Film school was so theoretical, and there were so many rules that really fucked me up. There was one rule in particular they were always teaching, and it was right out of good old Syd Field’s book Screenplay. And it had a lot to do with ‘theme.’ The theme of the movie is always this leads to that. ‘Jealousy’ leads to ‘downfall.’ One thing leads to another, which leads to another, which leads to the end. Everything is set up in a logical, well-thought-out manner.
But I couldn’t do that; I was just unable to break down a movie that way. It messed up for years. I couldn’t even get out of the gate, because I couldn’t make anything work. I would get hung up on semantics and minutiae. And because I’m such a rule-follower, when I first started out this killed me because it was so theoretical.
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