 |
 |
 |
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
There are hundreds of screenwriting books that can aid a writer
in losing his voice and squelching his originality.
If the writer has to learn how to write from a manual...
Richard Walter's SCREENWRITING
provides an excellent overview from the outline to the query letter
process.
For a scholarly source into character and motive...
Lajos Egri's THE
ART OF DRAMATIC WRITING
For insight into the hero's journey and storytelling myth...
Joseph Campbell's THE
HERO WITH A THOUSAND FACES which inspired George Lucas and STAR
WARS.
Music or no music, ball game on the radio, television, urban noise,
crickets - the writer may wish to surround herself with nurturing
rhythms. Possibly...
Keith
Jarret's KOLN, Stephane
Grapelli's OLYMPIAD, Bach's
BRANDENBURG CONCERTOS, any Miles
Davis, any Mozart,
anything free-flowing and non-lyrical to liberate the writer's flow
of word without intrusion.
Bruce Wagner's I'M
LOSING YOU - the closest one can get to the filth and moral
depravity of Hollywood without actually getting dirty.
Also...
Nathanael West's DAY
OF THE LOCUST
Michael Tolkin's THE
PLAYER
Charles Bukowski's HOLLYWOOD
Pauline
Kael on how to talk about film. She once set a standard for
cinema when filmmakers actually welcomed criticism.
Also...
James Agee - AGEE
ON FILM: CRITICISM AND COMMENTARY ON THE MOVIES - reprinted
by Martin Scorcese. Brilliant text on the films of the 1930's and
40's.
DETECTIVE
Ed McBain - (also known as Evan Hunter screenwriter of the BIRDS
as well as dozens of detective novels)...latest is
THE
LAST DANCE about New York homicide detectives - true to the
expectations of the genre and yet etches his original voice.
MELODRAMA
Thomas Hardy - TESS,
JUDE
THE OBSCURE - the dialogue is often very cinematic, but it is
the plot that really moves.
HUMOR
John Kennedy Toole - CONFEDERACY
OF DUNCES, a one-man wrecking crew, buffoonery and gaseous wit,
a "vehicle" for a comic actor.
Joseph Heller - CATCH
22 for absurd plotting and ensemble writing - a forerunner of
situation comedy - the humor is derived from the situation and milieu
- Heller writes, "There was only one catch and that was Catch 22,
which specified that a concern for one's own safety in the face
of dangers that were real and immediate was the process of a rational
mind. Orr was crazy and could be grounded. All he had to do was
ask; and as soon as he did, he would no longer be crazy and would
have to fly more missions... If he flew them he was crazy and didn't
have to; but if he didn't want to he was sane and had to... "That's
some catch, that Catch 22," he [Yossarian observed] "It's the best
there is," Doc Daneeka agreed.
Charles Bukowski - In all his fiction, he uses setting to depict
character - the reader's sympathies are drawn out of the dregs of
the protagonist's skid row life.
DIALOGUE
Mark Twain's HUCK
FINN - use of vernacular and regional dialect. Twain and Oscar
Wilde created the pseudo-intellectual paradox. Twain writes on fighting,
"Thrusting my nose firmly between his teeth, I threw him heavily
to the ground on top of me."
THEATRICAL DIALOGUE
Eugene O'Neil's ICEMAN
COMETH for barroom humor and raw realism - a predecessor to
the slang of Mamet.
MEMOIR
John Bayley's ELEGY
FOR IRIS - two writers, husband and wife, and their stuggle
with Alzheimer's. Poignant commentary on the lifestyle of the writer.
SHAKESPEARE
For dialogue, characterization, and plot. Steal. Steal. Steal.
Classic films for writers - CITIZEN
KANE, RULES
OF THE GAME, SEVEN
SAMOURAI, CHINATOWN,
TAXI
DRIVER, DINER,
SUNSET
BOULEVARD, THE
GODFATHER, REAR
WINDOW, DR.
STRANGELOVE
Some other highly regarded films for the writer...
MARTY
- a great dialogue movie by Paddy Chayefsky, the great screenwriter
who never directed. It was made for television.
PAT
GARRET AND BILLY THE KID - underrated humor, redefined a genre,
a British comedy of manners, very detailed into the life of a cowboy
- how does a sheriff walk down the stairs after a night with four
whores - James Coburn ambles gingerly.
THE
THIRD MAN - bringing out a main character late in a film, building
suspense, giving the audience just enough to chew - classic economy
of plot.
UNBEARABLE
LIGHTNESS OF BEING and ONE
FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST Adaptations - don't get tied to
the text. These screenwriters dared to expand on the original material
and further enhance its spirit.
NASHVILLE,
SHORT
CUTS - drama in all its complicated humanity, what Paul Thomas
Anderson valiantly but couldn't quite accomplish in MAGNOLIA.
Murmured naturalistic dialogue and seamless transitions - should
be given full attention on the big screen.
These Script P.I.M.P. references are solely for introspection. If
reflections on film or literature should coalesce, please refrain
from sending them to Script P.I.M.P.
|
|
|
|
 |
 |
 |
