Sep
9
Zinneman called it a ‘necessary evil’ and wordsmith par excellence David Mamet says: “A good film script should be able to do completely without dialogue.“ I am not an expert, not even a native English speaker and I most certainly lack a deep knowledge of vocabulary. My passion is for story and structure. So much for the disclaimers.
But as you’re asking about dialogue, here are some principles that I have observed in great screenplays. And yes: more often than not when writers draw the attention to their dialogue, the story doesn’t work.
Jun
27
Arcs and Endings (2)
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Should you write a happy ending?
Commercial common sense will tell you: yes, you should.
Robert McKee says: “Tell the truth.” (see the previous post)
McKee means: your story needs to reflect your worldview. If you contradict whatever you believe in for the sake of commerce, you will fail. During his Arthouse seminar, he gives the example of Bergman’s THROUGH A GLASS DARKLY, where Bergman forced an ending upon the story in which he didn’t really believe. The story didn’t work, McKee says. Even the great Bergman couldn’t go against his instinct.
Apr
19
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Sun 16 Nov 08 - 9:30am-5:30pm - NSW Writers Centre - Callan Park, Rozelle
Contact: +61(0)407 955 555 - karel@ozzywood.com
“One may perhaps make a good film out of a bad novel,
but never out of a good one.” -Bela Balazs
WHAT YOU WILL LEARN:
No matter how powerful the source material, if it doesn’t have the seed of a screen drama, your adaptation job will be like hell. This workshop shows why some adaptations worked fine and others flopped. How to find the story in your own material, then structure it into a screenplay that works.
Jan
19
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Jan
19
Learn from other people’s mistakes. (Premium)
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