Day 16: Roadmap into the industry

Last night was the first session of Michael Uno's course, "Directing Actors." The course is offered as part of the USC School of Cinematic Arts' Summer Production Workshop.

After having worked a full day, whenever I leave a seminar or class on the USC campus at 10:00 p.m. I feel energized, even though it's an hour-and-a-half commute back home. I've never left a class session without having learned something that will change my writing, or that I will share with friends.

Last night Michael gave us 23 handouts with information about acting, and passages and quotes from well-known directors. We watched scenes from several movies and he lectured about the actors and the characters they were playing including dialogue, facial expression, what's happening internally, interactions among the characters/actors, and wardrobe.

He repeated a saying several times last night that touches on dialogue: "The bigger the lie, the better the line." The more a character wants to hide something or to be intentionally deceptive, the better smoother/more convincing his or her line will be.

We learned that a director shouldn't tell an actor to become more angry, or more sad (more about this tomorrow).

Michael also spoke about characterization vs. character. As an example, he showed portions of Tom Cruise's first scenes in Rain Man. The only thing Tom cares about is making money. That's characterization, while character is what he later becomes--concerned about his brother and longing for family. Character is also what a character does in a moment when he or she doesn't have time to think or decide what to do.

The class was from 6:00 to 10:00. We reviewed class requirements: writing original scenes and then making them come to life: choosing real actors and joining production teams to film, and then editing the clips into scenes ourselves. I realized that in order to complete the assignments I'd need to take nearly two weeks off from work. For the first time I can remember I dropped a class at USC. I'm hoping to take the class next summer.

As I write screenplays, I will think about the actors who must interpret the dialogue; writing scenes that will make it easier for them to show emotion.

NOTE: These entries are inspired by the final assignment for The Business of Writing for Screen and Television, a School of Cinematic Arts' course taught by Frank Wuliger. Hoping to help his students become working screenwriters, he asked us to create a personal, five-year road map into the industry.