See ya, Syndey

On Monday Sydney Pollack died. He was, as I am sure you know, an amazing director and not a bad actor either! There will be thousands of web-tributes to him, so, I will just add my voice to the crowd in that respect.

But, I am writing this because it was just Sunday night that I saw Pollack on a TVE (TV España) programme about the treatment of film by television networks. Pollack was there because of the lawsuit that the Danish Directors Guild brought against DR (Demark's nationalized TV station) with regards to the showing of a Pan and Scan version of Pollack's 3 Days of the Condor. The Director's Guild argued that it was a violation of a piece of art. it was shown in Danish court with the original cinemascope version, but a hilighted area indicating the pan and scan. It was, at times, laughable. There were fights where you couldn't see the other person being fought!

The documentary was an interesting piece, especially when it came to the area of sound. It argued against the dubbing of movies, saying that an integral part of the movie is the voice of the actors. An actor is hired not just to stand there and move his mouth, but to give life to a character in all ways, including speech. The irony is, of course, that Spain and Italy are 2 of the few countries that continue to dub - and TVE is the biggest violator, all but refusing to show subtitled films.

One interest piece of trivia was the handling in Spain of 'Fort Apache', the seminal John Wayne movie.

There is a scene in the movie where Wayne speaks to an Indian (or Native American, if you prefer) through an interpreter. In Spain Wayne speaks to the interpreter and the indian speaks in this very odd 'ooga-booga' type language. Ironically, in the 'real' version of the film the Indian is speaking Spanish! This ridiculous act of dubbing is still available in Spain today.

Anyway, hopefully Spain (and Italy, and all the other dubbing countries) will come to their senses and see films for the art that they are and leave them unadulterated.

Yeah, right.

Writing - Does Everyone has at least one (good) book in them?

So, earlier this year, after suffering a serious case of burn-out, I decided to take a bit of a change of direction and cross a few things off the old bucket list.
One very big entry was 'Write'. Of course I have been writing seriously for the past 6 or 7 years now, concentrating a lot on screenplays. But, I had a book idea that I first came up with 25 years ago. (How is that for depressing??!). I'd written a short story version and a screenplay version, but I felt that what the story really needed - or should I say that I felt what I really needed to do with the story - was a novel.
So I started out on it.

You might think it is crazy. But there is the adage that "Everyone has at least one good book in them" (And if and when it comes out I hope I don't get a review like this one!)

So I started in on it.

I have the prologue up on it's own blog that might contain hilights from the book. We'll see.

More sobering links!
Everyone does not have a novel inside them
You’re an Author? Me Too!
So you think you can write?

FilmAmora - now open for business

FilmAmora is now open for business. Our rentals are (still!) waiting on our Payment processor, but you can buy films. Click on the 'Buy' link underneath any title.

With over 35,000 titles on offer you won't find a bigger selection. We have all Spanish and UK releases available!

filmamora - the best place to buy movies in Spain

Fanfare for the common man

Things I know:

* I'll never own a house
* I won't create a chain of income that is more that one hour's pay for one hour's work.
* I'll never win the lottery
* I won't be able to stop working at some point in my life and 'retire'
* I'll not have someone to look after me in my old age
* I won't have children
* I won't make a lasting impact except on those immediately around me
* I won't create anything of any wide significance or startling originality
* I won't instigate a great crime, nor be a victim of one
* I'll never again experience a woman looking at me with uncompromisable desire
* I won't meet my heroes
* I'll never be famous or infamous
* I won't profit from the deaths of others through inheritance

I'm sure there's more, but that's all that comes to mind.

Oh and this one:

* Few will read this except by accident

Brilliant title

A blatant attempt to get attention from a title - from the BBC none the less. Brilliant.

Great tits cope well with warming

Me and Bobby McKee

Well, I just finished the 4 day intensive course (or is it coarse) with Robert McKee, arguably the best known lecturer on Story and Screenplay.
Mckee, for reasons I cannot fathom, ran his course in Malaga, only an hour away. I attended and thought I'd write up my thoughts on the experience.

It was remarkable that there were about 200 people in attendance - not just because I didn't think there were 200 writers in the area who'd be interested (there aren't - more on that later) but that 200 people could fit into the auditorium given the amount of space McKee's ego takes up.

I am a big fan of McKee's book - it is definitely near the top of the list of books all screenwriters (or writers in general) should read. But in personal he is somewhat abrasive and for my taste there was just too much of his political and social commentary in the course. I didn't really pay to listen to this American explain Europe to me. Incorrectly, I might add. I don't think McKee truly understands the Spanish film situation though he would argue - violently - otherwise.

But, it was a good way to get a refresher on the material about writing. I've read his book a couple of times and I do give it credit to helping me become a better writer. But like all books and lectures of this type it cannot be followed alone. I think McKee misses out some vital steps that all the writers I know use. I also think he skips over some structural elements that would help writers.

But for the most part his theories on story are valid. But who am I to say? Certainly McKee doesn't give a rat's ass whether I agree with him or not. He knows he is right.

I can't whole heartedly recommend this seminar. It is expensive and I think if you have discipline you will get as much from reading the book as attending the seminar.

Now, about all these people who attended. It seems that the majority of them work in ad agencies in Madrid and Barcelona. Or are casual writers. I spoke to a Spanish journalist who had spoken to a lot of the attendees and she said she had not spoken to one person who was a screenwriter or actually in the film business as a writer.

My hopes that McKee's idea of story would be taken up by the rather dreadful Spanish film industry look to be unrealistic, at least for now.