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January/February 2011 creativescreenwriting
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Favorite Setting of 2010
Peter Debruge: The Island of Berk in How to
Train Your Dragon
, where humans live in
constant fear of dragon attacks and one boy
who has the courage to think differently
proves that the two species can actually ben-
efit one another by working together.
Jeff Goldsmith, Jenelle Riley and Danny
Munso: Chris Sparling's sparse and brilliant
Buried uses one location to maximum dra-
matic effect, a feat more impressive given
that that location is the inside of a coffin.
Nev Pierce: Dom Cobb's mind -- or is it?
(Inception)
Favorite Dialogue
Peter Debruge: Aaron Sorkin's the clos-
est thing we have to Paddy Chayefsky
working today and, while The Social
Network
is no Network, it features scene
after scene of blistering dialogue and
withering put-downs.
Jeff Goldsmith: The Social Network is a text-
book of near-perfect dialogue. However, my
favorite line is from Winter's Bone -- when
Teardrop grips his gun and is about to face
off with the corrupt Sheriff, he says every-
thing by barely saying anything:
TEARDROP: Is this our time?
Danny Munso: From Inception:
COBB: What's the most resilient parasite?
An idea. Resilient... highly contagious.
Once an idea has taken hold of the brain
it's almost impossible to eradicate.
Nev Pierce: (all from The Social Network)
MARK ZUCKERBERG: "If you guys were
the inventors of Facebook, you'd have in-
vented Facebook."
HARVARD BOARDMEMBER: "I don't un-
derstand"
ZUCKERBERG: "Which part?"
ERICA ALBRIGHT: "The Internet's not writ-
ten in pencil, Mark. It's written in ink."
Jenelle Riley: There's two I love, both from
Stanley Tucci's (Dill) character in Easy A:
"After we watch The Bucket List, remem-
ber to cross `watch The Bucket List' off our
bucket list."
And when his black son says he's adopted:
"WHAT? OH MY GOD! WHO TOLD
YOU???? Guys, we were gonna do this at
the right time!"
>>
Favorite Action Scene of 2010
Peter Debruge: Hiccup's first flight in How to
Train Your Dragon
.
Jeff Goldsmith: I know it's geeky and obvi-
ous, but I'm still blown away by the multi-
tiered dreams within dreams of Inception's
climax, which tracks multiple action se-
quences all at once and was amazing to see
on the screen. And, honestly, it's equally in-
credible to read on the page as well.
Danny Munso: Not sure they technically
count as "action" scenes, but the tens-
est moments I witnessed on screen came
in the final act of Black Swan, where the
lines of reality become dangerously
blurred.
Nev Pierce: The final dance in Black Swan
Jenelle Riley: The nun bank heist in The Town
OF 2010
OUR WRITERS AND EDITORS
list their favorite scripts, characters,
moments and more from 2010 ­ an amazing year for screenwriting.