Justin Kuritzkes on Acing his Zendaya-led Tennis Scorcher
Spoiler Alert: The following article contains spoilers for Challengers.
Back in 2018, playwright and author Justin Kuritzkes was obsessively consuming the world of elite tennis. As the first-time screenwriter conveyed to The Credits, it was better than anything in theaters or on the small screen — tennis was really just that good.
During that year’s U.S. Open match between Naomi Osaka and Serena Williams,
Best of 2024: MPA Creator Award Recipient Writer/Director JA Bayona’s Epic Journey
J.A. Bayona’s Society of the Snow, a reimagining of the real-life 1972 Uruguayan plane crash in the Andes Mountains that caught the world’s attention, is a viscerally astonishing feat of empathetic filmmaking. It was nominated for two Oscars: Best International Feature for Spain and Best Makeup and Hairstyling (Ana López-Puigcerver, David Martí, and Montse Ribé), a sweet coda for a filmmaker who returned to his home country of Spain for the majority of the film’s production.
Best of 2024: “My Old Ass” Writer/Director Megan Park on Magic, Mushrooms, and Meeting Yourself
In Megan Park’s wide-eyed, warm-as-the-waning-summer-evenings sophomore feature, My Old Ass, time itself is a trip.
When Elliott (Maisy Stella) ushers in her 18th birthday with a camping excursion à la psilocybin-laced mushrooms, the last thing she expects is her psyche to conjure up an “old ass” version of herself (at 39 years old), portrayed by Aubrey Plaza. With her last summer in the picturesque lakeside town of Muskoka, Canada, before she heads off to the University of Toronto,
Best of 2024: “Inside Out 2” Writer Meg LeFauve on the Power of Adolescent Anxiety
*This interview was selected by measures having nothing to do with science as one of our standouts from 2024. Inside Out 2 co-writer Meg LeFavue, along with scribe Dave Holstein, managed to deliver an immensely satisfying, often surprising sequel to one of the most unique animated films in Pixar’s long, rich history.
Inside Out earned its co-writer Meg LeFauve a Best Screenplay Oscar nomination en route to becoming 2015’s seventh-highest-grossing movie.
