Here’s a quote pulled from my 2010 post Your Screenplay Sucks! One of the ways that William Akers says that your screenplay sucks is, “You worried about structure when you came up with your story.” Then he elaborates: Screw Structure. Have fun. Structure is for later. For now, just let your incredibly creative mind run […]
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“To insist that a storyteller stick to the facts is just as ridiculous as to demand of a representative painter that he show objects accurately…We should have total freedom to do as we like, just so long as it’s not dull. A critic who talks to me about plausibility is a dull fellow…I don’t want […]
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“Most coverage templates include, what I call, the idiot grid. It’s a grid of criteria on which the script is judged – categorized (usually) by POOR, FAIR, GOOD, EXCELLENT. It’s a quick way for someone to see the qualities of the script without even having to read the coverage (hence the term, “idiot grid”). I’ve […]
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“I definitely have a thing from being an executive and reading so many scripts that I’m always afraid of kind of boring the reader. When you’re writing these screenplays for the studio system…the people reading it are overworked, they’re coming home with ten scripts in their bag—and it’s not so much the first ten pages, […]
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What does a passion for passion for writing look like? I’ll let Academy Award-winer Richard Brooks (1912-1922) answer that question: “I’d written some short stories before, but none was published. Anyway, every day, another short story. Everything became grist for a short story. It began to drive me crazy . . . a different plotline every […]
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Everyday’s a revolution Pull it together and it comes undone Just one more candle and a trip around the sun Jimmy Buffett/Trip Around the Sun Today’s my birthday and it seems like as good a time as ever to reflect on an old headshot of mine taken back when I was 22 and living in […]
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EVERY SCENE MUST BE DRAMATIC. THAT MEANS: THE MAIN CHARACTER MUST HAVE A SIMPLE, STRAIGHTFORWARD, PRESSING NEED WHICH IMPELS HIM OR HER TO SHOW UP IN THE SCENE. THIS NEED IS WHY THEY CAME. IT IS WHAT THE SCENE IS ABOUT. THEIR ATTEMPT TO GET THIS NEED MET WILL LEAD, AT THE END OF THE SCENE, TO FAILURE – THIS IS HOW THE SCENE IS OVER. IT, THIS FAILURE, WILL, THEN, OF NECESSITY, PROPEL US INTO THE NEXT SCENE.” David Mamet Back in 2010 I wrote […]
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Here are some quotes pulled from my older posts Writing Actor Bait (2012) and Writing for Movie Stars (2010): “Producers and directors buy a property because they like the story. Actors buy it because they see themselves in a part. ” Jerry Lewis The Total Film-Maker “If you want to attach a star, then you really […]
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“It’s not a movie if it’s not a horror on the set. If you’re dealing with talent…that are passionate…they are going to be opinionated. And there are bound to be differences. And that’s when magic happens.” Precious director and Empire creator Lee Daniels Independent Film interview with Corey Boutilier Quote pulled from my January 17, 2010 […]
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