By Patrick Charsky
Millard Kaufman’s memoir is scholarly, laugh out loud hilarious, and edifying for aspiring Screenwriters. Through his anecdotal and free form style, Kaufman divulges essential advice about the Screenwriting business and how to make a good screenplay great. Plots and Characters is all about Hollywood as seen over the course of Kaufman’s career as a Screenwriter. Like William Goldman’s Adventures in the Screen Trade or Joseph McBride’s Writing in Pictures, Kaufman’s book talks about his many interactions with studio heads, actors like Montgomery Clift, and his opinions of current Cinema which he thinks is too violent.
In the first two sections of Kaufman’s book he talks about the business of screenwriting and writing in Hollywood or anywhere else. There are many great bits of advice about meetings with moguls and movie stars. Harry Cohn, former head and founder of Columbia pictures, figures quite prominently in Kaufman’s early days trying to make it in the Studio System. Kaufman calls Cohn “a monster.” Plot and Characters relates many a story about up and coming screenwriters who were fired for the tiniest infraction. In Kaufman’s tale the Studio System was brutal; a continuous revolving door for scribes new and experienced.
Which begs the question, is it worth it to pursue a Screenwriting career? According to Kaufman, “if you don’t enjoy writing, abandon it, for it is at best a hard hustle.” Kaufman pulls no punches. He lets you have it right in the gut. Further on in Plots and Characters Kaufman talks about the success rate of screenplays. He states that only a few get some kind of a deal, and only a rare selection of those make it to production. After that if it’s a flop a screenwriter’s career is at stake. In another piece of advice Kaufman says “after three flops” a screenwriter’s career is dead in the water. All is not lost. Screenwriting can be a very rewarding career. Sometimes Kaufman tells a tale that is laugh out loud funny. The journey can be enjoyable even if the ends are not.
In the fourth section of the book Kaufman talks about ways to make the screenplay “rich.” Most interesting to me was the chapter about “plants and payoffs.” I’m sure I’ve heard of the technique of planting something to be used later on in a screenplay, but, I’ve never had it explained as well as Kaufman does it. Kaufman defines planting as “the insertion of a line or lines of dialogue or a brief action subordinate to the mainstream progression, introducing an idea or a theme that will pay off later.” Kaufman uses a plethora of examples from Bull Durham to The Maltese Falcon and Sleepless in Seattle. Each film uses plants and payoffs to heighten the drama and make audiences more intrigued by what the payoff will be. It is a widely used technique that anyone with an interest in movies should recognize. For screenwriters, it is an essential tool.
Perhaps the best part of Plots and Characters is Kaufman’s discussion of character. He talks about the complete range of characters from Oedipus and Hamlet to Rambo and John Wayne. He also describes different kinds of characters in a theoretical sense. Whether it’s a reluctant hero, mysterious hero, or a hero with a fatal flaw, his writing shines with erudition and wit.
Kaufman compares Rambo and Hamlet and states that “Rambo is explicit, unambiguous; in contrast, an element of mystery surrounds and enhances Hamlet.” Kaufman has no sympathy for bombastic characters like Rambo who indulge in gratuitous violence. He sympathizes with classic characters from the pantheon of Literature. Another memorable deconstruction of not only the Rambo character but another classic hero of Hollywood movies, the Duke or John Wayne shows the “excessive beastliness of these rotters is such that Sly and the Duke must kill, kill, kill them all to preserve goodness and mercy, godliness and decency in the World.” Kaufman does an excellent job at tearing down these characters showing how they are cartoons at best.
He addresses audiences' need for characters who are invincible and ultra-violent. Fear has become ever present in contemporary audiences and the need for violence soothes that fear. According to Kaufman we live in a time of repression and violence in movies. He says there is too much foul language and instant gratification for blood and more blood. He sides with films like Rebel Without a Cause and it’s screenwriter Stewart Stern. Kaufman advocates for a cinema with deeper empathy. More like Oedipus and less like a hero without an achilles heel. An excellent analysis.
Plots and Characters is a great success. It does in a much shorter length and funnier style then some textbooks do in much more length without any humor. The book succeeds in acting as a career guide and manual for writing screenplays. It’s analysis of films from the 1980s and 1990s is relatively new. So many books focus on classic movies that are fast becoming relics of a bygone age. Not to be forgotten, understanding the classics is vital. Plots and Characters is replete with references to Oedipus Rex, Hamlet, and many others. Kaufman’s knowledge is exhaustive.
In addition to his film references and analysis, there are multitudes of anecdotes about not just his life in Hollywood, but also from his time as a Marine, and from his personal relationships. Kaufman is a memorable character with great opinions and spot on analysis of not just films, theater, and literature, but also of the History of Hollywood. He was a screenwriter of the top rank. His book stands as a testament to decades of working in tinsel town. Pay heed to his advice it will act as a guide and curative to the hard struggle of being a writer.
No comments:
Post a Comment