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Noah Lloyd's avatar

This is a great list. Would you also mind sharing some of the books these quotes are sourced from? Or at least the ones you recommend? Thanks for all the great writing!

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Tony Tost's avatar

Most of the quotes are drawn from Who The Devil Made It, a book of interviews Peter Bogdanovich did with classic film directors (highly, highly recommended) and Hawks on Hawks, by Jim McBride (also recommended). The Bogdanovich book in particular is a must-read imo.

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Tash's avatar

Flipping heck, this is fantastic. Thank you!

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Tom Levenson's avatar

What a great post and list.

The most interesting thing for me, (someone who dabbled in my youth (decades ago) with screenwriting (and did write partly dramatized documentary) is the drumbeat emphasis on scenes as the meaningful unit of film making. Not lines or beats or acts or dramatic art. Scenes. None of what a lot of the screenwriting manuals popular when I was reading up on the craft emphasized. (McKee, etc.) I am going to think hard on the implications, not just for film or television, but for what I now make my living writing (non-fiction, mostly history).

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Lazz's avatar

An astounding -- and astoundingly generous -- resource. THANK YOU, Tony. And thanks for inspiring me (presumably us) to get back into my Hawks viewings.

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Travels with Farley's avatar

The Howard Hawk list-A great overview and valuable tool to create compelling cinema.

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RosTy's avatar

Fantastic! Thank you for compiling these. Really, really helpful and interesting to think about.

"The plot doesn’t matter at all. All we are trying to do is make every scene entertain."

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