The 21st-Century Scop banner

scop (noun): Old English – bard, minstrel, storyteller

  • Cabrini Opens

    Cabrini Opens

    I haven’t posted in a while. There’s a reason. It’s one I’ve written about before, most recently in a piece titled Walking and Talking, in which I wrote about my inclination to focus on one thing at a time. That’s what I’ve been doing. Focusing. Following a round of meetings on a new film project…

  • Happy Holidays

    Happy Holidays

    I first posted the above photo for a Christmas 2016 installment titled Santas, Wizards, & Life behind the Curtain. But the photo is older than that. From back in the 90s, when my father was enjoying a successful third act as a professional model. I believe the Santa gig was part of an ad campaign…

  • AFM: Breaking the Boundaries of Today’s Film Marketplace

    AFM: Breaking the Boundaries of Today’s Film Marketplace

    We used to have to go out for our entertainment, but today it’s piped into our homes, taken for granted as just another utility. Given that reality, how can we make storytelling special again?

  • AFM: What Do Audiences Want?

    AFM: What Do Audiences Want?

    It used to be said that laughter was the universal language. So what are we to make of the fact that American comedies don’t do well world wide, and that horror appears to be the only genre that consistently performs?

  • This Week at AFM

    This Week at AFM

    This week, filmmakers from around the world are heading to Santa Monica to attend the American Film Market. According to their official website, “AFM is the premier film acquisition, development, and networking event where more than $1 Billion in distribution and film financing deals are closed each year on completed films and those in every…

  • Into the Gray: Rediscovering Richard Connell

    Into the Gray: Rediscovering Richard Connell

    Titled A Little Gray Book of Grisly Tales and published by Borderlands Press as part of their well-regarded Little Book Series, this compact edition reprints Connell’s aforementioned classic along with five lesser-known tales that fall into a gray zone–somewhere in the shadow of horror, mystery, and satire.