The beauty of art is in its rules. And for drama, Sorkin believes it’s in Aristotle’s Rules of drama. A quick Google search brings this up (just in case you’re interested:
Plot. (Aristotle put plot as the first essential element of storytelling, referring to it as the life and soul of any story)
Character. ...
Thought. ...
Diction. ...
Song. ...
Spectacle.
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This year one of my goals is to put Poetics into a plain english interpretation.
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Great share, Geoff Hall! Watching movies/TV/plays and reading them. Golden advice. I've been reading more scripts lately, and it's helped my writing. Now, I need to read scripts while watching the movies/shows like Aaron Sorkin said in the video.
You do realize that in the time of Aristotle there was no cinema and television? There were only two theatrical genres - tragedy and comedy. Aristotle gave advice on writing poems and for theatrical productions.
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Poetics For Screenwriters
https://www.u-cursos.cl/filosofia/2012/1/FHCEE-077/1/material_docente/ba...
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Maurice Vaughan Thanks Maurice, I don’t think I’m up to that multi-tasking thing yet. I would find it too slow and distracting.
Arthur Charpentier you don’t say! But I’m pretty sure that there was a multiplex in Athens called the Platonic Filmhouse and Socrates owned a production company and had a whole Socratic method for Directors at his Film School.
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Craig D Griffiths good luck with that, Craig. ;-)
You're welcome, Geoff Hall. You could read the script, then watch the movie/show. Or watch the movie/show, then read the script.
Thanks, E Langley.
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The translation of Poetics has already been written.
Geoff Hall, an ancient Greek who is older than Jesus teaches Hollywood screenwriters to write scripts for Netflix. :)
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Very cool, thanks for sharing, Geoff Hall!
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Arthur Charpentier wow, I didn’t know Sorkin was an Ancient Greek. But I suppose he is talking about the perennial wisdom of storytelling, rather than rigid formula.
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David Abrookin thank you kindly, David and happy New Year! What are your targets for 2024?
Geoff Hall, Yeah, but of Aristotle's three rules, two can be broken.
actually, cinema has a rigid formula, the plot in the finale should evoke a sense of insight in the viewer. if this is not the case, most of the time the movie fails.
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I took his Masterclass. It was really fun!
What's meant is catharsis at the final fade out.