Makes sense: if you want to write, you have to READ! Yes: ERIN BROCKOVICH is a great screenplay! And a great example too. It's high time to look to newer films than CHINATOWN (great, but we know that now.)
I’ve only listened to Eric Edson speak for about three hours. He is my “hero”. Even if I never write a word, his humble and thoughtful style based upon a life of learning and his recommendation to share a positive messages are powerful. Thank you for this interview.
I prefer to call them storyboards. Seriously, The Walking Dead was a graphic novel first. And you could definitely do worse than making that series for Television.
@@chrisdion3260 They do act like storyboards for the more direct adaptations, but in general the comics format and its layout and panels and grid shouldn't be mistaken for a film reel (which writers and artists have always done, even the greatest among them). The arrangements and often linear-breaks and drama of a comics page layout are not the same as the motion or linear passage of movement on screen. Sure it gives you very stylised shots (Snyder, Rodriguez, etc.), even then it's powerful because it is not in motion (often). Additionally there's also the TEXT of a comics page being significantly different, longer, and more verbose for the drama to work in that format that doesn't have the same impact when translated directly on screen, but that's another factor ofc.
Reading screenplays is something I introduced to our intro to drama class, and what was interesting was how when reading texts from, say the early 20th century American tradition, you generally had novelists, dramatists, etc. (authors) writing screen versions of their plays or even writing screenplays for films themselves . . . Long story short, it works! If you're having writer's block, this helped me out, start reading a few screenplays that are similar to scenes you are writing yourself. Not only does it give you an example of how someone has already done it, but it helps you to deviate or even just have as a reference as to the way the drama shifted from moment to moment, dialogue to dialogue, in that scene.
Love the way he explains the wound. And even more I love that you both addressed how "cynicism is in" these days. I'm allergic to cynicism. Surely it's no coincidence that people have become more cynical at the same time that society's vocabulary has declined.
I just realized this from your comment on how Erin dressed and how she accomplished all that while fighting something personal, like people's, justified truth be told initial perception of her. In the end, the person who gives her the victory is the individual she did exactly the same thing to ... LOL. And of course, it's no accident. I like to call this, a small movie inside a movie. Hidden narratives that teach something different from the main theme ... Lovely stuff.
My English Teacher told me that reading was just a habit and that it couldn't teach you much about 'writing' or 'storytelling'- I stopped going to his class.
I was a teacher for ten years. I can't count the number of teachers who said out loud, often in front of students ,"I don't like math." But only three times a teacher said out loud, "I don't like to read." One of them followed that idiocy with, "But we had to read this book during teacher training...." The concept of Deliberate Practice as explained by Anders Ericsson is practice where you do focused practice on specific aspects of the skill you are trying to develop. Malcolm Gladwell does a pretty good introduction to the concept. Ericsson's academic papers on it are very clear and easy to understand. What can be a critical element is to have a great coach, But what about writing? Sure a great teacher (not that lunkhead) might be helpful, but aren't books and scripts great coaches all by themselves? Whatever it is is right there on the page. So master coaches in writing are any published writer. Dickens, Austen, Shakespeare, Paddy Chaevsky, Robert Towne.... Orson Welles took this idea a step further. He and his team that would make Citizen Kane watched Stage Coach something like 40 times. Completely different genre, everything was different, Johnny Ringo gets the girl and the ranch in the end, Kane leaves the ranch at the beginning and gets a few girls, the wrong ones, along the way.. I'm going through Gulino's book on Sequences. What I really like about it is he gives names to the various devices that we all understand implicitly -- seen a movie, hated the bad guy, worried for the good guy? You got it, but how did the movie get it to you? Gulino's book is a bit dense, that's because there's so much in it. I'm working on Double Indemnity right now, every beat. I expect that I'll finish the book and think, now that was an education. Then I'll read it again. I figured this out in high school, but didn't follow my own discovery as much as I should have. Read it, then read it again, then read it again, at some point it will just all be there in your head, until we get USB ports this is the way to do that. It's a deliberate practice technique. Just musing.
So a few years back I’m flipping through the channels and come upon Erin Brockovich. Never seen it, so I thought I’d stick around for the racy outfits. So I’m watching and waiting and she’s just wearing regular clothes. Then I realize that she’s been wearing the revealing outfits all along, it just how everyone dresses today!
I believe - at least I was told in a Native American art history class in college in the late 90’s - that the “average” American vocabulary was 2,000 to 3,000 words. Whereas “average” indigenous *American* was a 10k word vocabulary-not via reading but because of culture of oral storytelling.
A disconnect between the interviewer and her subject. He's talking about how to effectively deliver the story. She's interested only in the story itself.
Oh, this is such a good one. Because there are some scientists out there that do believe that language is headed for imagery and symbols as opposed to literary or words, their basis for this belief being social trends as well as most UFO records (authentic or not) and most UFO close-up sightings referring to weird symbols drawn on controls stations and outer body of the UFO. I find it interesting that words could one day all-together be a dying means of communication.
While reading screenplays probably only helps, the "you cannot write what you have not read" echoed by so many screenwriting teachers feels misguided. In Faces Places, Agnes Varda talks about having only seen 6 films (and presumably read 0 screenplays) before she made her first.
A thorough knowledge of the structural underpinnings of whatever craft a person chooses to pursue can be an invaluable thing--that's the point of a screenwriting class after all, and I don't take issue with that. But I do take issue with the theory that the best use of a budding screenwriter's time is reading screenplays. Eric recognizes how much can be learned from such a technically proficient screenplay as Erin Brockovich. There's no reason why one can't obtain the necessary knowledge to write a successful screenplay after close-reading a handful of great ones.
@@tmac8892lol. He was a writer during the 50’s and lived with his brother the playwright and screenwriter during that time also. They were commissioned to work on 3 stage plays together during that time. During the 60’s he got writers block on ‘novels’ and decided to write Butch Cassidy after doing 8 yrs of previous research on it. So yeah - he’d seen screenplays - he’d written stage plays and novels - he didn’t come into it blind 🤦♀️
Does anyone here know of any good scripts to read for the same reasons Eric outlined in this video? Would love to do this exercise, but he only mentioned the one. Thanks!
i would really like if u could help me with this problem like make a video or just comment the ans plz!! 1)how to put the heros theme song into the script ?, like in the movie pirates of the carrabean when ever jack shows up or does something crazy the song Playes, I read the script but couldn't find the catch ? and by the by ur channel helped me a ton , awesome work😄
Simon Jonathan the music is usually composed after the movie is made, therefore it is not written into the screenplay. If you already have music for your film and you want to write it into the screenplay I would recommend taking a look at Baby Driver, a film by Edgar Wright, made last year. I think that might be helpful
@@duewest9801 It's not that simple. Most of what I've found out there are actually transcripts of the movies and shows, so it's just the dialog. Screenplays are much more than that.
Nobody reads thousands of novels in a lifetime. Most people live between 25 and 30 thousand days. One reads very little during the first ten years and by the time you are fifty, you are, generally speaking, past the point when you read a lot or are looking for a career. This limits one to 10 to 12 thousand days where people could dedicate a lot of time to reading. Even avid readers are limited to less than one thousand books in a lifetime, and that's if they are reading a lot of cheap stuff that is short.
How can he begin by proving the paucity of modern vocabulary, and then say he teaches 'mainstream, commercial, Hollywood screenwriting?' Does he want us to just use those 10,000 words, or learn more, and expect people to absorb more?
Why does this offend you? In any of this videos does he actually say so? BTW, his full version is available if you'd like to watch it. Thank you, Simone!
Thank you for your quick reply! It is a sincere question, because he defines mainstream vocabulary as narrow, as a problem because it limits our ability to think. So my question is: should we use the expanded vocabulary we acquire, even if it isn't mainstream? Because as he says, it isn't.
@@simonestreeter1518 Because Hollywood meets people where they are, using a range of 10k words. It's not the same 10k words for everyone, but most of us have less time to sit around and pontificate on our word choices when we're as busy and inundated with stimulus most of our day. 😉
@@Kiki-alienmom If the stimulus you are inundated with contained a larger variety of words, you would be killing two birds with one stone, wouldn't you? It's not a zero sum game.
The problem is ... you read Henry Miller ... like I did .. and stop writing for 7 years while I dealt with the fact I wasn't Henry Miller. This dude looks like Spacey BTW ....
I hear you. Someone said to me, you like to go for a jog yeah? I said yeah sure. He said, well you’re not a marathon runner and you never will be (it’s true 😁) , but that doesn’t stop you, so not being the best writer shouldn’t stop you either. Tell your story whatever way you can.
The stuff at the beginning is pseudo-science. It's too bad no one calls these "gurus" out on this. You can't just force your worldview on top of science.
Just stating the obvious. Erin Brockovich: Can't see what should make it the best script to be read. That's just a well written biopic. I have read dozens of better ones, and more interesting for teaching various and advanced screenwriting skills
What script(s) would you recommend and why? What is lacking in Erin Brockovich? Did Grant not capture the essence of her struggle, fish-out-of-water, ticking clock scenario?
Hi@@filmcourage, First I reply to your questions, and then I'd like to give you more thoughts about Erin Brockovitch, Eric Edson's statement and other things about screenwriting. 1. Beginning from the end: I' don't think there is a real sense of ticking clock in Erin Brockovitch, except in one or two very short occasions. No she's not a fish out of the water but a determinated person. Yes Grant captures the essence of her struggle and nothing is lacking. 2. Yes the way Grant build the climax is well done, as everything in her script. But Erin's arc is a lot more complex than what Eric says. Actually, she has to climb every steps of Marlow's Hierarchy of Needs from safety to self-actualization and transcendence. - Yes you need to read a lot (and also to write a lot) to become a good screenwriter. But you perfectly can write what you didn't read/lived/watched. That's even one essential trait of creative and visionary writers. Although Jack London and Herman Melville, Henri Miller, etc. wrote about what they lived, they didn't write like what they read. Jules Vernes didn't write about anything he read/lived/watched. Nor J.K. Rowling, Philip K. Dick, Billy Wilder, Buster Keaton, etc. - Yes we LOVE perfect people, "perfect" meaning good + self-assured + with no personal flaw they must overcome in order to (try to) accomplish their task: Mickey Mouse, Droopy, Bugs Bunny, every superhero in their original comics form, Cinderella, Mary Poppins, Zorro, Wall-E, Forrest Gump, most of heroes by Jules Vernes, Hayao Miyasaki, … Whatever the ending of their story: Lady and the Tramp, The Chocolate, Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid, Million Dollar Baby, Little Big Man The Right Stuff, … and every James Bond movie until License To Kill in 1989 when the disastrous influence of Campbell's heirs harmed him. Not only perfect they are, but very often, 1. The flawed ones are their antagonists, 2. They have no or very little arc, as they are already perfect! - Yes there are a lot of screenplays as good as or better than Erin Brockovitch to enlighten its particular genre, contain and form, beginning with Almost Famous and Billy Elliott from the same year, and also Whiplash, etc. in the real or fictional biopic genre. - To finish with, I also watched "Five Common Mistakes New Screenwriters Make" and I totally disagree with it too. That way of teaching storytelling and screenwriting is reductive and harmful for students as it makes them focusing on very few potentialities by eluding or banning 99 percent of what they should be able to do as writers; and it gives them a biased view of the real industry. Oddly, consultants, teachers, and all these "pros" we should not identify is they weren't widely bragging about who they are, focus only on the same few overrated scripts (Erin Brockovitch, American Beauty, Fight Club, The Silence Of The Lambs …) without letting us imagine if they just follow a trend, or if they obey the orders of that Dilbert looking world that Hollywood is. I'd be glad to carry on with that on another place, if you like it. Best, JM
Witness, Payback, Collateral and L.A. Confidential - thats all you need to watch and read to know what emodies solid scripts, both spec and shooting...you only wrire what you read is bullshit. - its all about format and writing slugs that are clean and dialogue that moves the story forward.
@Drog .NDTrax You can be a bad [insert profession here], and still comment on that profession. Take you for example, you've probably not written anything worthwhile, yet here you are.
Thousands, no. Hundreds, yes. I am sure I am one of the few who has read more than a thousand books. A thousand books amount to ten a year for a hundred years, or twenty a year over fifty years. A person that dedicates oneself to reading and writing might be able to read up to two thousand in a lifetime, but that's about it unless you want to count children's books and cheap romances, etc. And a person that spends a lot of time reading that stuff has no intention of becoming a writer.
@@Nautilus1972 Assuming you're 50 years old, and started reading novels at the age of 10, then you'd have to read one a week, consistently for your entire life, to hit "thousands". I doubt very many people have done this. That said, I don't think he was doing the math and thinking of it so literally.
![How To Write A Great Antagonist - Eric Edson [Screenwriting Masterclass]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/mkSZOCcBLhI/mqdefault.jpg)
![How To Write A Great Antagonist - Eric Edson [Screenwriting Masterclass]](/img/tr.png)
Makes sense: if you want to write, you have to READ! Yes: ERIN BROCKOVICH is a great screenplay! And a great example too. It's high time to look to newer films than CHINATOWN (great, but we know that now.)
I’ve only listened to Eric Edson speak for about three hours. He is my “hero”. Even if I never write a word, his humble and thoughtful style based upon a life of learning and his recommendation to share a positive messages are powerful. Thank you for this interview.
Agree. He’s something special.
What a brilliant and lovable man!
I also would recommend reading Graphic Novels. They are far closer to Movie Form than Novels, being a very visual art form.
Edson references at least two graphic novels in his book. A History of Violence. V for Vendetta.
Exactly
I prefer to call them storyboards. Seriously, The Walking Dead was a graphic novel first. And you could definitely do worse than making that series for Television.
Yes They are helpful.to get a créative Imagination
@@chrisdion3260 They do act like storyboards for the more direct adaptations, but in general the comics format and its layout and panels and grid shouldn't be mistaken for a film reel (which writers and artists have always done, even the greatest among them). The arrangements and often linear-breaks and drama of a comics page layout are not the same as the motion or linear passage of movement on screen. Sure it gives you very stylised shots (Snyder, Rodriguez, etc.), even then it's powerful because it is not in motion (often). Additionally there's also the TEXT of a comics page being significantly different, longer, and more verbose for the drama to work in that format that doesn't have the same impact when translated directly on screen, but that's another factor ofc.
Reading screenplays is something I introduced to our intro to drama class, and what was interesting was how when reading texts from, say the early 20th century American tradition, you generally had novelists, dramatists, etc. (authors) writing screen versions of their plays or even writing screenplays for films themselves . . . Long story short, it works! If you're having writer's block, this helped me out, start reading a few screenplays that are similar to scenes you are writing yourself. Not only does it give you an example of how someone has already done it, but it helps you to deviate or even just have as a reference as to the way the drama shifted from moment to moment, dialogue to dialogue, in that scene.
Love the way he explains the wound. And even more I love that you both addressed how "cynicism is in" these days. I'm allergic to cynicism. Surely it's no coincidence that people have become more cynical at the same time that society's vocabulary has declined.
1:38 to 2:14 absolutely true observation... And very important lesson for aspiring screenwriters
I just realized this from your comment on how Erin dressed and how she accomplished all that while fighting something personal, like people's, justified truth be told initial perception of her. In the end, the person who gives her the victory is the individual she did exactly the same thing to ... LOL. And of course, it's no accident. I like to call this, a small movie inside a movie. Hidden narratives that teach something different from the main theme ... Lovely stuff.
My English Teacher told me that reading was just a habit and that it couldn't teach you much about 'writing' or 'storytelling'-
I stopped going to his class.
Right bro...just tell mi...your favourite screenplay.....in bangla..hindi..english...plz
I was a teacher for ten years. I can't count the number of teachers who said out loud, often in front of students ,"I don't like math." But only three times a teacher said out loud, "I don't like to read." One of them followed that idiocy with, "But we had to read this book during teacher training...." The concept of Deliberate Practice as explained by Anders Ericsson is practice where you do focused practice on specific aspects of the skill you are trying to develop. Malcolm Gladwell does a pretty good introduction to the concept. Ericsson's academic papers on it are very clear and easy to understand. What can be a critical element is to have a great coach, But what about writing? Sure a great teacher (not that lunkhead) might be helpful, but aren't books and scripts great coaches all by themselves? Whatever it is is right there on the page. So master coaches in writing are any published writer. Dickens, Austen, Shakespeare, Paddy Chaevsky, Robert Towne.... Orson Welles took this idea a step further. He and his team that would make Citizen Kane watched Stage Coach something like 40 times. Completely different genre, everything was different, Johnny Ringo gets the girl and the ranch in the end, Kane leaves the ranch at the beginning and gets a few girls, the wrong ones, along the way.. I'm going through Gulino's book on Sequences. What I really like about it is he gives names to the various devices that we all understand implicitly -- seen a movie, hated the bad guy, worried for the good guy? You got it, but how did the movie get it to you? Gulino's book is a bit dense, that's because there's so much in it. I'm working on Double Indemnity right now, every beat. I expect that I'll finish the book and think, now that was an education. Then I'll read it again. I figured this out in high school, but didn't follow my own discovery as much as I should have. Read it, then read it again, then read it again, at some point it will just all be there in your head, until we get USB ports this is the way to do that. It's a deliberate practice technique. Just musing.
Precipitously.
Can you show us the time marker where he says this? Thank you, Simone.
@15:35
Great interview
So a few years back I’m flipping through the channels and come upon Erin Brockovich. Never seen it, so I thought I’d stick around for the racy outfits. So I’m watching and waiting and she’s just wearing regular clothes. Then I realize that she’s been wearing the revealing outfits all along, it just how everyone dresses today!
I believe - at least I was told in a Native American art history class in college in the late 90’s - that the “average” American vocabulary was 2,000 to 3,000 words. Whereas “average” indigenous *American* was a 10k word vocabulary-not via reading but because of culture of oral storytelling.
A disconnect between the interviewer and her subject. He's talking about how to effectively deliver the story. She's interested only in the story itself.
I agree with his Erin Brokovich pick
Andrew Niccol. THere's a writer to start with. If you can write the Truman Show AND Gattaca .....
Thanks!
Powerful content,🎬
Oh, this is such a good one. Because there are some scientists out there that do believe that language is headed for imagery and symbols as opposed to literary or words, their basis for this belief being social trends as well as most UFO records (authentic or not) and most UFO close-up sightings referring to weird symbols drawn on controls stations and outer body of the UFO. I find it interesting that words could one day all-together be a dying means of communication.
While reading screenplays probably only helps, the "you cannot write what you have not read" echoed by so many screenwriting teachers feels misguided. In Faces Places, Agnes Varda talks about having only seen 6 films (and presumably read 0 screenplays) before she made her first.
A thorough knowledge of the structural underpinnings of whatever craft a person chooses to pursue can be an invaluable thing--that's the point of a screenwriting class after all, and I don't take issue with that. But I do take issue with the theory that the best use of a budding screenwriter's time is reading screenplays. Eric recognizes how much can be learned from such a technically proficient screenplay as Erin Brockovich. There's no reason why one can't obtain the necessary knowledge to write a successful screenplay after close-reading a handful of great ones.
also i'd hardly equate agnes varda with a genius savant lol
Absolutely. The single most vital thing in order to write .. is having read a lot. Good and bad books.
William Goldman had never seen a screenplay beginning he wrote butch Cassidy.
@@tmac8892lol. He was a writer during the 50’s and lived with his brother the playwright and screenwriter during that time also. They were commissioned to work on 3 stage plays together during that time. During the 60’s he got writers block on ‘novels’ and decided to write Butch Cassidy after doing 8 yrs of previous research on it. So yeah - he’d seen screenplays - he’d written stage plays and novels - he didn’t come into it blind 🤦♀️
I don't always agree, there are many concept's there are no words for only images, and as they say, a picture is worth a thousand words.
Eye opening af
Does anyone here know of any good scripts to read for the same reasons Eric outlined in this video? Would love to do this exercise, but he only mentioned the one. Thanks!
i would really like if u could help me with this problem like make a video or just comment the ans plz!! 1)how to put the heros theme song into the script ?, like in the movie pirates of the carrabean when ever jack shows up or does something crazy the song Playes, I read the script but couldn't find the catch ? and by the by ur channel helped me a ton , awesome work😄
Simon Jonathan the music is usually composed after the movie is made, therefore it is not written into the screenplay. If you already have music for your film and you want to write it into the screenplay I would recommend taking a look at Baby Driver, a film by Edgar Wright, made last year. I think that might be helpful
Daniel L. thanks a ton for helping
How or where do you find all the scripts to read?
google Title + screenplay
@@duewest9801 It's not that simple. Most of what I've found out there are actually transcripts of the movies and shows, so it's just the dialog. Screenplays are much more than that.
I'm looking for them too, no success so far for the ones I'm seeking.
Nobody reads thousands of novels in a lifetime. Most people live between 25 and 30 thousand days. One reads very little during the first ten years and by the time you are fifty, you are, generally speaking, past the point when you read a lot or are looking for a career. This limits one to 10 to 12 thousand days where people could dedicate a lot of time to reading. Even avid readers are limited to less than one thousand books in a lifetime, and that's if they are reading a lot of cheap stuff that is short.
I read 300 books in a year, but yeah, that's about all I did that year. It was a good year. 🤪
percipiwhat?
How can he begin by proving the paucity of modern vocabulary, and then say he teaches 'mainstream, commercial, Hollywood screenwriting?' Does he want us to just use those 10,000 words, or learn more, and expect people to absorb more?
Why does this offend you? In any of this videos does he actually say so? BTW, his full version is available if you'd like to watch it. Thank you, Simone!
Thank you for your quick reply! It is a sincere question, because he defines mainstream vocabulary as narrow, as a problem because it limits our ability to think. So my question is: should we use the expanded vocabulary we acquire, even if it isn't mainstream? Because as he says, it isn't.
@@filmcourage @15:35 is where he says his focus is on "mainstream commercial Hollywood"
@@simonestreeter1518 Because Hollywood meets people where they are, using a range of 10k words. It's not the same 10k words for everyone, but most of us have less time to sit around and pontificate on our word choices when we're as busy and inundated with stimulus most of our day. 😉
@@Kiki-alienmom If the stimulus you are inundated with contained a larger variety of words, you would be killing two birds with one stone, wouldn't you? It's not a zero sum game.
There was no TV in 1946
Their was, it was just quite uncommon
No TVs in the average home in 46. Tv became common in homes in the 50’s
I personally didn't like the Erin Brokovich character because of Julia Roberts, not because of the way she was written.
The problem is ... you read Henry Miller ... like I did .. and stop writing for 7 years while I dealt with the fact I wasn't Henry Miller. This dude looks like Spacey BTW ....
I hear you. Someone said to me, you like to go for a jog yeah? I said yeah sure. He said, well you’re not a marathon runner and you never will be (it’s true 😁) , but that doesn’t stop you, so not being the best writer shouldn’t stop you either. Tell your story whatever way you can.
🙏🙏👍👍👍
The stuff at the beginning is pseudo-science. It's too bad no one calls these "gurus" out on this. You can't just force your worldview on top of science.
Bullshit. I see people reading books everyday when I go outside.
Just stating the obvious. Erin Brockovich: Can't see what should make it the best script to be read. That's just a well written biopic. I have read dozens of better ones, and more interesting for teaching various and advanced screenwriting skills
What script(s) would you recommend and why? What is lacking in Erin Brockovich? Did Grant not capture the essence of her struggle, fish-out-of-water, ticking clock scenario?
Hi@@filmcourage,
First I reply to your questions, and then I'd like to give you more thoughts about Erin Brockovitch, Eric Edson's statement and other things about screenwriting.
1. Beginning from the end: I' don't think there is a real sense of ticking clock in Erin Brockovitch, except in one or two very short occasions. No she's not a fish out of the water but a determinated person. Yes Grant captures the essence of her struggle and nothing is lacking.
2. Yes the way Grant build the climax is well done, as everything in her script. But Erin's arc is a lot more complex than what Eric says. Actually, she has to climb every steps of Marlow's Hierarchy of Needs from safety to self-actualization and transcendence.
- Yes you need to read a lot (and also to write a lot) to become a good screenwriter. But you perfectly can write what you didn't read/lived/watched. That's even one essential trait of creative and visionary writers. Although Jack London and Herman Melville, Henri Miller, etc. wrote about what they lived, they didn't write like what they read. Jules Vernes didn't write about anything he read/lived/watched. Nor J.K. Rowling, Philip K. Dick, Billy Wilder, Buster Keaton, etc.
- Yes we LOVE perfect people, "perfect" meaning good + self-assured + with no personal flaw they must overcome in order to (try to) accomplish their task: Mickey Mouse, Droopy, Bugs Bunny, every superhero in their original comics form, Cinderella, Mary Poppins, Zorro, Wall-E, Forrest Gump, most of heroes by Jules Vernes, Hayao Miyasaki, … Whatever the ending of their story: Lady and the Tramp, The Chocolate, Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid, Million Dollar Baby, Little Big Man The Right Stuff, … and every James Bond movie until License To Kill in 1989 when the disastrous influence of Campbell's heirs harmed him.
Not only perfect they are, but very often, 1. The flawed ones are their antagonists, 2. They have no or very little arc, as they are already perfect!
- Yes there are a lot of screenplays as good as or better than Erin Brockovitch to enlighten its particular genre, contain and form, beginning with Almost Famous and Billy Elliott from the same year, and also Whiplash, etc. in the real or fictional biopic genre.
- To finish with, I also watched "Five Common Mistakes New Screenwriters Make" and I totally disagree with it too. That way of teaching storytelling and screenwriting is reductive and harmful for students as it makes them focusing on very few potentialities by eluding or banning 99 percent of what they should be able to do as writers; and it gives them a biased view of the real industry. Oddly, consultants, teachers, and all these "pros" we should not identify is they weren't widely bragging about who they are, focus only on the same few overrated scripts (Erin Brockovitch, American Beauty, Fight Club, The Silence Of The Lambs …) without letting us imagine if they just follow a trend, or if they obey the orders of that Dilbert looking world that Hollywood is.
I'd be glad to carry on with that on another place, if you like it.
Best,
JM
And we also love BAD perfect people: No Country For Old Men
Witness, Payback, Collateral and L.A. Confidential - thats all you need to watch and read to know what emodies solid scripts, both spec and shooting...you only wrire what you read is bullshit. - its all about format and writing slugs that are clean and dialogue that moves the story forward.
@Drog .NDTrax You can be a bad [insert profession here], and still comment on that profession. Take you for example, you've probably not written anything worthwhile, yet here you are.
Thousands, no. Hundreds, yes. I am sure I am one of the few who has read more than a thousand books. A thousand books amount to ten a year for a hundred years, or twenty a year over fifty years. A person that dedicates oneself to reading and writing might be able to read up to two thousand in a lifetime, but that's about it unless you want to count children's books and cheap romances, etc. And a person that spends a lot of time reading that stuff has no intention of becoming a writer.
Read thousands of novels?! lol!
And ..... you haven't?
@@Nautilus1972 Assuming you're 50 years old, and started reading novels at the age of 10, then you'd have to read one a week, consistently for your entire life, to hit "thousands". I doubt very many people have done this.
That said, I don't think he was doing the math and thinking of it so literally.