Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Essential reading. In Movieline.

(Via Karen Hill)

6:58 AM

3 Comments:

Some good advice, but there's some generalizing there, too. Someone pointed out the first 2/3s of THE THIRD MAN with 2 people talking about another in scene after scene. I would add the 3rd act of THE VERDICT, where the prosecutor or the defender talk to witnesses about other people. Okay, it's a trial, but he gave no exceptions in his comments. Bottom line: simple comments can be simplistic. Writing is greater than David Mamet's pronouncements.

By  Lee Matthias, at 5:34 PM  

Well, then most of The Iceman Cometh, Eugene O'Neill's masterpiece is a CROCK OF SHIT.

2/3's of the play is the denizens of a seedy bar talking about the Iceman, who has yet to arrive.

Question: what American playwright won the Nobel Prize for Literature?

Answer: It's not Mamet.

By  Gideon Slack, at 8:01 PM  

He's talking about TV writing, where you have established characters and have to cram a lot into a short space of time. I think they are generally good comments.
Talking about a character before they enter is a classic way of building your anticipation for that character. Ie: Lector in Silence of The Lambs.

By  DH, at 4:18 AM  

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