What tickles your film fancy? - Please share (55)

Hello to all the film lovers out there

Most of us enjoy watching movies, some of us have favourite genres, be they horror, thriller, comedy, romance,...

I'd love to bounce around some ideas with you good folk, as I have a major independent writing project to do next semester. I have chosen the screenwriting category(vs novella...). This includes either a screenplay for a feature film, a TV mini series, or sitcom.

I have chosen to write a screenplay for feature film, though the magnitude of the task hasn't quite sunk in, given it's taken me months to write and re-write, a screenplay for a short film!!!

Anyhoo, what I would love to find out from you, are what is it that does it for you in a film? The moral message?...the plot?...and/or anything else inbetween.

Your input is much appreciated. Thank you!!






(I started same on Inters)

Hi online, thank you for your post.

I found 'Temple Grandin' to be a most powerful fil. Clare Dains was fabulous as Temple!! I didn't know it was a direct dvd release.

The film needs to be based on an original idea, and there is no teacher for this part of the course. I will have a supervisor, as the project is largely to be completed on my own, and his role will be to oversee and provide feedback as I go along. A bit daunting! The person who has agreed to be my supervisor is a travel writer, who also lectures in screenwriting(not sure if at the same institution) and used to help write for the show 'Comedy Company', so I look forward to working with him. I have another person who will mentor me locally, who is a professional screenwriter and also lectures.

What, for you, were the moral messages in each of these two films?

Hi venere

I'm a fan of indie films, not into the Hollywood blockbuster-type at all.

I tend to lean towards realism in movies (and books for that matter, preferring biographies and other nonfiction).

Probably the plot does it for me more than anything and I've enjoyed most of the Aus films I've seen, the last being Animal Kingdom.

Some leave you with a message but mostly I find they are absorbing and totally believable, real grassroots stuff.

Good luck with your project, it sounds fascinating and a huge challenge

Yes, and to think Temple Grandin is a real person, still alive and well. What a set of accomplishments, with so much spirit in her and those who assisted in her journey. They realised her mind operated differently to most other people's, and allowed her to have her own voice.

I adore Kevin Spacey, love his performances! But then he is theatre trained, films came later.

I'm afraid my project won't be the making of the actual film. That will be for a producer to take up, wouldn't that be something!...I will be writing the screenplay itself, which never hits the shelves of any bookshop. Part of my project involves provinding a full marketing plan, pitched at producers/directors, the only ones who might ever read it, besides my university supervisor. ...But maybe one day, you might see it on the big screen(even a little screen would be great!) All I could provide you with is its title when I finish.

Hi serene,

yes, I like stories of a real person's life. I would love to write a screenplay based on a biography I'm reading, but firstly, that's a huge exercise in itself, converting from book to screenplay, and for a novice like me, fraught with difficulties. Secondly, it really needs to be a completely original work, so these books tend to already have a film made from it, so it would work against me.

Thanks for your good wishes. Yes, an enormous challenge, but in a peverted kind of way, look forward to it.

I like a good comedy, but not american comedy, rather Aussie or English.

The other movies I loved growing up, is those Marital Arts films, but where the voices were dubbed.


Years and years ago, someone did a take off of Enter the Dragon, with the bad dubbing and awful chinese accents speaking in english.

I guess that in the end, there has to be a laugh in it for me.