When my friends Rob and Sheryl went to the Emmys in 2004 and 2005, I posted their star-studded backstage roundups here at Yankee Fog. But their 2006 writeup is so Emmytastic, it requires its very own website. Go there, and be shocked by the decadent tales of backstage Hollywood, where the water flows like champagne and the martinis cost eleven bucks.

A common question among aspiring screenwriters is: how much does a screenwriter make?

Every year, the WGAw releases an annual report, listing various statistics about its membership. It provides an interesting way of answering that question.

Acccording to the latest report, only 55% of all WGAw members had any income from film or TV. Among those who did have some income, median income was $106,756. So… if you have a 55% chance of working in a given year, and you get $106,756 that year, your annual expected income is $58,715. And there you have one answer: “A screenwriter earns $58,715 a year.”

By the way, if you don’t want to read through all 138 movies on my consensus “Greatest Films List,” here’s a bit of summary.

Not surprisingly, there was no movie that was on every single list. However, three movies were on eight of nine:

• 1931 City Lights
• 1942 Casablanca
• 1954 On The Waterfront

Nine movies were on exactly 7 of the nine lists:

• 1934 It Happened One Night
• 1941 Citizen Kane
• 1944 Double Indemnity
• 1946 It’s A Wonderful Life
• 1952 Singin’ In The Rain
• 1957 The Bridge On The River Kwai
• 1964 Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned To Stop Worrying…
• 1972 The Godfather
• 1977 Annie Hall

There were 18 movies that appeared on exactly six lists. Among the six-listers were Lawrence of Arabia, Chinatown, Raging Bull, and Vertigo, movies that I personally consider superior to such 7-listers as Double Indemnity and “The Bridge on the River Kwai. Further proof, as if you needed it, that taste is subjective.

About seven years ago, when I decided I was really serious about pursuing film as a career, I realized that I needed to start filling some major gaps in the movies I had seen. So, I took a couple of “Greatest Films Ever Made” lists and collated them to discover which films appeared most often. It soon became clear that my starting lists were biased in favor of English-language films and more modern films, so I added in a few lists weighted in favor of foreign films and older films.

Then I took every film that appeared on three or more of the eight lists I was using. And, because I am a geek, I arranged them in chronological order and steadily worked my way through all of them, starting with 1903’s The Great Train Robbery and ending with 1994’s Pulp Fiction. (The list ends in the early 90’s because I put it together in 1999, and it seems to take at least five years for any consensus to start to emerge about the greatness of a given film.)

I’ve occasionally had requests from equally filmgeeky friends to send them the list. So, as a public service, I post it here: my objective, definitive, consensus list of the Greatest Films Ever Made. (OK, not really. What I REALLY have is a list of 138 movies that at least 3 people or organizations with some expertise feel everybody ought to see. I think that’s still worthwhile )

Today’s piped-in soundtrack at the Palais restrooms: the theme music to “Lawrence of Arabia,” and, shortly thereafter, “Carmina Burana.”
The only thing missing was the movie trailer voiceover guy intoning, “Let your bladder take you on an epic adventure.”

There are two lines that seperate the elite from the hoi polloi along the Croissette. I’ve mentioned the metaphorical line represented by the presence of a festival badge around the neck. There is also a literal line–a rope fence running in front of the national pavilions, with the badge-wearing sneeches on one side and the plain ones on the other.
On Wednesday, as I was walking along the elite, national-pavillion side of the line, two young boys leaned over and gestured for my attention. “Bradpeet?” one of them said.
Seeing my confusion, he repeated himself: “Brad Peet? He weel be here tonight?”
It’s true that the powers granted by my Cannes badge are nearly limitless. But, alas, a complete knowledge of the current and future whereabouts of Brad Pitt falls squarely within the few limits there are. I told him, apologetically, I didn’t know.

In the bathrooms at the Palais, speakers mounted in the ceiling pipe in classic movie music while you go about your business. Thus far, I’ve heard “Can You Feel The Love Tonight?” and an orchestral version of “My Heart Will Go On,” as well as Darth Vader’s Theme. While the first two didn’t do much for me, the last one undeniably added a majestic feeling of dignity to the act of using a urinal.

I’m back in the UK Film Centre. Apparently, an actor named Tony Resta has been using this computer before me, since he’s set Explorer to automatically launch his CV and headshot when opening a new window. Cheeky, Tony. Very cheeky.

The German pavilion has a much faster Internet connection than the UK Film Centre. The only problem is that the Z and Y keys are reversed on the German keyboard. If I make anz strange tzpos, zou’ll know whz.
More impressions:
One of my first purchases in Cannes was a black bowtie. I lost mine some time ago, and I gather that if you show up to a Gala Premiere in the Palais de Cinema without a black tie, you won’t be admitted. Apparently, in response to this, there are enterprising local residents hanging outside the Palais in the evenings, selling black ties for up to 100 Euros apiece.
My one celebrity sighting thus far has been Jason Schwartzman, straightening his tie in the bathroom of the Majestic Hotel shortly before the official Cannes screening of Marie Antoinette. His tie, I noted, was a straight tie, not a bowtie. I wondered if he would be ejected from his own premiere.

I’m once again in the UK Film Centre on the beach at Cannes.
I’ve just written up a lengthy addition to my Cannes journal, butit suddenly vanished, replaced by a helpful notice from Internet Explorer that the form I was using had expired, and therefore, as a security precaution, it was throwing out everything I had entered into it. Argh!
And now I must go and shmooze. More entries when I have the chance, or when I am back home and safely on a non-crappy OS.