AFI film school #5: The Searchers — Finding an antihero

Get your six-shooter loaded. We’re traveling back to the wild west this week…

AFI film school #4: In the Heat of the Night — The Power of Perception

When looking at the 2007 AFI List of top 100 movies and asking why did these particular films all make it--what singular quality do they all possess--I come up with...hmm…umm...

AFI film school #3: It's a Wonderful Life — Earned wings

This is the third post where I discuss what creators and filmmakers can learn from a specific AFI top 100 movie. The big news is this means I have surpassed the output of Sufjan Steven’s…

Nine crucial lessons from Mad Men's pilot

Ending things is hard. I think most people are aware of that. And judging by how many shows end in ways that make people complain for decades…

AFI film school #2: Schindler's List — The opposite of evil

This is the second post where I’m looking at one of the movies from the AFI top 100 list and discussing what writers and filmmakers can learn from it…

AFI film school #1: Rocky — Pushing to potential

The AFI top 100 list may be one of the most daunting film lists that exists. The 100 best American movies. Well, at least the 100 best according to a group of people who…

Focus: What to do when creating any comedy scene

When writing or performing a comedy scene, you might be ok with the audience calling it weird. Or confusing. Or even off-putting. But whatever they do…

A dark comedy about sex and murder

The Madams is a dark comedy about the sexual escapades of two sisters running a secret escort service in LA after the madam of their Vegas brothel is found murdered…

King Lear in a basketball franchise

Candivan is back and with a big new show announcement. We are pumped to add this show from an experienced group of creators to our catalog of five Candivan Original Series. The Front Office is a Shakespearean…

Confronting the ugly: a great show isn’t always easy to watch

One of Candivan’s main missions is to take on challenging themes, to confront the ugly, to learn from the bad, and to make progress as humans...