I’m not a big holiday person, or even a big Halloween person. I don’t love the macabre or horror or enjoy being frightened, or frightening others. But I do like trick or treating. And I don’t even love candy—I love the community aspect of going out and knocking on doors and meeting neighbors, and running into other families. Above is a pic from Halloween 1979; I was five (I’m on the left) and my brother Tyler was three, in our wrinkly plastic Marvel costumes. We were just set

One of the fun things that happened in producing the FSM CDs was getting to meet writer and director Nicholas Meyer, when we released CDs for his films Time After Time and Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan and he kindly contributed to the liner notes. I’ve always been a fan not only of his movies and novels, but his philosophies—even going back to the 1980s when I read interviews with him in Starlog magazine. Get his memoirs, The View From The Bridge, it’s terrific—here’s his o

Many thanks to everybody who reached about the out-of-print FSM CDs we are selling through Screen Archives—details yesterday. I’m always touched by the longtime FSM readers who send me nice notes about following the magazine and label for decades—thank you! By the way, if you want to help me, please follow me on Twitter, on Instagram—and visit my IMDB page to kick up my silly star rating. Yesterday I came across a pretty nifty VFX enhancement of one of the Star Trek movies, s

Above: the FSM office in Culver City, circa 2004. Thanks to everybody who read and responded to my post yesterday about a set of out-of-print FSM CDs that I am selling off from my parents’ basements. Several folks wrote asking, “What do you have?” A reasonable question! But I’m not sure yet because Screen Archives (where all our inventory is housed) need to sort through the boxes I sent earlier this year. I think there’s one of everything from our catalog: https://www.filmsco

I have a dilemma and want your feedback. It concerns a couple of (mostly complete) sets of FSM CDs I have. I would love to get these to people who want and need them to fill out their collections! I’d also like to make a little bit of money—which I’m hesitant to mention, because then it starts going around, “Hey, Lukas needs money!” In the long run, I’ll be fine—don’t worry about me! But as a short-term matter, yeah, I could use a little help with the cash flow. I am making p

Above: the last-known picture of William Shatner without his toupee! Sorry if this is mean-spirited. I think Bill can take it. It’s from a 1959 rehearsal for a television anthology episode. I got it from this brilliant site. If you want more Bill rarities, there’s a YouTube channel called “Ruby Pearl” loaded with them. Enjoy! Here’s Shatner Five-0:

You may have seen various clickbait articles about the unmade Star Trek 4 script by J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay, now that the writers (who are running the Amazon Lord of the Rings show) spoke a bit about it. This was going to be the next Star Trek movie after Beyond, but it didn’t happen. Long story short, James T. Kirk (Chris Pine) and his father, George Kirk (Chris Hemsworth) were going to have a buddy-adventure together. And the plot gag to connect them? George had been s

I like this show. I wrote about it when it premiered, and at midseason. I wasn’t in the mood for more Game of Thrones, but it’s beautifully made and there’s a great attention to the human story amidst the plotting, dragons and brutality. That’s all today—sorry!

Discussion on the FSM board led me to find a four-minute video by Leonard Rosenman’s grandson, Charlie Rosenman, about the late, great composer (seen above with his friend, James Dean). I really enjoyed this, and the photos are amazing. It’s from nine years ago so I don’t think the project was continued, but I’m glad it exists. I met some of Lenny’s family at his memorial service and reception after he passed, they were very sociable. Here’s my piece about “Lenny” from this b

NOTE: I hope people come on out to the soundtrack swap meet this afternoon, Saturday, October 22, 2022! My grandmother always said, “Don’t count other people’s money.” But who can resist? It’s so much fun. The Hollywood Reporter breaks down Hollywood salaries—which, as a budding producer, I actually want to know.

Tomorrow, Saturday 10/22/22, is Peter Hackman’s annual Fans of Film Music event. The 10AM composer panel is sold out but you can watch the livestream. (YouTube link: https://youtu.be/8iwYkZ1xT8Y.) I’m proud that this evolved from an informal gathering I held in 2008 and 2009. It was fun for a couple of times, but I didn’t feel like making an annual event of it—but Peter did, so that’s great! I can’t make it to the morning panel—but I will be at the afternoon “Soundtrack Swap

I am enjoying Andor so much. I knew I would. It’s fabulous. But that’s not the subject today. You may have seen some articles about Andor’s viewership, like this one. This is classic clickbait baloney. Andor’s numbers have not been released. I would not at all be surprised if the numbers are lower, even far lower, than The Mandalorian, Obi-Wan Kenobi, et al.—because the show is not for kids! If something as smart and sophisticated as Andor is never attempted again, well, that

If you haven’t seen it yet, check out the new interview Rick Beato did with Thomas Newman: Rick Beato is a professional musician who started a YouTube channel for music education and appreciation, which has grown to hundreds of videos. They range from explaining musical language and concepts to both beginners and more advanced musicians, analyzing what makes classic songs work, interviews with great artists, and much more. And it’s all done with a joyful, engaging, passionate

We’re back, by unpopular demand! No guest this week, just Charlie Vignola and I catching up and talking about the process of screenwriting notes—getting and receiving them. For some reason, this blog is not letting a video show up on the main blog feed. Above is a screen cap, here’s the video:

A plug this morning! My friend Taylor White from Creature Features has launched a Kickstarter for his newest book project, an updated and hugely expanded 2nd edition of Rod Serling’s Night Gallery: An After-Hours Tour, the definitive guide by Scott Skelton and Jim Benson, with a new foreword by Guillermo del Toro. The Kickstarter is racing out of the gate! Check it out. (Full disclosure: I helped out with some of the data entry and proofreading for the Kickstarter. But it’s n

Back when we had the FSM CD label, we would often receive requests for scores to release. It was part of the fun and normal operations of having a soundtrack label. One of the requests I received a lot—especially after we released Klute, by the same composer and from the same studio—was Night Moves, the 1975 neo-noir starring Gene Hackman. Fans would write me and rave about the Michael Small score. Alas, we researched and Warner Bros. did not have any music master tapes. I c

Everything is on the Internet now! I am trying to remember if I have ever been on Star Tours, the original Star Wars theme park motion simulator ride, or if I am just imagining that I have. I have actually only been to Disneyland twice in my life (I think). I didn’t grow up with it, so it’s not my thing. I’ve just never liked places that make me stand in line and tell me what to do...no offense to those who love the park. Here is the 70mm ride video, with pretty antiquated VF

There’s a really cool anime series from the 1980s called Megazone 23. It’s about (spoilers) a future Earth city where the inhabitants don’t realize they’re actually in a spaceship. Part 1 was adapted (terribly) into the barely seen Robotech movie from 1986. Part 2 my brother and I got on videotape in the late 1980s, where our little eyes popped out of our head from a sex scene with giant anime breasts. I found the scene! Cartoon nudity in 3, 2, 1... Part 2 also has one of the

We took our twin girls (they’re eight) to the eye doctor. It was all routine, everything’s fine. The optometrist was an old pro, good around kids and pleasant to deal with. But he did have the old-fashioned habit of calling the kids “sweetheart.” The kids later told us if they were eye doctors, they would call everybody “fellow.” “Okay, sit right here, fellow.” “Very good, fellow!” “Now close one eye, fellow.” “Watch the cartoon, fellow.” Funny!

I tend not to get too invested in film business news. I pay attention, because it potentially affects me, but I figure things change and there’s no sense wasting energy complaining. What’s happening to Warner Bros...well, it’s just sad. The latest is that they are shuttering a very influential and meaningful writer’s workshop that has given many people great careers. I don’t know the full story of how we got here in a corporate sense. I guess I could look it up, but I don’t t