“The Little Things” with John Lee Hancock
John Lee Hancock’s recent film, “The Little Things,” brings to life many key aspects of viewer engagement and character development that translate from the cinema to the page. Through excellently written mystery and complex, relatable characters, he hooks viewers early on and keeps them on their toes throughout the movie. Hancock is an accomplished screenwriter, director, and producer who is well known for his role in films like “My Dog Skip,” “The Alamo,” and “The Highwaymen.” To get tickets to “The Little Things,” follow the link below.
From RottenTomatoes.com:
The “feel good movie” may never have had a bigger proponent than John Lee Hancock. As a writer, director, and producer of high profile feature films, Hancock introduced his earnest and often sentimental sensibilities to sports movies like “The Rookie” (2002) and “The Blind Side” (2009), show business pictures like “Saving Mr. Banks” (2013), and the occasional fairy tale jaunt, including “Maleficent” (2014). Achieving big numbers at the box office and awards recognition in the process, Hancock established himself over the course of his decades in the filmmaking game as a reliable perpetrator of crowd-pleasing entertainment. Although intermittent attempts at darker and more severe material proved substantially less fortuitous, Hancock powered through these missteps to become a veritable fixture in the family-directed film community.
Whether you’re traditionally published or indie, writing a good book is only the first step in becoming a successful author. The days of just turning a manuscript into your editor and walking away are gone. If you want to succeed in today’s publishing world, you need to understand every aspect of the business – editing, formatting, marketing, contracts. It all starts with a good book, then the real work begins.
Join international bestselling author J.D. Barker and indie powerhouses, J. Thorn and Zach Bohannon, as they gain unique insight and valuable advice from the most prolific and accomplished authors in the business.
In this episode, you’ll discover:
- What Hancock’s writing process looks like
- How “The Little Things” was influenced by the times
- Why Hancock avoided making the film contemporary
- Why the existential third act is so important
- How to break free from conventional genres
- The pros and cons of certain creative decisions
Links:
Complete the listener survey by 11:59 p.m. Eastern on February 28, 2021 and win a chance for a private one-on-one consultation with J. D. Barker! – https://forms.gle/CZ6HBP5Kyy1pm2YZ9
J. D. Barker – http://jdbarker.com/
J. Thorn – https://theauthorlife.com/
John Lee Hancock – https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0359387/
“The Little Things” – https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10016180/
Story Rubric – http://storyrubric.com
Nonfict Rubric – http://nonficrubric.com
The Career Author Summit 2021 – https://thecareerauthor.com/summit2021/
Proudly sponsored by Kobo Writing Life – https://kobowritinglife.com/
Music by Nicorus – https://cctrax.com/nicorus/dust-to-dust-ep
Voice Over by Rick Ganley – http://www.nhpr.com and recorded at Mill Pond Studio – http://www.millpondstudio.com
Contact – https://writersinkpodcast.com/dev/contact/
*Full disclosure: Some of the links are affiliate links.
Christopher Wills
4 years ago
Interesting interview. I haven’t see The Little Things but I read the plot on Wikipedia and I love the ambiguous ending. Making a film must be the ultimate in story collaboration and there may have been a lot of pressure from invested parties for him to close the loop at the ending rather than make his arty, and probably more realistic, ending. That has elevated the film to one I want to watch.
Looking forward to the next episode discussing crafting stories for different media. I’ll be interested to learn if you believe there are any differences between the story structure of a novel and a film, if that comes up for discussion.
Love the show.
J. Thorn
4 years ago
Thanks, buddy! It’s a great movie and I LOVED the ending.