TWO PROGRAMMING NOTES:
1) FYI: UPCOMING SCRIPTS WILL BE OUT OF 20 Best Film Plays, edited by Dudley Nichols.
Nichols was not only an Oscar winning writer (and four time nominee), but he published scripts to be read and studied, long before it was popular to do so.*
If Nichols thought I should read them, then I should read them.
2) WHY READ SUCH OLD SCRIPTS? I am hoping to combat a few things at the same time:
a) "SAME-NESS." A cinematographer who I admire recently stated that there is too much "same-ness" in today's stories. He's right.
Let's try to combat that by viewing the wide variety in these old scripts.
b) CHEAP. GOOD. FAST. ONLY PICK 2. Today's market wants Cheap + Good + Fast, but it's not possible.
You can have Cheap + Fast, but it won't be Good.
You can have Cheap + Good, but it won't be Fast.
You can have Good + Fast, but it won't be Cheap.
Perhaps reading these older scripts can remind us what kind of great stories can still be done for a dime, without sacrificing excellence.
In other words, the process of reading these scripts won't be Fast, but will help with the Cheap + Good.
*He also co-edited: Best Film Plays, 1943-4. Best Film Plays of 1945.
No comments:
Post a Comment