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Hollywood makes it too easy to get lost in a sea of words.
Screenwriting books tell us what to do, how to do it, even the schedule we should use. Speakers tell us how they "did it," implying that makes the path easier for us. The trades bombard us with words about the latest overnight successes (who have been at it for ten years, but don't want anyone to know that). Then there's the vast morass of the Internet, packed with equal parts information and blather.
But this week, something special popped up out of the sea of words, my very own Ishmael's coffin offering salvation.
The literary delight to which I refer is the screenplay for "O Brother, Where Art Thou?", written by Ethan Coen and Joel Coen.
I think "O Brother" is destined to be a classic, one of the great films that people will review twenty years from now and ask, "How the hell did Oscar miss that one?"
But I digress.
If you're a writer, you need to read this script. It's lyrical, literate, engaging, funny and poignant. In short, it's everything each of us hopes OUR scripts will be when they roll out of the laser printer.
The Coens make the writing look effortless, thought my best guess is, it was anything but. Naturally, it's a bit difficult to read the script without visualizing the actors in the movie, but the lesson is, everything in the movie is on the page.
There is precious little excess in this script. The movie eliminates a few lines here and there in an effort to "get in and get out of the scene sooner," the long-time rallying cry of any editor worth his salt.
But for the most part, what's on the page is on the stage and vice-versa.
And it's delightful to see.
As writers, we spent a lot of our time with our noses against our own individual trees. To torture another metaphor, it's nice to step back and see the forest as created by a couple of masters of the art.
One word of advice: Don't follow the Coen's formatting for your very own first spec script. Their fluid, novel-like writing style is more akin to William Goldman. When you're that good and that established, you, too can create your own screenplay style. But please, not with your first spec!
You won't find sluglines. Music cues and lyrics fold neatly into the narrative. They've included camera angles and moves, but since they planned to direct, there was no reason not to do so. Characters and dialogue look familiar and "proper," but beyond that, this script follows its own format and no other.
It makes a great read. If we're lucky, the screenplay format will evolve into something like this one day.
For now, read it and enjoy the character descriptions, the wit and brevity of the Coen's action descriptions, revel in how light this "hillbilly Lawrence of Arabia" looks on the page.
Most of all, just soak up how well these guys spin a yarn.
After all, that's the reason we're swimming around in this sea of words, isn't it?
Keep writing.
BW
LA
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