Photo: Sean McCormick
By Sean McCormick
After 32 seasons, Cops — a reality television show once described as a “one-celled amoeba” by co-creator Stephen Chao — has been cancelled by Paramount.
On June 9, a Paramount Network spokesperson made a no-frills statement regarding the cancellation to the New York Times. “Cops’ is not …
Category: Writing Samples
A Unique Problem and a Unique Opportunity
On June 8, the Los Angeles Times published an opinion piece by screenwriter John Ridley titled “Hey, HBO, ‘Gone With the Wind’ romanticizes the horrors of slavery. Take it off your platform for now.”
The next evening, HBO Max did just that.
Whether this was a coincidence, a coordinated effort or a capitulation is irrelevant. What mat…
Are We In?
By Sean McCormick
At the beginning of the workday on any film set, the first thing heard is, “we’re in, we’re in!” It’s the production world’s equivalent of a factory whistle. Thousands of furloughed television commercial workers — including yours truly — yearn to hear this again. It’s time we got back to work.
Commercials …
EYES WIDE OPEN
[caption id="attachment_187" align="alignnone" width="1000"] Texas filmmaker Clint Bentley[/caption]
“Everyone may know of your idea; even though, it will never be as it real as you thought.” ― Alan Maiccon
Independent filmmaking is often a dubious and quixotic endeavor, better-suited for chess players than first-person shooters. Truly, a g…
Some Big Fish in a Small Lago
By Sean McCormick
04/19/2019
In 1999, Milton Wright, a now-79-year-old retired African American man and his wife, Helen, moved to Lago Vista, Texas. At that time there were fewer than 40 black people in the entire city. Wright’s reason for moving to Lago Vista was simple: he wanted to retire out in the hills by Lake Travis. “We saw a house …
Lago Vista High School chooses to coexist with smartphones despite hurdles
[caption id="attachment_171" align="alignnone" width="798"] A warning outside a Lago Vista High School Classroom[/caption]
By Sean McCormick
Jim Ed Baugh, who teaches the Lago Vista High School audiovisual program, recently noticed one of his students taking a picture of his math homework with an app on his smartphone. The app then solved the mat…