tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post3420156440627875862..comments2023-11-03T06:02:02.128-07:00Comments on By Ken Levine: The best screenwriting advice I could giveBy Ken Levinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17305293821975250420noreply@blogger.comBlogger13125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-47253235037517139302013-11-11T14:25:34.337-08:002013-11-11T14:25:34.337-08:00Maybe there WAS a story in the guy being married, ...Maybe there WAS a story in the guy being married, with the focus on how the wife wished her husband was the dreamer he used to be, and then dealing with the results when he did up and pursue the dream.<br /><br />The steadfast wife is an old Hollywood cliche, but there's something in a wife trying hard to be supportive when the dream is frankly hard to make glamourous or heroic. <br /><br />Does she even like baseball? Does she learn to? Is there some tradeoff regarding her own dreams? DBensonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-58917552127256350202013-11-11T09:09:51.300-08:002013-11-11T09:09:51.300-08:00MY DINNER WITH ANDRE meets BARRY LYNDON: two guys ...MY DINNER WITH ANDRE meets BARRY LYNDON: two guys meet to fight a duel and end up having a very deep discussion about the vagaries of life and death (for three hours). At the end they shoot at each other. Sounds good; a little different from your usual thing, maybe.Capstone P. Bollinknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-17192662019621403762013-11-11T06:42:35.212-08:002013-11-11T06:42:35.212-08:00Friday Question for Ken, regarding having a story ...Friday Question for Ken, regarding having a story first:<br /><br />Have you had occasions where you actually do have a story, but you get to a point where you just can't figure out an ending for it? What do you do with those -- move on to something else and hope you get an idea months/years later? Come to the realization it might've been a half-assed idea in the first place?<br /><br />I imagine having a longtime writing partner helps keep things like this from happening, but if you're working alone, you start wondering whether you should maybe think of a different line of work.ScottyBnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-37074590773292977172013-11-11T03:23:23.967-08:002013-11-11T03:23:23.967-08:00"So the best screen writing advice you can gi..."So the best screen writing advice you can give... yes, if you are selling a screenplay... is - is to have an actual screenplay to sell... No - no, I can see how that would be relevant - yes... Wow... You teach courses on this?"<br />So, armed with a random number generator and a list of recent successful films, does actual money change hands at these meetings? Do I have to give my real name?Mikehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06248182899977033579noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-28588427709353370702013-11-11T02:03:22.661-08:002013-11-11T02:03:22.661-08:00I think you'd have to show that his success in...I think you'd have to show that his success in his job has some merit outside of his own life, so presumably his baseball commentary does something amazing, like bring the small town together around Baseball. Families are reunited, town spirit is restored. So when the team loses at the end, the town folk realize they have actually won... each other. (*sniff*)<br /><br />Now how you do that with any degree of believability is another question :)<br /><br />Johnny Walkerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13302545167970532080noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-83109710481062821452013-11-10T22:35:31.949-08:002013-11-10T22:35:31.949-08:00My Dinner with Ryan O'Neal.
"Oh God! Oh ...My Dinner with Ryan O'Neal. <br />"Oh God! Oh man! Oh God! Oh man! Oh God! Oh man..."The Mutthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09149977320388415139noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-62715143401365356192013-11-10T15:30:29.630-08:002013-11-10T15:30:29.630-08:00I would have gone a different way with this.
And ...I would have gone a different way with this.<br /><br />And frankly I think it's possible to pull off today.<br /><br />Disillusioned solder Ted comes back from 6 in years Afghanistan to find his town that used to be rather small is now a part of a megacity.<br /><br />It has a minor league baseball team where his dad is the ballpark manager. Ted takes a job doing doing Audio Visuals for the ball park scoreboard. But the scoreboard is not just any setup... turns out it's much more capable that the locals have been doing with it. Also it's the civilian equivalent of the military command and control displays Ted worked on in the military. <br /><br />Soon the scoreboard entertainment is the talk of the megacity... and Ted is somewhat famous<br /><br />Complications<br />Ted's dad is ex-CIA (think Col Flag)<br />Ted's ex sweetheart is separated and now likes Ted again<br />Ted is being recruited to work for the local NFL mega display place<br />Ted is just getting over his military experiences.<br /><br /><br />So all the minor league funnies can come... all the Col. Flag gags work... it's great.Angry Gamernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-45993007020807717992013-11-10T14:13:33.876-08:002013-11-10T14:13:33.876-08:00This question may seem merely in jest, but serious...<br />This question may seem <i>merely</i> in jest, but seriously: Why is it <br /><br />"GOOD MORNING VIET NAM meets BULL DURHAM"<br /><br />rather than <br /><br />"BULL DURHAM meets GOOD MORNING VIET NAM"<br /><br />?Igornoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-11570263604698913072013-11-10T14:04:23.823-08:002013-11-10T14:04:23.823-08:00PARENTAL GUIDANCE may have killed the minor league...PARENTAL GUIDANCE may have killed the minor league announcer genre for about three more years.Howard Hoffmanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05377628524697677407noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-67830090456090907792013-11-10T12:39:36.209-08:002013-11-10T12:39:36.209-08:00In a pinch, it's definitely good to have a sto...In a pinch, it's definitely good to have a story, but if you've got time I think it's more fun to have the concept then chisel away the story from there. <br /><br />A while back, I just gave myself an exercise to, in ten mins or less, jot down the first seven story ideas that came to mind. All of them were really off-the-wall, but only about three of them were usable. In the time since then, I've been trying to figure out just how to flesh out those three concepts and it's been a lot of fun. Challenging as hell, but I feel like it's made me think outside all the formulas from Robert McKee, Syd Field, Save the Cat, Writer's Journey, etc. and focus on my story as a unique creation with its own rules and requirements.<br /><br />BULL DURHAM meets GOOD MORNING, VIETNAM would've been a good movie. I think it would work even better today. Baseball's a nostalgic game, radio's a nostalgic medium, and small towns are just nostalgic. There's something at the crux of all three of those things that holds some secret wisdom that we've lost as a society in recent years. You should tell that story if you ever got the rights back. I know baseball movies were so 1989, but I think that's why this is an even better time to tell this story.Dan Ballhttp://thedanballbrand.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-43720860918597306762013-11-10T12:31:45.526-08:002013-11-10T12:31:45.526-08:00Plus one, Ken. I once pitched an agent on a script...Plus one, Ken. I once pitched an agent on a script, she said send it, but I hadn't written it! What I turned in was not necessarily sub-par, but not very good, either, and she passed. The biggest lesson from that, for me, was how much I could actually get done if I put my butt in the chair and worked every day. I think i did the 100 pages in a week.Brian Drakehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01233187184688491057noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-72480308086771530812013-11-10T12:06:08.750-08:002013-11-10T12:06:08.750-08:00You're not the first to do this.
In Garson Ka...You're not the first to do this.<br /><br />In Garson Kanin's HOLLYWOOD, he describes being at an A-list poker game with producer Sam Goldwyn and writer/director Leo McCarey.<br /><br />While playing, McCarey pitched a story about a "Cowboy and a Lady" (which is what the picture ended up being called).<br /><br />Goldwyn liked the pitch so much, he bought it on the spot.<br /><br />The next morning McCarey called Kanin sheepishly and told him he couldn't remember what he pitched the night before. Did Kanin, and if so, would he be interested in writing it?Dixon Steelenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-47775870291410108082013-11-10T10:50:43.934-08:002013-11-10T10:50:43.934-08:00Robin Williams as an announcer in Bull Durham - no...Robin Williams as an announcer in Bull Durham - now that would have been funny.Brianhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00760229533287495672noreply@blogger.com