Did you hear the one about the starlet who was so stupid she had sex with a screenwriter?

Charlie Kaufman doesn’t find that old Hollywood joke funny.

The Oscar-winning scribe of 2004’s “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” says he’s felt fulfilled as a writer, so he didn’t feel the need to use that pursuit as a steppingstone to directing; plus, he’s never seen those jobs “as a hierarchical thing the way people in the business do … I think that they’re very different jobs, and I don’t think directing is more important than writing. I think that you could make an argument in the converse_ not that I would, but you could, but no one does.”

Still, he’s making his directorial debut with “Synecdoche, New York,” starring Philip Seymour Hoffman as a theater director whose romantic and professional lives meld, mostly in awful ways.

(Yahoo News)

British journalist Toby Young knows a thing or two about alienating people. In fact, you could say he’s built a career on it.

His latest conquest was Simon Pegg, the English actor who plays Young in the film version of his 2001 memoir How to Lose Friends and Alienate People.

At the Cannes Film Festival in May, Young was asked about his character’s casting. “Simon was sitting next to me at the time and rather than kiss his ass I said, ‘Actually, I was a bit disappointed. I was hoping for Brad Pitt, but for some reason the producers didn’t think he’d be suitable,’” Young said recently over the phone from London. “I was joking, obviously, and the journalists all laughed politely.

“The following day, virtually every paper on Fleet Street carried the following story: ‘Toby Young said he was disappointed to be played by Britain’s No. 1 box-office star at the Cannes Film Festival. Said he wanted Brad Pitt.’ Beneath that was a picture of Brad Pitt in his pulchritudinous prime and, next to that, a picture of me looking particularly hideous.”

(The Globe and Mail)

Chuck Palahniuk rose from being an obscure Pacific Northwest novelist to best-selling author after the 20th Century Fox release of “Fight Club” in 1999, based on his book of the same name. While producers are clambering to adapt more of his books for film, Fox Searchlight released an adaptation of a second of his novels, “Choke” starring Sam Rockwell, Kelly Macdonald and Anjelica Huston on Sept. 26. Palahniuk discussed what it’s like to work with the movie business. 

(Hollywood Reporter)

It’s a big month for Alan Ball. The Oscar-winning writer of “American Beauty” and creator of “Six Feet Under” is enjoying the recent premiere of a new series, “True Blood,” on HBO. And ” Towelhead,” his feature film directorial debut, hit theaters on Friday.

On the surface, the two projects couldn’t be more different. Based on the 2005 novel by Alicia Erian, “Towelhead” is the story of an Arab American girl’s sexual coming-of-age in the bland subdivisions of Houston. The film features a thoroughbred cast — Aaron Eckhart, Maria Bello, Toni Collette, Peter Macdissi, plus newcomer Summer Bishil, 20, as 13-year-old Jasira — and is suffused with Ball’s postmodern-gothic sensibility, alternately creepy and revelatory, with a frisky dose of politics thrown in (the film takes place during the first Gulf War).

“True Blood,” by contrast, is about vampires in Louisiana and the mortals who are both repelled and fascinated by them, now that the princes and princesses of the night have come out of the coffin and walk among the living, thanks to the invention of a Japanese synthetic-blood beverage, sold in six-packs. As it turns out, there are good vampires and bad vampires. Actress Anna Paquin is stuck in the middle, as Sookie Stackhouse, a psychic heroine retained from Charlaine Harris’ “Southern Vampire Mysteries” books, the source material for the show.

(LA Times)

Tom Stoppard believes he has cracked the old chestnut of whether Chekhov’s plays are comedies. “It suddenly became perfectly clear to me,” he says, “that you could answer with another question: ‘Is life?’ So it stops being a puzzle.” In Chekhov, as in life, a “production with no laughs” would hardly be to Stoppard’s taste. Chekhov “liked laughter through unshed tears”.

If Chekhov has long been a puzzle, so, in a sense, has Stoppard. In a 45-year career spanning stage, screen and radio, he is credited with bringing ideas back into British theatre.

(The Guardian UK)

Overlooked in the appeal of a telegenic actor spouting provocative dialogue and the pleasure of being immersed in the dense fabric of a great story is the fact that, behind the scenes, there’s a person or two of less wattage who made it all happen. Unless a show becomes popular enough that its creators become noteworthy - like Aaron Sorkin, David Chase, J.J. Abrams or David Simon - most will be known only to people in the industry.

But at the Television Critics Association press tour in July, these creative types take center stage. They are the executive producers, writers and show runners who make your favorite series stay on track. They keep it real, or funny or intriguing - they’re the architects of the characters and story lines that make hit series so compelling.

(San Francisco Chronicle)

The creator of “The West Wing” is to make a film about the founders of social networking Web site Facebook.

Screenwriter Aaron Sorkin, who wrote the Tom Hanks movie “Charlie Wilson’s War,” has opened an account on the site to aid his research.

Sorkin writes on his Web page, “I figured a good first step in my preparation would be finding out what Facebook is, so I’ve started this page. If anyone has any questions, I’d be happy to answer them as best I can. If anyone has any comments, I’m glad to listen.”

The 47-year-old admits he doesn’t understand Facebook, or “how I’m going to write the movie,” so is relying on fans to help him.

He adds, “I have a fairly specific idea of what the first 15 pages of the screenplay will be and no idea what will happen on pages 16 through 130. I have very strong feelings about the internet and its effect on our national culture, but frankly those feelings are being countered by the sophistication, kindness, curiosity and wit of the posts in this site.”

Facebook was founded by Mark Zuckerberg in 2004 and has more than 100 million users worldwide.

(San Francisco Chronicle)

As long as Adam McKay is deciding the fate of the comedy universe (or so it seems), he’s going to enjoy it.

The writer-director of “Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy” and “Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby” — and the product of a formative time in Milford — has worked his collaborations with Will Ferrell for every giggle. Especially off the set.

McKay and Ferrell welcome the occasional days when a writing session devolves into an appalling lack of productivity.

(Courant)

MoviesOnline sat down with screenwriters Jonathan Nolan and David S. Goyer to talk about their new movie, “The Dark Knight,” directed by Christopher Nolan. The follow-up to “Batman Begins” stars Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Aaron Eckhart, Gary Oldham, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Michael Caine, and Morgan Freeman.

(Movies Online)

A man opens a “spiritual business” where people call to get issues off their chests.

A successful life coach who preaches selfishness and greed ruins the lives of those around him.

And a divorced woman gives questionable advice on her “chocolate powered relationship recovery” talk show.

These scripted shows are among the 40 short Web films, written and produced by Hollywood pros that will roll out this summer on Strike TV (www.strike.tv).

(LA Times)