Writer director Paul Schrader revealed some of the
stories behind his career and his views on writing to Inda’s Tehelka Magazine
recently. Among the tidbits:
“I came to screenplay writing as self-therapy…When screenwriting, be prepared to drop your pants and show your dirty laundry. If you can’t do that, better find yourself something more polite.”
“If the story says to you, I don’t want to be written or I’m getting sick of being told or I’m bored, just stop. Sometimes, the idea will go away, and that’s a pretty good day. You’ve just saved six months slaving on a screenplay that doesn’t work.”
“The weakest writing in America today is in the movies, the best writing is on TV, in series like The Sopranos. That’s because scripts for TV are about human beings and human behaviour, not a journey to the centre of the earth. Movies have become less and less about good writing and more and more about spectacle, so the importance of the screenwriter has declined. The most spirited dialogues in spectacle films are lines like: “Look, it’s coming” or “Run, run, run.” When I started out in the film business about 30 years ago, there was a crisis of content. Now there is a crisis of form, with films on DTH, internet downloads, and so on. But as screen sizes become small — TV, cable, computers, mobile phones — spectacle will become less important, and the importance of the screenwriter will be re-established.”
Something to look forward to, then!
