@PierceBrett There r several strategies you can employ w/ exposition. First. Don’t hide it. Make the audience NEED it. What does this mean? Show them something dramatic & confounding & provocative that makes them curious and lean in. Then— explain the exciting provocative thing they saw. 1/ @PierceBrett But just because you r explaining something, doesn’t mean the scene has to read like DVD player instructions. A) You can put the expository words in conflict. What do i mean? I mean someone onscreen might explain confounding action while another disagrees, even vehemently. 2/

As a screenwriter and a film maker, often of films that take place in alternate universes with characters with impossible powers and turns of events that defy all odds, it is plain to see Trump's governance style and how successful it is against Democratic strategies. 1/ The latest Guliani Press conf. & the recanting of the MI GOP electoral board members illustrates his tactics as well as any. Team Trump drops improbable breadcrumbs, 1 small chunk of story at a time, so their base never have to stare at the preposterous nature of big lie. /2

One of the great emotional experiences of my life as well, @ReeseW. A journey that started w/ meeting the luminous John & June as we wrote, the blessing of you & Joaq coming aboard early, J&J's sudden passing, & then the crew & supporting cast who brought their world to life.

https://twitter.com/ReeseW/status/1329101825161641986

Memories of the shoot : Rehearsals at the theatre in Memphis (where we'd later shoot your 1st perfs). I recall an overwhelming feeling of honor & responsibilty, watching you, Joaq & the bands put the songs we'd rehearsed w/ T-bone in LA on their feet. Everyone made gigantic leap.

Narrative film and Jazz developed simulateneously, each form both an incorporation and a refutation of the previous forms in theater & music. Jazz unseated square formalized marches and classical music just as movies broke down the walls of the traditional stage play. 1/ Each form was, in its own way, seeking, with innovation, to capture the unpredictable horrors, passions & comedy of life in all its chaos & immediacy -- & heighten it. So it's not shocking that a tradition in film & music is one of working, & reworking... 2/

So here's the pitch. It's a time of global pandemic. The leader of the free world is up for re-election in 27 days. He's had a rocky few years. He's secretly in debt to Russian oligarchs in his hotel biz. A biz which is sinking because... u guessed it... global pandemic. 1/

https://twitter.com/CNNPolitics/status/1313509849393758208

The Russians bailed him out of debt... for now. Also helped him get elected. He tries to do them favors in office but he keeps getting busted. Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands are dying in the pandemic. Economy cratering. His hotels sinking further. Along w/ his popularity. 2/

@RomanSegan 1/ Sometimes 'the point' is less literal than musical. Shots & combinations of them have their own musicality. In the first occurrence, if I didn't do the shot of the glasses then I would have been ending that sc. w/ a shot of the door or Matt looking dejected. @RomanSegan 2/ Those Ray ban glasses r an extension of Matt's character & cutting to them gave me a more expressive curtain on the sc. that I thought would work well with the transition to the next sc, which I knew was a time-cut to find Christian's character alone in the garage days later.

1/ Thinking about making COP LAND (25 yrs ago). My script, about a cult-like suburban town of commuting white cops was premised on the idea that many NYPD didn't live in the 5 boroughs anymore, a conceit the Weinsteins (my studio, close w/ NYPD brass) insisted was impossible. 2/ They said it was impossible because of a residency requirement insisting NYPD live in the place they protected. Of course, I knew cops got around this cause I grew up in a suburban white town of almost all city first responders.

@warmaksen @chrismcquarrie @clmazin When I was 21, on the basis of a short , I got a major studio deal. And at the end of a year there, the studio pres. explained to me quite plainly that I was not good enough to work there. This didn't make me want to do it more. In fact it lead to a period of disillusionment. 1/ @warmaksen @chrismcquarrie @clmazin My agent disappeared as did any job possibilities. I did odd work; wrote narration for trailers, an Easter Special for a Claymation Company but I found myself broke & convinced the system was impossible if you wanted to make cinema. I thought about becoming a novelist but... 2/

@miles_per_life @chrismcquarrie 1/ Well. The 1st thing you have to do to discuss this issue is make sure we’re all using the same terms the same way. IMO, if you are trying to make a film in which actions and behavior seem “lifelike” then BACKSTORY is a necessary thing for dramatists and actors to think about. @miles_per_life @chrismcquarrie 2/ BACKSTORY is a term that describes the lives that were lived by your characters b4 they arrived in your film. IMO, its kinda impossible to write or act or block a scene without thinking 2 some degree about backstory. Have they been in this room before? Do they know each other?