tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19273008872535270032024-10-10T00:01:24.753-06:00Discussing DramaAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14147714446076460699noreply@blogger.comBlogger20125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1927300887253527003.post-52287458599873196472010-07-04T08:20:00.001-06:002010-07-04T08:20:57.340-06:00

To one (likely reader) and all.

Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14147714446076460699noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1927300887253527003.post-60519447189411355492010-04-03T21:37:00.001-06:002010-04-03T21:37:14.253-06:00

J. D. Shapiro cries while apologizing (not really) for writing Battlefield Earth, as well he should.

Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14147714446076460699noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1927300887253527003.post-44460370103658365022010-03-31T12:23:00.001-06:002010-03-31T12:23:16.346-06:00

The 10 most memorable scenes starring the one and only Christopher Walken.

Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14147714446076460699noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1927300887253527003.post-25639196672468129702010-03-28T12:19:00.000-06:002010-03-28T12:19:00.364-06:00

From end of one of the best monologues in film history, Michael Douglas in Wall Street:

Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14147714446076460699noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1927300887253527003.post-69871488034997167922010-03-28T07:58:00.001-06:002010-03-28T07:58:36.231-06:00

Following is a memo by David Mamet to the writers of the now-cancelled show The Unit. He writes to define what Drama is and why it’s an absolute necessity in Mamet’s inimitable way: TO THE WRITERS OF THE UNIT GREETINGS. AS WE LEARN HOW TO WRITE THIS SHOW, A RECURRING PROBLEM BECOMES CLEAR. THE PROBLEM IS THIS: TO DIFFERENTIATE BETWEEN *DRAMA* AND NON-DRAMA. LET ME BREAK-IT-DOWN-NOW.

Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14147714446076460699noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1927300887253527003.post-368657125285598472010-03-08T09:31:00.001-07:002010-03-08T09:31:35.324-07:00

I don’t put much stock in the Oscars these days. “The Academy,” as they like to call themselves, is artistically and intellectually corrupt enough that their votes for Best Whatever is tainted, fruits of a poisonous tree. For example, when I found out Precious was nominated for Best Picture as its director for Best Director, I assumed it’d win handily. With the socio-political underpinnings of

Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14147714446076460699noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1927300887253527003.post-85540594567995406542010-03-05T08:37:00.001-07:002010-03-05T08:37:36.990-07:00

Fascinating: This has some pertinent parts related to story telling.

Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14147714446076460699noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1927300887253527003.post-2138695217254680192010-03-02T09:02:00.001-07:002010-03-02T09:02:11.228-07:00

Mystery Man is one of my favorites to read. Here’s a great article on good writing as exemplified by Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged.

Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14147714446076460699noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1927300887253527003.post-4185860723319377362008-11-04T18:51:00.001-07:002008-11-04T18:52:16.855-07:00

Quite a lot of time has gone by without a post, and to those very few people who read this blog, apologies.The writing bug seems to have been beaten out of me, but never fear, I'll be back writing about my interpretation of The Drama.Thanks!

Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14147714446076460699noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1927300887253527003.post-75870649736101302522008-03-23T08:09:00.001-06:002008-03-23T08:09:52.698-06:00

I've just read a wonderful one-page article on writing SciFi by a Wen Spencer about building tension in which the author recommends a gradual build to action that is sure to create a sense of impending calamity instead of the staid and all too normal “suddenly”.  Suddenly is a shortcut—the author says—that doesn't work well. Giving the reader clues to what is coming

Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14147714446076460699noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1927300887253527003.post-59015946109798282582008-03-22T11:05:00.001-06:002008-03-22T11:05:54.191-06:00

The meeting of the Idaho Screenwriter's Group is underway and a middle-aged man sitting to my left has just handed me a copy of his script.  I am to be the narrator, in charge of reading out the slugs and description while others in the group will be the actors. At the end of 15 minutes, it was over and the inevitable critique session kicked in: what do we think, he asks.  Since I was

Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14147714446076460699noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1927300887253527003.post-45623131496478515942008-02-22T07:04:00.002-07:002008-02-22T07:11:48.060-07:00

As a new writer, I have only recently become involved in the spurious debate about outlining. I say it's spurious because eveyone who doesn't want to waste time outlines. In one way or another, they outline. This free-wheeling attitude about writing from the heart is fallacy and results, I believe, in disjointed stuff.To quote from Alastair Fowler's new book, How To Write, “It is

Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14147714446076460699noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1927300887253527003.post-86794844670126792942008-02-12T06:18:00.001-07:002008-02-12T06:18:44.295-07:00

What went wrong?  Why didn't that guy duck?  No one can be that stupid, can they?  Why is she with him?  No one told her it was going down? Every story is an unconscious game between the storyteller and the audience; a puzzle with a race to The Answer.  That Answer is what the storyteller is trying to keep from the audience as long as possible while the audience is

Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14147714446076460699noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1927300887253527003.post-21370089072646678272008-01-31T12:45:00.001-07:002008-01-31T12:45:50.498-07:00

One thing you will learn about me if you read this blog for any length of time is that I'm a voracious, rapacious reader.  Sometimes (who am I kidding, all the time), I read several books at once. Don't ask me if I remember what I read.  Alas, only splinters of outstanding, excellent information remain.  There are some books that require re-reading (Story by McKee is one that

Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14147714446076460699noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1927300887253527003.post-72166435481603404332008-01-24T15:43:00.001-07:002008-01-24T15:49:23.827-07:00

Is a genius. Here he is in three parts.

Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14147714446076460699noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1927300887253527003.post-46950318970801527642008-01-22T09:38:00.001-07:002008-01-30T15:15:37.679-07:00

This topic came to me as I was playing the Royal Game a few months back. The Royal Game is of course, chess.In chess, it is imperative that every move made fulfill several requirements at once. That move not only has to be the best possible move, it also has to fit in with the game plan.There are some moves that need not be so strictly categorized. There is a need for considerable flexibility,

Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14147714446076460699noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1927300887253527003.post-27309827522362603852008-01-16T10:11:00.001-07:002008-01-16T10:11:52.484-07:00

Following up on my last post about argumentation, I'd like to explore a concept known as agon. Agon is a Greek word meaning contest or challenge or race (I prefer debate or argument) and it's the root word for two terms that are indispensable to drama: protagonist and antagonist.  It shouldn't be too much of  a stretch to instantly grasp that the protagonist is the character in the

Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14147714446076460699noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1927300887253527003.post-2172107565659194572008-01-14T08:25:00.000-07:002008-01-16T10:20:11.308-07:00

Long ago, when men were men and women were won by those who deserved them, people who were considered well-educated studied under a medieval theory of education known as the Trivium. Forgive the somewhat chauvinistic beginning, that's a line from a boyhood favorite novel—The Passport of Mallam Ilia by the African writer, Cyprian Ekwensi. The Trivium consists of learning three subjects: grammar,

Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14147714446076460699noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1927300887253527003.post-60739942855637143642008-01-14T05:40:00.001-07:002008-01-14T05:40:35.434-07:00

Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14147714446076460699noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1927300887253527003.post-31424525732350949032008-01-11T16:04:00.000-07:002008-01-11T22:05:02.171-07:00

The Photo Dramatist, as a name, is based on what screenwriters were called in the early Hollywood years. I was inspired to create the blog while reading a book titled, How I Did it by H. H. Van Loan. It was written in 1922.My aim with this blog is to write about drama, specifically drama as it exists in the movies. And by drama, I speak of theoretical drama, the drama of Aristotle's Poetics.

Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14147714446076460699noreply@blogger.com0