from an email with a friend taking screenwriting in london

i don't like syd field much. read him and then forget
about him. it's important theory to know and use at
first but it's too pedantic. i've skimmed the robert
mckee book story that every one talks about...i think
it's a bit better, but similar in its all knowing
tone. joseph campbell the hero with a thousand faces
is good. myth structure, hero's journey, etc..
our "text" for much of the course is alexander
mckendrick's book on filmmaking. pretty good. for film
theory, film art by david bordwell and kristen
thompson has been one of the best i have seen. i wish
i had more time to do more than skim through these
books myself.

Some Writing Stuff.

It's been a while, but I don't want Th' Conversations to die, or me for that matter. I got restricted Internet right now, but here's a few I head for when I'm online:

http://johnaugust.com

Screenwriter of Big Fish, Willy Wonka, Go, etc etc... could be a Hollywood hack, but he's a fine blogger and has a lot of nice stuff about real indie film, biz stuff, writing exercises, not fooling yourself, etc etc, though the Friday faux-gossip-column I can live without.

Also, I've got a couple more scripts on the way after I finish writing this one: I'm finding that I can only finish things when I pare them down to base elements and no more, that that's the way I figure out what something is. That said, who's up for shooting in April, first week? I am.