Cleveland City: The Screenplay

I've been thinking about who could possibly play Esti, the lead character in my film. She'd have to be in her mid 50s, have an ethnic look and be able to deliver both subtlety and intensity. Yes, she's a mother but she's not the supporting character to a child or a spouse. She's a woman in her own right - beautiful, successful, courageous and smart. She calls the shots in her life. Esti is the subject of the story. Not the object. When I was watching the Oscars last week and I saw Annabella Sciorra come out with Ashley Judd and with Selma Hayek, I had tears in my eyes. These three women, among others, have been through just way too much. And when the three of them held each other and physically supported Sciorra, who for the past decade has had minimal opportunity to hone her craft on the big screen thanks to The Monster, I could tell just how nervous she was to be there. She started by stating something simple and elegant: “It's nice to see you all aga...

Merriam-Webster Definition of femme fatale:   1   a seductive woman who lures men into dangerous or compromising situations   2 a woman who attracts men by an aura of charm and mystery The Harvey Weinstein tragedy is prompting a lot of discourse about sexuality, politics, power, media, society, law and money. The lid's been blown off the Great American Value System. Social media is exploding even more than usual with opinions, arguments, trolls, supporters and lots of women, and even a few men, opening up about their tales of harassment and abuse. Woody Allen just publicly sided with Weinstein. (surprise!) While Weinstein's wife, his company and the Academy have all severed relationships with him.  Rose McGowan and her #rosearmy quit Twitter for one day after they shut her down for publicly posting a phone number. A Twitter stranger replied to one of my tweets supporting McGowan, calling her public statements "hypocrisy" and "do...

Film Noir showcases the duality of man like no other genre. As I write this post the whole Harvey Weinstein scandal has broken out. The film producer, Hollywood mogul, husband, father and philanthropist is on his knees. The exact same position he forced onto so many of his victims. He's done tremendous evil. He's done tremendous good. He's an angel to some. The devil himself to others. The most interesting fictional characters are complex. Multi-dimensional. Unconventional. We like it when, good or bad, they surprise us.   There's two qualities that define our interest in the characters we see on screen: motivation and action. When we see Superman save the cat from the tree we know he's a good guy. But what if he still saved the cat but at the expense of killing a puppy? What would we think of him then? Would his likeability be driven solely based on the audience's love or contempt towards either animal species? And who is more real, Superman or Clark ...