For what it is worth, I don't find the person who wrote that article's screenplays that good. Funny how great people always encourage you and make you feel like you too, with a little bit more effort, can also become great, while the so-so's always try and beat you down. Thank you for always encouraging us, Prof. Walter. I wish I had more teachers like you. Great art takes time.
Critics accuse Hollywood of not creating anything new, but only remaking previous hits. I got some cool thoughts. If they wanted to make a film about a sexually fluid character they can do much worse than the Chevalier d'Eon, the French spy and a brilliant swordfighter who had an androgynous look, and often wore feminine clothes, even fooling prominent women like the Russian empress Elizabeth who made him one of her maids of honor.
There's also the poison damsel, a figure in Indian folklore who is a woman that was supposedly fed poison from an early age, making her immune to the toxins, but deadly to any man who sleeps with her. You can then make her fall in love with a British officer she was sent to kill, bringing in the interracial love angle and colonialism, and let her go on a hero's journey, looking for a wise man, or woman in the desert, to help her get rid of the poison.
Netflix didn't have to make Cleopatra black. There are plenty of strong African women throughout history whose stories have never graced the silver screen. They could have told the story of the Queen of Sheba, Queen Amanirenas, of the Kingdom of Kush, who led a military campaign against the Romans and successfully repelled their invasion, or empress Taytu Betul, the wife of Emperor Menelik II of Ethiopia, who played a crucial role in defending the country against the Italian attempts to colonize it, especially during the Battle of Adwa in 1896, where she led a group of Ethiopian women known as the "Shemane Mariam" or "Mariam Shewito," who, armed with swords and guns, fought alongside the Ethiopian troops on the front lines. She also provided strategic guidance to Emperor Menelik II during the battle, she tirelessly urged soldiers to fight to the last, and she galvanized the troops to launch a surprise attack at a crucial moment that ultimate led to an Ethiopian victory against the technologically superior colonial forces of Italy. Perhaps the fact that the Ethiopians had slaves dissuades Hollywood that this is a story worth telling, but most great historical figures are a mixture of good and bad, which is what helps to make them so compelling. What mere mortal is really pure?
Not to mention the famous blues singer, Bessie Smith who had her own train, a custom-designed railroad car called the "Bessie Smith Special," a luxurious private car equipped with amenities for her comfort and convenience, that she used for touring and traveling between performances. You can have her pull up at a station and astound the local, racist, KKK yokels.
Now those are movies I would pay to watch. If I get the time, I am going to write them.
I know, I know, "it's not about the idea," but every great screenplay has to start somewhere.
I am just saying there are plenty of great original stories that can and should be told. Let's stop rehashing the tried and trusted tales that have been told to the point of tedium.
The reason Hollywood can’t make a good movie anymore is because they don’t know how to tell a good story and they wouldn’t be able to recognize one even if it could make $1 billion worldwide.
Hollywood wants to propagate, indoctrinate, inculcate, rather than inspire, and draw from the deep well of human experience or human history.
The enterprises are two very different endeavors; in the same way an educational video from Wendy’s that teaches people how to make hamburgers is different from The Empire Strikes Back, Unforgiven or Moby Dick.
Yeah I think you nailed it. Amen to that, brother. It's just bad for the rest of us who want to tell stories that entertain, enchant, enhance and inspire. Perhaps this ill wind will blow over and we can get back to a more sane world.
Is writing a two or three page screenplay for the movie trailer a worthy exercise? Can the first draft of a movie trailer screenplay be written before writing the main movie screenplay itself?
For what it is worth, I don't find the person who wrote that article's screenplays that good. Funny how great people always encourage you and make you feel like you too, with a little bit more effort, can also become great, while the so-so's always try and beat you down. Thank you for always encouraging us, Prof. Walter. I wish I had more teachers like you. Great art takes time.
Critics accuse Hollywood of not creating anything new, but only remaking previous hits. I got some cool thoughts. If they wanted to make a film about a sexually fluid character they can do much worse than the Chevalier d'Eon, the French spy and a brilliant swordfighter who had an androgynous look, and often wore feminine clothes, even fooling prominent women like the Russian empress Elizabeth who made him one of her maids of honor.
There's also the poison damsel, a figure in Indian folklore who is a woman that was supposedly fed poison from an early age, making her immune to the toxins, but deadly to any man who sleeps with her. You can then make her fall in love with a British officer she was sent to kill, bringing in the interracial love angle and colonialism, and let her go on a hero's journey, looking for a wise man, or woman in the desert, to help her get rid of the poison.
Netflix didn't have to make Cleopatra black. There are plenty of strong African women throughout history whose stories have never graced the silver screen. They could have told the story of the Queen of Sheba, Queen Amanirenas, of the Kingdom of Kush, who led a military campaign against the Romans and successfully repelled their invasion, or empress Taytu Betul, the wife of Emperor Menelik II of Ethiopia, who played a crucial role in defending the country against the Italian attempts to colonize it, especially during the Battle of Adwa in 1896, where she led a group of Ethiopian women known as the "Shemane Mariam" or "Mariam Shewito," who, armed with swords and guns, fought alongside the Ethiopian troops on the front lines. She also provided strategic guidance to Emperor Menelik II during the battle, she tirelessly urged soldiers to fight to the last, and she galvanized the troops to launch a surprise attack at a crucial moment that ultimate led to an Ethiopian victory against the technologically superior colonial forces of Italy. Perhaps the fact that the Ethiopians had slaves dissuades Hollywood that this is a story worth telling, but most great historical figures are a mixture of good and bad, which is what helps to make them so compelling. What mere mortal is really pure?
Not to mention the famous blues singer, Bessie Smith who had her own train, a custom-designed railroad car called the "Bessie Smith Special," a luxurious private car equipped with amenities for her comfort and convenience, that she used for touring and traveling between performances. You can have her pull up at a station and astound the local, racist, KKK yokels.
Now those are movies I would pay to watch. If I get the time, I am going to write them.
I know, I know, "it's not about the idea," but every great screenplay has to start somewhere.
I am just saying there are plenty of great original stories that can and should be told. Let's stop rehashing the tried and trusted tales that have been told to the point of tedium.
The reason Hollywood can’t make a good movie anymore is because they don’t know how to tell a good story and they wouldn’t be able to recognize one even if it could make $1 billion worldwide.
Hollywood wants to propagate, indoctrinate, inculcate, rather than inspire, and draw from the deep well of human experience or human history.
The enterprises are two very different endeavors; in the same way an educational video from Wendy’s that teaches people how to make hamburgers is different from The Empire Strikes Back, Unforgiven or Moby Dick.
Get woke, go broke.
Yeah I think you nailed it. Amen to that, brother. It's just bad for the rest of us who want to tell stories that entertain, enchant, enhance and inspire. Perhaps this ill wind will blow over and we can get back to a more sane world.
Beautiful.
Excellent points! (I also enjoyed your "technical difficulties" at the end.)
Is writing a two or three page screenplay for the movie trailer a worthy exercise? Can the first draft of a movie trailer screenplay be written before writing the main movie screenplay itself?
Keep casting the pods, Richie!!! People are listening!
A definitive answer!