And Here's the Kicker - Complications Ensue

The craft of writing
for tv, games and movies,
by a working writer

Complications Ensue:
The Crafty TV and Screenwriting Blog

... with forays into
games, life and
political theatre.

Previously on Complications Ensue

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Sunday, July 25, 2010

And Here's the Kicker

I'm reading AND HERE'S THE KICKER: CONVERSATIONS WITH 21 TOP HUMOR WRITERS ON THEIR CRAFT. It's ridiculously full of useful nuggets of info. Marshall Brickman on Annie Hall:

After watching [the rough cut], we thought, "Where's the relationship?" When people come to me with ideas, sometimes they say, "I want to do a story about a war," or "I want to do a story about a hospital." And I'll always say, "Tell me the story in terms of a relationship." So with Annie Hall, we knew what was missing. It didn't focus on a relationship.
And Harold Ramis:

I always tell students to identify the most talented person in the room, and go stand next to him. That's what I did with Bill [Murray].
And George Meyer:
You can't keep bitch-slapping your creativity, or it'll run away and find a new pimp.
Buy it. Read it.
Labels: books, reading

8:06 AM

2 Comments:

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By 謝俊銘, at 2:25 AM

I bought it and I'm currently reading it, in random order. Harold Ramis' section was excellent - I didn't know much about the guy. Interesting to hear his thoughts on SCTV vs. SNL, and how they leveraged their second place position to work for them.

By PlasmicSteve, at 11:41 AM

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