tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-146461032012-01-28T18:29:28.549-08:00The Invisible Ink Blog"If you want to write scripts, listen to Brian. The guy knows what he's talking about."
—Paul Feig (creator of NBC's Freaks and Geeks, and Director of Bridesmaids)Brian McDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14725832940943503641noreply@blogger.comBlogger1141100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14646103.post-6886489198065171232011-11-29T20:56:00.000-08:002011-11-30T05:57:35.233-08:00Movies I Like: Rear Window
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Brian McDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14725832940943503641noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14646103.post-49715539372681942262011-10-05T18:21:00.000-07:002011-10-16T03:44:16.227-07:00Movies I Like: The Wizard of Oz (Doing what the story needs)
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mso-font-signature:50331648 0 0Brian McDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14725832940943503641noreply@blogger.com31tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14646103.post-3372763889960442512011-08-22T16:16:00.000-07:002011-08-22T18:00:49.903-07:00Embracing Cliché (by not being cliché)"There is nothing new in art except talent." – Anton Chekhov
When teaching story structure, one of the biggest objections I have run into over the years is that “life’s not like that.” You can read my answer to that on my old Sherman Alexie post.
Another objection is that utilizing structure creates stilted work. Yes, it can, if one has only a superficial understanding of structure and Brian McDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14725832940943503641noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14646103.post-77176695846865568812011-08-09T22:09:00.000-07:002011-08-09T22:23:38.332-07:00My Book FREEMAN Is Out! Hey guys, my new book FREEMAN is actually out now. We had a pre-release last month at TR!CSTER, but now it is available to anyone on Amazon.com or BarnesandNoble.com.
FREEMAN, an original screenplay, is a western about Thomas Freeman a former slave, living out West with his wife and child, building a new life. Accused of stealing, he is forced to become a fugitive. To evade the posse on hisBrian McDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14725832940943503641noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14646103.post-9467768450788599622011-08-03T18:27:00.000-07:002011-10-05T04:54:19.481-07:00Movies I Like (Redux): Planet of the Apes "Overall theme leads to characters then on to plot" -- Rod Serling
This post is a kind of “re-run” of a previous post, but I thought that with the new Planet of the Apes film about to open, it was worth posting again. The original post was about the erroneous, in my opinion, comparison of M. Night Shyamalan to Rod Serling, I have altered this version just a bit to speak only of the Brian McDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14725832940943503641noreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14646103.post-26264360641163016852011-07-26T16:00:00.000-07:002011-08-11T01:30:22.862-07:00Thank you, Tr!ckster!
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Brian McDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14725832940943503641noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14646103.post-54870616456701383072011-07-13T17:44:00.000-07:002011-09-02T13:17:00.647-07:00Again with the simplicity
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Brian McDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14725832940943503641noreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14646103.post-20518326013690338332011-07-06T14:59:00.000-07:002011-10-20T18:07:58.198-07:00I'm On The Air!Hey guys, I’ve been busy working on a book so it has been a while since I’ve posted. I promise that I will post something new soon. In the meantime you can listen to an interview I recently did for a radio show.
The Karl Show Starring Jason:
http://www.karlshowstarringjason.com/2011/07/episode-5-brian-mcdonald/-mcdonald/
Hope you dig it.
Brian McDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14725832940943503641noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14646103.post-83323999888046804602011-06-02T13:05:00.000-07:002011-06-02T13:08:25.703-07:00The High Bar - An Interview with MeThe High Bar w/ Warren Etheredge & Brian McDonald from The High Bar on Vimeo.Brian McDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14725832940943503641noreply@blogger.com26tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14646103.post-40394291023745308602011-05-10T17:22:00.000-07:002011-10-25T17:24:03.085-07:00Meanwhile, Back at The Ranch…
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font-size:12.0pt;Brian McDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14725832940943503641noreply@blogger.com28tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14646103.post-50740689709801441502011-04-13T09:20:00.000-07:002011-04-13T09:22:38.657-07:00Movies I Like: Marty
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Brian McDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14725832940943503641noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14646103.post-57427171983273560742011-03-31T01:11:00.000-07:002011-04-09T07:38:06.809-07:00Movies I Like: The Shawshank Redemption
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font-size:12.0pt;Brian McDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14725832940943503641noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14646103.post-25349463002355402562011-03-18T08:15:00.000-07:002011-03-18T08:26:34.535-07:00Things Best Left Unsaid -- Writing Subtext
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I’ve been thinking about this post for a while now, because one of the most difficult things to write about is subtext. One Brian McDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14725832940943503641noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14646103.post-25104351686163152522011-03-11T18:53:00.000-08:002011-10-20T18:00:15.157-07:00Browsing my Bookshelves
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When I was a little kid I started Brian McDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14725832940943503641noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14646103.post-57502570866797910512011-03-01T13:00:00.000-08:002011-03-01T22:37:04.327-08:00Movies I Like: One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest
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Sometimes I feel very lucky to have grown up in the ’70s Brian McDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14725832940943503641noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14646103.post-55988007630890656982011-02-27T00:00:00.000-08:002011-02-28T12:42:47.972-08:00Movies I Like: The Odd Couple
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“Don't be too clever for an audience. Make it obvious. Make the subtleties obvious Brian McDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14725832940943503641noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14646103.post-49975223076336468312011-02-02T21:44:00.000-08:002011-02-10T09:04:12.428-08:00Uh…Did I mention that this was hard?"A writer is someone for whom writing is more difficult than other people."
— Thomas MannHere’s how an old cathode-ray tube television works: The TV picks up both the audio and video signals separately and sends each to their respective circuits. Electrons are fired in a beam down the cathode-ray tube in a side-to-side motion and creates a television image one line at a time like an electronic Brian McDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14725832940943503641noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14646103.post-16260757534904537222011-01-26T00:00:00.000-08:002011-01-26T00:39:34.251-08:00Observing Drama in its Natural Habitat -- A Raccoon AdventureAll our knowledge has its origins in our perceptions. --Leonardo da Vinci
Leonardo da Vinci was 500 years ahead of his time. Think about that for a second. Five hundred years. He invented the diving suit, the armored tank, the helicopter, the parachute, the hang glider and even scissors, to name just a few accomplishments.
I once watched a documentary about Leonardo that quoted him as Brian McDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14725832940943503641noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14646103.post-24884587230428564622011-01-20T02:33:00.000-08:002011-01-20T04:50:49.621-08:00Conflict Resolution
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3-LxmrFm40
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Most writing teachers will Brian McDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14725832940943503641noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14646103.post-8269643759613574742011-01-17T00:00:00.000-08:002011-01-19T03:11:02.722-08:00Getting past our issues to get to the craft
Dooley Wilson and Humphrey Bogart in Casablanca.
Sometimes I will tell a student that they should watch a particular film to help them understand a particular concept better or just to see a concept executed perfectly. I was once, but am no longer, surprised at the response that often comes back at me: “No, I won’t see that film because I don’t like fill-in the-blank-actor.” Or they will say Brian McDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14725832940943503641noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14646103.post-68540722404354395372011-01-07T17:06:00.000-08:002011-01-07T17:06:08.355-08:00The Advanced Class – Back to Basics“I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times.” – Bruce Lee
Many times after one of my six-week classes is completed, a student, excited by what he or she has just learned, has said to me, “You should teach an advanced class!”
I am always flattered, but always a little surprised. Advanced? I know for a fact that they have notBrian McDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14725832940943503641noreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14646103.post-86991617747944291042010-12-28T16:39:00.000-08:002010-12-31T14:22:30.218-08:00The Strength of the Reluctant Hero
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Courage is not the absence ofBrian McDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14725832940943503641noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14646103.post-7631562717739144012010-12-18T02:03:00.000-08:002010-12-20T08:40:21.474-08:00Movies I Like: Tootsie
Anyone who has read my first book, Invisible Ink, knows how highly I think of Tootsie. It was one of the many standout films—along with E.T., The Verdict, and Gandhi—that were released in 1982.
I am going to talk here, as I have with other films I like, about how impressed I am with the laser focus of this film. It is a story that aims directly at its thematic target and hits a bulls-eye.
I Brian McDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14725832940943503641noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14646103.post-76493331657765024752010-11-23T16:21:00.000-08:002010-12-18T10:16:41.575-08:00Isolation of Interest: More thoughts on Learning If you ever want to get better at learning, become a teacher—you will see all of the things people do that stop themselves from learning. One thing we do that blocks us from learning is that we listen/read with an agenda. In magic this is called isolation of interest.
Here is a story I have told before, but to make a different point, about a magician who was teaching a class on magic in Las Brian McDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14725832940943503641noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14646103.post-26491826903621673892010-11-17T03:20:00.000-08:002010-11-17T03:21:00.287-08:00Movies I Like: Sunset Boulevard
“Grab ‘em by the throat and never let ‘em go.”—Billy Wilder, talking about the audience.
The Major and the Minor, Double Indemnity, The Lost Weekend, Sunset Boulevard, Ace in the Hole, Stalag 17, Sabrina, The Seven Year Itch, Witness for the Prosecution, Some Like It Hot, The Apartment, and The Fortune Cookie are just some of the classic films co-written and directed by the great Billy Brian McDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14725832940943503641noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14646103.post-1397825720430450652010-11-15T18:00:00.000-08:002010-11-16T11:48:56.874-08:00Mountain Music -- The Movie
Last year I was asked to direct a three-minute documentary for MTV. This was for their show $5 Cover and the short films were companion pieces called B-sides. Several filmmakers made shorts for the show and as far as I know MTV has never done anything with them.
They wanted us to do something about the Seattle music scene, but not a typical Seattle music story. So my producing partner and I Brian McDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14725832940943503641noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14646103.post-30898390321475963752010-11-08T16:59:00.000-08:002010-11-08T17:02:25.879-08:00Movies I Like: Shadow of a Doubt
Alfred Hitchcock’s directing career spanned form 1922 to 1976: 54 years. He started with silent film and saw the advancements of sound (he made the first British talkie), color and even 3-D within his lifetime. And he was a master of filmmaking almost from the beginning.
Some of his classic films include Blackmail, The Lodger, Rope, Strangers on a Train, Lifeboat, Dial M for Murder, The Man Brian McDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14725832940943503641noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14646103.post-29609825949895729332010-11-01T04:42:00.000-07:002010-11-01T12:06:05.170-07:00A Lesson From Paddy Chayefsky
“When you ask a writer what their story’s about and they give you plot you’re in trouble.”—a paraphrased quote by director Sidney Pollack.
In the 1950s Paddy Chayefsky made a huge splash with a teleplay he had written called Marty. Marty would then become a hit movie and an Academy Award winner.
Chayefsky wrote many things of note in television, film, and theater. He was a writer’s writer (heBrian McDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14725832940943503641noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14646103.post-80999261307065218442010-10-29T13:42:00.000-07:002010-10-29T13:57:08.268-07:00Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid – Another Movie I Like
William Goldman, who wrote the script for Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, is one of the most respected screenwriters in the history of the medium, and this film is one of the reasons. It has left an imprint on the “buddy picture” that has not diminished since its 1969 release.
What I love about this movie is that it has a laser focus—it knows what it’s about. Goldman knows his theme and Brian McDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14725832940943503641noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14646103.post-50541940314141602922010-10-27T09:05:00.000-07:002010-10-27T09:05:36.175-07:00Changing the VerbLast season I was a writer for the show Hoarders. That’s the A&E reality show about people who are compulsive hoarders and the problems it causes them and their loved ones.
How does one “ write” a reality show, one might ask.
Well, what we did is look through all of the footage and transcripts of the 40 hours of tape, find the story there, and reduce it to 22 minutes. Hard work. But we were Brian McDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14725832940943503641noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14646103.post-76608113519893251322010-10-22T21:53:00.000-07:002010-10-22T21:53:04.012-07:00My new book is out(ish)!I know some of you out there have been waiting for my new book The Golden Theme, well it’s sort of here. What I mean is that it is available for pre-order on Amazon. It will be a week or two before you can hold it your hot little hands, but you can order it right now.
Sorry, Amazon takes a while to put up a cover image for some reason.
Anyway, this is from the foreword by National Book Award Brian McDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14725832940943503641noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14646103.post-44693831563686501702010-10-04T11:11:00.000-07:002010-10-04T11:19:43.638-07:00A Few Thoughts on Learning “Being ignorant is not so much a shame, as being unwilling to learn.” -- Benjamin Franklin
Before I start this blog post I will warn you that there is a little bit of swearing and a bit of imagery that may be slightly off-putting to some. But I think the lesson of this post is an important one and worth the risk of offending.
I am often taken aback by students and others I talk to whoBrian McDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14725832940943503641noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14646103.post-40522911454279191452010-09-24T11:18:00.000-07:002010-09-24T11:46:52.049-07:00You don't know what you don't know
"Everybody is ignorant, only on different subjects." ~Will Rogers
In my life I have known many artists who dismiss the idea of structure when it comes to art – and with stories in particular. It doesn’t feel organic for them to work with a plan or to impose a form on their art. They believe that their art will lose emotional power. This is a mistake.
I was once invited to see the one-womanBrian McDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14725832940943503641noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14646103.post-9876819116273694252010-09-10T16:20:00.000-07:002011-04-01T15:01:33.841-07:00Happy Birthday, Scott!
This is not my regular kind of post. Today would have been the birthday of my good friend Scott, whom I met 30 years ago. And since this is also the 30th Anniversary year for The Empire Strikes Back I thought I would post this short documentary I made in his honor one more time. If you are tired of seeing it I apologize.
Flickering Images from Marcus Donner on Vimeo.
Happy Birthday, Brian McDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14725832940943503641noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14646103.post-80377451600067218382010-08-24T12:51:00.000-07:002010-08-24T15:36:13.838-07:00We Have Just Entered The Twilight Zone...
"I happen to think that the singular evil of our time is prejudice. It is from this evil that all other evils grow and multiply." -- Rod Serling
This is important to me. Up until now I have tried to keep the focus of this blog on film and filmmaking with an emphasis on story construction. And this post will not stray too far from that, but you will get a view of my politics Brian McDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14725832940943503641noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14646103.post-39309182194688613862010-08-23T11:57:00.000-07:002010-08-23T11:57:45.459-07:00Working Hard for the Money
My step father once told me, when I was a kid, that what made someone a professional rather than an amateur was that they were paid for what they did. He was wrong.
Many people use my step father’s explanation for what makes a professional and I find that it leads to shoddy workmanship because it takes the focus off of getting good at what we do and shifts it to getting good enough toBrian McDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14725832940943503641noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14646103.post-84674981743469092002010-07-22T17:09:00.000-07:002010-09-08T13:07:49.041-07:00My Own Sixth Sense -- Why Shyamalan is Not Serling and Never Was
"OVERALL THEME LEADS TO CHARACTERS THEN ON TO PLOT"
-- Rod Serling
First let me say that I debated with myself about writing this post because I’m not particularly interested in singling out Mr. Shyamalan in such a public forum. Let me just say that there is a kind of bravery that all artists have to have because they put their work out there to be judged by just about anyone.
I have learned Brian McDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14725832940943503641noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14646103.post-27898019565199989712010-07-21T17:39:00.000-07:002010-09-08T05:11:03.255-07:00Here’s Another Movie I Like -- Norma RaeI have many films that I love, but there are only a few I wish I had made. One of those films is Paper Moon. And then there are a few films where the pure craftsmanship brings me to the verge of tears. These films make me shake my head in admiration and disbelief at their excellence. Norma Rae is one of those.
I told someone that it was one of my favorite films, and she was surprised because Brian McDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14725832940943503641noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14646103.post-54060741539334120712010-06-11T12:09:00.000-07:002010-06-23T15:51:59.506-07:00If it's Good Enough for Mozart..."People make a mistake who think that my art has come easily to me. Nobody has devoted so much time and thought to composition as I. There is not a famous master whose music I have not studied over and over." -- MozartSometimes I forget just how lucky I have been on my journey of learning my craft. I have met some of the smartest and most generous people one would ever want to meet.They were Brian McDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14725832940943503641noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14646103.post-53370149462816231882010-05-20T12:25:00.000-07:002011-11-02T00:29:43.566-07:00Life: The Other Kind of Research
“I'm trying to take culture and put it onstage, demonstrate it is capable of sustaining you. There is no idea that can't be contained by life: Asian life, European life, certainly black life. My plays are about love, honor, duty, betrayal—things humans have written about since the beginning of time.”—August Wilson
August Wilson was fond of saying that he didn’t do researchBrian McDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14725832940943503641noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14646103.post-20921652668801657842010-05-04T00:31:00.000-07:002011-03-17T12:44:48.130-07:00Too much of a good thing: The pitfalls of research"If your work shows, you're in trouble." --Chuck Jones
I was once writing a script on a particular topic, and as part of my research I was reading the "For Dummies"book on this subject. Someone saw me reading this book and scoffed. I took that to mean that I should have been reading a more "serious" book on the subject. Why? To avoid embarrassment? I wasn't trying to impress anyone--I was Brian McDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14725832940943503641noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14646103.post-17549774353971515462010-04-16T17:37:00.001-07:002010-05-08T12:21:19.736-07:00This Is Not a Pipe: The Value of ResearchBefore I start I want to thank all of you who have promoted my new book on your blogs. And also thank you all very much who have bought the book. I am grateful that you think I may have something worthwhile to say to you. The response has been great. It just got a really great review on MicroFilmmaker.And now back to our regularly scheduled program…A playwright once told me that I should write Brian McDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14725832940943503641noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14646103.post-48575402254321485262010-03-11T17:24:00.000-08:002010-03-12T12:10:41.402-08:00Of course you could just wait for the movie...Thanks, everyone, for visiting this blog. I’m still getting used to the idea that people care what I have to say. Some people hate what I say while others find it useful, but it’s just a strange feeling to have people care one way or the other. Sometimes the only way that I can muster up the courage to write this blog is to pretend to myself that no one reads it. I didn’t even want to start this Brian McDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14725832940943503641noreply@blogger.com22tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14646103.post-6955138485987343972010-02-19T19:05:00.000-08:002011-10-28T16:30:09.671-07:00How to be Original
"All my best thoughts were stolen by the ancients." ~Ralph Waldo Emerson
"Even in literature and art, no man who bothers about originality will ever be original: whereas if you simply tell the truth (without caring twopence how often it has been told before) you will, nine times out of ten, become original without ever having Brian McDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14725832940943503641noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14646103.post-90768655782036003492009-11-16T19:00:00.000-08:002009-12-08T17:16:42.326-08:00The Rabbit Doesn't Always WinLast weekend I guest lectured for some friends who co-teach a screenwriting class and something came up that I see happen a lot. As I taught/spoke, I could see people were working very hard to “get it.” They felt like they had to understand what I was talking about right then and there.One of the things that teaching has done for me is make me a better student, because I see where others get Brian McDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14725832940943503641noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14646103.post-73392222819652371182009-10-31T02:31:00.000-07:002009-10-31T03:06:20.731-07:00Here There Be MonstersOne of the most common things I hear from people who object to learning, or having others learn, story structure is that the writing becomes stiff and mechanical. They are right. I will not argue with them about that. This argument, however, is made primarily by those who have a hard time understanding and applying story structure and it is convenient to say that it makes their work mechanical. Brian McDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14725832940943503641noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14646103.post-79481182035914225832009-08-03T10:04:00.000-07:002011-12-02T00:44:49.302-08:00Movies I Like: It's a Wonderful Life
There are some films we have that are respected and less loved, and some that are beloved and less respected. Citizen Kane, for instance, is respected but not beloved like The Wizard of Oz. A few (very few) are both loved and respected—Casablanca is a prime example.
As a rule, films that make us think are respected while those that make us feel are beloved. Film scholars and Brian McDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14725832940943503641noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14646103.post-72934094985796545012009-07-04T01:18:00.001-07:002009-07-06T14:50:36.501-07:00One-trick Pony"Overall theme leads to character and then on to plot" -- Rod SerlingThere are two things that inexperienced screenwriters talk about ceaselessly--dialogue and the twist ending. The twist ending is the Holy Grail for the new or inexperienced writer. Younger writers think a twist is the end-all be-all is because it is writing that can be seen, writing that can be noticed. Young writers don't speakBrian McDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14725832940943503641noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14646103.post-22753391456231434262009-06-05T17:04:00.000-07:002009-06-08T16:53:32.067-07:00Yet another movie I like—The Apartment"The best director is the one you don't see." -- Billy WilderSomeone asked me today why I like older movies better than new ones. This is not an easy question to answer to everyone’s satisfaction, but I will give it a try. They’re better.This is not to say that all old films are great, but they are better on the whole. The level of storycraft in the older films is higher. It just is and as Brian McDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14725832940943503641noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14646103.post-63616500427922065512009-04-27T11:29:00.000-07:002011-04-04T06:31:55.404-07:00My bad play and what it taught me
“Never bore people.”--Billy Wilder
When I was in the 8th grade I was a big Star Trek fan. At that time there was no movie and no Next Generation–just the original Trek in reruns, and the cartoon series that got me hooked in the first place.
Anyway, the show was, and continues to be, a big influence on my writing.
Back then I was in a drama class and we had to write a short play and perform itBrian McDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14725832940943503641noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14646103.post-9692319790853486572009-04-13T11:38:00.000-07:002010-06-30T20:05:25.572-07:00Another Movie I Like: 12 Angry Men“I happen to think that the singular evil of our time is prejudice. It is from this evil that all other evils grow and multiply. In almost everything I've written there is a thread of this: a man's seemingly palpable need to dislike someone other than himself.”--ROD SERLING, Los Angeles Times, 1967I had a student once who would always ask me what films I liked. He was confused as to why I almost Brian McDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14725832940943503641noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14646103.post-24079026319734893862009-03-27T02:39:00.000-07:002009-03-27T18:43:15.517-07:00Movies I like "I know a woman who looks like a bullfrog but that don't mean she's the damn thing's mother." -- Moses Pray (Paper Moon)Anyone who speaks to me for more than five minutes knows that I think that this time we are living in is the worst time in the history of American film. In fact, I did write about it in two other posts. So if you’d like more details you should look at those.I will say that I Brian McDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14725832940943503641noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14646103.post-522009910949802372009-01-28T16:56:00.000-08:002009-01-28T17:39:11.077-08:00Two Questions That Drive Me CrazyFirst some backstory: When I was a kid there were no VCRs. Only rich people had them; they were still rare for the rest of us. I desperately wanted to see my favorite television shows over and over again, but there was no way to do it. So I used a cassette recorder to record the shows’ audio. I would listen to them in bed when I was supposed to be asleep. This was during the ages of ten, eleven Brian McDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14725832940943503641noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14646103.post-3638816230741370972008-10-23T13:59:00.000-07:002008-10-23T14:53:37.547-07:00The Perfect SolutionI would like to take back the word “perfectionist.” Let’s start by assuming that perfection is something we can actually attain. For instance, some people say that people there is no such thing as a perfect circle, but, for all practical purposes, there is. Let’s call this perfect. Near perfect is perfect.Why am I defining perfection? Because I have seen many screenwriters and others use Brian McDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14725832940943503641noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14646103.post-4577856095539111582008-10-12T14:22:00.000-07:002008-10-13T10:29:49.739-07:00Our Very Own Library of AlexandriaThe Library of Alexandria was the largest library in the ancient world. The aim of this ancient Egyptian library was to collect the world’s knowledge. It was said that when foreign ships came into port that their books, and all written material was confiscated, copied, and returned to its owners.The library was tragically destroyed in a fire. Scholars still lament the loss of this vast repositoryBrian McDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14725832940943503641noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14646103.post-70707930210032324252008-09-18T16:49:00.000-07:002008-09-18T16:49:43.557-07:00Bad Shark, Good Movie Back in the days before CGI, my roommate was a special effects makeup artist. At that time I had a few friends in this field. There was an ongoing argument that I would have with my creature-making friends about Yoda and E.T., back when both of these characters were make of rubber. They were really just suffocated puppets. My roommate’s view was that both E.T. and Yoda were poorly sculpted. ItBrian McDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14725832940943503641noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14646103.post-63345110088960631402008-08-29T17:23:00.000-07:002008-08-29T20:26:08.847-07:00The Best Writing Advice I Ever GotOne thousand years ago, when I was a teenager, I went a sci-fi convention in Seattle. This was probably 1978 or ’79. In those days these kinds of conventions were only attended by hardcore geeks (called nerds in those days) who were on the fringe on society. Big movie stars did not go to these events. The biggest star at this convention was the actor who played Boomer on the original Battlestar Brian McDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14725832940943503641noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14646103.post-38096179419217050002008-07-11T16:31:00.000-07:002011-08-24T17:07:19.561-07:00Water Shortage Several years ago I wrote a script that had as one of its elements an army of ghosts. Everyone who read the screenplay swore it would sell for big money, and that it was the best screenplay I had written up to that point. I was really proud of this script myself; I felt that I had nailed this story and its treatment.
But when I showed the screenplay to my agent at the time, he looked as if he Brian McDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14725832940943503641noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14646103.post-63465472615451738482008-06-18T19:16:00.000-07:002008-06-18T21:17:07.327-07:00The End"Begin at the beginning and go on till you come to the end; then stop." -- Lewis Carroll Before I launch into this post I want to apologize for my long absence. My father died and I didn’t much feel like writing the blog. Also I got an idea for a book and wrote that instead.Now on with the show…Endings come up a lot when I’m teaching. Some people say that a happy ending is cheap and that life Brian McDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14725832940943503641noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14646103.post-77289679272362407172007-12-20T19:48:00.000-08:002008-08-30T10:59:45.581-07:00Turn up the contrast (or why we like crazy astronauts) I often hear people say how much they love a film because it is “dark.” They wax poetic about dark films because they feel that they are more true-to-life than one that is lighter (or “sappy,” as they might say).I feel as if I have asked them what they see in an inkblot. Over many years I have noticed that these people tend to be gloomier people all around. They believe anything good or happy isBrian McDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14725832940943503641noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14646103.post-31641029771371556882007-12-03T04:55:00.000-08:002007-12-05T11:36:06.817-08:00Theme Beats Logic“Don’t give me logic, give me emotion.”— Billy Wilder’s instructions to his writing partner, I.A.L. DiamondLet’s start to explore this idea of theme versus logic by looking at the film Raising Arizona. Nicholas Cage and Holly Hunter play a couple desperate to have a child. They eventually resort to stealing an infant from a couple with quintuplets.When the hapless couple brings the baby home, Brian McDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14725832940943503641noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14646103.post-46542174853632711022007-09-05T06:41:00.000-07:002007-09-05T16:54:55.780-07:00The ultimate sophistication"Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication." -- Leonardo da VinciDa Vinci’s quote on the sophistication of simplicity has been all but forgotten by creative people today. Screenwriting students, more than anything else, don’t want their work to appear too simplistic, too “obvious.” The idea of communicating clearly with one’s audience is now equated with talking down to them.Good art, we think, Brian McDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14725832940943503641noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14646103.post-20458951384959088412007-08-05T00:58:00.000-07:002007-08-06T01:25:54.209-07:00The Secret of MagicYears ago a good friend of mine was an apprentice film editor at the same time as he was learning carpentry from his father. One day the film editor says to my friend, “When you read about carpentry think about editing.”My friend and I talked about this for some time trying to figure out what he meant. We were both in our late teens at the time and couldn’t make sense of it. Now that I’m older I Brian McDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14725832940943503641noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14646103.post-28420889550122779792007-05-23T16:42:00.000-07:002007-05-24T15:20:09.017-07:00A Genius - Part 2 (or Chaplin's Blog)I have said it before: The people who made films "in the old days" were better at their craft than those who make them now. I have urged people to seek out old interviews with these storytellers to see just how much they had to say about their craft. If you do this, you will see farther because you will be standing in the shoulders of giants. Now here is one of those giants: Charlie Chaplin. If Brian McDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14725832940943503641noreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14646103.post-15736432659748460962007-05-15T16:24:00.000-07:002007-05-16T18:08:13.602-07:00A Genius -- Part 1"I like Keaton's [films]. But Chaplin is the best of 'em all." -- Howard HawksCharlie Chaplin was a genius. I know, I'm not the first one to say this, but people tend to take him for granted. We think of his little tramp character as too cutsie -- we are too sophisticated nowadays to laugh at something so corny. He doesn't look funny to us with his Hitler mustache, bowler hat and baggy pants. ButBrian McDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14725832940943503641noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14646103.post-15193020908165484452007-05-01T16:45:00.000-07:002007-05-01T17:08:22.520-07:00FLIP-FLOPSWhen I say flip-flops I don’t mean shoes. Flip-flops is the name that I give characters who are opposites, but exchange character traits.Oscar and Felix of Neil Simon’s play The Odd Couple, are probably the most famous flip-flops. One is clean and prissy while the other is sloppy and gruff. Their marriages have broken up and they are thrown together as roommates. They are extreme opposites, Brian McDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14725832940943503641noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14646103.post-25967650766568522182007-03-13T18:44:00.000-07:002007-03-14T10:52:46.327-07:00Get Rich Quick! Become a Hollywood Screenwriter!“Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.” -- Thomas EdisonI was once asked to show a short film of mine and speak about filmmaking at a community college. At the time my film (a short film called “White Face”) had been running on HBO. After a few standard questions like, “What was the budget?” and “How long did it take to make?” came a questionBrian McDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14725832940943503641noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14646103.post-1169510293570003552007-01-22T15:54:00.000-08:002007-01-23T10:20:33.313-08:00Please Don’t Kill The AnimalsIn the last couple of years, several animated films have used animals as major characters. Now I am told by my friends in that business that the studios are looking to buck this trend. They feel that the audience is growing tired of watching animals. I find this baffling. Animal stories did not emerge in the world with the advent of computer-generated animation, and will be with us long after we Brian McDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14725832940943503641noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14646103.post-1167982270487215302007-01-04T23:22:00.001-08:002007-01-05T16:44:48.953-08:00The New Holy Grail People tell me about how good the stories are in games nowadays, but I have never seen this to be true. The games are exciting and the graphics are great, but they do not tell stories. (I can hear some of your knees jerking from here, but hear me out.)Because video games have many of the elements of a story -- characters, settings and exciting events for instance -- it is easy to be fooled into Brian McDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14725832940943503641noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14646103.post-1163459972940956752006-11-13T15:08:00.000-08:002006-11-13T19:02:29.033-08:00The Artist’s Vision “Why do you want to build an amusement park, they’re so dirty.” -- Walt Disney’s wife, on his idea for DisneylandFor those of us born after 1955 it is difficult to imagine a world without Disneyland. But for the people who were born the other side of that year, it was just as difficult to imagine a world with Disneyland in it. Mrs. Disney was correct: amusement parks were dirty places. She couldBrian McDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14725832940943503641noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14646103.post-1160784205311146152006-10-13T16:50:00.000-07:002006-10-13T17:18:54.446-07:00Target Practice"The greater danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it." -- MichelangeloWhile teaching a class, I once mentioned that it wasn’t just luck to repeatedly produce good work as a storyteller. I said that if it were being in the right place at the right time, you could not have people whose successes span decades, such as Alfred Brian McDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14725832940943503641noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14646103.post-1159321116529242132006-09-26T18:35:00.000-07:002006-09-27T00:36:36.703-07:00Hero Worship"One must think like a hero to behave like a merely decent human being." -- May SartonWhat happened to heroes in stories? In older films and stories, heroes were characters who made sacrifices. They were people who thought of others before themselves. At some point we decided that this was unrealistic, and characters like a square-jawed Superman were too corny for us. We were more sophisticated Brian McDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14725832940943503641noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14646103.post-1157495147682676452006-09-05T15:07:00.000-07:002006-09-05T15:26:18.296-07:00WHAT’S WRONG WITH EMOTIONS, ANYWAY? When was that last time you felt anything in the movie theater? I mean really felt something for the characters. Did you care who lived and who died? (I don’t mean intellectually, but deep down in your gut.)When a film is really working people come out fired up. They are still giggling at the funny part, or still worked up by exciting part. Or they are still sad because of the melancholy part. Brian McDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14725832940943503641noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14646103.post-1152750812644210022006-07-12T17:19:00.000-07:002011-09-07T09:31:25.868-07:00SUPERIOR POSITION
From an interview with Alfred Hitchcock: "There is a distinct difference between ‘suspense’ and ‘surprise,’ and yet many pictures continually confuse the two. I’ll explain what I mean.
We are now having a very innocent little chat. Let’s suppose that there is a bomb underneath this table between us. Nothing happens, and then all of a sudden, ‘Boom!’ There is an explosion. The public isBrian McDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14725832940943503641noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14646103.post-1150505905246214212006-06-16T17:58:00.000-07:002011-03-01T14:11:48.360-08:00"The Humble Improve"“The Humble Improve” – Wynton Marsalis
The sketches in this blog were done by my friend Derek Thompson who works for Pixar and has sat in on two different seminars of mine. This was his way of taking notes.
A few months ago I had the privilege of teaching my seminar at Pixar. Anyone who knows me knows that there are few modern storytellers I respect as much as I do those at Pixar. They Brian McDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14725832940943503641noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14646103.post-1148687248607799222006-05-26T16:37:00.000-07:002006-05-26T22:41:39.473-07:00The Amazing Disappearing First Act"Learn the fundamentals of the game and stick to them." --Jack NicklausI hate to come back to the whole “three act” thing, but I find over and over again that people are not adhering to it. My belief is that the lack of strong first acts in films in recent years has much to do with the steady decline in movie attendance. No first act, no emotional involvement.I think that I mentioned before Brian McDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14725832940943503641noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14646103.post-1147744161030612432006-05-15T18:41:00.000-07:002006-05-24T14:23:15.620-07:00The Other Side of the RollercoasterIt is at this time of the year that the studios put out their big movies – their “tent-pole” films. Their marketers will call these “non-stop rollercoaster rides!” Rollercoaster is the term that they use to describe films with relentless action. They promise all of the thrill, chills, twists and turns of tallest rollercoaster at Magic Mountain or Great America or wherever.Why are these movies Brian McDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14725832940943503641noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14646103.post-1147277767348688472006-05-10T09:05:00.000-07:002006-05-11T01:07:41.246-07:00Inkblot CinemaA while ago I had a talk with a musician friend of mine. He told me that he had gone to see a modern classical concert. He said that it was an awful cacophony, and asked, “What happened to the art of communication?” I thought that was a very good question, one I have often wondered about myself.I saw a documentary on television about the phenomenon of genius; in it they said that it was a westernBrian McDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14725832940943503641noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14646103.post-1145601896840856792006-04-20T23:43:00.000-07:002011-10-28T08:41:55.135-07:00A Look Inside My Brain part 2
Flickering Images from Marcus Donner on Vimeo.
In this post I will once again explain my process while making a short documentary for the Seattle international Film Festival.I feel that when doing a creative work it is best to place restrictions on one's self. These restrictions, or rules, give the piece an internal consistency. They also force you to be more creative. There is an old Brian McDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14725832940943503641noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14646103.post-1144534405396883382006-04-08T15:09:00.000-07:002011-01-18T14:50:33.896-08:00A Look Inside My Brain
Because I think it’s important that I show you the principles I espouse applied to my own work, in this blog entry I will breakdown a short film that I directed.
Two years ago I was asked by the Seattle International Film Festival to participate in the Fly Filmmaking Challenge. These are films made ‘on the fly’. They selected ten directors to each make a five-minute documentary. Our subjectsBrian McDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14725832940943503641noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14646103.post-1143596859020194652006-03-28T17:42:00.000-08:002006-03-29T11:37:34.680-08:00On The Shoulders of GiantsSir Isaac Newton once said that, "if I see further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants." He was of course referring to the great astronomers who came before him, people like Galileo and Kepler. Most physicists believe Newton to be the greatest scientific mind ever in their field and yet Newton gave the credit for his success to others.Everyone I know who is good at what they do will Brian McDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14725832940943503641noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14646103.post-1143128621738169352006-03-23T07:36:00.001-08:002006-03-28T12:23:42.333-08:00Paddy Chayefsky’s DeadStarting sometime in the 80’s film directors became art directors. The look of a film became more important than any other aspect of the film. So all of the guys who cared more about style than substance have been touted as geniuses. It is not unusual nowadays to hear a critic wax poetic about the look of a film regardless of the narrative substance of the film. Not to pick on Memoirs of a Brian McDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14725832940943503641noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14646103.post-1142441052197289412006-03-15T08:40:00.000-08:002006-03-15T08:57:11.720-08:00MYTH OF GENRE part 2If you think about it, Jaws is just a monster movie. And, like a lot of monster movies, incidental characters are picked off as our hero tries to stop the creature. But, somehow, the film transcends genre. It’s because it has an armature and a character of change. Lots of films came out after Jaws which tried to repeat its success. One film used an orca whale in place of a shark, and anotherBrian McDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14725832940943503641noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14646103.post-1142030434454884462006-03-10T14:37:00.000-08:002006-03-14T00:04:03.246-08:00THE MYTH OF GENREGenre is visible. People know if they are watching a western or science fiction. But invisible ink is about the inner workings of story, not the costumes the characters wear.Among the people who know me, I am known as the guy who doesn’t like any film that comes out. This isn’t true. It’s mostly true. Anyway, they rack their brains trying to figure out what it is I do like and why. They Brian McDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14725832940943503641noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14646103.post-1141057788001847942006-02-27T08:28:00.000-08:002006-03-14T17:21:27.573-08:00DIALOGUE part 4 (ADDRESS AND EXPLAIN)This is related to “address and dismiss” but serves a different function. The best example is in the first Star Wars, when Luke Skywalker sees the Millennium Falcon for the first time. After it was revealed, a hush came over the audience as they took in the magnificent ship. Then Luke exclaims, “What a piece of junk!”The crowed erupted with laughter, because that’s not at all what we were Brian McDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14725832940943503641noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14646103.post-1140538725069296952006-02-21T08:13:00.000-08:002006-03-14T17:18:27.716-08:00DIALOGUE part 3 (ADDRESS AND DISMISS)The first time I noticed this technique, I was watching John Carpenter’s The Thing. In the film, an alien creature with the ability to assume any form terrorizes a group of men in an isolated research base.In this particular scene, the alien has assumed the shape of one of the men, but then begins to distort. The neck stretches impossibly and tendons snap. The head detaches from the rest of theBrian McDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14725832940943503641noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14646103.post-1139593346039071842006-02-10T09:32:00.000-08:002006-03-14T19:28:03.073-08:00DIALOGUE part 2 (SOUNDING NATURAL)Over the last few years, I have noticed that every character I read, or see in the movies or on television, sounds like another movie or television show. Real people don’t talk like movie people. Listen to how people speak. They didn’t all grow up in your neighborhood, nor do they all have your educational background.Because I’ve worked in both animation and comic books, I know a lot of Brian McDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14725832940943503641noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14646103.post-1138840950815002032006-02-01T16:37:00.000-08:002006-03-14T08:21:36.990-08:00DIALOGUE part 1My barber wants to make a film. He wants to write a screenplay, so he wants to know the format. He figures that once he knows the format, he’s set. There is nothing else to know, right? As he said to me, “I already know what I want people to say.”Most people are under the impression that scriptwriting is coming up with dialogue. Most critics seem to think this as well. They will go on and Brian McDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14725832940943503641noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14646103.post-1136969009990483112006-01-11T00:41:00.000-08:002006-03-14T17:06:36.476-08:00The Strange Case of Sherman AlexieI was once asked to give a talk about storytelling to a convention of high school media students with Native-American writer Sherman Alexie. The problem was no one told Sherman, so he spoke the entire time. That worked out perfectly for me because I got a great story out of it.Sherman doesn’t believe in formalized story structure, he believes that it is a Hollywood construct. He began his Brian McDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14725832940943503641noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14646103.post-1136442474960359622006-01-04T22:23:00.000-08:002006-03-14T16:34:05.110-08:00We Live in the Dark Ages part 2The more I talk about, and teach, structure the more I see that people have a fundamental misunderstanding about what it really is. Story structure is not an edict from on high, which says, ‘One must tell stories like this!’ It is more basic than that – it is the way people naturally tell stories. And storytelling is as natural to human beings as language itself.Here are the three parts of Brian McDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14725832940943503641noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14646103.post-1135734806866387022005-12-27T17:52:00.000-08:002009-03-27T15:40:31.101-07:00We Live in the Dark AgesThese are the Dark Times. This is, in my opinion, the worst time in the history of cinema. This trend toward bad films began around 1980. When I say this to friends they often say that I just like old movies and that they have always made bad films. They are correct that bad films have always been produced, but there were also a lot more good films and more than a few masterpieces. I offer Brian McDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14725832940943503641noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14646103.post-1133824733943285702005-12-05T15:16:00.000-08:002011-04-21T11:05:57.865-07:00King Kong -- An American Icon
King Kong was one of my favorite movies. Until recently.
While flipping through a book on the making of the 1933 film, I saw a pre-production drawing: a white woman cowers in bed as a big, black gorilla reaches for her through the bedroom window. I wondered why the filmmakers decided that King Kong should find the woman in her bedroom. Something about this image disturbed me, so I decided to Brian McDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14725832940943503641noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14646103.post-1133224770571961982005-11-28T16:37:00.000-08:002006-03-14T19:46:13.800-08:00GOOD STORIES, GOOD BUSINESS Part 3I have a friend who was in the story department of a production company and their job was to come up with feature film ideas to be done using computer graphics. This was after Shrek had become a huge hit. My friend told me that he was told not to mention the Toy Story movies as a reference point in his story pitches to studios, because those were considered old. Shrek was what people wanted toBrian McDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14725832940943503641noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14646103.post-1132185186582966162005-11-16T15:51:00.001-08:002006-03-14T20:00:13.513-08:00GOOD STORIES, GOOD BUSINESS Part 2I recently had drinks with a Hollywood agent at a major agency. We got into a little debate. He kept saying that good films are hard to make, otherwise everyone would be doing it. That sounds good, except I rarely meet practitioners of story who have bothered to do any real study of their craft. They try to reinvent the wheel every time. Or they use a formula that only concentrates on the Brian McDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14725832940943503641noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14646103.post-1131352067489722502005-11-07T00:09:00.000-08:002006-03-14T20:06:15.416-08:00GOOD STORIES, GOOD BUSINESS Part 1In 1993, there were, as I understand it, more comic books published than in any other year. Just a few short years later, so few comics were selling that many wondered if the medium would even survive. Why the big turnaround? Lack of story and story-craft.In the world of comic books, the superstars are the artists. Most fans are initially attracted to the artwork in a book. In the early 90s,Brian McDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14725832940943503641noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14646103.post-1130705325854235332005-10-30T12:41:00.001-08:002006-03-14T23:09:02.246-08:00The Use of Clones Part 2John Steinbeck uses a cast of clones in his novel, Of Mice and Men. The armature of that story is that people need companionship. It is both dramatized as well as stated. If it has been a while since you’ve read it, I suggest you reread it soon. It is amazingly well-crafted. He knows what he wants to say and says it over and over again in different ways. And he does give you an intellectualBrian McDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14725832940943503641noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14646103.post-1130257719839917082005-10-25T09:27:00.000-07:002006-03-14T16:11:17.206-08:00THE USE OF CLONES Part 1“ONCE UPON A TIME THERE WERE THREE LITTLE PIGS… .”What I am calling clones have been called other names—“mirror characters” and “reflection characters”—but, whatever you call them, they are useful tools of the storyteller’s craft.A “clone” in story terms is a tool for showing, not telling. Clones are characters in your story that represent what could, should or might happen to the protagonist ifBrian McDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14725832940943503641noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14646103.post-1129712314562616792005-10-19T01:57:00.000-07:002006-03-14T16:23:17.163-08:00RITUAL PAIN part 3The Apartment has two characters who change, but they both learn essentially the same lesson. Because change is never easy, and is resisted, it is your job as a storyteller to apply as much pressure on your characters as possible. You must back them into a corner and force them to change. Make it as painful as you can. Bring them to the brink of physical or emotional death if you possibly can.Brian McDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14725832940943503641noreply@blogger.com0