Q&A with Our Man in Los Angeles Blog
Excerpt from the Our Man in Los Angeles Blog:
Like most other writers, I’ve read too many books on screenwriting. In fact, it’s normally a problem – much like people with substance abuse problems, you just need to stop and move on with your life. In our cases, we just need to write. But recently I had the opportunity to read Richard Walter’s book Essentials of Screenwriting. I had heard him speak at an event a couple years back and as he and his concepts were interesting enough for me to remember him out of all the people I’ve heard speak in the last almost-five years in LA, I decided to check it out.
And I’m glad I did. What I liked about it was that it wasn’t trying to regurgitate the same How To rigmarole. Or inundate me with rules and special unlocked secrets of blah-blah-bullshit. Essentials of Screenwriting is, shockingly, for writers who actually write. It saves its pages for the basic building blocks of a writers day and trade. Writing schedules, character, the business of screenwriting, where one’s story should actually begin, etc. It handles the tools of screenwriting with an intelligent and readable grace that I found refreshing. Without boring me or lecturing me on the emperor’s new clothes of writing, it dealt with things I actually care about and helped me review the tools of our trade. It sharpened some of my pencils, so to speak.
I had the chance to ask Richard Walter some questions over email, and I’m going to share his responses in Q&A form here. Enjoy.
For the full Q&A – visit the blog posting here.
