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I signed up, but so far, I've only watched the first two. The first one had me a little worried, because this man isn't an expert communicator. But, he actually apologizes for that right away, so I forgave him. He can be a little hard to listen to. I think I heard more uhm's than normal when a person speaks. Especially for someone teaching. The second class was better, but still pretty basic. Intention and obstacles.
I took Patterson's class last summer, but never finished. Everything he talked about was stuff I already knew from screenwriting, so I was a little disappointed, to be honest. He spoke better though.
He does a brilliant job of writing interesting, fully developed, non-stereo typical complex, women. Maybe better than anyone.
His story telling skills are off the chart - can;t tell you how many times I've watched the "Two Cathedrals" episode from The West Wing. effing brilliant.
IMO - his Achilles heel is sometimes his dialogue gets on steroids. Some episodes of the West Wing and The Newsroom was emblematic of this. Too many of his characters know everything about everything, right down to the most arcane of facts outside their field of expertise. It makes for nice exchanges, but there can't be ten people in the room with encyclopedic knowledge of everything. And sometimes the dialogue it is just a bit too preachy. But these are minor points - for me, he is in the pantheon.
IMO - his Achilles heel is sometimes his dialogue gets on steroids.
100%.
In Newsroom (HBO), there were too many times when it sounded like someone had a blast writing it, but it bore no resemblance to how people would really talk.
Never heard of him. But then I've never seen a single episode of the West Wing. I saw it advertised, but not really my thing. I don't get along well with US drama.
Pia... why do you need this class? You write great already. I probably couldn't see you writing an episode of the West Wing but it doesn't sound like he's teaching how to do that anyway. He's drawing from his life experience and writing about it. Just like we all do. I doubt that you'll get much, if anything, from his lessons.
Never heard of him. But then I've never seen a single episode of the West Wing. I saw it advertised, but not really my thing. I don't get along well with US drama.
Pia... why do you need this class? You write great already. I probably couldn't see you writing an episode of the West Wing but it doesn't sound like he's teaching how to do that anyway. He's drawing from his life experience and writing about it. Just like we all do. I doubt that you'll get much, if anything, from his lessons.
I take any compliment I can get! Thank you!
I feel very comfortable writing shorts. That's where I started and it was all I did for years. When I started writing features, I realized there was so much more to screenwriting. At least if I wanted to write a two hour movie that keeps people's attention throughout and in the end left people satisfied.
I had to start studying in order to learn this stuff. My problem with that is that although I love reading, I can only read fiction. Anything else intended for learning, I don't comprehend. I just can't learn by reading. I have a hard time even understanding a short manual for an appliance. I only learn when someone tells me or shows me. That's why I sign up for these type of things.
This past spring however, I read The Writer's Journey and something clicked. I had an epiphany! I finally realized what I've been missing in my features. Sure, I can string words together in an understandable way that reads fast. Well, in scripts at least. What I was missing was the understanding of humans. What each character's role is in a movie and why. Why certain things need to happen and so on. I realized I have so much more to learn. Instead of being down about how little I knew, it spurred me on to get better. I have no desire to make this a career. None! But, that doesn't mean I don't have goals. I want to get to the next level. I want to be on the fucking Blacklist! Or at least the Bloodlist before I quit. That's my next goal. In order to get there, I have to get better. Dialogue is an issue for me so as well, so maybe I can learn something from Sorkin. If not, well, I've spent $99 on worse things.
Never heard of him. But then I've never seen a single episode of the West Wing. I saw it advertised, but not really my thing. I don't get along well with US drama.
Pia... why do you need this class? You write great already. I probably couldn't see you writing an episode of the West Wing but it doesn't sound like he's teaching how to do that anyway. He's drawing from his life experience and writing about it. Just like we all do. I doubt that you'll get much, if anything, from his lessons.
A Few Good Men - Social Network - Money Ball - etc. The dude's a writing machine. West Wing was my favorite series of all time.
Out of all those, the only thing I've seen is A Few Good Men. It was OK, but I can't really remember what it was about. A courtroom drama, I think... ala John Grisham. I've read a few John Grisham novels. Got a bit samey after a while though. Like Robin Cook, the doctor. I think Michael Crichton was also a doctor. Although, to be fair, I'd place Crichton a league above Grisham and Cook.
I'm not so sure that being on the Blacklist actually means anything other than being there. I just want things made and I one day want to sell a script and raise a few million off it. Maybe some royalties from merchandising. See people wearing t-shirts with the name of one of my films on it... I don't want much.
To be honest, and I hate to say this because I want to be supportive of everyone, but I find this class to be hard to sit through. Sorkin might be an amazing script writer, especially his dialogue, but listening to him speak is a chore. I also find that if you've written for a few years already, this course will seem geared more towards beginning story tellers. I felt the same about the James Patterson classes. I didn't finish them either. That's just me though. Others might love this.