Counterpoint: it’s not

Film of the year. Superb on every level. See it.

I wonder what celebrated AI actress Tilly Norwood is up to these days

“But what about your pension? If there’s a crash!” A warning that sadly falls on deaf ears for those of us whose pension was our creative work, stolen in the first place to build this teetering edifice of toxic dogshit.

Just watched Reds. So much to say but two things take precedence: 1) why the fuck don’t we make intelligent deep rich complex movies like this for adults anymore? 2) Diane Keaton is simply astounding in this film - open, present, real, grounded, heartbreaking. An astonishing performance.

On BBC Radio 4 and BBC Sounds today, 11am. www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...

Just watched Reds. So much to say but two things take precedence: 1) why the fuck don’t we make intelligent deep rich complex movies like this for adults anymore? 2) Diane Keaton is simply astounding in this film - open, present, real, grounded, heartbreaking. An astonishing performance.

When analyses of the bad state of the film and TV industry blame the various writers / actors’ strikes, it’d be nice if they blamed the reasons for those strikes instead. “The industry has struggled to recover from appalling residuals offers, and aggressive tech-driven erosion of artists’ rights.”

We don’t want to humanise or acknowledge the multifaceted aspects of evil people, because it’s easier for us to ‘other’ them. Treating bigots as if they were fully formed from the start allows us to pretend that WE could never do that, we could never be like that. But all of us could.

No.

But that one white guy couldn’t get a job in Hollywood because woke!!!!

seeing my peers who i met on writing/screenwriting twitter 12/13 years ago finally start breaking in and being successful is the best feeling there is no shortcut, there is no secret code, it's just creative friends supporting each other

Casual reminder that the myth of “pulling yourself up by your bootstraps” is a cruel hoax designed to convince poor people from all walks of life that the injustices they face are a result of their own actions, rather than an oppressive system rigged against them.

COMMISSION SOME SITCOMS, FOR THE LOVE OF GOD.

Here is a little piece about the day of my final Monkey Cage recording - a couple of weeks ago in beautiful #manchester www.bigissue.com/opinion/robi...

Yeah, no thanks. Stop guilting people about being estranged from family members. It someone is they likely have personal reasons for being so.

On December 24, 1968, NASA astronaut Bill Anders took this photo as he orbited the Moon with his Apollo 8 crewmates. This is Humanity as we truly are—8.1 billion crewmates on Spaceship Earth, floating in a vast Cosmos, for now our only home. Let’s make it good. Happy Holidays, fellow crewmates!

The thing about structure is that it’s not a straitjacket, it’s a service. If you’re going to ignore it in your story, you’d better replace the expected beats with better, more engaging ones, or people will just wait for the expected beats and be annoyed you’re taking too long to deliver them.

Story structure is a straitjacket only in the same way as the rule for which side you drive on a motorway. You’re definitely heading for trouble if you decide you’ve had a better idea.

Last Christmas I gave you my heart The very next day Kali ma shakti de

A beautiful, moving visit to Dyfi Donkeys to mark Christmas Eve. What an honour and joy to spend time with these soulful indefatigable beings. Nadolig Llawen/Merry Christmas and peace to all. Here’s to more soulful connections in 2026.

Greta Thunberg arrested for holding a sign opposing genocide. When peaceful protest is a crime, democracy is in deep trouble. Happening under a Labour Government.

Leaving the laptop for Christmas like…

A gentle reminder if you've received an invoice from a Freelancer/Self employed person which is due before Christmas. Be a love, and pay it today.

this is culturally a vital work of modern art

Unless they get trapped in the lingerie department.

Suspect some female Tory MPs are quietly dying inside at this. When you’re so desperate to get in a bit of gratuitous foreigner-bashing that you find yourself arguing *against* preventative strategies that try to prevent sexual violence, ffs, what have you become?

Even by my low expectations for Kemi Badenoch ‘violence against women and girls is something done by immigrants and nobody else’ has shocked me.

I appear to be unable to stop playing @maxrichtermusic.bsky.social On The Nature Of Daylight on a constant loop… I’d say ‘send help’ but this is the aural equivalent of ‘sending help’ at the end of another punishing year… 😢🥺😭 youtu.be/b_YHE4Sx-08?...

What an absolute delight and privilege it was to write my first episode of Father Brown. A warm hearted hug of a show with a cast, crew and team to match. 😍💕🫶 www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...

and of that 90%, 79% were white men but yes, tell me again how women and people of colour are taking all the jobs? and tell me again how women and people of colour are told to do labs and shadow schemes over and over while men are literally handed all the actual opportunities

“But TV is a meritocracy!!!” 🙄🤦‍♂️😵‍💫 www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio...

The universality is one of the BBC’s most defining principles. Replace it with ads and it is lost forever.

High time for an honest conversation about migration and how best to manage it for everyone’s benefit over the coming decades. Nations will soon be competing for migrants. I discuss options in #NomadCentury

Only one movie to watch tonight and it had to be… 😢

When I interviewed Spinal Tap and Marty DiBergi this summer, none of them broke character, for the whole hour. Except Rob Reiner, once, losing it when Michael McKean's David St Hubbins talked about minimalism. I didn't use this in the feature and hadn't published any audio, but this is joyful.

A Few Good Men. Best in Show. A Mighty Wind. Miss Congeniality. Barcelona. All three movies in Linklater's "Before" trilogy. Music & Lyrics. Michael Clayton. All films that were able to be made because of the production company Reiner co-founded in order to give talented filmmakers creative freedom.

When Rob Reiner was on his all-time epic run at the start of his career, he had an opportunity to read a script that was looking for a production partner, and he lost his mind for it. He decided Castle Rock had to have it, no matter what.

“Tiramisu…” RIP Mr Reiner 😢 youtube.com/watch?v=ohCy...

💔🎬🎞😭 www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

NOW it feels like Christmas… #theholdovers

Thought some of you might want to take advantage of this, esp. over the holiday season. Recommend The Worst Person in The World/La Chimera/Twin Peaks S1/Sorry, Baby/The Graduate/Perfect Days/Delicatessen/First Cow/Belle de Jour/3 Colours Trilogy/Peeping Tom/Babette’s Feast/Fish Tank/Half Nelson 1/2

This is fabulous news! Where are you BBC, ITV, Channel 4?

one good thing: at least the golden age of TV is over again so we can catch up on everything we missed between 2010 and now when there was Just Too Much Truly Excellent TV I still haven't watched Narcos or Beef or Ozark or any of the Witcher or Sex Education or Stranger Things ffs

Latest monthly visa application figures are out. Skilled workers? Still dropping. Health & care workers? Still dropping. Slow clap.

2025 has been yet another brutal year for the TV and Film industry, both in the UK and overseas.

This is a hugely welcome step which I hope will be matched by greater bravery from commissioners to work with lesser known existing talent as well as brand new up and coming talent across the regions. This new focus must open up new opportunities for all. www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/...

We’re in such a golden age of British and Irish actors by the way. I don’t think this gets talked about enough. Partly because the tv industry has become samey and bland. But go to just three plays and you’ll see what I mean. A golden age of elite talent.

“As prices for streaming subscriptions continue to soar and finding movies to watch, new and old, is becoming harder as the number of streaming services continues to grow, people are turning to the unexpected last stronghold of physical media: the public library.”