Woody Allen

I've been enjoying Eric Lax's book 'Conversations with Woody Allen' and I thought this bit of 'wisdom' was perfect.

"…I was saying that I want to obey the story and if you obey the needs of the creation of the piece of fiction, the meaning reveals itself.  And for me naturally, it's going to reveal itself in a particular way.  Years ago Paddy Chavefsky said to me. "When a movie is failing or a play is failing"—he put it so brilliantly—"cut out the wisdom".  Marshall Brickman said it a different way.   I told you this before—but just as cogently, just as insightful: "The message of the film can't be in the dialogue." And this is a truth that's hard to live by because the temptation is to occasionally take a moment and philosophize and put in your wisdom, put in your meaning.  I did that in Match Point to a certain degree—they're sitting around the table and they’re talking about faith being the path of least resistance. But the truth of the matter is, if the meaning doesn't come across in the action, you have nothing going for you. It doesn't work. You can't just have guys sitting around making hopefully wise insights or clever remarks because while they're saving these things the audience is not digesting them the way the author intends—"Hey did you just hear that Shavian epigram?" They’re looking at it as the dialogue of characters in a certain situation: "He's saying this because she's thinking this and he wants to get on her good side. ..." They're watching the action of the story. When you lose sight of that, and we all do - I certainly do - you think you’re making your point you think you're infusing your piece with wisdom, but you're committing suicide.  You're just militating against the audience’s enjoyment."

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Art of Time Ensemble - Martin Tielli

I am a huge fan of the Rheostatics as well as the solo work of Martin Tielli, the band's lead guitarist and co-songwriter.  I am also a fan of the 'Art of Time Ensemble' who have been doing classical arrangements of popular music.  You might balk that Martin's work isn't really 'popular music' and I would agree.  It's too sophisticated and strange but I would argue that it is accessible to a popular audience that doesn't mind a change of signature or time.



Here is the original video produced by Justin Stephenson.



Justin and I once talked about how cool the Rheostatics' video 'Shaved Head' was as it was done live 'off the floor.  It's a great homage.



If you ever get a chance to see Martin play, jump at it.  He's a great artist and an intense performer (the other Rheos are awesome as well!).

If you're ever in Toronto check out the 'Art of Time Ensemble'.  The shows are a spectacular mix of popular and classical music.  It's an education and a profound sonic experience.

Here is ex-Barenaked Lady Steven Page doing a cover of Radiohead's 'Paranoid Android' with the 'Art of Time Ensemble'.

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The Other Side of the Wind - Orson Welles

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Dot

I worked for an animation company for over four years as a writer, director, editor and compositor and one of the things that people would ask you is 'how can you stand it?'  How can you work in such minutia and not go stark raving mad?  Once you've worked in a place where a shot takes you a day (or two) for five or ten seconds of footage you realize that it's a lot like meditation.  Instead of thinking about finishing something you get caught up in the process of doing it.  Bit by bit you chisel away at the thing until it satisfies you.  If you don't enjoy the process you might go crazy.

A writer has the same problem as the stop motion animator.  You need to go slowly, moment by moment, beat by beat, until you finish the script.  You can't just paint broad strokes and call it a day.  You are in the trenches gaining a foot a day.  I wrote a new feature this summer and I felt good getting in two pages a day.  If I could hit five pages it was an inspired day.  If I could hit ten then my muse was certainly sitting on my shoulder although I don't remember ever hitting such dizzying heights.

The 'Making of"

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David O. Selznick

"I stopped making films in 1948 because I was tired.  I had been producing, at the time, for twenty years . . . . Additionally it was crystal clear that the motion-picture business was in for a terrible beating from television and other new forms of entertainment, and I thought it a good time to take stock and to study objectively the obviously changing public tastes . . . ."
-- David O Selznick


I read this quote today and thought it was relevant to the current discussion of the future of the film business.  It's great to see that Selznick didn't run around like a headless chicken, grasping at any new thing that might become the 'future' of cinema.  There is a lot of that going on today.  


Selznick was right about the motion-picture business as television did take a hearty bite of the profits of the movies.  Yet, for most practitioners of the craft of making films, television didn't mean the end of creativity and work.  Some people stayed in the motion pictures and some went off and made television. In fact, television created more jobs for people who wanted to tell stories with a camera and a microphone.  On top of that, many great motion picture artists were trained and found great success starting out in the television business.  The great Sidney Lumet, Paddy Chayefsky, and John Frankenheimer (just to name a few) came out of making television.


We are in a period of flux once again.  People love television and they love movies.  I don't see the business of telling stories in pictures going the way of vaudeville.  The audience will get what they pay for, that is for sure, and that is the centre of the issue.  It was great that Selznick had the fortune to wait and see.  For now, we'll just have to keep our heads above water and hope to see land in the near future.  It's good to see that we aren't alone.  


"History repeats itself, first as tragedy, second as farce."
--Karl Marx

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Bet you didn't know I was a thespian.

Don't worry, you read that right.

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Rod Serling

Rob Mills sent me this interview with Rod Serling.  He has always been an impressive writer, not only for his creativity but his prodigious output.  On IMDB he is credited with 148 episodes of 'The Twilight Zone' over 5 years.  Twenty Six episodes of 'Night Gallery'.  It is astounding to think of this kind of creative output.  He says 'it lacked consistency'... no shit.



Having written on a few Television series I'll tell you it's hard work to come up with creative ideas over and over again.  Many days are spent staring at walls (or the back of your eyelids).  I've always been drawn to feature films as they are one-offs and usually have a bigger scope (although this is changing).  You develop an idea, you write it and then rewrite it until you're happy.  With television you are always trying to expand the idea sometimes to the point of 'jumping the shark'.

On the last television series I story edited I said to the writers that episode 20 to 26 were going to be the toughest.  This turned out to be true as predicted.  It's hard to be original over and over again, especially when you are trying to out-do yourself every time.  I think the only advantage that the 'Twilight Zone' had was that it wasn't locked into a single concept or a character.  You could really reinvent the show every time.  Still...  148 episodes.  Wow.

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