Creative commentary plus crafty composition

Posts tagged ‘Arts’

Memorable Quotes: Tales of Screenwriters – Part Eighteen

The ‘Players’ – performers:

(a) “If you want actors to listen to everything you say, get unknown actors. If you are lucky enough to work with film stars, you find there’s a reason why they’re film stars. They tend to be incredibly smart people… If you’re lucky enough to make a picture with these people, you’re gonna listen to what they have to say, and you’re gonna accommodate a lot of what they have to say…” (more…)

Memorable Quotes # 26

“In the first draft of the script, Kolchak was wearing Bermuda shorts, socks and brown shoes, a Hawaiian shirt and a golf cap.  Apparently, somebody thought that was the uniform for a newspaperman in Las Vegas. But there was a line in there about him wanting to get back to New York, so I got this image of a New York newspaperman who had been fired in the summer of 1962 when he was wearing a seersucker suit, his straw hat, button-down Brooks Brothers shirt and reporter’s tie, and he hasn’t bought any clothes since. Well, I knew that was the summer uniform of reporters in New York of that time, so that’s how the wardrobe came about.  I added the white tennis shoes, and that was Kolchak.  It might have been totally at odds with what everyone else was wearing in Las Vegas, but… You need goals for character, and Kolchak’s goal is to get back to the big time.”

Excerpted quote from Darren McGavin re portraying Carl Kolchak in “The Night Stalker” from The Night Stalker Companion (1997)

Memorable Quotes: Tales of Screenwriters – Part Seventeen

The ‘Players’ – taking direction:

(a) “As a screenwriter, you understand that you’re providing a document that is gonna be turned into a film, and that is an entirely new evolution of the same story.  If you want to write a script and direct it, then you get your way. But if you’re just a writer on a project, you are just a writer… to have a director come in and change your words, that’s what you signed up for.” (more…)

Memorable Quotes: Tales of Screenwriters – Part Sixteen

The ‘Players’ – the big execs:

(a) “I have had a number of unbelievably painful moments with Hollywood executives, and the truth is that their reasons for rejecting projects were beyond ludicrous – they were willful and capricious, and in several cases meant that the scripts involved, which I had worked hard on and which…were wonderful, were never made. (more…)

Memorable Quotes: Tales of Screenwriters – Part Fifteen

Script Development – a development exec’s point of view:

“One of the things I’ve learned is that it’s really about the concept. Other things may change dramatically, but the idea always remains the same.  So the job is about finding that really unique idea…and finding the right way to grow the idea into a film.  When the writer is able to turn the idea into a blueprint for a movie, it’s electrifying… (more…)

The Survey Says…

In this digital age there is an ongoing controversy concerning the value of maintaining, not to mention extolling, traditional print communication via books, magazines, and newspapers. Reporting generally implies that print is more the format for older adults and digital formats are the information gateway of the younger. (more…)

Memorable Quotes: Tales of Screenwriters – Part Fourteen

Script Development – Say Goodbye:

(a) “If you’re hoping to be a screenwriter in Hollywood, you will be rewritten.  That’s just the way it is. They treat you like you’re on a factory line.  You’ll be fired because ‘they can’t really tell a love story’, ‘they can’t do action properly’, ‘they’re not funny…’  You’ll be fired for different reasons, but it’s the way executives pretty much cover their asses when it comes to the movie coming out.” (more…)

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!

Happy Anniversary – to ‘The Watch of Time’!

Today, June 4, 2015 marks the first anniversary of this blog site.  (I also had my annual check-up this morning, but that’s not an event to be particularly enjoyed or celebrated, especially after reaching a certain age threshold.)

The first posting June 4th last year was a slightly edited version of a letter to the editor (more…)

Memorable Quotes: Tales of Screenwriters – Part Thirteen

Script Development – Rewrites R Us:

(a) “There’s no way to protect yourself from a studio if they decide that they want to completely rework your material.  They’re the ones writing you the checks…  But what if you argued, like a writer can, or if you spoke out compellingly – and forcefully, and persuasively – for your point of view in a way that influenced the studio? (more…)

Memorable Quotes: Tales of Screenwriters – Part Twelve

Script Development – time for changes:

(a) “Used to be two people would come into a meeting and work on a script with you. Now eight people come into a meeting, and they’ve all got yellow pads, and they’ve all got their opinions, and most of their opinions are bad… they can’t judge anything that’s original or different. They can only relate to something they’ve seen before.  (more…)