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Movies for Screenwriters
My favorite piece of advice from one of my screenwriting teachers was:
“Watch movies.”
It is beautifully basic and so true. In fact, I am going to tell you some movies that have helped me understand the craft a bit better.
All About Eve (Dialogue)
This sharp little masterpiece was made in 1950, directed and written by Joseph L. Mankiewicz, and tells the story of Margo Channing (Bette Davis), an actress of the stage, and her relationship with her understudy, the titular Eve Harrington (Anne Baxter). It is a female-driven drama, about fame and what one will do to get it, among other things (don’t want to spoil it for you.) The dialogue is treated like a stage play, which is appropriate. The characters bounce back and forth off each other effortlessly with crisp wit and acidic cynicism, moving the story with words more than action. Now, that’s fine. I know there’s the regarded rule of “get in late, get out early,” but rules (I have found) are more like guidelines. I personally love writing dialogue, even though it’s more of a focus for TV. What’s also great about this picture is, although it focuses on dialogue, it keeps exposition at the bare minimum, which I’ve been told, and I agree, can be a story killer. Movie scripts focus more on show than tell.
