A Book Excerpt
by Michael B. Druxman on 07/28/11
July 29, 2011
Here's an excerpt from my memoir, MY FORTY-FIVE YEARS IN HOLLYWOOD AND HOW I ESCAPED ALIVE, to read and ponder over the weekend:
I never really took any courses in screenwriting or read any books on
the subject, though I had read some scripts to learn the technical format.
I think my knowledge of story structure, character development, dialogue and all the other aspects of what goes into a proper screenplay came from having seen so many movies over the years that I just "absorbed" it.
One of my dearest friends is actress Diane McBain (Ice Palace, Parrish), a major ingenue star of the 1960s. For many years, Diane served as my "sounding board". I would write several pages of a script, and then read them to her over the phone. If she laughed at the right places, I knew I was on the right track.
At one point, Diane decided that she wanted to do some screenwriting, so she started reading books on the subject.
"It's amazing," she told me one day, "how in all of your scripts your
plot points hit on just the right pages. At least, according to these books."
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"Your story's 'catalyst' hits on page five or six, your 'first turning point' occurs around page twenty-five or so."
"Why did you tell me that?" I said.
"Huh?"
"Now, you've made me aware of the process, and I'm going to be
thinking about it every time I sit down to write a script."
Being aware of "the process" did become a problem for awhile. As
I've said, I do my best work when I am writing "by the seat of my pants".
In other words, once I have a story idea, my key characters and a
very general outline on how the plot will progress, I like to just sit down and write, letting the characters "take me where they will". Structure just seems to take care of itself.
However, after Diane put the thought into my head, for the next
couple of scripts that I wrote, I started editing myself, saying "Oh my
God, did I hit my catalyst on page five or six, my first turning point on
page twenty five?"
Too much knowledge can not only be dangerous. It can also be
distracting.
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If you haven't read it already, the book is available in both paperback and Kindle editions at Amazon.com.
You have a creative weekend and I'll be back with you on Monday.
Michael
