Letters to the Editor
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Nita, just wanted to say
Great post!
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under Rated screen Writers abound
big fish - the war - elephant man - what about bob ? - ragtime - 3 amigos - pale rider - the reivers - my father the hero - forever young - honkey tonk man - the professor & the madman - fly away home - the coneheads - the african queen - never more - thin red line - celestial games - there's something about mary - the natural - peggy sue got married - wall street - cold mountain - 3 amigos - feud - legends of the fall - the peacock princess - radio - amadeus - the pest - the color purple - the untouchables - last of the moheicans - et cetera - et cetera - et cetera - et cetera ----
whether original or adaptation the screenwriter's must smash-cut an entire collection of lifetimes & a focused incident in a neat little 90 miniute between popcorn breaks --- sometimes its in the bleachers --- and some will flop ---- but the writer's (& co.) serve us well by opening their minds & imaginations to help seed & create a work of art --- and gentlemen --- beauty will always be seen best from the eyes of beauty's myriad beholders.
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under Rated screen Writers about
... its like mah dadddie used to say ... "Its good,--- if ya likes it"
(burp)
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writers
" . . . bad writers can go on believing in their (unappreciated) genius forever."
Yes. Since everyone uses language in some fashion, everyone feels like an expert. Most people have no conception of the sort of thinking that occurs when begin to know a little.
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Schmucks with Underwoods
Hallelujah, finally a published account of experience that is a stone in the heart, head and lungs of writers. Not only film writers but all creative writing is dismissed and writers denigrated." My son, once a production designer--"White Men Can't Jump," "Love Jones" and more--asked me, a regular writer, to write a script on a story idea. He sent scripts and books to show me how. One author said the writer was the least important person in a film. Why did she write a book on "screen writing?" My script and one my son wrote were "passed."
He was "known" in the industry. "Industry" says it all.
Odd, I think, that people of "the book" and followers of "the word" have disdain for actual words when mental images become black on white. The obsession with image has marred, for me, every good book "made into a movie." Dumbed down is fitting. I've watched part of a older TCM then flipped to something "new." Boring. The attitude is that vision is the only way to entertain and learn(sic), especially with run-away technological enhancement. Perhaps, numbing our brains is what will ruin the society before pollution or nuclear bombs. We have five senses, and learn with all five.
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not so fast ---
there are simply far too many exceptions to create anything that comes close to creating a "Rule" ---
one can argue that "TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD" was a Masterpiece Novel that ought never have been turned into the Master Piece of Celluloid it finally morphed into --- but few will be convinced of such nonsense.
--- It just ain't that easy to turn a 7 hour reading experience into a 90 minute watching delight --- but it is not an implausibility -- proof's in the pudding --- (cold mtn. empire of the sun, etcs)
one ought to examine the merits of both story-telling venues as the independent art forms they are. Naturally, the Storyteller who originated the "picture" vis the printed word should be given his due by having HIS work experience FIRST --- while the adapting screenwriter/director/grip/et al Team that follows credited with the piece of art they produce.
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...better than schmucks who don't make any money
If you want to see your name in lights, don't write screenplays. If you want to earn a living, screenplays are the best way to make some bucks while writing.
This country is chock full of writers with or without MFAs who will gladly submit to and hope to be published by literary journals and magazines that pay $5.00 to $10.00/per page for a few pages. That's the good news. Most of these sterling quality publications don't pay anything at all, other than copies and literary reputation. Writers are the n-word of the creatives.
I 'write litrature', as a former lover used to say of me. He wrote 'sky-fi,' cartoons and screenplays for television. He made lots of dough. Had I not had a day job and/or been living with him, I'd have been quite hungry. He wanted respect. I would have happy to make the money he made.
These days, my husband is a photographer. He caught up with and passed me in income at the six month mark of 2007. I still have a day job that relieves me of having to teach expository writing to college students or workshops for adults and kids. It pays me quite well. But here comes my upstart photographer husband making tons of money and doing it quite respectably. He'll have three gallery/museum openings this year in Portland, Oregon. I have numerous stories, essays, book reviews for newspapers and magazines, blah, blah, blah, that took blood, sweat and tears to write. At year's end, I will have earned between $1,000 and $2,000 with my writing.
There's a 'culture gap' between the earnings of popular writers and literary writers. There's an inverse 'earnings gap.'
I think it's nice that screenplay writers have a union, but going on strike will not garner respect for them in a field that not only disrespects writers, but also actors and lord knows who else. For most writers - excluding the fact of raw talent and desire to write something great - there's a distinct choice to be made.