The Artist – ground-breaking script for
The Artist – ground-breaking script for a (mostly) silent film. Wonderful love story. Fantastic movie about the movies. Mmmmm.
Can of words — I am doing a final check
Can of words — I am doing a final check on hardback proof copy of my own novel, Peloponnesia. Never done this before.
Reading from Peloponnesia-my novel publi
Reading from Peloponnesia-my novel published this Fall-about a producer with dementia & a script he owns – SundayPM RuskinTheaterSantaMonica
PREP: CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT CLASS STARTS
PREP: CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT CLASS STARTS 8/22
This two week burst of lectures with amazing breakdowns of the character
work in Nolan’s Batman movies is vintage Scott Myers gointothestory.com
approach to screenwriting. I love channeling Scott’s presentation of
these issues. I step up with my own take on the craft work. Character
is everything. Great story requires it. And if we ask the right
questions about our characters, if we realize the essential roles
different paradigms of characters perform in our scripts, it allows us
to create living, breathing, full blooded characters that jump off the
page. This walk through the theory of characters can be a game
changer. The class starts Monday, August 22. It is a great way to
supercharge your Autumn writing and help get that draft where you want
it by the end of the year.
MY PREP CLASS AT SCREENWRITINGMASTERCLASS.COM
Start a new script project now. My online Prep Class at Screenwritingmasterclass.com starts May 30. I love it. Exciting 6 week course gets writers to the heart of their new script project.
Photograph from Peloponesia: A Tortured Narrative in the Los Angeles Review of Books
http://lareviewofbooks.tumblr.com/
My Novel, Peloponesia, is in the LA Review of Books – in manuscript form, covered with dirt. (The photograph is called Dirty Book #1.) Easy to decipher. Hard to read the words. Available on Amazon and at a book store near you later this year.
Tom Benedek Photographs and Sculptures at Bergamot Month of Photography Los Angeles Kick Off Saturday, April 2 · 7:00pm – 10:00pm
Frank Pictures
Bergamot Station
Santa Monica, CA
Tom Benedek Opening at Frank Pictures, Bergamot, Santa Monica, March 26th, 6:30 – 9:30PM
Tom Benedek
Photographs and Sculptures
Opening Reception at Frank Pictures,
March 26th, 6:30 – 9:30 PM
Preview of Peloponnesia: As Tortured Narrative
Selected Works from Shot by the Writer and Heated Words
Tom Benedek’s first novel, Peloponnesia, will be published in 2011. Tortured Narrative explores the raw states of a completed text, the manuscript of the novel. The photographs and sculptures in Tortured Narrative use physical drafts of the text in galleys and proofs as representations of states of composition and decomposition –the transition of imagined creation to print and paper and beyond — and as evidence for the mutability of text both literally and figuratively. The material ferments, dissolves, reconfigures itself in both its organic, tangible form and in the writer’s mind beyond the printed page.
Exhibit on view through April 12, 2011
Frank Pictures
Bergamot Station A-5
2525 Michigan Avenue
Santa Monica, CA 90404
TOMBENEDEK.COM
info@tombenedek.com
310.8280211
www.frankpicturesgallery.com
THEY’RE MY FRIENDS, THEY’RE MY CIRCLE OF SCRIPT READERS, THEY’RE MY….
The time has arrived to widen the circle and bring in a few other readers for reactions, thoughts, applause. Some say friends do not give friends first or rough drafts of screenplays to read. This is partially true. They need to be more than friends. They also should be compassionate, interested, reasonably well-informed readers. But, even if they are not all of those things, they still may have some interesting things to say about your work. And you ought to value the people in your life who are willing to read your work clearly and openly express some honest opinions and feelings about it. These interactions can be valuable, bonding, uplifting experiences. They can also be a huge emotional drain. This goes with the territory. Creative work requires blood, sweat and even tears. Getting feedback can be an easy, straightforward, vibrant experience. It can also be painful and even chaotic at times. You cannot control it. But you can shape the process wisely. The main thing is to get some feedback, filter the ideas and opinions you receive, use them to inform a few of your own, as you create an agenda for your rewrite.
So go ahead and widen the circle. Find a small crew of readers who trust. One size does not fit all. Friends do not always ask friends to read their scripts. One may be great with story or characters and understand how movies and screenplays work. One may be an avid moviegoer and fantastic for gut reactions but not for anything the least bit diagnostic. One may be a wonderful spell- checker. And another may love you very dearly and yet be highly critical so that it almost seems, shockingly, that they are somehow weirdly rooting against you. (Hmm. That would make an interesting sub-plot in a screenplay.) In a workshop or writing class, reader responses are moderated. There are demands on civility. Brutal honesty is permitted but not brutality. So, when you are putting together a circle of readers for your work, be selective. You want honest, constructive reactions. You want a measure of sensitivity to the creative process. If you want undying praise, blind to all faults, give it to someone who will give you that also. But, trust me, your mother(or mother-figure) may surprise you. The loved one may put the harsh critic’s hat on. And the friend you consider your harshest critic in life may turn out to be kind and helpful to your printed words. Interesting things happen when creative work is shared with colleagues, friends, family.
But this is all gold really. If they read it and give you some thorough responses, that is a great gift. Listen carefully. Note down their responses. They may not get things that tiny edits will cure. They may have answers to the story problems that are dead wrong, and that go against the grain of what you really want your film to be. But their ideas about the story, characters and plot will be useful anyway. They may have good advice. And they may have bad advice. You want compassion, empathy, kindness. Sure. We all deserve that all the time. Mainly though, for this read, we want data. We want to know what is working, what is not working. Not necessarily why. You use their responses to figure out what is and isn’t functioning right and why. Gauge the responses. Find the trends. Carefully consider the good ideas. And try to understand what issues the bad ideas are trying to redress. Do thank them for taking the time and effort to read your script thoughtfully. And if they did not read it thoughtfully, dock them from your pool of readers. Or just put a mental asterisk next to them in the My Screenplay Draft Reader Master List because you never know where the next great idea, great insight about your writing may appear.
