Film Courage: So you've just given us five minutes and 18 seconds of advice to someone that's
never written a screenplay if you took that same advice. Let's say it's 1995,
you're in your cab you're listening to like Alanis Morissette I don't know, it's
Chicago you see the woman at the gas station the pump which has sparked this
idea you didn't even know it was gonna be a thing yet if somebody had been sort
of this Jiminy Cricket in your ear squeezing in as well you've got to know
this structure and you need to read this book do you think you would have
abandoned the idea? Gordy Hoffman, Founder and Judge of BlueCat Screenplay Competition: I don't know, that's sort of a sad thing to think
about but I think that there's a lot of people that get discouraged today
because they do feel like they're doing something wrong and there is that
element out there on the message boards on podcasts very popular podcasts that
talk about black and white define things in black and white and it's dangerous
it's less like it's like you know people have tried to figure out where this
industry is going and where storytelling is going in our culture all the time
since I've been working to write screenplays or whatever and I've seen
all the different iterations of like well you're not able to write shouldn't
write anything period you shouldn't write anything about the industry you
shouldn't do this you shouldn't do that and all of its been blown up you
shouldn't write anything I mean you know like an online bookseller an online
bookstore it wins like Oscars now you know it's like like no don't tell me
what anything black and white is anymore so it's dangerous and so we we can talk
about like the rules of why people care about movies and like the the sort of
the laws of emotion and and and and I think no one's gonna really get freaked
I think that's sort of organic stuff but when I started off I read Michael
Hague's book and but his book and you know I didn't even remember he I don't
think he talked a lot about formulas or B cheats he might have talked about the
only thing I remember him talk the only thing I remember from Michaels book was
encouragement like he just empower he gave me hope he gave me and he
definitely encouraged me and so that's what I always responded to
and I responded he seemed to have a sense oh it's like that people it was
rare for something good to be written and buddy but he did find it possible
and there were things that he he was very much it was a hopeful book so I
think that's the only thing I got I think that was the only screenwriting
book that I ever read a lot from I don't know if I read the whole thing through
but I would often refer to it but then when I started I just was like you know
I'd literally just I was like okay and I knew something something about page 30
and page 60 or whatever and I sort of tried to follow that but and I didn't
find it difficult to remember that something was supposed to happen or
something like that but I was very much on my own and I wrote whatever you know
so but I I that's why I think that we you know it's very important for people
to remember you don't have to learn the rules to break them you can just ignore
them if you feel like you're being expressive and something it's cool that
you're writing something is cool and then you start showing it to other
people and other people think it's cool then that's the only thing we care about
because we would not have any we would not have any Fellini we would not have
Orson Welles we probably would not have Kurosawa
you know eventually people have to stop listening to what people are suggesting
and nowadays you know people being told they can't direct you know women people
of color diverse you know voices that are like have been scourged or whatever
and all those people I just like be like get out in my face I'm gonna I want to
say what I want to say and that's the only way we move forward you know with
this art form is when people just say I don't care what I'm supposed to be doing
or who's supposed to be directing or who's supposed to be writing you know
the only time we move forward when we when people are like well let's follow
and Bob page 23 this is supposed to happen that's when everyone wants to
blow their brains out it's like I want something new and that's why things like
streaming and like episodic television did grow probably in response to
formulate a feature writing it's probably one of the reasons because if
people were like and I watch something else that doesn't
feel like everything else and it's because of formula and because people
were following what they were supposed to be doing and it's like not good but
some people have sort of a punk-rock ethos and that's in them and they've
been that way all their lives and others are the one in the front seat of the
class they raise their hand and be the teacher's pet and so some people never
want to rock the boat or as others are fine having people be totally pissed off
at them it's not about rocking the boat it's just realizing that emotionally
that audiences don't care about when what page number a scene is on all the
audiences are responding to is emotional veracity if they want to be sucked in
they want to feel a part of the universe people go into with have you ever
thought about this people walk into a theater to watch other people on a
screen act out stuff from life and they just watch it like why are they watching
it it's the weirdest thing when you go into a play in a theatre people are
watching people argue on us an imaginary stage we're gonna watch people act out
life it doesn't make any it's like bizarre but the reason why people are
doing it is because it gets them meaning for their struggles they go I've done
that that's me I've fought cancer ice you know my you
know something happened to me I won the state championship I want to be able to
win the state championship I want to be able to come from nowhere I want to
believe I want to fall in love I want to survive the loss of a loved one
this can happen I saw a story about someone I mean this is why it gives us
context so that we're not walking around going why am i doing all this you see
them moving you're like other people have been dumped other people have been
fired other people have been discriminated against other people
there's been injustice I suffered injustice so are they I can live I'm
gonna fight that's why people go to movies so that's that's the only thing
anybody cares about they don't care if you know the point of no-return happens
on page 63 or some crap oh so if you're writing from that place so that's that
punk rock that's just that's just stories
that's storytelling that's conservative storytelling liberal you know yeah it's
not gonna be political but I'm just saying and it's anybody that's any ethos
that is the ethos so if you're going to get in the business of the woman you
know the young lady in the front row who's like the person who gives the
Apple to the teacher she better get it's the it this is the this is the business
of emotion you know it's the business of dealing of human identification with
with authentic stories and that's heavy lifting that requires like sharing of
your life experience it is demanding it's just this is you know a surgeon is
it's emotionally to imagine to be a nurse it's emotionally demanding to be a
trashman because you're like looking at people's trash you like oh my god they
threw out this photo album I mean it's like everybody's got to deal with
something and they're like you know this is the thing and it's like this is the
business this is that business so so you can you know you can't get around that
and when people try and get around that then the great actor becomes the good
actor and the great screenplay becomes an okay movie but when you go there and
you sell the whole thing and you don't shy away then you're Kurosawa then
you're you know then you're Eugene O'Neill then you're writing something
you know then you're doing 12 years of slave then you're fearless then you're
telling that you know you're doing the thing that people go you know that's
awesome black Klansmen just like you know amazing honest movie you know about
the truth you know it's a great movie and it's it's about the truth and it's
like and it's emotional it's disturbing but it's like but that's but that's
where it's Shakespeare you know that's it it's never changed that's not new you
know that's not like avant-garde or anything it's just that's just south and
audiences are still responding to it because we're human beings and we still
are spawning - a good story
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