Do you enjoy crafting dense, novelesque screenplays? Or do you prefer writing a lean narrative? What's your preference? And why?
Screenwriting : What kind of script do you prefer? by Phillip E. Hardy, "The Real Deal"
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Friday night hanging with the wife, something light.
Mostly dense films. They enable me to watch them several times giving me more to unpack each time.
Staying with the water theme. Are fish swimming or flying from their point of view?
I think things too light can be consider “fluff”.
I like meaty, dense and multi-tiered stories and my writing style is exceptionally lean - some would call it staccato The reason I write that tight is that it gives me more story space per page and that story telling real estate is very valuable when writing a dense tale.
Which are the contemporary films based on dense, novelistic scripts?
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William Goldman's screenplay narratives had the most "novelesque" look that I can recall - but he was a novelist first, so that's understandable. Clive Barker writes his screenplays that way, too, but he is also a novelist first. John Milius isn't a novelist, and he writes that way, too.
Only Clive Barker still writes today, and I think the more "novelesque" style isn't as prevalent today - at least not in the modern scripts that I"ve read.
Eric Heisserer, the screenwriter of Hours, Lights Out, Arrival and Birdbox, has some really stunning and lengthy narratives in both of those great screenplays, but it's more in a modern screenplay shorthand style, and doesn't quite resemble the full sentences that the other three great writers utilized in their screenplays.
I tend to write in that style, too, these days - the "modern screenplay shorthand style." I'm also selling "Modern Screenplay Shorthand Style" t-shirts and caps. 40 bucks a pop. Stunning. Elegant yet street. Looks great. On any body type. You'll love them. So will your friends.
Best fortunes to you in your creative endeavors, Phillip!
RIP DICK DALE (May 4, 1937 - March 16, 2019)
Bill C:
I'm sure I told you that I'm a big fan of Goldman's script for The Great Waldo Pepper. I bought one of his books to be able to review that screenplay. Wonderful screenplay and magnificent film.
In terms of white space, I am very lean. Bug blocks of text wear my eyes out and lead to me skimming. In terms on content, I write densely. Multi faceted storylines and arcs. I don't know how else to make the story interesting without that.
I tend to be "novelesque." I just feel more comfortable writing in full sentences, a la the George Lucas/Gloria Katz/Willard Huyck team responsible for "American Graffiti."