Business Advice
11 Surprising Facts About How Movie Box Office Works
How Hollywood and America went crazy over box office reports… and why the numbers aren’t always what they seem.
Storytelling
In Defense of Night Court and Other Guilty Pleasures
Here’s why some media gets called a “guilty pleasure,” and why we need to stop saying that.
Storytelling
8 Tips to Hook Your Audience
These tips will help your audience get interested and emotionally attached to your stories fast.
Social Media
The Life and Death of the Web’s Longest-Running Sitcom, Something to Be Desired
In September of 2003, before the launch of Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, or MySpace — before you could watch a video on your iPod, much less on your cell phone — the first episode of a brand new, so-called “web series” was uploaded to the Internet. The writer-director of this web Read more…
Armchair Sociology
Q&A Interview with Frank Rose, Author of “The Art of Immersion”
From the audience’s impact on the making of LOST to the eerie web promotions for The Dark Knight Returns, our media is becoming more immersive by the day. WIRED contributing editor Frank Rose noticed this trend and embarked on a years-long voyage to connect the digital dots. His goal was Read more…
Armchair Sociology
What the Existence of Don Draper and Katy Perry Really Says About You
Why we need to stop living vicariously through our pop culture heroes and start living our own lives like we mean it.
Storytelling
5 Reasons NOT to Listen to Your Audience
If you write, speak or perform for a living, you need an audience. Without one, you don’t get paid. (Hell, online, you still don’t get paid even with one. But I digress…) Your audience is one way to validate your success as a communicator. But your audience is also a Read more…
Armchair Sociology
Do You Want Them to Remember You Tomorrow?
When I was in art school, we had one English class. Our instructor wasn’t used to teaching art students, and she was confused by our habit of rewatching the same movies over and over again. “I don’t get why anybody would watch the same movie twice,” she told us. For Read more…
Armchair Sociology
The Death of Fun
Remember the ’80s? Those were my formative years, so their influence is hard to shake, but I can’t help but feel like the ’80s were the last time in Western culture when fun was generally acceptable. I grew up reading comic books like Batman and Spider-Man, and watching cartoons like Read more…