Jerry Seinfeld: "The Movie Business is Over" - Part 1

Part 1/2

     (Netflix, Movie Poster, "Unfrosted")

There is something going on in the movie business. The quality is poor. We are producing and consuming movies with low-quality standards. And most people are not aware.

Pixar is good, Marvel is bad.

Jerry Seinfeld: “Film doesn’t occupy the pinnacle in the social, cultural hierarchy that it did for most of our lives. When a movie came out, if it was good, we all went to see it. We all discussed it. We quoted lines and scenes we liked. Now we’re walking through a fire hose of water, just trying to see.” (IndieWire.com; 23.Apr.2024)

Why is that? I can't say for sure. But Jerry Seinfeld reminds me of a time when I was a young man, 12 to 16 years old: I was wondering why my family and friends would go into the movie theater and, after watching, didn't want to talk about it. I was eager to talk, but somehow the people didn't care. Why was that? I don't know.

What can we do to make film become the pinnacle in the social, cultural hierarchy?

Watch good movies. Don't accept bad ones. When you are in the cinema, walk out of bad ones, and stay in for good ones. Don't accept bad movies.

Do you want to know what is good and bad?

In part 2 of this blog post, I'm going to share with you how you can spot good or bad movies.

And in order to conclude this blog post: Pixar is good, Marvel is bad. 

Blog post part 2 coming soon....

Learn From Master Screenwriter - Billy Wilder

When there is one writer you should learn about screenwriting, then take Billy Wilder. In collaboration with I.A.L. Diamond, he has written and directed one classic after another. To name a view of them:

• Sunset Blvd (1950)
• Ace in the Hole (1951)
• Some Like It Hot (1959)
• The Apartment (1960)

"In "The Writer Speaks" filmed by the Writers Guild Foundation in 1995, Billy Wilder gives a glimpse into his mind. You can watch it right here.": The Writer Speaks: Billy Wilder (64m)

Below are my personal notes from watching it:

***

Notes, 13.4.2024, Filmed in 1995 by Writers Guild Foundation

Billy Wilder 

• studied screenwriting for over 60 years
• story structure is for Billy Wilder like building a house
• 25 years of work in cooperation with I.A.L. Diamond

Writing Process

• Mr. Billy Wilder does not write a scene and fix it later.
• He does not write first, second, and third drafts.
• He writes the first scene as good as it gets and then continues with the next scene.

Casting

• get yourself the most expensive cast, because then they are good
• the audience must want to see the cast again
• "If you write a good part, help yourself by getting the best actor to do it."
• The picture will be much more expensive when taking a low class actor, because compared to a high class, you will need to take several shots

Character Development

• the process of searching in your own memory for a person you know and try to get the sound, the walk and the looking

Camera Angles

• fotograph as simple and elegant as possible - No Surprise Shots!! 
• "You should not see where the cut was. It should all flow."
• Billy Wilder can mention 50 Director that he admires
• As a Director "Don't do any trick shot that takes two days to light and you don't want it anyway you cut it out."

What changed in the pictures and writing as of 1995?

• the industry loves sequels: Nr. 2, Nr. 3, Nr. 4
• The industry relies on movies which are already succesful and fear original stories, but Billy Wilder thinks: "It's just a picture"

Advice to the Young

• know how restless the audience is
• you have to find a thing to grab the audience by the throat and don't leave them off
• "the subtler you are and the more elegant you are and yet hold them, the better writer you are."
• "but you must learn what is drama, and what engages you, and that keeps your interest more and more."

How do you turn a 5 page outline into a screenplay?

• Billy Wilder had written a 5 page outline for "The Apartment" (1960)
• (1) "well, the most important thing to find is if you have a seccond act curtain. It's the curtain that is so important, because it launches the end of the picture, but it should be tragic, it should be funny, but you have the material that you can go etherway, preferibly as a surprise to the audience."
• (2) get into detail (3) know where to go (4) find the mechanics (5) then hide the mechanics (6) write 2 or 3 scenes where people talk (7) some days you just find names for the character

Color VS. Black & White

• "There were no reason to make it in color. Color makes it a little bit more difficult."

Irma la Douce (1963)

• He didn't like the music

Writing Some Like It Hot (1959) while shooting it

• The end of the picture they wrote the weekend before shooting
• In most pictures he is already shooting while there is only an outline done for the 3rd act

How to write for the front office?

• The executives like to have a theme
• the actors like to have a good story

Adapting a Novel - Problems when adapting a book to a screen?

• The reader is the problem, they have read the novel
• You hope that you bought a very popular novel
• you can't mess with basic trends in it
• you can't mess with basic characters
• you have to have the major scenes in it
• there is much more joy and freedom in a original story than an adaption
• Sometimes it happens, that the audience says, that the movie it is better than the book

***

Old Movies Are the Best!

 

Modern movies often feel like they're all over the place, either saying too much or nothing at all. But in the old days, filmmakers kept things simple. They'd make just one clear point in each movie. 

Take, for instance, th video "Don't Be a Sucker" from 1947. It's a perfect example of straightforwardness. And the message it delivers is really important:

In unity is strength.

Watch here: "Don't Be a Sucker" (17min.)

 

Now, after watching the video, compare it to movies from the present.

What do you think of recent movies?

Old movies are the best!

PS. Here is an old Aesop fable which tells the same message. You can read it here in the Library of Congress, it's short, around 30 sec to read: Aesop - The Bundle of Sticks

The Best Writing Advice I Ever Got

Hello,

there is a story advice I received from Brian McDonald: "Read old screenplays. Read classic screenplays. (...) Read/watch interviews with the writers of these classic scripts.". As he said, so I did: I watched an 60 minutes interview from Julius Epstein, recorded by the Writers Guild in 1995. You can watch it here: The Writer Speaks: Julius Epstein

Julius Epstein was one of the writers of the script of Casablanca (1942), which might the best movie in history.

Here is a summary of what you can learn by watching 'The Writer Speaks: Julius Epstein:

Julius Epstein is talking about following:

• he wrote each night one original story 10 - 15 pages/story, without dialogue (in the old days you did not need to have a finished script to sell it)
• he explains why he mostly adapted plays or books as screenplay, instead of using origianl stories: The reason for that is, that the Studio, the Director, Actors, etc. they all rip the story apart. As long as he adapted it from plays or books, it did not feel that painful
• he also talks about his writing method: (1) long hand on (2) yellow legal pad (3) he never reads what he has written, until the first draft is completed (4) after having finished the draft, he read it and was surprised about how good it was, or how bad it was. (5) Every scene needs to have a value in it (a bite, an entertaining factor for the audience)
• there are two evil words in the industry and they both start with the letter "i": Input & Improve
• About Camera Angles: He stopped writing them, because the directors pay no attention to it, so he stopped it.

Thanks for reading,

Best,

André