Meetings

“Whoever invented the meeting must have had Hollywood in mind. I think they should consider giving Oscars for meetings: Best Meeting of the Year, Best Supporting Meeting, Best Meeting Based on Material from Another Meeting... There is one crucial rule that must be followed in all creative meetings. Never speak first. At least at the start, your job is to shut up."

William Goldman 

The Most Successful Broadway Failure

If any writer can be called successful it is William Goldman. He is not only one of the most successful high quality screenwriters (Butch Cassidy and Sundance Kid, All The President's Men, Marathon Man), but also the author of one of the best books about Hollywood (Adventures In The Screen Trade). So I smiled when I read this confession: “I am a failed playwright. I had three shows on Broadway by the time I was 30. They all flopped, and I fled.”

Broadway Grossings

Every now and then I check the the top-grossing Broadway productions, as reported by The Broadway League. This is the list for the last week in June:

MUSICALS
• Wicked (Gershwin Theatre), $1,985,154
• The Lion King (Minskoff Theatre), $1,971,393
• The Book of Mormon (Eugene O’Neill Theatre), $1,736,027
• Kinky Boots (Al Hirschfeld Theatre), $1,528,261
• Motown: The Musical (Lunt–Fontanne Theatre), $1,447,785
PLAYS
• Lucky Guy (Broadhurst Theatre), $1,364,021
• I’ll Eat You Last: A Chat With Sue Mengers (Booth Theatre), $810,174
• Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike (John Golden Theatre), $691,532
• The Trip to Bountiful (Stephen Sondheim Theatre), $493,900
• The Nance (Lyceum Theatre), $390,725

Software For Songwriters

I was asked recently if I could recommend a software for songwriters. Yes, there is one I find quite useful. It's called Masterwriter, and what I like about it is that it's much more than a rhyming dictionary (if you need one go to rhyme zone, free of charge). Masterwriter offers 36,000 rhymed phrases ready for use, and a comprehensive list of close rhymes and a pop culture dictionary. Additional features are a reference dictionary, a list of descriptive words including alliterations, a synonym finder and the American Heritage Dictionary. I have been using this software for five years now and it still works well, that's why I don't know the latest version which is currently sold for about a hundred bucks. It is available for all systems.

How David Made It

"Failure is really important. Because if you don't fail it means you're not taking enough risks. And if you're not taking enough risks you're not going to discover new things!"

David Henry Hwang

When I worked on the German adaptation of Elton John's and Tim Rice's Aida I had the pleasure to meet David Henry Hwang. We were on the same wave length from the very beginning, and if I could spend more time in New York, I'm sure we could become close friends. David became famous as the author of M. Butterfly, based on the relationship between French diplomat Bernard Boursicot and Shi Pei Pu, a male Peking opera singer. As a dramatist I admire his understanding of dramatic structure, as an often depressed human creature I envy David's optimism. Wherever he is, the sun shines, even when skies are gray. He once said to me: "It may look like I'm a bit crazy. But I'm just happy."

Top Five Playwriting Books

1. The Art of Dramatic Writing. The classic by Lajos Egri. Though highly opinionated by far the best book to learn the craft. Egri's advice has helped generations of playwrights, scriptwriters, and writers for television. I'm one of them and never stop to recommend this excellent book full of timeless wisdom to my colleagues.


2. The Playwright's Process: Learning the Craft from Today's Leading Dramatists. Interwoven with hundreds of quotations from the author's own in-depth interview series at the Dramatists Guild, in New York City, The Playwright's Process offers a fresh and lively discussion of the indispensable ingredients of strong dramatic writing. By Buzz McLaughlin.

3. Naked Playwriting: The Art, The Craft, And The Life Laid Bare. A complete playwriting course -- from developing a theme through plotting and structuring a play, developing characters, creating dialog, formatting the script, and applying methods that aid the actual writing and rewriting processes. The book also offers sound guidance on marketing and submitting play scripts for both contests and production, protecting ones copyright, and working with directors and theatre companies. Well-written, comprehensive, and filled with illustrative examples.

4. The Playwright's Handbook helps you craft a script into a successful theatrical work and get it produced. Written by Frank Pike, an award-winning playwright, and Thomas G. Dunn, founder of the prestigious Minneapolis Playwrights Center, this guide contains the expertise of professionals actively working in the theater.

5. The Playwrights Work Book. A series of 13 written workshops covering, among other topics, conflict and character: the dominant image: Tennessee Williams and Arthur Miller; Overheard voices: Ibsen and Shakespeare * The solo performance piece: listening for stories; Terror and vulnerability: Ionesco; The point of absurdity: creating without possessing: Pinter and Beckett; and much more.

Tim Rice's New Musical

My admired colleague, the great (and big) Tim Rice of Jesus Christ Superstar, Evita, Chess and Aida can confidently look forward to another first night in the West End. It is his stage musical adaptation of From Here to Eternity, based on the James Jones’ 1951 novel that was an Oscar-winning film in 1953. The new show‘s music was written by Stuart Brayson. The novel chronicles the lives of a group of privates on an army base in 1941 Hawaii. Romances blossom when the troubled Private Prewitt falls for club girl Lorene while platoon sergeant Warden starts a dangerous affair with his commanding officer’s wife Karen. The original manuscript of the book featured two passages that did not make it into the published edition due to their homosexual content. According to Sir Tim the musical will remain true to the original book and incorporate those homosexual elements deemed inappropriate for the 1953 film. The musical begins previews at the Shaftesbury Theatre on September 30, 2013, with opening night set for October 23.

Reinventing The Musical

Just a mental note for myself:
Writing for the musical stage today is not what it used to be. As much as I admire Hammerstein, Lerner and Weidman, I think the musical genre must change with the viewing habits of the ever-changing audiences. The film dramaturgy, in itself constantly changing, is influencing everything. I keep learning from scriptwriters almost every day, and sometimes I wish that the set and sound designers of the theater would do the same. Instead of repeating the traditional formulas we have to re-invent the musical to keep it alive and thrilling.

Getting Original Screenplays

Notwithstanding a common misapprehension, the real creators of movies and tv-series are not the directors but the writers. Whenever I like a flick, I want to read the screenplay. There are several ways to get the shooting script. First I look if there is a printed version available, but amazon usually can't help. Next I visit Drew's Scriptorama, a website with an enormous choice of links to free and downloadable film and tv scripts. Unfortunately a lot of them are not the original shooting scripts, but transcripts of fans. A collection of hand-scanned PDF's from authentic production scripts are to be found at Hollywoodscriptfinder.  They're all authentic and, even better, they're completely iPad, Kindle, Nexus, Droid ready!  Perfect for reading anywhere, anytime. Tons of impossible-to-find rare, vintage, classic, Noir and '70's titles.  Finally I try the Writers Store in LA which is absolutely the best source for all kinds of writers' needs. If all of those attempts fail I have to try my luck on Broadway. On Wednesdays and Saturdays there are street hawkers on Times Square and 45th Street who sell, probably not absolutely legally, authentic movie and tv scripts for $ 15.00 a copy.