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Award-Winning Short 'Voice Over' Breaks Narrative Conventions to Reveal Life's Significant Moments

02.21.13 @ 12:30PM Tags : drama, martinrosete, short, shortfilm, watch

You’re the astronaut who’ll never reach the oxygen tanks. No hold on, on second thoughts you’re the bleeding soldier who can’t detonate the charges. Actually scrap that, you’re the fisherman being dragged to the bottomless depths. Or perhaps you’re someone completely different? Martín Rosete’s 10 minute short Voice Over depicts the urgency of life’s pivotal moments in a desperate race against time. Watch it after the break. More »

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Clifton Archuleta Avoids Getting Preachy at Life's Crossroads in Coming of Age Short 'Broken Cycle'

07.10.12 @ 12:30PM Tags : cliftonarchuleta, drama, short, shortfilm, watch

In short film Broken Cycle from U.S. Army Arabic translator turned filmmaker Clifton Archuleta, a teen finds himself taken in by a gang of neighbourhood thugs and is presented with the decision of whether or not to embrace his anger and step up to the next level, leaving his innocence behind. More »

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David Mamet on Drama (a Memo to 'The Unit' Writers)

10.26.10 @ 5:21PM Tags : davidmamet, drama, screenwriting, theunit, tv, writing

This is an oldie but goodie. David Mamet wrote an impassioned memo to his writers on the now-cancelled show The Unit, laying out some principles of good dramatic writing. He wants three questions answered for every scene: “1) WHO WANTS WHAT? 2) WHAT HAPPENS IF [THEY] DON’T GET IT? 3) WHY NOW?” The memo also includes a few putdowns aimed at studio executives, and is a good read — and yes, he wrote it in ALL CAPS to stress the importance of what he was saying: More »

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Seen: Compulsions, Green Porno

04.22.10 @ 12:22PM Tags : compulsions, drama, greenporno, streamys, webseries

The 2nd Annual Streamy Awards took place last week, and while I was already familiar with many of the award-winners, some I’d never heard of. Every year when new-media awards like the Streamys or the Webbys are announced, I watch the nominees and winners in hopes that I’ll discover something that truly embodies the creative freedoms offered by the web, something unique and unlike anything in Hollywood. But every year I’m disappointed. This year’s Best Drama winner, The Bannen Way, won specifically because it was the best of the bunch at emulating Hollywood. And while I feel there are a lot of brilliant comedies on the web — You Suck at Photoshop, Wainy Days, The Onion News Network — it’s much harder to find compelling drama.

The most interesting drama series I saw via the Streamys was Compulsions (Streamy winner for Best Writing for a Drama Web Series): More »