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1. How write the number 1 film in the world
"Avatar" was writer-director Cameron's first film since 1997's Titanic, the biggest modern blockbuster with $1.8 billion worldwide. After 43 days of international release, for a worldwide total of $2.1 billion and surpassed Titanic's worldwide gross to become the highest-grossing film of all time worldwide. Cameron now is the only filmmaker to direct two movies that have topped $1 billion, with Avatar . "I've dreamed of creating a film like this, set on another world of great danger and beauty, since I was a kid reading pulp science fiction and comic books by the truckload, and sitting in math class drawing creatures and aliens behind my propped up textbook.  With AVATAR, I finally got my chance." 
Avatar Special Edition (Director's Cut) released in theatres on August 27, 2010, in a limited engagement and exclusively in Digital 3D and IMAX 3D. This version of Cameron's history-making and groundbreaking epic will include more than eight minutes of new footage. Since - and largely as of result of -- AVATAR's release last December, the number of available digital 3D screens has exploded, and moviegoers who missed experiencing the film in 3D will now have that opportunity. The Oscar and Golden Globe winning epic is the highest grossing film of all time, taking in over $2.7 billion in worldwide box office.  It is also the top-selling Blu-ray disc of all time.  Read more

2. Turn the ordinary into an extraordinary adventure
Date Night was originally conceived as more of a suburban story centered around a parent-teacher conference night, but quickly evolved into, as screenwriter Josh  Klausner calls it, "the perfect 'North by Northwest' setup" of mistaken identity. "Phil and Claire simply can't get a seat at a restaurant, and, since nobody's answering the call for a reservation, they just decide, 'What's the harm in taking it?'  And it leads them down the rabbit hole.  From there, they end up on the worst night of their lives, which ends up being the best night for their relationship."  Read more

3. Use animals to bring out the most in your characters
* The farm in Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang is populated by a number of other animals.  A cow and a goat play central roles, three geese turn their heads at the perfect moment, chickens roam the yard and, occasionally, the kitchen.  A baby elephant even shows up a few times, just to keep things interesting.  And Nanny McPhee reveals a new side to herself in this film through the character of Mr Edelweiss, her jackdaw familiar.  Says Thompson, "Nanny McPhee has a relationship with Mr Edelweiss that's miles more normal than her relationship with the children she looks after.  Read more

* Fictional  animal  films have enjoyed great success," says director/Cinematographer Michael Swan. "March of the Penguins  is  a  good  example  of  this,  and  The White Lion is  very  much  of  the  same  cloth.."  It's  about  the  life  of  a  lion  (Letsatsi)  from  birth  to  his  final triumph.  A story of conflict and how our hero, Letsatsi overcomes it, just as a human story would be, but  in  this  instance, about  lions. That's  the challenge  for us all,  to  tell a story without  featuring  too many people, with  lions as  the main  characters.  It's a  classic  tale, with similarities  to Jean Jacques-Annaud's acclaimed The Bear.   Read more

4. Turn fact into fiction
* When Mark Boal, the writer, came back from a reporting trip to Iraq, he told director Kathryn Bigelow stories about men in the Army who disarm bombs in the heat of combat - obviously, an elite job with a high mortality rate.  When he mentioned that they are extremely vulnerable and use little more than a pair of pliers to disarm a bomb that can kill for 300 meters, Bigelow was shocked.  "When I learned that these men volunteer for this dangerous work, and often grow so fond of it that they can imagine doing nothing else, I knew I had found my next film," says Bigelow, whose film The Hurt Locker won 6 Oscars including Best Picture, Original Screenplay and Director. Read more

* For the Tuohy family, seeing this chapter of their lives become a best-selling book and then the film The Blind Side was somewhat bemusing.  Sean Tuohy relates, "When Michael Lewis first called, he was going to write a nice, little article.  We still haven't quite figured out how, somewhere along the way in this whole thing, it went from a nice little article to a book and now a movie," he laughs. Read more

* Some true stories seem destined to be made into movies--like this one: an army of New Age warriors is bankrolled by the U.S. government to develop methods of combat using only their minds. Amazingly, this story is true. In his extensively researched bestselling book The Men Who Stare at Goats, journalist Jon Ronson uncovers the history of the First Earth Battalion, and in the process sets the stage for an astonishing and hilarious cinematic look at a virtually unknown chapter of American military history.  Screenwriter Peter Straughan was brought in to further develop the story into a script and moved away from pure fact into a fictionalized series of events and characters inspired by the book. Read more

* For Randal Keynes, the deftness of John Collee's screenwriting talent in adapting his biographical material to create the story of Creation we see on screen gave new life to the story of his great great grandfather, "When I read the script, I expected it to wander off the path of absolute historical truth in one or two places, and I was happy for it to do so because this enables the scriptwriter, director and producer to make more of the film than can be evidenced from surviving documents and other material.  They had a freedom that I did not have when I wrote my factual biography.  They made very good use of it because they brought out truths about Darwin, Emma, Hooker and the whole story, that I could only imagine, that I could only guess at." Read more

5. Write about sports
The latest South African film The Race-ist is a story is about a young South African who desires to be the South African quarter-mile champion. The issues: racial differences, inspiration and most importantly - patriotism.  Read more

6. Write about romance
With The Last Station Writer-director Michael Hoffman wanted to go beyond the standard biopic, in order to create a vivid, moving picture about the difficulty of living with love and the impossibility of living without it. It's not a film about Tolstoy. It's a film about the challenges of love. It's a great story about relationships and a wonderful juxtaposition of old love and new love. Read more

7. Spice up a romance with comedy and action
Sarah Thorp screenplay turned out to be a perfect match to director Andy Tennant's sensibilities and strengths.  Centering on a struggling New York bounty hunter tasked with dragging his ex-wife back to jail, The Bounty Hunter is "not just a romantic comedy," says Moritz.  "It's an action comedy that has romance in it as well.  Andy does all of those things - comedy, romance, and action - really well." What attracted Tennant to the project was a script that would prove to be an action-packed story as well as production. "Here was a movie that was so subversive and funny.  It's a take-no-prisoners marital comedy," Tennant remarks. Read more

8. Write an unconventional thriller
Even before he began writing Armored, screenwriter James V. Simpson knew he wanted to create an unconventional thriller, a movie that packed plenty of action and suspense but avoided one traditional plot element: bad guys. "Armored is about ordinary, flawed people who are basically good," Simpson says. "These guys are in difficult situations and make bad choices. Then they have to deal with the consequences."  Read more

9. Explore magical characters
The Tooth Fairy brought together several elements Dwayne Johnson thought would be fun to explore.   "It's a story with universal appeal. It's a fish-out-of-water tale about believing in the impossible and the magic.  It's for families and everyone. The Tooth Fairy is part of our culture," he continues, "and part of the wonderment of being a child.  It's a character that's never been explored, to this extent, in the movies." To most of the world, the Tooth Fairy is a magical figure.  Like Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy is both an inspiring and comforting character who teaches children to use their imaginations - and to dream.   It's a safe bet that no one has imagined the Tooth Fairy to be a hockey player/ "enforcer"  Read more

10. Use a strong theme to enrich your story
* When director Allen Coulter first read Will Fetter's script, Remember Me, three of its many qualities struck a deep chord: it presented New York City at a particularly important time in its history, it presented an honest and unvarnished story of young love, and from its opening scene, the script was imbued with a consistent and timely theme, namely: what happens when a bolt-from-the-blue collides with and shatters our well-ordered world? How does one survive these unexpected and inexplicable shocks? And how does it alter us as human beings? Read more

* Uma Thurman was drawn to produce and star in The Accidental Husband because of its 30s and 40s romantic comedy style as well as its innovative theme - finding true love literally by accident. "I loved everything about the script - from the title, to the set up of the plot, to the dialogue," remembers Thurman. " Read more

"For me the biggest theme was always about having to face the consequences of your choices, and that even the right choices have consequences, and not making a choice has a consequence," says author Stephenie Meyer of The Twilight Saga: Eclipse. "One of the biggest things about growing up is that grownups realize, if I do A then I have to deal with B, and they take that into account. Bella has to become a grownup and start dealing with the consequences of her actions."The complicated relationships between the multitude of characters intensify in her story. "Jealousy and trust play into any human relationship. It's an interesting thing for me to explore and when I'm writing, I find that I just get really tightly wound up in the intricacies of human relationships and that's what always brings me back," comments Meyer. Read more

"Everyone's trying to find their identity in this chapter," says director Jon M Chu. "What I've learned is that ultimately it's not about the destination, it's about the journey, the people that you meet and the things that you learn along the way. Your destination will find itself." "The message is consistent in all three films: believe in yourself. If you believe in yourself, you can overcome any obstacle that you are faced with in life and achieve your dreams," says producer Jennifer Gibgot. "'Step Up 3 features darker characters who come out of the shadows to play into this underground playground where anything goes."  Read more

11. Write what you know
* Writer-director Tom Ford put an autobiographical imprint on A  Single man. "There is much of me in my version of George. A kind of spiritual crisis at mid life comes to many people. I achieved much in the material world at a very early age: financial security, fame, professional success, more material possessions than I knew what to do with. I had a full personal life, a wonderful life partner of 23 years, two great dogs, and lots of friends but somehow lost my way a bit. As a fashion designer, one spends one's life living in the future designing collections several years ahead of when they will actually be in stores. Our culture encourages a belief that all of our problems can be solved with material things. I had completely neglected the spiritual side of my life." Read more

* Adapting the screenplay for Crazy Heart came naturally to writer-director Scott Cooper. "I grew up with this type of music, living in the same type of world that Bad Blake lives in.  And being an actor, I understood the nature of a performance-driven story.  I felt like if I couldn't do this, having grown up in the South, steeped in country rock, working as an actor, I was in trouble," he laughs.   Read more

* A Serious Man is a story told from the perspective of the place that Joel and Ethan Coen knew when they were growing up."The picture takes place in 1967 among a Jewish community in an unnamed Midwestern suburb; Joel and I are from the Midwest and so it's reminiscent of our childhoods. The milieu, the whole setting is important to us and was a big part of what got us going on this story. Where you grew up is part of your identity. That doesn't go away, even if you've been away for a long time," says Ethan Coen. Joel Coen notes, "The landscape of a place informs a story a great deal, although the genesis of the project dates back many years."Read more

12. Revisit your story from a different cultural sensibility
Ever since he first read the original script in the Italian language almost two decades ago, producer Gianni Nunnari imagined what that same father and family, so consummately Italian in Tornatore's vision, might be like translated to the vast landscape of the United States and the broader style of an American dramatic comedy.  He purchased the rights to the film, hoping, one day to revisit the story from a different cultural sensibility. In another twist, it would take an Englishman to make that happen.  When Nunnari saw the critically acclaimed, sleeper comedy hit "Waking Ned Devine," he sensed that writer-director Kirk Jones, with his distinctly British style of comedy, had just the right mix of light touch and deep emotions to tackle Everybody's Fine, a brand new adaptation of "Stanno Tutti Bene" and sent him a copy of Tornatore's film. Read more

13. Utilize your creative potential
Fischer approached Laeta Kalogridis, a screenwriter known for her strong affinity to suspense, adventure and depth of character.  Having previously worked with Kalogridis on the Viking-era action thriller Pathfinder, the producers at Phoenix knew she had the creative potential to realize the challenging material of Shutter Island.  "We felt Laeta would be able to take Dennis Lehane's brilliant words and make them come to life in a truly cinematic way," says Fischer.   Read more

14. Take ownership of your writing
Initially, the film rights to Push -- one of the most acclaimed and highly publicized books of 1996 -- were not for sale. Though the film world came knocking, Sapphire declined to entertain offers that resulted in Precious. "The book was doing well and I felt that it needed its own life," the author explains. "It was my baby, and I worried that a bad or corny film could do a lot of damage."   Read more

15. Use another genre to write a fresh story
Following the success of their debut zombie horror film, Undead, writer/directors Peter and Michael Spierig decided to take on the vampire genre with their sci-fi thriller, Daybreakers. But instead of referencing the familiar gothic strains of Bram Stoker or Anne Rice, the brothers ushered vampires into the future, imagining a sleek, not-too-distant world in which everyone, from school-children to CEOs, is a bloodsucker. "DAYBREAKERS questions how we would adapt if we all became vampires tomorrow," explains Michael Spierig. "It twists the rules of typical vampire movies without discarding or disrespecting what we love about the genre." Read more

16. Define positive experiences
Although Jozi is a screamingly funny comedy it has a very clear philosophy.  It is about finding the positive in difficult times. Allowing yourself to make connections with the people and the place you live. Being defined by the positive experiences not the negative ones. And most of all learning to laugh, laugh and laugh.   The film reveals the beauty and uniqueness of Johannesburg, South Africa. Read more

17. Say something about survival and human nature
"What we liked about this story was that it was an action adventure but it also had something to say about commitment, sacrifice, survival and human nature," offers Allen Hughes, who, with his twin brother, Albert, directed The Book of Eli.  It is the fifth feature film for the pair, who made their auspicious debut at age 20 with the powerful and acclaimed inner-city drama "Menace II Society."  Read more

18. Turn to the classics for inspiration
Writer-director Nancy Meyers found enormous comedic possibilities exploring the territory of an ex-wife having an affair with her ex-husband in It's Complicated.  For inspiration, she looked to Paul Mazursky classics from the '70s--such as An Unmarried Woman and Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice--as examples of films strongly identifiable with the period in which they were made.  Mazursky really captured the zeitgeist of the times.  Read more

19. Find you way info the story
The producers turned to screenwriter Jamie Linden to adapt the novel Dear John for the big screen.  Interestingly, however, Linden actually initially passed on the project, not having had the experience of (and not being entirely comfortable with) writing a love story.  "But I kept thinking about it," Linden says, "and couldn't get it out of my head."  The film is by and large a romance, but what ultimately captivated Linden and became the way into the story for him was the relationship between John and his father, Mr. Tyree.  Linden thought of a different way to handle the climactic father/son scene from the book, and that made him want to tackle the entire screenplay.  Read more

20. Use a moral dilemma to strengthen your story
"At the heart of The Box is a moral dilemma," says writer/director Richard Kelly.  "What would you do if offered the opportunity for great wealth but it came at the cost of a human life, someone you don't know?"  That is the question posed in the original short story Button, Button, written by master of suspense Richard Matheson, which captured Kelly's imagination and serves as the basis and inspiration for "The Box."    Read more

21. Turn myths inside out
Author Rick Riordan, who taught Greek Mythology for a many years in middle school in California and Texas, came up with the idea for the first Percy Jackson book (which subsequently led to four additional novels and a huge fan base numbering in the millions) after reading the sagas of the ancient Greek heroes as bedtime stories to his son, Haley.  "When I ran out of myths, my son became disappointed," the author relates on his website.  "He asked me if I could make up some new stories with the same characters.  I remembered a creative writing project I used to do with my sixth graders, which allowed them to create their own demigod hero. Read more

22. Don't fear the artistic transformation of a story
Nine was destined to undergo another artistic transformation--back to its original inspirational medium:  the movies. The idea emerged as Rob Marshall and Harvey Weinstein began searching for a follow up project to Chicago. Just as Fellini had personally given to Maury Yeston full creative liberty to use the elements of 8½ like sculptor's clay to create his theatrical work, Yeston now granted to Rob Marshall the same freedom to give the play a new life on the screen.  Read more

23. Challenge yourself to turn the impossible into a film
Jackson, Walsh and Boyens all collaborated, as they often do, on the screenplay adaptation of The Lovely Bones. Though the trio has re-envisioned iconic characters and classic literature in their previous work, this project would present an entirely fresh set of challenges.  "We all like puzzles and I think we saw The Lovely Bones as the ultimate puzzle for screenwriters," says Jackson.  "How do you take Alice's very intricate, poetic book, which doesn't in any way scream 'I'm a movie' and structure it as a film?  We became obsessed with how to move the pieces around to tell this story on the screen," he explains.  Read more

24. Write a story that an audience can invest in emotionally
Director Joe Johnston was far more interested in story before spectacle when he approached The Wolfman.  In screenwriters Andrew Kevin Walker and David Self's story, he found "underneath the action and the blood and the terror, a love story about Lawrence Talbot and his dead brother's fiancée, Gwen.  I wanted that relationship to be the element that held the story together…the key piece that invested the audience in understanding this horrible thing Lawrence is inflicted with."   Read more

25. Write what inspires you and makes you tick
Bright Star had been a dream of director Jane Campion's for several years. "I was reading a biography of Keats," she says. "I got to the part where he met Fanny and I fell in love with their story.  I was drawn to the pain and beauty and innocence of their love affair. I was incredibly moved by Andrew Motion's book. It was a true life Romeo and Juliet story well-documented but one I had not known.  I found myself weeping at the end of it. The story is so tragic and tender. " Read more


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