I can’t start writing until I have a closing line.
January 19, 2012
Quote of the Day: Winston Churchill
Substitute the word “script” for the word “book.”
Writing a book is an adventure. To begin with, it is a toy and an amusement. Then it becomes a mistress, then it becomes a master, then it becomes a tyrant. The last phase is that just as you are about to be reconciled to your servitude, you kill the monster, and fling him to the public.
January 4, 2012
Quote of the Day: Truman Capote
Finishing a book is just like you took a child out in the back yard and shot it.
October 5, 2011
The Trick to a Script Like Bridesmaids: Write, Then Rewrite, Then Rewrite…
This new article from Living the Romantic Comedy delves into the writing process that Kristen Wiig and Annie Mumulo went through to get to the funniest possible film — they wrote, then they re-wrote a dozen-plus times, and then they embraced a lot of improv in the actual filming (download the script here). There’s a big lesson to be learned here about not settling for the first or even the tenth idea that comes to you:
In the “Line-o-Rama” bonus on the just-released Bridesmaids DVD, a bonanza of alternate takery, there’s one sequence where Melissa McCarthy improvises variations on the same brief line, over and over again, trying out a different gag every time. How many takes? Reader, I counted them: there are forty-eight.
The last question asked in the Q & A of my Screenwriting Expo seminar on “Comedy Craft for the Contemporary Romantic Comedy” came out of discussing Bridesmaids, which I’d worked on as a story analyst at Universal. I’d shown some clips from it and mentioned the screenplay’s long (3-4 years) gestation, noting how co-writers Kristen Wiig and Annie Mumulo had been in the enviable position of writing and rewriting on the studio’s dime, under the guidance of producer Judd Apatow.
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September 14, 2011
Quote of the Day: Greg Marcks
A structural approach to screenwriting requires patience and discipline, but the rewards are great. You might find if you spend three weeks hammering out your story, the actual screenwriting will take only a week.
August 22, 2011
Quote of the Day: Alan Swyer
Once you’ve got your character – who by then hopefully has a name – what often helps is to do some daydreaming.
July 19, 2011
Quote of the Day: Vladamir Nabakov
The pages are still blank, but there is a miraculous feeling of the words being there, written in invisible ink and clamoring to become visible.
July 1, 2011
Quote of the Day: Elias Canetti
The process of writing has something infinite about it. Even though it is interrupted each night, it is one single notation.
June 6, 2011
Quote of the Day: James Norman Hall
Loafing is the most productive part of a writer’s life.
