BOOKS TO READ: Hope for Film (2014)

You NEED to read this book!

Ted Hope uses true stories from his vast indie experience to explain different "virtues" that you'll need to work in show business (patience, joyfulness, etc.)

Please, please, do NOT miss Commitment (Chapter 4).

Hope explains what producers really face in a jaw dropping, behind-the-scenes account of his time on The Savages (2007).

I have not stopped talking about it for three days.

Hope for Film
by Ted Hope

BOOKS TO READ: The Man Who Heard Voices, Or, How M. Night Shyamalan Risked His Career on a Fairy Tale (2006)

[Quick Summary: Philadelphia sports writer Michael Bamberger meets M. Night Shyamalan at a 2004 dinner party, and follows him over two years during the creation of Lady in the Water.]

A few weeks ago, I saw this book mentioned on Twitter.

I was curious because they said this was a "cautionary" tale.

I didn't see it the same way.

I thought it was an excellent look at how decisions are made behind-the-scenes.

The author covers it all:

- The tense dinner with studio execs over Shyamalan's script
- The good and bad on set
- Shyamalan's angst when readers didn't get his story, etc.

If nothing else, read this book for:

1) How Shyamalan outsmarted Harvey Weinstein (p.20-21)

2) An amazing primer on how to handle a NYU student director who saw a private rough cut and posted a review without Shyamalan's knowledge (p. 255-258; Shyamalan turned it around in a big way.)

3) Dealing with doubt and desperation

WHAT I'VE LEARNED: I will not forget the priceless story on how to truly apologize to a crew member (p. 238-239).

The Man Who Heard Voices, Or, How M. Night Shyamalan Risked His Career on a Fairy Tale (2006)
by Michael Bamberger

TODAY'S NUGGET: How the Pros Give Each Other Story Notes (& More Good Stuff)

Why didn't I read William Goldman's Which Lie Did I Tell?: More Adventures in the Screen Trade  (2001) sooner?!

Don't be like me.

READ IT NOW.

It will answer questions such as:

- "What does a screenwriter do when he is asked to damage his own screenplay?" (p. 92)
- When is a story NOT a film? (p. 162, with in-depth explanation)
- What is the one thing doctoring a script is really about? (p. 328)

However, if you've stuck it out this far, I bet you just want to know about story notes.

Goldman does something in this book that I've never seen anywhere else.

He wrote an original screenplay for this book...then handed it for comments to these six screenwriting friends:

Peter & Bobby Farrelly
Scott Frank
Tony Gilroy
Callie Khouri
John Patrick Shanley

Then he INCLUDED their written comments. 

They are helpful, focused, and excellent. You'll see:

- What pros look for in a story
- How each dissects (and explains) the strengths and weaknesses
- What bothers them, what they like

It will take time to read the screenplay and all the comments.

But if you want to see how a working writer thinks, (or if you want to BE that writer someday), it's worth it.

WHAT I'VE LEARNED: I learned what I, as a writer, must "protect to the death." (p. 179-180)

STORY OF THE DAY: What Goldman Said To Sorkin

In Aaron Sorkin's own words:

"You're a very talented writer, but I don't think there's any way I can hire you."

Those words would have been disappointing coming from anyone.  Coming from William Goldman, they were heart stopping.  Castle Rock was developing an idea for a film called Malice and Goldman had been asked by the company to identify a young, new (read inexpensive) writer whom he could tutor on the screenplay. 

I was twenty-seven and I'd never written a screenplay before, in fact I'd never read a screenplay before, but my first stageplay, A Few Good Men, was about to go into rehearsal for Broadway, and the script fell into the hands of a Castle Rock executive who passed it on to Goldman.

And the phone rang. My agent.

"Would you be interested in having lunch tomorrow afternoon with William Goldman to discuss a possible movie project?"

I told him that since Goldman was a remarkable novelist and screenwriter, two-time Academy Award winner, and my personal hero, that, yeah, I could probably squeeze him in.

I showed up at the designated restaurant on the upper East side.  Goldman stood, extended his hand, and said it.

"You're a very talented writer, but I don't think there's any way I can hire you."  Didn't look like I'd be getting lunch that day.

"I loved reading your play, but you've never written a screenplay, not even a lousy television pilot, and I don't think you have the experience necessary for us to be able to work on this." No lunch. No nothin'.

I told him that while I couldn't convince him that I had more experience than I did, perhaps I could convince him that experience wasn't crucial.  I sat down.  (The waiter eventually came and there was food.)  We talked about the Mets and we talked about our mutual back problems, but mostly we talked about writing.  Two hours later, my hero extended his hand again and said, "I tell you what: We've got a deal."

In the eight years and three films that followed, William Goldman taught me most of what I know about screenwriting, and a small fraction of what he knows. I'm very grateful.

Thanks for lunch, Bill. Really.

From the book: "Screenwriters: America's Storytellers in Portrait", by Helena Lumme & Mika Manninen, 1999, p. 99.