The Son of Double Feature! Manifesto

My name is Derek and I have a problem. I am thoroughly and completely 100% addicted to movies. Every day I have to pander at street corners to get my narrative fix. I write screenplays, I write about movies, I talk about movies, I think about movies, I use movies into my everyday conversations, I’ve made movies, I go to school to study movies, forget about watching movies! Celluloid, digital, however I can get my fix in watching that flickering light or that DVD.

That’s one of the big reasons I started this site. I’m going to be writing regularly about movies. Movies I love. Movies I hate. Good movies, bad movies, good bad movies, even some bad good movies.

But, before we get down to the nuts and bolts of what I plan on talking about, I thought I’d explain a little more of myself and my own position. I was born in raised in the San Fernando Valley, was interested in both acting and writing when I was younger, eventually moving towards filmmaking in high school. I’ve made a series of shorts during that time that, hopefully, have been burned to protect myself and the poor people who had to suffer through my frantic Corman-esque productions. I got a BA in Cinema from UCSanta Barbara, and am currently pursuing my MA at San Francisco State University. If all goes according to plan, I’ll have my doctorate within a few years, and teach and write about film, and hopefully become a professional screenwriter, for the rest of my life. My favorite movie of all time is either Citizen Kane or Conquest of the Planet of the Apes, I can’t make up my mind which.

Here are some regular features you should expect in the future from Son of Double Feature!:
* Screenwriting 101: Although I haven’t sold any screenplays, I’ve written quite a few, and I won the Dorothy and Sherill C. Corwin Award for one of my feature-length screenplays. In this weekly column, I plan to discuss what I’ve learned from classes, books, and trial and error to help you sharpen your own writing. Mondays will feature a regular update on some topic relating to the craft of screenwriting. I’ll also be discussing some of my favorite screenplays of all time to learn (steal) whatever I can from them, and to help you to do the same.
* It Came From the Forgotten Filmography Fridays: Every Friday, I plan on posting an in-depth review of an obscure or otherwise unknown film. These will be films I have never heard of prior to renting them, and have not been recommended to me by anyone ever. In short, they’re gonna be a lot of B-movies, forgotten treasures, and horrific messes best left forgotten. Hopefully will be a lot of fun, and you’ll get a chance to find a new favorite film (or avoid one worth missing.)

In addition to these, expect to see sporadic essays related to any number of film-related topics, either commentaries on contemporary releases or classics, or about some aspect of the Hollywood scene, or whatever other miscellaneous stuff I care to write about.

I hope you’ll enjoy reading about this as much as I’ll have writing them.