Jeffrey York

Jeff York is an optioned screenwriter, film critic, illustrator, and ad man. He’s also a member of the Chicago Indie Critics, SAG-AFTRA, and a cat lover.

When Endings Go Bad

When Endings Go Bad

Sticking the landing of a script is tricky. It can’t be too predictable, yet it needs to feel wholly appropriate, justifiable, and even inevitable in its way.

# Read # Style & Substance
5 min read

Making More of Metaphors

Making More of Metaphors

One has to hand it to a show like Severance as it’s not only chock full of metaphors about the dumbing down of America and the corruption of information sharing, but it's doing so on a platform run by those they are critiquing.

# Read # Style & Substance
5 min read

I'm Not Looking Forward to the Oscars

I'm Not Looking Forward to the Oscars

Why is Oscar season, the time of year when Hollywood has to do nothing but laud themselves, wrought with such silliness, offensiveness, and controversy?

# Read # The Business of Art
6 min read

Whose Story is it, Anyway? POV in Storytelling

Whose Story is it, Anyway? POV in Storytelling

If a writer is going to present his POV in those big, neon letters, becoming almost strident in his or her moral clarity, then one should hope to be as clever as Sorkin.

# Read # Style & Substance
6 min read

The Best Screenplay - "Drive My Car"

The Best Screenplay - "Drive My Car"

It’s a bumpy journey, full of twists and turns that you won’t see coming, but the last thing you should do is stop.

# Read # Style & Substance
4 min read

Surveying the Limitations of Rebooted Franchises

Surveying the Limitations of Rebooted Franchises

By sanding off the edges, these new versions wholly sacrificed most of the fun and audacity that made the originals so popular in the first place.

# Read # Style & Substance
4 min read

Why Failure is Always the Best Teacher

Why Failure is Always the Best Teacher

It’s in human nature to dread pain and failure.

# Read # Style & Substance
4 min read

How Can a Static Protagonist Compel an Audience?

How Can a Static Protagonist Compel an Audience?

Michael Corleone. Ferris Bueller. Beatrix Kiddo. John Wick. What do these four famous film characters have in common, other than that they all hail from classic movies?

# Read # Style & Substance
4 min read

Writing a Truly Great Mystery

Writing a Truly Great Mystery

Is anything harder in the world of fictional storytelling than coming up with an ending to a mystery that no one sees coming?

# Read # Style & Substance
4 min read

Where Does James Bond Go After Daniel Craig?

Where Does James Bond Go After Daniel Craig?

Does the Bond franchise continue along the grittier Craig path? Or does it turn Bond back into more of the gentleman spy from the original Fleming books?

# Read # Style & Substance
5 min read

Calling All Writers: Monsters Wanted

Calling All Writers: Monsters Wanted

Do most filmmakers consider it too gauche to center a film around a monster these days?

# Read # Style & Substance
4 min read

Why Do So Many Sequels Suck?

Why Do So Many Sequels Suck?

When the lights go down in the theater, I’m always hopeful that a sequel will rise to the challenge of making more out of its task than just being a quick money-grab.

# Read # Style & Substance
7 min read

The Sitcom for Our Times? Sorry, Ted Lasso, it’s Seinfeld

The Sitcom for Our Times? Sorry, Ted Lasso, it’s Seinfeld

Who’d have thought that Jerry Seinfeld and Larry David, the creators of Seinfeld in 1989, would create a series that would come to foreshadow all the worst impulses and instincts evident in “the American experiment” in 2021?

# Read # Style & Substance
5 min read

30 is the New 60

30 is the New 60

As people get more of their news and information in shorter bursts, 30-minute series, be they comedies, dramas, or limited series, are becoming the rage.

# Read # Style & Substance
5 min read

After Conquering Hollywood, Gary Goldstein Had a Novel Idea

After Conquering Hollywood, Gary Goldstein Had a Novel Idea

“As an author [of a book], you have to be the camera. A script gets interpreted, but in a book, the words have to do all the work.”

# Read # Style & Substance
6 min read
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