Cole Haddon

Have you been thinking about writing a horror film? One of the best way to understand how to write a great one is to read great horror scripts. That's why 5AM StoryTalk curated this robust collection for you to download, study, and enjoy! Check them out at the link in the first comment!

From the making of THE BIRDS (1963): Alfred Hitchcock, or rather his familiar silhouette, oversees the finale of his film. That’s star Rod Taylor with the bandaged arm. 📸 Unknown.

The Supremes having a snowball fight outside Motown Studios in Detroit, Michigan, 1965. 📸 Bruce Davidson.

“No great artist ever sees things as they really are. If he did he would cease to be an artist.” — Oscar Wilde

Three years ago, Karen Smith—then the new Democratic president of the previously Far Right Central Bucks County, Pa., school board—took her oath on a stack of banned library books. Not all Karens are created equal. Be like Karen Smith.

Christopher Lee, 2005. 📸 Andy Gotts.

Hollywood and critics alike want you to believe Alejandro González Iñárritu’s DIGGER, starring Tom Cruise, is a failure in every respect—a satire with nothing to say that audiences were right to ignore. They’re completely missing the point. 🎧📖📺 Link to the 5AM StoryTalk essay in the first comment!

Belgian poster for the original release of THE CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN (1957). Art by Jean Mascii.

What happens when a screenwriter finally catches a break? In the latest from 5AM StoryTalk, I discuss the sudden return of creative momentum after some major life changes, the “love tax” artists struggle to pay, career volatility in film/TV today & much more. 🎧📖📺: Link in the first comment!

“Every story I create, creates me. I write to create myself.” — Octavia E. Butler

'Brooklyn: Brothers', 1952. Photograph by Art Shay (American).

Three years ago, Karen Smith—then the new Democratic president of the previously Far Right Central Bucks County, Pa., school board—took her oath on a stack of banned library books. Not all Karens are created equal. Be like Karen Smith.

13 years ago today, —“DRACULA”—a TV series I created for NBC and Sky—premiered. What few people understood at the time was that its development had driven me to a nervous breakdown and I was struggling through depression from the abuse and how the series had turned out. 1/3

Vivien Leigh, 1940. 📸 Laszlo Willinger.

"There’s no writer’s block. There’s lazy. There’s scared. But there’s no writer’s block. Just sit down and realise you're mediocre and you're going to have to put a lot of effort into this to make it good. That's what writing is." — Jerry Seinfeld

Have a great idea based on history, myth, or public domain book? Before you take it into a development meeting, you'll want to hear the true story of how an American producer stole my public domain project—not behind my back, but to my face. Link to listen/read in the first comment!

Philip Seymour Hoffman, 2004. 📸 Sam Taylor-Johnson.

From the making of THE WICKER MAN (1973): Shooting the film’s iconic wicker man sequence. 📸 Unknown.

“For me, punk is about real feelings. It's not about, 'Yeah, I am a punk and I'm angry.' That's a lot of crap. It's about loving the things that really matter: passion, heart and soul.” — Joey Ramone

The tragedy of the AIDS crisis wasn't just the loss of the artists; it was the loss of the discerning audience that demanded excellence from them. In this clip from Martin Scorsese's documentary series "PRETEND IT'S A CITY", Fran Lebowitz will blow your mind with her analysis!

Björk in Reykjavik, Iceland, 1988. 📸 Timothy White.

“Facts are not truth, though they are part of it – information is not knowledge. And history is not the past – it is the method we have evolved of organizing our ignorance of the past. It's the record of what's left on the record.” — Hilary Mantel

Andy Griffith on a train in Nashville, 1961. 📸 Art Shay.

Fantastic independent poster for the original INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS (1956). Art by Joel Herrera.

“You don't make a movie, the movie makes you.” — Jean-Luc Godard

LA BOLA NEGRA, from directors Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi, is an epic for the ages.

Jean Stapleton (Edith Bunker), Jean Simmons (so many brilliant films), Roddy McDowell (in character from PLANET OF THE APES), and Alice Cooper…at the Hollywood Bowl in LA for the Free Shakespeare Festival fundraiser. 1973 was a wild year. 📸 Unknown.

“I was inspired to become a writer by horror movies and science fiction. Other people have hang-ups about what's literary or genre or whatever, and that's sort of not my problem. You're supposed to write what you have to write, and you're supposed to keep moving.” — Colson Whitehead

From the making of ALIEN (1979): H.R. Giger working on the Xenomorph’s costume. He used a real human skull in his terrifying design. It’s not easily spottable in the film, because of how it’s lit, but you can catch glimpses of it behind the creature’s translucent dome. 📸 Unknown.

“I think there are ways in which we censor ourselves; that's the most dangerous kind of censorship — that's how hegemony works.” — Jennifer Egan

Every time I think I nailed my producers' notes in my latest script draft...

Every time I think I nailed my producers' notes in my latest script draft...

The four kings of classic horror films: Christopher Lee, Vincent Price, John Carradine, Peter Cushing, 1983. 📸 Terry O’Neill.

“As a writer I want everybody to get a chance to voice their opinions. If each character thinks that they’re telling the truth, then it’s valid. Then at the end of the film, I leave it up to the audience to decide who did the right thing.” — Spike Lee

The French: "We don't like how our economy is going and how our taxes are being spent, let's burn this motherfucker down." Meanwhile in America where a serial rapist loyalty card-holding member of a pedophile club has stolen billions from taxpayers, tanked the economy, and started numerous wars:

Natalie Portman in New York City, 2005. 📸 Dan Winters.