FROM, A SCREENWRITER'S NOTEBOOK
observations, incantations and exhortations
observations, incantations and exhortations
1. MAGIC
There’s a time of despair in every first draft. This is a hormonal condition common to all writers. The only remedy is to put it away and take a walk. By morning you'll find it better than you feared. Or not. Perhaps the elves will come overnight and rewrite it.
There’s a time of despair in every first draft. This is a hormonal condition common to all writers. The only remedy is to put it away and take a walk. By morning you'll find it better than you feared. Or not. Perhaps the elves will come overnight and rewrite it.
2. LARCENY
Good artists borrow, great artists steal. Every artist is a thief; some are just sneakier than others. Just as painters learn by imitation you put someone else's work in your own voice until one day you find you actually have a voice. And then someone steals from you.
Good artists borrow, great artists steal. Every artist is a thief; some are just sneakier than others. Just as painters learn by imitation you put someone else's work in your own voice until one day you find you actually have a voice. And then someone steals from you.
3. MURDER
The hardest part is deciding what to cut. Consider allowing certain scenes or speeches or even characters to hang around for a bit. It’s like guests who overstay their welcome. Eventually you realize they’re not as charming as you imagined and want them to fuck off.
The hardest part is deciding what to cut. Consider allowing certain scenes or speeches or even characters to hang around for a bit. It’s like guests who overstay their welcome. Eventually you realize they’re not as charming as you imagined and want them to fuck off.
4. IF AT FIRST
Reshooting doesn’t always make a movie better but rarely makes it worse. Rewriting isn’t elective surgery. You open up a patient to remove his appendix but discover he needs a heart transplant. Like pulling a thread on a favorite sweater and the sleeve falls off.
Reshooting doesn’t always make a movie better but rarely makes it worse. Rewriting isn’t elective surgery. You open up a patient to remove his appendix but discover he needs a heart transplant. Like pulling a thread on a favorite sweater and the sleeve falls off.
5. STRANGER THAN FICTION
What is a film is “based on” true events? Such movies are often judged on how closely they adhere to “the permanent record. But is Oliver Stone a historian? Is Quentin Tarrantino? Nope. They are filmmakers who make up stories “about” history.
What is a film is “based on” true events? Such movies are often judged on how closely they adhere to “the permanent record. But is Oliver Stone a historian? Is Quentin Tarrantino? Nope. They are filmmakers who make up stories “about” history.
6. FACTS ARE THE ENEMIES OF TRUTH
What happens when historical facts don’t conform to good structure? Can you convey its essence without ticking every factual box or bowdlerizing the truth? All you can do is keep faith with your intents and purposes. Se non e vero e ben trovato.
What happens when historical facts don’t conform to good structure? Can you convey its essence without ticking every factual box or bowdlerizing the truth? All you can do is keep faith with your intents and purposes. Se non e vero e ben trovato.
7. SENTIMENT VS. SENTIMENTALITY.
Emotion for its own sake is bathos.The actress who talks to her dead husband by his grave makes us gag yet the widow refusing to cry while removing his clothes from their closet makes our eyes well. “To move the heart, write more coldly.” -Chekhov
Emotion for its own sake is bathos.The actress who talks to her dead husband by his grave makes us gag yet the widow refusing to cry while removing his clothes from their closet makes our eyes well. “To move the heart, write more coldly.” -Chekhov
8. EXPOSITION
The audience is as smart as we are. They know the tropes we depend on and are often ahead of us. Yet they delight when we foil their expectations. The worst scene is when, rather than hearing the characters, we realize we are listening to the studio notes meeting.
The audience is as smart as we are. They know the tropes we depend on and are often ahead of us. Yet they delight when we foil their expectations. The worst scene is when, rather than hearing the characters, we realize we are listening to the studio notes meeting.
9. TRAGEDY
Tragedy is restful. We all know life only goes in one direction. When Lear gives away his kingdom, or Hamlet kills Claudius, the conclusion is foretold. As they move ineluctably toward an inevitable end, we can’t help but identify. We are all tragic heroes.
Tragedy is restful. We all know life only goes in one direction. When Lear gives away his kingdom, or Hamlet kills Claudius, the conclusion is foretold. As they move ineluctably toward an inevitable end, we can’t help but identify. We are all tragic heroes.
10. COMEDY
Comedy is anxiety. Fall into a manhole and we end up in the hospital, yet Chaplin avoiding them is a funny ballet. If a house falls on us we get crushed, yet Keaton is unaware. We howl as Michael Palin drops a safe on a dog. Comedy is tragedy without consequences.
Comedy is anxiety. Fall into a manhole and we end up in the hospital, yet Chaplin avoiding them is a funny ballet. If a house falls on us we get crushed, yet Keaton is unaware. We howl as Michael Palin drops a safe on a dog. Comedy is tragedy without consequences.
P.S. Overheard at lunch... "My development executive has read half the coverage and she’s loving it!"
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