He has taken to providing advice on screenwriting in six second bursts, over Twitter, using an iPhone app called Vine. Vine allows you to "create short, beautiful, looping videos in a simple and fun way for your friends and family to see." Which is to say, it is effectively a selfie, with up to six seconds of talking.
Here's an example, Lesson No. 1.
(Note: You need to turn the sound on, by clicking on the red X in the top left-hand corner, which is invisible until you mouse over it. Then, click on his face somewhere.)
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I imagine these will end up in a book of their own one day. In the meantime, here are the first 25 of Brian's tweets:
- All screenwriting books are bullshit. All. Watch movies. Read screenplays. Let them be your guide.
- "Write what you know" works, but is limiting. Write what fascinates you, write what you can't stop thinking about.
- The so-called screenwriting guru is also really the so-called screenwriting conman. Don't listen to them if you don't know their movies.
- In what I felt was the beginning of a serious heartfelt conversation, I told my dad I wanted to be a writer. He looked at me and said, "You want to write? Write." Still the best advice.
- Calculate less. Don't try to game the market. Write what you want to write. And drink plenty of coffee.
- Of the many supposed bullshit rules of screenwriting, the only one that's legit is, Write every day.
- There's a whole industry of bunkum trying to convince you screenwriting needs to be learned at some course. Don't believe it.
- The moment your screenplay leaves your hands, it becomes a commodity. So while it's with you, treat it like it's a piece of art.
- Instead of reading screenwriting books, read about your subject; the subject that fascinates, compels and interests you.
- The screenwriting gurus tell about the How. How do I write this? Writers should think about Why. Why do I need to write this now?
- You don't need any 'experts' permission to write your story, your way.
- The modern screenplay that I'd be reading, over and over, if I were starting out, for dialogue, character and plot, is Michael Clayton, by Gilroy.
- Every writer should read Murakami's What I Talk About When I Talk About Running. It's a great book on running and even better one on writing.
- Forget about contests, agents. Focus on what you can control. Words, pages, and the intention behind them.
- The first screenplay my partner and I wrote was rejected by every agency as unsellable. It was Rounders.
- The Coen brothers, Charlie Kaufman, Quentin Tarantino never tried to guess what Hollywood would make. They wrote their obsessions and so should you.
- Let me use fewer words than the books do to explain three act structure. Beginning, middle and end. So stop worrying and start writing.
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The best tool I've found for dealing with writer's block is morning pages. Done precisely as described by Julia Cameron in The Artist's Way
.
- The mysteries of formatting revealed: Keep it under 115 (pages), make sure every scene moves something forward, and start your story before I get bored.
-
David Mamet's Speed-the-Plow
is the best example I know of how meter equals voice, and what Hollywood execs really care about.
- When I want a quick shot of inspiration, I watch Amelie or Y Tu Mamá También, Movies that broke all the rules but engage the heart.
- Self-doubt goes hand-in-hand with self-expression. Tune it out for two hours a day, you'll have a finished screenplay.
- If Hollywood could come up with an algorithm to write the screenplays, they would. They need storytellers. Remember that.
- Look, I'm not saying form and structure don't matter; they do. But it's forming an emotional connection with the reader that sets you apart.
- When I'm stuck on a first draft, I remind myself no-one gets to see this till I say they can. Which gives me permission to finish.
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