Well, this is just awesome. An excellent annotated ‘webliography’ of the great writer-director Billy Wilder at an equally excellent blog Shooting Down Pictures:
This blog primarily serves as a repository for two projects. One is a short-term project (est. finish 2008), one is long term (i.e. lifelong).
The short-term project is to view every film on the list of 1000 greatest films of all time, as compiled by They Shoot Pictures, Don’t They? The compilers used lists drawn from “1,193 critics, reviewers, scholars, filmmakers and other likely film types, ” and therefore they believe that the resulting list is “quite possibly the most definitive guide to the most-acclaimed movies of all-time.” Who’s to argue?
When i first heard about the list i had already seen about two thirds of the films on that version of the list. (The list undergoes occasional revisions). I started using the list as a viewing guide, and i enjoyed most of the films i saw. Next thing I knew, I was in the 800s, and quite possibly within range to complete the damn thing. So as I wind down my quest, I thought I’d share my progress with the world!
Moreover, I wanted to make sure that I didn’t just make a mad dash for the finish, and actually savor the experience of watching these movies, one at a time. So having this blog is a way of encouraging myself to take time and thought with each viewing and post my viewing experiences here.
****************The long-term project fulfilled by this site is to chronicle my ongoing and evolving relationship with cinema. I expect to continue my regular screening journal as I have for the past 6 years. I will also post occasional musings on cinema in general, and link to my articles that have had the fortune of being published elsewhere on the web.
This blogger is a man/woman after my own heart because — yes, here we go again — what’s one of the three most important things you can do to learn the craft of screenwriting?
Read scripts.
Watch movies.
Write pages.
And that middle one may be the single most important thing you can do. It’s great to know the basic principles of screenwriting. It’s better to steeped in the history of cinema.
Re the Wilder post, there are all sorts of links, photos, interviews, and articles. And you know the blog host ‘gets’ Wilder because they included this photo in the post:
So yet another fine movie blog to bookmark – I’ve added it to my blogroll.
And a shout out to “alsolikelife,” the moniker for the host of Shooting Down Pictures. Drop me an email, wouldja? Would love to talk more about your passion for movies.
Go here for Billy Wilder’s take on “How They Write a Script.”
And go here for two minutes and twenty-nine seconds of rare footage with Billy Wilder, including he and his longtime writing partner I.A.L. Diamond showing off their ‘writing process.’
