THE SCRIBBLERS TOOLBOX

Welcome to my ever-expanding collection of screen scribbling tips, tools, observations, and topical ephemera for fellow creative types to peruse, use, disseminate, or disregard. My blog is also free on Substack! Subscribe to receive my fave weekly posts sent to your inbox.

Film School for Culture Warriors?
Jesse Alexander Jesse Alexander

Film School for Culture Warriors?

Filmmakers are worshiping past forms while meme lords are rewriting the present with stolen Adobe licenses and no chill. Maybe we're teaching storytellers to think small.

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Hollywood’s Creative Destruction
Jesse Alexander Jesse Alexander

Hollywood’s Creative Destruction

Economist Joseph Schumpeter called capitalism “a perennial gale of creative destruction.” The next decade will belong to those of us who can treat this disruption not just like a catastrophic gale to avoid, but an opportunity to fly our kites.

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When Hollywood and Silicon Valley Collide
Jesse Alexander Jesse Alexander

When Hollywood and Silicon Valley Collide

David Ellison just scored Paramount, and word is he's eyeing Warner Bros. Combine that media empire with his father Larry's AI infrastructure, and we're looking at creative destruction on a scale the industry hasn't seen since the transition from silent films to talkies. Could James Cameron's AI experiments be a preview of filmmaking’s future?

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The Laptop Auteur: Filmmaking Sans Permission
Jesse Alexander Jesse Alexander

The Laptop Auteur: Filmmaking Sans Permission

Remember when "independent film" meant maxing out credit cards and begging friends to work for free? Now, solo creators do stuff that would've required entire departments. The digital video revolution of the '90s was just the warm-up act.

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Bleed to Succeed
Jesse Alexander Jesse Alexander

Bleed to Succeed

Why negativity bias rules storytelling, and how to weaponize it without losing your soul.

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Operation: Kayfabe
Jesse Alexander Jesse Alexander

Operation: Kayfabe

For those of us building alternate reality or transmedia experiences, what can we learn from what works in professional wrestling? Let’s start with Kayfabe, the pact between performers and their fans to treat a staged spectacle like a real drama.

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Cinema’s Architect: The Joe Kosinski Playbook
Jesse Alexander Jesse Alexander

Cinema’s Architect: The Joe Kosinski Playbook

When you watch Tron: Legacy, Oblivion, Top Gun: Maverick, Spiderhead, or his latest F1, you’re not just seeing a story unfold; you’re stepping into a world where every frame was designed by someone who understands how spaces work. Before he started directing, Joe studied mechanical engineering at Stanford and got his master’s in architecture at Columbia.

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Explorers or Prey? Two Modes of Adventure
Jesse Alexander Jesse Alexander

Explorers or Prey? Two Modes of Adventure

I was chatting with my son the other day about one of his D&D campaigns (he's a professional DM, which still blows my mind), and he dropped something that got my brain spinning. “It feels completely different when the big bad is already dead," he said. "Like the game's about figuring stuff out instead of staying alive."

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Secret Lairs of Scribbling
Jesse Alexander Jesse Alexander

Secret Lairs of Scribbling

I’ve been lucky enough to visit some of the amazing physical spaces where our favorite creators actually do their magic. Not the Instagram-friendly "writing corner" BS, but the weird, wonderful, sometimes obsessive environments where these scribblers retreat to conjure worlds without distraction.

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Wrestling's Long Road to Respectability
Jesse Alexander Jesse Alexander

Wrestling's Long Road to Respectability

You've got A24 making wrestling movies, mainstream critics writing think-pieces about WWE storylines, Netflix throwing money to stream live events, and a President deploying kayfabe tactics from the White House. The art form once relegated to late-night cable is now analyzed like prestige television.

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