44 MINUTES ON FX One of our Act One faculty members, author and screenwriter James Scott Bell, sent me the following heads-up about a docudrama that aired recently on the FX channel. They will certainly air it many more times so keep an eye out for it. Don’t know if anyone saw the FX movie last night, 44 Minutes. It was a docu-drama about that infamous shootout out here in a Los Angeles suburb, in 1997, when two guys in... Read more

“NUNC DIMITIS…” His serene astuteness, Mark Shea, King of all Blogdom, has written a great article on blogging which you can copy to all your friends and family who still don’t know what a blog is. I meet these people all the time and find myself looking at them in shocked consternation. “How can you not know what a blog is?” Reminds me of something Emily Dickinson once said about the life of the mind. (Substituting “blogs” for Emily’s “thoughts.”)... Read more

BE NOT AFRAID! The talk I gave in NYC is one that has been taking shape for several years. I got the idea for it from the following quote from Pope John Paul II, from his address for World Communications Day in 2001: As much as the world of the media may at times seem at odds with the Christian message, it also offers unique opportunities for proclaiming the saving truth of Christ to the whole human family. What is... Read more

DEBTS OF GRATITUDE Thanks to everyone who made the Chicago and Washington events such a success these last two weeks. Special thanks to Chicago Alumn Maureen O’Grady for hosting our Windy City Reunion evening. During my adventures, I taped a show at Telecare, the TV station operated by the Archdiocese of Long Island. Thanks to Rose Ann Palmer and Fr. Tim Hartman for their hospitality. I’ll try and let you all in the Tri-State area know when the show airs.... Read more

BRIDESHEAD REVISITED REVISITED AND RECONSTITUTED Rats. My all time favorite book is about to be desecrated. This from British entertainment columnist Melanie Reid. A snippet… Oh dear. ‘Tis true. We must all give a languid sigh, clutch our teddy bears closer to our hearts, and prepare to see fond memory debased. Poor old Brideshead Revisited is to be the next victim of Andrew Davies, the screenwriter currently charged with remixing classic works of literature for the Christina Aguilera generation. We... Read more

NOTHING ELSE REALLY MATTERS… (From AOL Sports Page) “New York has dropped 10 of 11 at Yankee Stadium for just the second time in franchise history and lost 10 of 13 overall to fall 1 1/2 games behind Boston in the AL East.” Read more

SHAMELESS SELF-PROMOTION I am tromping back and forth across America again in these next two weeks, trolling for funds, students, promotional opportunities and basically kindred spirits to affirm and support what we are trying to do in Hollywood. I’ll be giving a talk in NYC on Monday, June 2 that will be open to the public if anybody out there wants to skip repeats of Alias or Smallville… The talk is being sponsored by a group called The Haven, which... Read more

MORE BRUCE, GOD AND TOM One of our Act One alumns, Dan Ewald has a good interview article with Tom Shadyac over on CCM. It basically fills in a bit more of Tom’s theology and personal journey. Here’s a snip: Some people are surprised when they learn that the director of such outrageous and bawdy comedies [as Ace Ventura and Liar, Liar] is a Christian. Shadyac is cautious when talking about religion because so many of his peers in Hollywood... Read more

WHAT IF SHAKESPEARE WROTE THE HOKEY POKEY? (Someone emailed me this without any attribution to the author. As a fellow writer, I am loathe to post anything without giving credit where it is due. But it is so funny I wanted to copy it here to class up my archives. If anyone out there knows who wrote it, please let me know so I can add their name.) O proud left foot, that ventures quick within Then soon upon a... Read more

THAT THEY MAY ALL BE….US? Someone posted a comment below that has raised an issue that comes up pretty much daily for me. I am a Catholic who runs a determinedly interdenominational program, Act One. All of us who are part of the program take hits from the conservative wings of both the Catholic and Protestant universes for “dancing with the devil,” as one sweet, but anonymous Catholic emailed me once about the subject. It has been a difficult commitment... Read more