How the Shibboleths of Filmmaking Education Shut Down the Filmmaker. Upon watching Colm Bairéad’s remarkable feature debut The Quiet Girl, its central, almost silent young protagonist powerless to act in the face of the situation in which she finds herself, I was struck by what so many filmmaking educators would…

Life. Myth. People. Soul. The Real. The True. Mike Leigh says films should be about ‘real people’. Presumably, he’s arguing against the confections of the mainstream, the heroes and villains of the Manichaean escapism pervading much of it. It’s the ‘real people’ he cites, with their vulnerabilities, shortcomings, illusions, needs…

A Film’s Universe Beyond Character and Action Some filmmakers have itchy fingers. An event finishes/An event begins. ‘Cut to the chase!’ ‘The story must move on!’ We’ve heard it all. The ‘industry professional’ speaks. Something must always be happening. It’s a one-size-fits-all screen in the cult of one individual slogging…

The pause was Pinteresque Once, at the BBC Rehearsal Rooms in North Acton, London, I traveled several precious floors in an elevator with the great playwright and screenwriter Harold Pinter — master of the pregnant pause. Nothing was said, although I wanted to say so much. Nothing could be said…

Not part of a filmmaking institution these days, I teach mainly the aspects of filmmaking I most care about: story, storytelling, the language and practical aesthetics of the screen, while I emphasize also the imperatives of ‘The Three M’s’ — mischief, magic, and mystery. I don’t venture forth on the…

With gratitude to the young for teaching me. · Know your story. · Tell your story. · Do what works. · Be mischievous. · Discover! · Don’t think like everyone else. · Don’t talk like everyone else. · Join no club. · Learn from the wisdom of the generations. ·…

What is it a film needs in order to work? ‘Drama’, commented Alexander Mackendrick, ‘is anticipation mingled with uncertainty.’ How often, here in the US, have we been told that drama in the movies is about conflict. Conflict, conflict, conflict was all I heard over the years of my film…

An Interview on Filmmaking and Teaching Being with Anthony Minghella on his 9 Academy Award English Patient, working with Martin Scorsese, teaching as learning. This interview with me was carried out by Sunny Xiang of Global Entertainment, LA in February 2020. SY: Could you share your experience of working with…

…with the most demanding interlocutors… As you make your film, who is it that you talk to? Okay, so there are the conversations with the writer (if they’re not you), plus those in prep, during production, in post — in other words the constant, ongoing, to-and-fro conversations with your team…