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:
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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
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