“Filmmaking is a chance to live many lifetimes.” — Robert Altman
Cole Haddon
@colehaddon.bsky.social
Novelist, screenwriter, art fanatic. Created "DRACULA" for NBC/Sky, wrote PSALMS FROM THE END OF THE WORLD & more. 📖 🎧 📺 5AM STORYTALK NEWSLETTER & PODCAST: https://colehaddon.substack.com/ 🎧 5AM STORYTALK PODCAST: https://pod.link/1807437928
RIKI LINDHOME (Garfunkel and Oates) breaks down the gendered double standard of "allowable" emotions and why she's embracing her anger as a primary motivator for her latest work - 'Dead Inside'. 🎧📺 Check out the rest of 5AM StoryTalk's conversation with Riki at the link in the first comment!
Have you ever considered writing a spec feature screenplay with the hope of selling it in Hollywood? Well, I have the ultimate resource from @gointothestory.bsky.social for you: an ebook that breaks down 2,560 spec script deals between 1991 and 2025! Did I mention it was FREE?!
Every Hollywood Spec Sale From 1991–2025 — Completely Free
This is the ultimate screenwriting resource for anyone looking to break into the film industry — 2,560 titles including breakdowns
colehaddon.substack.com
“I write only when inspiration strikes. Fortunately, it strikes every morning at nine o’clock sharp.” — W. Somerset Maugham
'Greater Burhan Oil Field, Kuwait', 1991. Photograph by Sebastião Salgado (Brazilian).
After Trump was elected in 2016, I walked away from America for good. 10 years later, I'm looking back at what I’ve gained and lost as an immigrant, how it’s changed me as a person and storyteller, and why home will never mean the same to me again. 📖 Read my story at the link in the first comment!
From the making of LIFEBOAT (1943): Tallulah Bankhead gets soaked before a shot in the Alfred Hitchcock classic. 📸 Peter Stackpole.
"The greatest part of a writer’s time is spent in reading, in order to write. A man will turn over half a library to make a book." — Samuel Johnson
Can awe be weaponized? DR. DACHER KELTNER - psychologist, author, and leading expert on awe - discusses the dark side about how this sacred emotion has been exploited by fascists and monetized by the craven. 🎙️🎬 Check out the full 5AM StoryTalk conversation at the link in the first comment!
Shortly before the release of RETURN OF THE JEDI (1983), Warwick Davis, who played Wicket in the film, wrote to George Lucas and asked for some Star Wars toys. Five years later, Lucas would ask him to star in WILLOW (1988).
"I get a lot of letters from people. They say, 'I want to be a writer. What should I do?' I tell them to stop writing to me and get on with it." — Ruth Rendell
Kelly Fremon Craig (writer-director, 'Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret') calls it a "concerto of feelings". Let's consider a potentially game-changing way to outline and write your fiction and scripts through emotions! 🎧✍️📺 Check out the 5AM StoryTalk breakdown at the link in the first comment!
Epic independent poster for DUNE (2021). Art by Rory Kurtz.
Kelly Fremon Craig (writer-director, 'Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret') calls it a "concerto of feelings". Let's consider a potentially game-changing way to outline and write your fiction and scripts through emotions! 🎧✍️📺 Check out the 5AM StoryTalk breakdown at the link in the first comment!
“Filmmaking can give you everything, but at the same time, it can take everything from you.” — Alejandro González Iñárritu
'Outside Looking In, Mobile, Alabama', 1956. Photograph by Gordon Parks (American).
The latest edition of 5AM CoffeeTalk has dropped! This is a monthly rundown from 5AM StoryTalk about my life in Australia as a professional artist, art lover, and human being trying to survive the 21st century. At a minimum, it's a great collection of international arts news/intel from my POV.
☕ 5AM CoffeeTalk: September 2026
A monthly rundown about my life in Australia as a professional artist, art lover, and human being trying to survive the 21st century - good and bad, glorious and frustrating, hilarious and stupid
colehaddon.substack.com
John Travolta and Denny Terrio, rehearsing for SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER (1977). 📸 Julian Wasser.
"Get it down. Take chances. It may be bad, but it's the only way you can do anything really good." — William Faulkner
AMBER CASE (design advocate and cyborg anthropologist) discusses her theory about the 'shipping container for the soul' - which explains what social media is really for. 🎧 Listen to 5AM StoryTalk's entire conversation with Amber at the link in the first comment!
From the making of THE EVIL DEAD (1981): Director Sam Raimi, on top of the van, hatching one of his innovative shots. 📸 Unknown.
Young adults are ditching algorithmic feeds and the inauthenticity of AI for weird, deeply personal, non-IP films - turning the movie theater into a frontline skirmish against digital conformity. Let's dig into what this counter-culture movement might be about at the link in the first comment!
“Everything in life is writable about if you have the outgoing guts to do it, and the imagination to improvise. The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt.” — Sylvia Plath
Good god, look at this gorgeous independent poster for SUSPIRIA (1977)! Art by Ise Ananphada.
“A song in a musical works best when a character has to sing – when words won’t do the trick anymore. The same idea applies to a long speech in a play or a movie or on television. You want to force the character out of a conversational pattern.” — Aaron Sorkin
Is a cinema revolution brewing? Young adults are ditching algorithmic feeds and the inauthenticity of AI for weird, deeply personal, non-IP films, turning a simple night at the movies into a frontline skirmish against digital conformity.
Talkin’ Bout a (Cinema) Revolution | ☕ The Brew
On the itinerary for September 1, 2026: Are young people returning to movie theaters? • the future of film is David Lynch’s kind of weird • the art you choose to consume is a political act, too
colehaddon.substack.com
Unite, 1969. Screenprint by Barbara Jones-Hogu (American).
Writer-director JUSTIN SIMIEN ('Dear White People', 'Hollywood Black') talks the "double consciousness" of Black art and the secret language of "signifying" - an idea Henry Louis Gates introduced him to. 🎧📺 Check out the full 5AM StoryTalk conversation with Justin at the link in the first comment!