“If I take the money I’m lost.” Lawyer Frank Galvin (Paul Newman) in The Verdict One of my all-time favorite screenplays and movies is The Verdict. I happened to see it when when it first came out in theaters back in 1982 when I was in film school. And as I revisit it from time to time […]
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Archive for November, 2014 “I write dialogue fairly easily. Plot is a big pain in the ass.” David Mamet “The question is how do you get somebody to suspend their disbelief—that’s the central question in drama. And the answer in drama is you have to give them a plot. You have to make them wonder what happens next?…How’s he […]
Nov
21
2014
 
‘Only three kinds of scenes’—Mike NicholsPosted by: screenwritingfromiowa in Screenwriting From IowaAccording to the Encyclopedia of Chicago, improv as a structured theatrical art form began in 1955 when David Shepherd and Paul Stills started the ensemble group the Compass Players in Chicago. Many of the alumni later went on to be part of Second City. Along with Compass Players Ed Asner, Alan Alda, Valerie Harper and others was […]
Nov
20
2014
Mike Nichols on Comedy, Tragedy & TruthPosted by: screenwritingfromiowa in Screenwriting From Iowa“Sometimes the truth is shocking.” Tennessee Williams “I did four plays with [Neil Simon]: Barefoot and Plaza Suite and The Prisoner of Second Avenue and The Odd Couple. There were real discoveries. Sometimes we didn’t even know things were funny. Walter Matthau says: ‘You leave me little notes on my pillow. Told you 158 times I can’t stand little notes […]
Nov
19
2014
Playing with Fire (Chemistry Lesson)Posted by: screenwritingfromiowa in Screenwriting From Iowa“It’s the cycle; solution, dissolution just over and over and over. It is growth and decay, and then transformation.” Walter White in “Breaking Bad”
Nov
17
2014
Screenwriting Like a Cinematographer+Posted by: screenwritingfromiowa in Screenwriting From IowaIn Jim Mercurio’s Complete Screenwriting From A to Z to A-List DVD he has a section where he mentions that screenwriters should think like filmmakers, meaning some of the key roles people physically do working on a film—the director, the director of photography (DP), and the editor. Mercurio like many screenwriting instructors says that you […]
Nov
13
2014
Happy 80th Birthday Garry MarshallPosted by: screenwritingfromiowa in Screenwriting From IowaWriter/Director Garry Marshall (Happy Days, Pretty Woman) was born on this day 80 years ago. Back in 2012 I was in Dallas/Ft. Worth on a video shoot and I came across a used bookstore that had a copy of Garry Marshall’s Wake Me When It’s Funny (written with Lori Marshall). I wasn’t sure how well received advice from […] “There’s a great scene in Annie Hall when Alvin and Annie—I think they’re at a party and on a balcony—and they have some small talk and every time they small talk a subtitle comes up to say what they’re really saying…this is exactly what subtext is.” Jim Jim Mercurio (On the scene below written by Woody Allen) “There […] INT. SEAN’S OFFICE – DAY Sean’s office is comfortable. Books are stacked against the wall. There is a PAINTING on the wall behind Sean. Sean is seated behind a desk. Lambeau sits in a chair in the back of the room, next to Tom. A long beat passes, they wait. From the Good Will Hunting […] “Try to find visual ways to tell your story.” Jim Mercurio Dr. Grant: Are you sure the raptor are container? Dr. Sattler: Unless they figure out how to open doors. Jurassic Park, written by Michael Crichton and David Koepp “In Jurassic Park in the kitchen scene where the velociraptor are chasing the kids, there’s no way the […] |
