Five Conversations About Peter Sellers is an essay that begins as an exploration of the author's burgeoning obsession with Peter Sellers, and specifically his role in hijacking and derailing production of the spy spoof, Casino Royale, in the late 60s. But what begins as a reported piece on how the film set erupted into chaos, quickly devolves into its own chaos as the essay splits into 5 different narrators, each with their own idea of what the essay is actually about. Is it about how Peter Sellers and his oversize ego ruined Casino Royale? Is it about how society has too long allowed horrible men to run the world? Is it an exploration of the nature of the essay as a creative form? Or is Peter Sellers and his genius at impersonation actually a vehicle through which the author probes her own shifting identity as a bi-ethnic person? The answer is...yes. From Five Conversations About Peter Sellers Beth: There's a passage in Notes from Underground where the narrator speaks about the perverse pleasure of knowing your own vileness. 'This pleasure comes precisely from the sharpest awareness of your own degradation; from the knowledge that you have gone to the utmost limit; that it is despicable, yet can't be otherwise, that you no longer have any way out, that you will never become a different man.' Build all the utopias you want, but some people can only know they're alive when they've destroyed everything beautiful around them.

This is a comprehensive guide to writing the first draft of a feature length screenplay. While it focuses on the college semester (16 Weeks), it is also completely appropriate for anyone attempting to write a screenplay within a timeline. The text breaks down different approaches to designing a screenplay by providing pragmatic guidelines enhancing your ability to use creativity rather than focusing on rules. It highlights the skills necessary to execute compelling visual language to achieve good story, plot, dialog, dynamic characters, and help you put it all together. Think of this as a companion tool as you write. The language is simplified and yet academic, theoretically sound and yet pragmatic. It also offers additional insight into the history of screenwriting, the re-write process, and the specific skill sets needed for adaptation. This book is easy to understand and provides accounts for context from the author as a professional screenwriter, as well as anecdotes from other professionals (David Mickey Evans - The Sand Lot, and Vince McKewin - Fly Away Home, and Jeb Stuart - Die Hard, The Fugitive, Dana Coen - JAG, NCIS, and Anthony Tambakis - Warrior, Suicide Squad 2).