August 23, 2012
‘It’s not where you take things from - it’s where you take them to.’ -Jean-Luc Godard
Paul Peditto has written a great article for MovieBytes.com about the benefits of stealing — not plagiarizing, but re-imagining stories that have been told a hundred times before, taking inspiration from better artists than yourself, and making old ideas new.
He explains:
Stealing. Should you ever do it?
C’mon… seriously? The answer is FUCK yeah.
Let me bow to my betters, first some thoughts on the subject by Jim Jarmusch, appropriately stolen/borrowed from a pal’s Facebook entry:
“Nothing is original. Steal from anywhere that resonates with inspiration or fuels your imagination. Devour old films, new films, music, books, paintings, photographs, poems, dreams, random conversations, architecture, bridges, street signs, trees, clouds, bodies of water, light and shadows. Select only things to steal from that speak directly to your soul. If you do this, your work (and theft) will be authentic. Authenticity is invaluable; originality is non-existent. And don’t bother concealing your thievery - celebrate it if you feel like it. In any case, always remember what Jean-Luc Godard said: ‘It’s not where you take things from - it’s where you take them to.’”
read more »
Posted in News |
Leave a Comment »
August 23, 2012
Damn right, it’s fun. There’s good company. It’s creative. It’s adventurous. Combines high adventure and art with intellection… It’s like going undefeated in football.
Posted in Quotes |
Leave a Comment »
August 22, 2012
Mulholland Drive was written by David Lynch.
Posted in News, Scripts |
Leave a Comment »
August 22, 2012
I am the camera’s eye. I am the machine that shows you the world as I alone see it. Starting from today I am forever free of human immobility. I am in perpetual movement. I approach and draw away from things-I crawl under them-I climb on them-I am on the head of a galloping horse.
Posted in Quotes |
Leave a Comment »
August 21, 2012
Young Frankenstein was written by Gene Wilder.
Posted in News, Scripts |
Leave a Comment »
August 21, 2012
The appreciative smile, the chuckle, the soundless mirth, so important to the success of comedy, cannot be understood unless one sits among the audience and feels the warmth created by the quality of laughter that the audience takes home with it.
Posted in Quotes |
Leave a Comment »
August 20, 2012
The Oscar-winning script for The Pianist was written by Ronald Harwood based on the memoir by Wladyslaw Szpilman.
Posted in News, Scripts |
Leave a Comment »
August 20, 2012
If you can’t believe a little in what you see on the screen, it’s not worth wasting your time on cinema.
Posted in Quotes |
Leave a Comment »
August 17, 2012
It may be a terrible movie, but this “saga” has made a metric ton of money. The script for Twilight was written by Melissa Rosenberg. This series of films has made Melissa the highest grossing female screenwriter of all time.
Posted in News, Scripts |
2 Comments »
August 17, 2012
Jenna Avery of Script Magazine has written a helpful article about approaching rewriting with the right mindset — a mindset that is capable of cutting your favorite scenes, even restructuring your entire story, to make your script work.
She writes:
As I embarked recently on a major rewrite of a feature script, I bumped into a big wall of resistance. While I didn’t think my script was necessarily perfect, I was attached to my story in its then-current form. So even though I was getting feedback about the need for significant structural changes, I was struggling with the idea of letting go of much (okay, anything!) of the story.
read more »
Posted in News |
1 Comment »
