Jim McQuaid - Turnip Films
First a view camera / darkroom / Zone System guy. Now filmmaker & screenwriter in Durham NC. 20+ short films of my own, stories of human connection. Also work as DP, AD, general advice. Moderating local screenwriters group since 2016.
www.turnipfilms.com
- Just saying. I’ve always enjoyed Jeopardy. I’m even okay with the new host. Ken something, right?
- Reposted by Jim McQuaid - Turnip FilmsI’ve always liked Tom Friedman’s perspective. I didn’t know he was from Minnesota. This conversation explains well why things are the way they are in America, and why we're in this mess. www.youtube.com/watch?v=h2z2...
- I would love to hear Democrats committing to Tom Friedman’s immigration wisdom: “A high wall and a wide gate.”
- Reposted by Jim McQuaid - Turnip FilmsWow! This read-along of the NYT moment-by-moment leading to the murder of Alex Pretti should shake everyone awake. He was a Good Samaritan. Agents fired at least ten shots in roughly five seconds. DHS and Pam Bondi claim Pretti approached them armed and intent on a “massacre.”
- Reposted by Jim McQuaid - Turnip Filmshey everybody lifelong tech expert here > "system crash” deleted nearly two weeks of surveillance footage from inside the facility that's not how anything works they're lying and destroying evidence hope that helps
- Reposted by Jim McQuaid - Turnip FilmsIn solidarity with today's ICE OUT OF MINNESOTA blackout, MinnMax is donating $1 to the Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota for every share of this Bluesky post for the next hour.
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- Gosh, you mean tariffs aren’t for grand economic reasons?
- Reposted by Jim McQuaid - Turnip FilmsVery little discussion about this but 153 Dems joined MAGA to vote for HR 7006 to: •Advance abortion restrictions •Send $3.3B to Israel as they commit genocide •Crushes Palestinian autonomy •Ignores our healthcare Here's who voted YEA & a script to call them out: www.qasimrashid.com/p/153-democr...
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- Reposted by Jim McQuaid - Turnip FilmsEver relevant, this poem by Mary Oliver, especially today.
- Reposted by Jim McQuaid - Turnip FilmsPerhaps for the first time ever, Trump's "Truth Social" is featuring the actual truth rather than Trump's lies. This can't last. I predict that Trump will call in Musk or some other tech bro to "tune" the AI bot to deliver only "alternative facts" that support autocracy and racism.
- Reposted by Jim McQuaid - Turnip FilmsFormer President Bill Clinton calling for transparency.
- Reposted by Jim McQuaid - Turnip FilmsGoogle is hosting a CBP app that uses facial recognition to identify immigrants, while simultaneously removing apps that report the location of ICE officials because Google sees ICE as a vulnerable group.
- Reposted by Jim McQuaid - Turnip FilmsICE is arguing in court that US CITIZENS can be detained, handcuffed, and biometrically screened unless they can prove citizenship on the spot. And that a REAL ID isn't enough. This isn't border security. It's a "papers-please" America where freedom is conditional and innocence comes last.
- While I love (“classic?”) photography, it has effectively ceased to be a medium of significance. When the word “deepfake” is common, the set of connections that makes a photograph unique and wondrous are effectively discarded in society at large. More to say later, of course. #photography #deepfake
- Reposted by Jim McQuaid - Turnip Films1970s Google
- Reposted by Jim McQuaid - Turnip Films“Ah, just one more thing, sir. You’re blowing up those boats, saying they’re filled with drugs headed for the US. But then you go and pardon the guy who brought in 400 tons of cocaine. That’s billions of doses. Help me understand that.”
- Reposted by Jim McQuaid - Turnip FilmsThe draft dodging idiot posted a pic of this West Point plaque. It contains these words: “Our American Code of Military Obedience requires that, should orders and the law ever conflict, our officers must obey the law.” That is precisely what Senator Mark Kelly told officers to do. #NoSedition
- Reposted by Jim McQuaid - Turnip FilmsJohn Hughes: “The hardest thing about being a writer is convincing your wife that lying on the sofa is work.” www.patreon.com/posts/on-wri... #writing #screenwriting
- Reposted by Jim McQuaid - Turnip Films"The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little." -FDR, 1937
- Reposted by Jim McQuaid - Turnip FilmsYes, all those undocumented immigrants with their vast wealth and access to mortgages bought houses.
- One of the most interesting, realistic, and wise discussion of filmmaking arts I know is the newsletter postings of Noam Kroll. #filmmaking noamkroll.com
- Reposted by Jim McQuaid - Turnip FilmsCatherine Ferrell was born in 1912 in Warsaw, a small town about 100 miles southeast of Durham. By 21, Ferrell should have been able to vote.
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- Reposted by Jim McQuaid - Turnip Films15 US states and territories have formed a new Public Health Alliance, which will counter the absence of federal leadership by tracking outbreaks, issuing guidance, buying vaccines and more. Members of the new alliance include CA, CO, CT, DE, GU, HI, IL, MD, MA, NJ, NY, NC, OR, RI, WA.
- Reposted by Jim McQuaid - Turnip FilmsJoin us for a live script analysis session where we’ll analyse a short #screenplay in real time. See how our readers evaluate premise, structure, character, and producibility and gain practical insights to strengthen your own short scripts. #scriptsky Register NOW! ow.ly/yyOy50XbpWc
- #scriptsky. Advice to film editors. “When in doubt, read the script.”
- Lewis Hine? There’s a TV ad for GMC trucks that includes a brief shot of a vintage construction worker riding on a ball-hook that looks like an animation from a Hine Empire State image. Curious if that’s true.
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- Reposted by Jim McQuaid - Turnip FilmsI considered writing a long carefully constructed argument laying out the harms and limitations of AI, but instead I wrote about being a hater. Only humans can be haters.
- Reposted by Jim McQuaid - Turnip Films“The death of human empathy is one of the earliest and most telling signs of a culture about to fall into barbarism.” Hannah Arendt
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- Reposted by Jim McQuaid - Turnip FilmsThe winds of fortune are with us this month, evidently. Local theaters are bringing in a ton of interesting August movies—big, small, and in between.
- Reposted by Jim McQuaid - Turnip FilmsCartoonist Mike Luckovich updates Norman Rockwell for the Trump era.
- Reposted by Jim McQuaid - Turnip FilmsIt doesn't count until it's in the trades. www.hollywoodreporter.com/lifestyle/ar...
- Reposted by Jim McQuaid - Turnip FilmsWouldn’t it be interesting if Florida’s official state tourism agency found out exactly what people thought about their brand new concentration camp? (I made a thing - feel free to copy and share) [ @hcrichardson.bsky.social , you just asked in your video to be tagged in any new memes, right? ]
- Reposted by Jim McQuaid - Turnip FilmsThe amazing thing about Trump's "good English" comment to the president of Liberia is that it's a twofer-- It's ignorant (the official language of Liberia is English). It's racist (the "articulate Black man" slur).
- The new book by Walter Murch - Suddenly Something Clicked - is wonderful, clearly written by a great artist. #cinema
- Reposted by Jim McQuaid - Turnip FilmsI'm aware of the wars on various constituencies we've been talking about. But a campaign addressing the Trumpian endeavors to starve children at home and abroad, to snatch their parents away in front of them, to deny them basic healthcare, deny their citizenship could have some impact.
- Fascinated, encouraged by Cloudflare’s action to limit AI scrapping. Maybe there’s hope?
- I just have to say… Elisa Slotkin for President.
- Go see Celine Song’s new film The Materialists. It’s amazing, funny, insightful, sad, joyous, well-written and beautifully photographed. Did I mention that I loved it way beyond my expectations (which were high based on Past Lives). #indiefilm
- Reposted by Jim McQuaid - Turnip FilmsThe Declaration of Independence specifies 27 grievances with King George III and Britain. Donald Trump has committed at least 16 of those same offenses. #NoKings
- #AI Here’s where I’d like to see AI widely deployed: traffic lights!!! It’s Sunday morning and I’m the only car at the intersection waiting for the left turn light… it’s not much intelligence required to see that maybe it would be good to just give me a green light?
- Reposted by Jim McQuaid - Turnip FilmsThe lesson people infuriatingly never seem to master is that there is no creating a police state just for other people. If you create a police state with no due process for immigrants or accused criminals, then that's the system you've created for yourself.
- Reposted by Jim McQuaid - Turnip Films[Not loaded yet]
- Reposted by Jim McQuaid - Turnip FilmsKilled by rioters sent by DonOld J Trump.
- Reposted by Jim McQuaid - Turnip FilmsAmerica cannot long remain free, nor first among nations, if it becomes the kind of place where universities are dismantled because they don't align politically with the current head of the government.
- Just saying: I’m ready for the Democratic Party to become the party of responsible fiscal policy. Hey, the Republicans have given up on that!
- Reposted by Jim McQuaid - Turnip FilmsHabeas Corpus, known as the "great writ," is the single tool that stands between a free society and a government that can lock people up as it pleases. Suspension of Habeas Corpus is the end of a free United States. Period. www.pbs.org/newshour/pol...
- Reposted by Jim McQuaid - Turnip FilmsQuote of the Day: “Real strength is working hard, taking responsibility, telling the truth, helping people in need, and standing up for others." - Barack Obama #QuoteOfTheDay #BarackObama #Strength #Responsibility
- A vision only works when it comes with a bridge that connects it to real work. (Joel Trammell)
- Just saying. When the lead feature of a software upgrade is “8 new emojis” I not inclined to bother. And the message seems clear: it’s not a tool, it’s a playground. Sorry Apple.
- Reposted by Jim McQuaid - Turnip Filmshell yeah, local journalism stays winning
- Reposted by Jim McQuaid - Turnip FilmsTrump just denied North Carolina’s request for FEMA relief from Hurricane Helene, calling it “unwarranted.”
- I’m quite happy with the structure of my current short film: many short scenes with little dialog which are essentially emotional moments. However, as producer, I’m toiling to produce my 17-page script which has 18 unique locations! #indiefilm #ncfilm
- I think I have found the best book there is on screenwriting: “Short Film Screenwriting” by Austin Bunn. A “devil’s in the details” treatment of key aspects of screenwriting illustrated by the full script of numerous successful short films. #scriptsky #screenwriting
- Reposted by Jim McQuaid - Turnip Films❤️☀️ "Success is not final, failure is not fatal: It is the courage to continue that counts." - Winston Churchill
- I’m making a film which has many scenes that are a single emotional moment remembered. But the upshot of this is that my producer self is too busy. The script is 16 pages but there are 20 locations! #filmmaking #indiefilm
- Reposted by Jim McQuaid - Turnip FilmsIndeed — "When you put four edges around some facts, you change those facts." Garry Winogrand
- @filmmakermagazine.com.web.brid.gy Just saying; I saw the big Oscar winning film because of what I read in Filmmaker magazine.
- Fascinating to find a full-page ad for DaVinci Resolve on page 5 of the March issue of Harper’s magazine! #filmmaking #blackmagic
- Reposted by Jim McQuaid - Turnip FilmsAs writers in order for us to have any hope of securing a meaningful degree of understanding of a story universe and its characters, we have to see… not scan. We have to be… not do. We have to look… not overlook. gointothestory.blcklst.com/writing-and-... #screenwriting #writing #scriptsky
- Reposted by Jim McQuaid - Turnip Films“Qualify the customer”: A screenwriting lesson from my lowly stint as a salesman at The Guitar Center in San Francisco. "You’re not selling a guitar, you’re selling a dream." Same thing with that script you're writing. gointothestory.blcklst.com/qualify-the-... #screenwriting #writing
- Privacy researchers at the Mozilla Foundation in September warned in a report that “modern cars are a privacy nightmare,” noting that 92 percent give car owners little to no control over the data they collect, and 84 percent reserve the right to sell or share your information. #privacy
- Visiting where I grew up to explore shooting a scene here in my film about my brother. Struck again by the importance, the weight of actually being in the place. #filmsky #scriptsky
- Reposted by Jim McQuaid - Turnip FilmsSo, there's evidence that a few thousand mobile apps shared location data with the data broker Gravy Analytics (Unacast), whose subsidiary Venntel sold to ICE, CBP, FBI, DEA and other US govt agencies, probably via intermediaries and RTB, including data on Europeans: www.wired.com/story/gravy-...
- Reposted by Jim McQuaid - Turnip FilmsGreat taking a walk and having a coffee with @rokhanna.bsky.social - talked privacy, AI, progressive capitalism, and his interview with the New Yorker Radio Hour open.spotify.com/episode/3ATC...
- Reposted by Jim McQuaid - Turnip FilmsMost of us have heard about Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs (and a few of us have heard that he appropriated it from the Blackfeet and then reversed it, but that’s for another thread). I think there's a Story Notes Hierarchy of Needs.
- Reposted by Jim McQuaid - Turnip FilmsBiden administration finalizes rule to block sale of Americans’ bulk data to adversaries therecord.media/biden-admin-...
- Reposted by Jim McQuaid - Turnip FilmsAlmost half of Americans want to remove personal data from the web blog.incogni.com/almost-half-...
