Tuesday, August 1, 2017
Commenting on my review of BABY DRIVER, reader ChipO wrote:Everyone / anyone, and Ken, of course:Our theater included a short, just before the studio screens, thank you message from the dire…
SOURCE: Ken Levine at 09:00AMMonday, July 24, 2017
David Mamet now has added a new wrinkle to theaters and producers staging his plays. They are no longer allowed to have talk-backs with the audience directly afterwards. Talk-backs have b…
SOURCE: Ken Levine at 09:00AMSaturday, July 15, 2017
This is another plug for this week's Hollywood & Levine podcast. It's the making of WICKED, and my guest, Winnie Holzman (who wrote the libretto) is truly fascinating as she explai…
SOURCE: Ken Levine at 05:04PMThursday, July 13, 2017
I’m always fascinated by how some things hold up over time and other things don’t. You’ve all had movies you remembered loving as a kid and you see them now and go “Eeeewww. What …
SOURCE: Ken Levine at 09:00AMWICKED is the most successful musical in the last fifteen years. It’s had thousands of productions worldwide and is still playing on Broadway. But the road to success was a lon…
SOURCE: Ken Levine at 12:24AMWednesday, July 12, 2017
Movie comedies have really taken it in the shorts this summer season. Well, let me amend that – STUDIO movie comedies are taking it in the shorts. The Will Ferrell/Amy Poehler comedy TH…
SOURCE: Ken Levine at 09:00AMMonday, July 10, 2017
Nathaniel Thomsen, Eric Bischoff, some guy, and Sydney KaserBack from a weekend in Seattle to see my play, LOVERS’ LEAP performed at the Edmonds Driftwood Players 8th Annual Festival of On…
SOURCE: Ken Levine at 09:00AMSunday, July 9, 2017
THE NINETIES begins tonight on CNN. Like with THE SEVENTIES and THE EIGHTIES, I participate in the chapter devoted to television. I believe that’s the episode that kicks off the series …
SOURCE: Ken Levine at 09:00AMFriday, July 7, 2017
Hello from Seattle. One of my one-act plays, LOVERS LEAP, is being performed this weekend at the Edmonds Driftwood Players “8th Annual Festival of Shorts.” So I’m back in the great …
SOURCE: Ken Levine at 09:00AMThursday, July 6, 2017
Here’s a question writers sometimes get: Are you a plotter or a pantser? Mystery novelists especially. It means, do you take the time to plot out your story beforehand or do you just…
SOURCE: Ken Levine at 09:00AMWednesday, July 5, 2017
Thank you, Kumail Nanjiani and Emily Gordon! Thank you for proving that romcoms can be funny, touching, and timely. Thank you for showing that romcoms don’t have to be Nancy Meyer stud…
SOURCE: Ken Levine at 09:00AMMonday, July 3, 2017
Tomorrow is Neil Simon’s 90th birthday. As you know, I’m a big fan.
SOURCE: Ken Levine at 11:16AMThursday, June 29, 2017
Part of the fun of doing my weekly podcast is just being able to try stuff. There’s no program director telling me to just shut up, read the liner cards, and play the records. And no P…
SOURCE: Ken Levine at 09:00AMMonday, June 26, 2017
No SPOILER ALERT necessary. You know what you’re going to see. The first half-hour (or maybe hour) of WONDER WOMAN was startling. It took place on Xanadu or Shangri-La or Lesbo or Nev…
SOURCE: Ken Levine at 09:00AMTuesday, June 13, 2017
Almost better than attending the Tony’s is attending the Tony’s rehearsal. This week I got to watch two of them. I kept hope that actually being in Radio City the committee might say,…
SOURCE: Ken Levine at 09:36PMMonday, June 5, 2017
Broadway shows live or die based on critics. A NEW YORK TIMES pan and you’re closed by Saturday. At one time, certain movie critics wielded a lot of power. Pauline Kael in THE NEW YORKE…
SOURCE: Ken Levine at 09:00AMTuesday, May 9, 2017
THIS IS BOTH A BLOG POST AND BLOG EXPERIMENT. (Theatre Companies please read the whole thing.) Very excited that one of my one-act plays has been selected for the 8th Annual Festival of S…
SOURCE: Ken Levine at 09:00AMWednesday, April 19, 2017
Whenever my writing partner, David, and I had a pilot we always tried to weasel a trip to New York to do some casting. There are many reasons for this. A free trip. Nice hotel. Per diem…
SOURCE: Ken Levine at 09:00AMMonday, April 17, 2017
As a playwright I can tell you that it’s hard to get a play produced. And especially hard to get a musical on the boards. I’ve been fortunate enough to have had both. But it’s lik…
SOURCE: Ken Levine at 09:00AMSunday, April 9, 2017
Here’s a Friday Question worth an entire post: It’s from Charles H. Bryan: Are there times when you look at a script (yours or someone else's) and think "There's something missing, but…
SOURCE: Ken Levine at 09:00AMTuesday, March 28, 2017
Saw Disney’s BEAUTY AND THE BEAST this weekend, based on the Disney animated version that didn’t need to be remade except for all the money it’ll make for Disney. There’s also a li…
SOURCE: Ken Levine at 09:00AMSaturday, March 25, 2017
Yes, I'm dipping into the archives but it's one of my favorite all-time posts, so what the hell? I've picked up a few new readers since it ran six years ago. Here's how long ag…
SOURCE: Ken Levine at 09:00AMWednesday, March 1, 2017
Okay, here it is in print -- my Oscar review (for those who even remember all the way back to Sunday). Thank you for responding and subscribing. I've got some cool things p…
SOURCE: Ken Levine at 09:00AMSunday, February 19, 2017
CNN (when it's not being the enemy of the people) is airing an excellent new documentary series on the history of Comedy. This week's episode focuses on women -- comedians, actresses, …
SOURCE: Ken Levine at 09:00AMThursday, February 16, 2017
One of the many advantages of growing up in Southern California was having Disneyland right in our own backyard. As a kid I used to love when we had out of town guests because they all want…
SOURCE: Ken Levine at 09:00AMThe Magic Kingdom is this week’s theme and Ken has an expert who will give you helpful tips and secrets on how to make your stay at Disneyland or Disney World the best vacation ever. When …
SOURCE: Ken Levine at 12:03AMSaturday, February 11, 2017
This is one of the craziest rewrite nights I ever experienced. It was on WINGS. I was the Thursday night punch up guy. They had a two-parter called “The Gift.” Both episodes were…
SOURCE: Ken Levine at 09:00AMFriday, February 10, 2017
Love and Friday Questions are in the air.Michael kicks it off.Do you think the cast of FRASIER would have any interest in a limited-series revival like WILL AND GRACE and GILMORE GIRLS are d…
SOURCE: Ken Levine at 09:00AMTuesday, January 24, 2017
The Academy Award nominations were announced today. No real surprises actually. Films that sent out the most screeners were nominated. Films that gave you a code to stream didn’t fare …
SOURCE: Ken Levine at 01:33PMMonday, January 2, 2017
It's always weird to me when New Year's Day falls on a Sunday and they postpone the Rose Parade and Rose Bowl until today. I always wonder: is it for religious reasons or just an…
SOURCE: Ken Levine at 09:00AMSunday, January 1, 2017
Happy New Year. I can't believe how many wonderful people we lost last year, including Carrie Fisher. As I mentioned earlier we were casual friends (until shock treatments erased…
SOURCE: Ken Levine at 09:00AM 
