Movies about Writing and Writers

Tributes this week to the late Kirk Douglas reminded me of a bunch of movies that I haven’t seen in a while. Then that reminded me about movies about writers and reporters and writing. And of course, I started making a list. How many of these have you seen?

• A Man for All Seasons

• A Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man

• Absence of Malice

• Adaptation

• All The President’s Men

• Almost Famous

• American Splendor

• As Good as it Gets

• Barton Fink

• Becoming Jane

• Bright Star

• Broadcast News

• Capote

• Citizen Kane

• Dead Poets’ Society

• Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

• Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

• Finding Forrester

• Finding Neverland

• Funny Farm

• The Ghostwriter

• The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

• The Help

• Henry and June

• Her

• His Girl Friday

• Iris

• Julia

• Julie and Julia

• Kafka

• Kill Your Darlings

• Manhattan

• Midnight in Paris

• Miss Potter

• The Motorcycle Diaries

• Moulin Rouge

• My Left Foot

• Naked Lunch

• The Royal Tenenbaums

• Saving Mr. Banks

• Shadowlands

• Shakespeare in Love

• The Shining

• Sleuth

• So I Married an Axe Murderer

• Stand by me

• Sunset Boulevard

• Sylvia

• Throw Mamma from the Train

• Wilde

• Wonder Boys

• The World According to Garp

What else would you add to the list?

Does Pop Culture Influence Your Writing?

I am a first generation Sesame Street kid and first generation MTV. I watched a lot of 70s and 80s TV (pre-cable). Movies, music, and TV were a staple along with prepackaged food like TV dinners, Kool Aid, Pop Rocks, and Fizzies (which you can still buy). I also watched hours of reruns of shows from previous generations on the other two channels that we had (besides the three major networks). (That’s how I became a Monkees’ fan.) I read fan magazines like Teen Beat and Tiger Beat.

My love for mysteries started out with Saturday morning cartoons: Scooby-Doo, Josie and the Pussycats, and of course, Nancy Drew. When The Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew came out, I was glued to the set weekly for the mysteries and Shaun Cassidy.

Pop culture appears frequently in my stories, novellas, and novels. My private investigator, Delanie Fitzgerald, is an 80s girl, too. She likes driving her Mustang, 80s music, and gadgets. She is always getting involved in some sort of craze such as larping (Live Action Role Playing), roller derby, Renaissance Faires, or Comicon from today’s social media and techno-flavored world. My ,mysteries are set in present day, so the characters go places, watch TV, and explore social media. That gadgets of 2019 will one day be from “the past” very soon. I like the nostalgia of days gone by. It’s fun to watch movies and see the “technology,” tools, or fads of the day.

When you refer to copyrighted or trademarked materials, make sure to respect the trademark/copyright with the spelling/punctuation of the name. Also, avoid using a trademark to represent all types. For example, Xerox is a brand. It shouldn’t represent all photocopiers.

I like to use real places and events in my stories. Most of mine are set in Virginia, and I love to share the history, culture, and the places. When I use real locations or events, I do not have the crimes take place there. I always make up the location.

Happy reading and watch out for the pop culture references.

Movies about Writers and Writing

Looking for a good movie? I was updating my Netflix today, and I was thinking about movie themes. Here is my list of films about writers and writing.

1. Absence of Malice
2. Almost Famous
3. Barton Fink
4. Breakfast at Tiffany's
5. Capote
6. Deconstructing Harry
7. Finding Forrester
8. Finding Neverland
9. Gothic
10. Hannah and Her Sisters
11. Julie and Julia
12. Marley and Me
13. Midnight in Paris
14. Misery
15. Moulin Rouge
16. Naked Lunch
17. Romancing the Stone
18. Shadowlands
19. Shakespeare in Love
20. She-Devil
21. Sideways
22. Sunset Boulevard
23. Sylvia
24. The Ghost Writer
25. The Help
26. The Hours
27. The Jewel of the Nile
28. The Shining
29. The World According to Garp
30. Throw Momma from the Train
31. Tom & Viv
32. Under the Tuscan Sn
33. Wonder Boys

What else would you add?

RVA Ties

Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan have been spotted around Richmond, VA recently. They're scouting out sites for an upcoming movie. The Richmond Times-Dispatch did an article this morning on movies that were filmed in RVA.

We have some ties to a few of them. My husband was an extra in Hannibal. He got paid for three days of work, and they fed them well. After all that time filming, he's in about four seconds at the beginning of the movie.  Asunder was filmed at the building where I work, but that was before I got there. My neighbor's son had minor role in Charlie Sheen's Shadow Conspiracy, and the movie rented his car for several scenes. We went down and watched this one being filmed. And my uncle's National Guard unit appeared quite a lot The Jackal.

Here are some other movies filmed in and around here:

• Doc Hollywood
• True Colors
• Rollercoaster
• Asunder
• Shadow Conspiracy
• Dave
• GI Jane
• The Jackal
• Hannibal
• Cold Mountain
• Evan Almighty
• John Adams
• Lincoln
• Killing Kennedy

The Richmond area has quite a few famous folks who were born or lived here. These are a few of the writers, athletes, actors, and musicians:

• Edgar Allan Poe
• Douglas Southall Freeman
• Patricia Cornwell
• Tom Wolfe
• David Baldacci
• Arthur Ashe
• Lanny Wadkins
• Ralph Sampson
• Shawn Barber
• James Farrior
• Willie Lanier
• Denny Hamlin
• Justin Verlander
• Tim Hightower
• Chris Copeland
• Jimmy Dean
• Bill "Bojangles" Robinson
• Shirley MacLaine
• Aimee Mann
• Pat Benatar