Shot lists are so. So. Important.
If you're a writer who can think in pictures, I envy you. I can think in pictures, but it's akin to someone tossing all the photographs out of their family album and scattering them all over the floor. It's difficult to make sense of it.
I think the best two pieces of advice anyone could give to a writer who seriously plans to film something is: Show, Don't Tell and Think In Pictures. That's really what this film thing boils down to. That's the "vision" crap those odd film people talk about.
Thursday, April 09, 2009
Friday, March 20, 2009
A tough girl, a weak girl, a bad girl, a good girl, a shy girl, a wry girl.
If you can find it within yourself to wade through the detritus of lame female caricatures cluttering up Hollywood's film scene, you will discover that Paris Hiltonites and chicks with brains like Farrah Fawcett's hair are not necessarily the norm. The dozens of ideas of what a powerful woman is and how she should be portrayed in film and television are enough for several thousand essays, but it's been done, and I'm not going to do it in this post.
What I will do is mention that Hollywood, being an institution governed primarily by men, could evolve simple strides from the point it's at right now, by doing just two things:
#1. Recognize the talent of writers who write things out of the small spectrum of what is "acceptable" to Hollywood. We need fewer stories about sex politics and high school experiences and instead find interesting spins on topics like war drama/docudrama, gender specific character studies, experimental or abstract films, science fiction. Science fiction in particular is, I believe, an especially lucrative genre in current times. It is a fantastic venue for allegory, which has become a popular tounge amoung young liberals and the politically savvy crowd.
#2. Encourage women to take roles that are empowering for both themselves and for younger girls who will be looking for role models. An empowered woman doesn't necessarily have to hold a gun, either. It is so important for the new generation of young girls and women to see their gender portrayed in visceral, psychological roles where the characters are emotional and feminine but still possess the capacity take charge when it comes down to it.
To be fair, the same can go for men. I remember reading about Nicholas Cage complaining that single men have a stigma of not wanting or not being able to be a successful single dad. It's true, the paternal instincts of men are not really highlighted in great detail in film or television. But here's what's interesting. Men have created that stigma around themselves by catering to it in the real world quite happily. In a similar fashion, the woman's predicament is a direct product of a culture that thinks respecting women means objectifying them. No way around this. It is in the hands of writers to be intelligent about what they write and established actors to actively break these stigmas and stereotypes.
As a writer, I hope to do my share and contribute to the "cause". I don't consider myself a feminist or anything like that...I'd just like to write something good and create a character I can be proud of and that others might also be proud of.
What I will do is mention that Hollywood, being an institution governed primarily by men, could evolve simple strides from the point it's at right now, by doing just two things:
#1. Recognize the talent of writers who write things out of the small spectrum of what is "acceptable" to Hollywood. We need fewer stories about sex politics and high school experiences and instead find interesting spins on topics like war drama/docudrama, gender specific character studies, experimental or abstract films, science fiction. Science fiction in particular is, I believe, an especially lucrative genre in current times. It is a fantastic venue for allegory, which has become a popular tounge amoung young liberals and the politically savvy crowd.
#2. Encourage women to take roles that are empowering for both themselves and for younger girls who will be looking for role models. An empowered woman doesn't necessarily have to hold a gun, either. It is so important for the new generation of young girls and women to see their gender portrayed in visceral, psychological roles where the characters are emotional and feminine but still possess the capacity take charge when it comes down to it.
To be fair, the same can go for men. I remember reading about Nicholas Cage complaining that single men have a stigma of not wanting or not being able to be a successful single dad. It's true, the paternal instincts of men are not really highlighted in great detail in film or television. But here's what's interesting. Men have created that stigma around themselves by catering to it in the real world quite happily. In a similar fashion, the woman's predicament is a direct product of a culture that thinks respecting women means objectifying them. No way around this. It is in the hands of writers to be intelligent about what they write and established actors to actively break these stigmas and stereotypes.
As a writer, I hope to do my share and contribute to the "cause". I don't consider myself a feminist or anything like that...I'd just like to write something good and create a character I can be proud of and that others might also be proud of.
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