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mernitman
Writer/songwriter/teacher/script consultant Billy Mernit can often be found walking Venice Beach.
Recent Activity
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Oh happy day! The miracle-worker has come to Hollywood and solved all our problems. With his help, it’s only hits and blockbusters from now on, according to the New York Times, and the only issue is: Can we afford this... Continue reading
Posted May 6, 2013 at Living the Romantic Comedy
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You may have been following the latest Kickstarter controversy, which is already feeling a bit, well, moot: Not surprisingly, Zach Braff has successfully kickstarted his new movie, not long after Veronica Mars and co. got theirs into gear. Personally? I... Continue reading
Posted Apr 28, 2013 at Living the Romantic Comedy
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Believing as I do that it's more fun to celebrate people when they're with us than to eulogize them after they're gone, I'm wishing the legendary Elaine May a happy birthday (4-21). If you're familiar with May - and any... Continue reading
Posted Apr 21, 2013 at Living the Romantic Comedy
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Consider this post a public service announcement: I'm writing it to pass along a wonderful post from someone else's blog, Stephanie Palmer's Good in a Room. Palmer's "The Lie Most Frequently Told in Hollywood" is one of the most helpful... Continue reading
Posted Apr 16, 2013 at Living the Romantic Comedy
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Really, I just wanted to post the picture. Henry Bromell died nearly a week ago, and this is what he was like, as a writer and a guy: you can kind of get it, in the photo. I was friendly... Continue reading
Posted Mar 25, 2013 at Living the Romantic Comedy
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No, Living the RomCom hasn't become a 24/7 Girls zone, but I can't help taking note of Sunday night's finale, a typically controversial Lena Dunham special, in that it once again reversed expectations... in perhaps one of the last conceivably... Continue reading
Posted Mar 18, 2013 at Living the Romantic Comedy
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[This post contains substantive Girls spoilers, but if you’re into Girls, you’ve probably already seen this past weekend’s devastating episode, and if you’re not, you don’t care.] Sex scenes are always a challenge to write, for screenwriters and fictionists alike.... Continue reading
Posted Mar 12, 2013 at Living the Romantic Comedy
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This past week various friends and acquaintances sent me a link: The Atlantic's Christopher Orr on Why Are Romantic Comedies So Bad? Guys, are you sending me this because you think it's news to me somehow, or because you recognize... Continue reading
Posted Mar 3, 2013 at Living the Romantic Comedy
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Most people I know who haven't yet seen Amour approach it as if it's cinematic spinach: they don't really want to see it, but they know they should, because supposedly it's good for you. What fascinates me is the inevitable... Continue reading
Posted Feb 19, 2013 at Living the Romantic Comedy
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[A holiday reprise from the archives] Declarations Love is too weak a word for what I feel... I lurve you. Y'know, I loove you, I, I luff you. There are two f's. I have to invent... Of course I love... Continue reading
Posted Feb 13, 2013 at Living the Romantic Comedy
It's that time of the year again. Romantic comedy lovers, lovers comedic or serious -- all humans with beating hearts know that as soon as February rolls around, there's a major holiday to be reckoned with, one that's come to... Continue reading
Posted Feb 2, 2013 at Living the Romantic Comedy
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For Mature Audiences Only (NSFW) I was getting ready to go to work the other morning when I glanced out my home office window and beheld two raccoons having sex on the roof next door. Though I've never been an... Continue reading
Posted Jan 27, 2013 at Living the Romantic Comedy
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Or is it that journalists are desperate for material? Either way, there's been a spate of urgent verbiage lately both online and in hard copy, about how 20-somethings (because really, who cares about the rest of us) aren't dating the... Continue reading
Posted Jan 14, 2013 at Living the Romantic Comedy
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As a post-resolutions Happy 2013 greeting, I pass along this neat piece by Hugo Lindgren, which espouses a writing (and for that matter, living) lesson that Pixar's John Lasseter has often articulated: "Be wrong as fast as you can." I'll... Continue reading
Posted Jan 7, 2013 at Living the Romantic Comedy
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The Best in Romantic Comedy 2012 2012 was either a godawful year for the genre or an inspiring, watershed year for it, depending upon how you define the term "romantic comedy." In this regard, 2012's Astas serve as a response... Continue reading
Posted Dec 28, 2012 at Living the Romantic Comedy
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One of the terrible things about us boomers is that we won't shut up. We won't go away, and we don't ever stop talking about the wonders of our youth. It's embarrassing for me to join this relentless chorus of... Continue reading
Posted Dec 14, 2012 at Living the Romantic Comedy
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A smart and funny video has been recently making the online rounds that takes a well-worn rom-com trope to one obvious satirical conclusion, and it's well worth a look. Also an accompanying article (a kind of "News of the Manic... Continue reading
Posted Dec 9, 2012 at Living the Romantic Comedy
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I was script-consulting on a project the other day when my client made a rueful reference to "stupid studio notes." I took a deep breath and made the universal hand sign for Time Out, and delivered a brief rant that... Continue reading
Posted Dec 5, 2012 at Living the Romantic Comedy
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We're in that season now. Some think of it as the holidays, and others, as the six week stretch when most of the year's decent movies finally come out (i.e. Oscar contender time). In fact, so many movies worth seeing... Continue reading
Posted Nov 20, 2012 at Living the Romantic Comedy
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Well, there's science and there's science. There's the science that's way beyond what your average bear can wrap his mind around (Higgs-Boson what now?), and then there's the "what goes up must come down" kind of stuff, where science affirms... Continue reading
Posted Oct 28, 2012 at Living the Romantic Comedy
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Anyone who's ever tried to write a romantic comedy knows how difficult it is to keep it credible - to put your two protagonists through the requisite meet-lose-get obstacle course without restorting to blatant contrivance. Anyone plotting one in 2012... Continue reading
Posted Oct 9, 2012 at Living the Romantic Comedy
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A few readers have asked me to put all of these "truism" posts, scattered over the past 18 months, in one convenient place for persual. So be it (just click on the numbers to get to the corresponding links). #... Continue reading
Posted Oct 2, 2012 at Living the Romantic Comedy
They twisted my arm, honest: a friend talked me into getting on Twitter, and while I've been having great fun there (Where else can you eavesdrop on Steve Martin trading quips with Albert Brooks, or read Chris Hedges thinking out... Continue reading
Posted Sep 29, 2012 at Living the Romantic Comedy
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"A straight-talking billionaire says exactly what a group of lined-pocket supporters want to hear, but what he doesn’t know is that the other 47% of the country is listening." You gotta love the sly brilliance of this site, Rom Com... Continue reading
Posted Sep 20, 2012 at Living the Romantic Comedy
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A cliché is as good as you can make it new. Reader Jeff Sexton, citing this good TED talk by Andrew Stanton, notes that when the Pixar team was making Toy Story, they had a secret list of animation clichés... Continue reading
Posted Sep 17, 2012 at Living the Romantic Comedy