It´s been quite some time since my last post, ehm, eight months. The upside is that i´ve been more busy directing than writing on my blog.

This fact is also the reason that the “blog” section of my website presents my lifestream more popular than my blog posts (on the right of the page). And when i finally figured out how to get pagination to work and how to open all the links in a new browser page with lifestream, I’ll also be happy with my website (any help on that would be very appreciated!).

So, here it comes, my personal wrap up of 2010.

On Directing

Early in 2010 i mostly directed smaller commercials and finally got my first commercial to be aired in television. The “Baumax -10%” commercial played all the year in Austrian television and that was quite a nice experience.

During the year i got into directing for Austrian television – and now i´m responsible for four different children TV formats.

There´s a big difference directing commercials and shows for television, each one with it´s own unique challenges, approaches and appeals.

So to be honest 2010 was the most interesting and productive year of my directing career and it was really nice that all the hard work in the previous years paid off that well.

On Screenwriting

I´m currently in the middle of the seemingly 100th revision of the story i’ve been working on for quite some time now. While almost everything has changed since the beginning, the main character stayed the same. He is unique and special and i can´t wait to confront him with all the extreme situations that wait in front of him – for the seemingly 100th time.

While that may sound a little poor, i didn’t have any problem to throw away plots that didn’t work (even when they’ve been fleshed out pretty well) – at the end nobody cares through how many revisions the movie went, all it counts is the final result.

Best Movie

It’s really hard to pick my favorite movie because of two simple facts:
1. It’s always hard to pick one single favorite movie and
2. I’m not really the cinema type of guy. I prefer buying the DVD or Blu-Ray almost every time over going to the theaters. Certainly there are movies that have to be seen in theaters, but due to quite intense working hours and plain simple laziness i didn’t make it to the cinema that often.
Also I’m not the biggest fan of 3D, so with all the extras and making-ofs i don’t think my habit will change any time soon.
Well, and since I live in Europe it’s seemingly impossible to be up to date with all the movies in 2010.

Nevertheless I’m still going to pick the favorite movie I’ve seen in 2010. And since it’s my list i can cheat here, so I’ll list my three favorite movies in 2010 (without any particular ranking):

• Kick-Ass
• Inception
• Toy Story 3

And because of the reasons above that list is likely to change when all the other great movies of 2010 are available on DVD.

Best Book

This one is very easy to answer for me. Since I’m not a big fiction reader i almost exclusively read books on the craft and business of the movie industry.

And the book i really enjoyed the most in 2010 was The Coffee Break Screenwriter.

Not because i think it’s a great thing to write in 10-minute periods at a time, but because Pilar brings it quite to the point when it comes to break a story and her great breakdown of the overall structure of a movie.
I don’t think a solely formulaic approach is useful for writing a screenplay, but since I’m quite of a structure freak i really think this book is one of the best on screenwriting in general.

Best Podcast Episode

I really listen to quite many podcasts since i hate wasting time and whenever I’m on the road i really enjoy to listen to interesting interviews with screenwriters, directors or other people heavily involved in the movie business.

My favorite episode in 2010 was Jeff Goldsmith’s interview with Michael Arndt in the Creative Screenwriting podcast. To be honest you should listen to everything Michael Arndt has to say, his interview on Little Miss Sunshine is of great value as well.

So here it is, the Toy Story 3 podcast: Michael Arndt – Toy Story 3

It’s a Wrap

So, that’s it, my 5th and last post this year. And while I’ll certainly will try to write just a little more next year, when I have nothing important to say I’ll rather work on my screenplay than to post here.
Ok, it’s probably not a good thing to end the year on such a bad note.

2010 was a great year for me and I’ll do my best so that 2011 will be even better. And I’ll write. Being it a screenplay or a blog post…