We Live in the Dark Ages

These 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

Read More

King 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

Read More

GOOD STORIES, GOOD BUSINESS Part 3

I 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 to

Read More

GOOD STORIES, GOOD BUSINESS Part 2

I 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

Read More

GOOD STORIES, GOOD BUSINESS Part 1

In 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,

Read More

The Use of Clones Part 2

John 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 intellectual

Read More

THE 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 if

Read More

RITUAL PAIN part 3

The 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.

Read More

RITUAL PAIN part 1

James Cameron took what could have been a little B movie and made Terminator into a surprise box office hit. He put Linda Hamilton’s character, Sarah Connor, through the ritual pain of being hunted down and nearly killed. In the end she is transformed into a woman who knows that her life matters. She has also been hardened by the experience and seems less girlish. Grown up.In Terminator 2, it

Read More

RITUAL PAIN part 2

James Cameron took what could have been a little B movie and made Terminator into a surprise box office hit. He put Linda Hamilton’s character, Sarah Connor, through the ritual pain of being hunted down and nearly killed. In the end she is transformed into a woman who knows that her life matters. She has also been hardened by the experience and seems less girlish. Grown up.In Terminator 2, it

Read More

What August Wilson Taught Me About Being A Writer

When I first met August Wilson, I thought, Here is a guy who can help me understand my craft. I was in a little mall on Seattle's Capital Hill and I looked over and there he was – a living legend. Mr. Wilson, as I called him then, was reading the paper and standing by himself. He was arguably America's greatest living playwright and undoubtedly the most successful African-American playwright ever

Read More

RITUAL PAIN part 1

“EVERYBODY WANTS TO GO TO HEAVEN, BUT NOBODY WANTS TO DIE.”—Blues song lyricA few years ago, when I was working on a spec screenplay that involved gangs, I visited a school with a lot of gang activity and asked the kids about how gangs worked. One of the things that I found out was that in order to join a gang you had to be “jumped” in. What that means is that you let the other gang members

Read More

TELEVISION - THE FIRST THOUSAND YEARS

I once saw a TV guide, or something, that claimed to list the top shows of the millennium. Since TV wasn't around until 1948 that left around 950 years of programming that could not qualify simply because there was no way to broadcast it. I thought this was unfair, favoring shows in the 20th century, so did a little research and decided to add my historical shows to the list.This list is not

Read More

dramatization and armature

The following is a story by Aesop.“BUNDLE OF STICKS”Once there was a farmer with many sons whose sons were always bickering and fighting with each other. One day the farmer called his sons together. He had with him a bundle of sticks tied together.He commanded each son to take the bundle and break it in half. In turn they tried and failed. The farmer then untied the bundle, handed each son a

Read More

THE ARMATURE Part 6

The success of There’s Something About Mary was a film that sent Hollywood rushing to produce toilet-humor comedies. But the Farelly Brothers had made other “shock-comedies,” why did this one become a mega-hit that almost everyone seemed to love? I thought the film was so good I saw it three times in the theater. If you knew me, you’d know that I like few films. And I certainly don’t like

Read More

The ARMATURE Part 5

The Iron Giant is an amazing animated film directed by Brad Bird. On its surface, this film is like E.T. in many ways. It is about a boy who befriends a being from outer space (in this case, a giant robot). And, as in E.T., the government is seeking the alien. So what’s different about it, you might ask. It’s the armature. As a matter of fact I heard very few people compare the two films.

Read More

THE ARMATURE Part 4

There is an old piece of advice usually given to someone about to give a speech: Tell them what you’re going to tell them. Tell them. Tell them what you told them. This is no different for storytellers. In fact, those three bits of advice could represent the three acts. But just how do you put this into practice? How is your armature put together?First, you must know where you are going or

Read More

THE ARMATURE Part 3

The first thing you must do to get your point across is to understand what you want to say. I know that sounds simple and obvious, but I almost never meet writers who know what they want to say. Mostly what they want is to say something deep and profound that no one has ever said before, but they don’t know what that is. Or they want to say a thousand things in one story, not realizing that to

Read More

THE ARMATURE Part 2

Why is it that some stories stick with us, while others are soon forgotten? Having a point gives your stories resonance. Do you recall the saying, “A fool speaks because he must say something and a wise man speaks because he has something to say?” This is true when one is crafting a story as well.Let’s look at the story of King Midas. If you recall, he was a king who loved money above all else

Read More

THE ARMATURE Part 1

Because of my past work at make-up effects houses, I’ve known a few sculptors. When they begin sculpting in clay, they first build an armature to act as a skeleton; otherwise, the piece would not hold its shape. It might look good for a while, but would soon collapse. When an admirer of art looks at a sculpture, she never sees or even thinks about the armature that gives the piece its

Read More

WHY WE TELL STORIES

A fool speaks because he must say something and a wise man speaks because he has something to say. – Old SayingI believe there is one primary reason human beings tell stories: To teach.Consider this: There is no culture on the globe that does not have stories. We all have music and we all have stories. They are part of us. I have read about aboriginal tribes in Australia who use songs and

Read More

WHAT IS INVISIBLE INK?

"There is no art which does not conceal a still greater art." – Percival WildeOften when I listen to how people evaluate stories, I hear them talk about dialogue. When they talk about “the script” for a film they are often talking about the dialogue. Or when they mention how well a book is written, they most often mean they way the words are put together—the beauty of a sentence. When people

Read More