Two weeks ago, my first teaching experience for screenwriting came to a close. Five students finished the course, and each participant had the beginnings of a good film script. Four students may just do something with their work. One never gave her work a chance, regardless of my or the other students' help.
A director told me the number one "skill" needed in actors is: the ability to take directions.
How pliable are you? Must you do everything the director says? No. Directors are human, too. Fallible creatures. But if an actor's response to every note is simply: "No," "I don't want to do that," "That's not what I want," "Yes, but...," then the director will tire of working with that artist.
A director told me the number one "skill" needed in actors is: the ability to take directions.
How pliable are you? Must you do everything the director says? No. Directors are human, too. Fallible creatures. But if an actor's response to every note is simply: "No," "I don't want to do that," "That's not what I want," "Yes, but...," then the director will tire of working with that artist.
A former Improvisation teacher of mine worked against the "No" mentality with an acting exercise called, "Yes, Let's...." Of course some actors and actresses wanted to push the envelope of acceptability and sanity; most, however, wanted to explore and find something new, something exciting. If you responded with "No," or "Yes, but...," or even hesitated, then the teacher removed you from the exercise, which negatively influenced your grade in that class.
It was about being present in the present moment. Saying "No" to everything detached you from any opportunity to connect with others, to connect with yourself.
And the same holds for screenwriting.
I deliver my notes with confidence and flexibility, meaning: the student can take my advice or leave it, unless the note concerns an immovable truth of screenwriting; for example, the main character/hero must have a goal and a need.
But how must that look? It various per script, per writer.
Some of the students who took my course grasped that idea. They listened. We exchanged ideas. A give-and-take occurred. ("Passing the ball," as they say in acting.) Ideas grew. Pages of script followed. For them, the official course ended, but the experience continues. Maybe a screenplay or two will see the light of the screen.
One decent idea from that same group, though, may never leave the ground. The writer objected to nearly every idea, from me and from fellow classmates. In fact, I can recall one, just one, idea to which the writer said, "I like that."
She had her idea, which kept running into a dead-end, but she would not accept or look for alternate routes. This particular writer clasped to the belief that creativity didn't exist within her being, but her actions seemed to say she thought her art was above any of our hands.
For this student, the course ended before it even began. The FADE TO BLACK opened and closed her script.
It was about being present in the present moment. Saying "No" to everything detached you from any opportunity to connect with others, to connect with yourself.
And the same holds for screenwriting.
I deliver my notes with confidence and flexibility, meaning: the student can take my advice or leave it, unless the note concerns an immovable truth of screenwriting; for example, the main character/hero must have a goal and a need.
But how must that look? It various per script, per writer.
Some of the students who took my course grasped that idea. They listened. We exchanged ideas. A give-and-take occurred. ("Passing the ball," as they say in acting.) Ideas grew. Pages of script followed. For them, the official course ended, but the experience continues. Maybe a screenplay or two will see the light of the screen.
One decent idea from that same group, though, may never leave the ground. The writer objected to nearly every idea, from me and from fellow classmates. In fact, I can recall one, just one, idea to which the writer said, "I like that."
She had her idea, which kept running into a dead-end, but she would not accept or look for alternate routes. This particular writer clasped to the belief that creativity didn't exist within her being, but her actions seemed to say she thought her art was above any of our hands.
For this student, the course ended before it even began. The FADE TO BLACK opened and closed her script.
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